Clinton participated in the Civil War with men enlisting in the 128th and 150th regiments. After the war ended, dairy farmers brought their milk by wagon to the creamery in the hamlet of Clinton Corners by the tracks of the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway. This rail line continued to the Grove Amusement Park at the southeast end of Upton Lake and the ice house at the northeast end of the lake. After the railway declined with the advent of the automobile, the park closed. During the second half of the 20th century, the town of Clinton transformed from an agricultural into a residential center.