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North Castle, New York

North Castle is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 12,408 at the 2020 census. It has three hamlets: Armonk, Banksville, and North White Plains.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.5 sqmi, of which 24.1 sqmi is land and 2.4 sqmi, or 9.06%, is water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 12,408 people living in North Castle. As of the 2000 census of 2000, there were 10,849 people, 3,583 households, and 3,002 families residing in the town. The population density was 450.4 PD/sqmi. There were 3,706 housing units at an average density of 153.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 92.38% White, 1.76% African American, 0.03% Native American, 3.96% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 1.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.14% of the population.

There were 3,583 households, out of which 44.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.6% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.2% were non-families. 13.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99 and the average family size was 3.28.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.7% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $117,815, and the median income for a family was $141,764. Males had a median income of $86,950 versus $49,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $60,628. About 1.0% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.

Communities in North Castle
North Castle has three distinct geographical areas, each taking the form of a hamlet.
 * Armonk – a hamlet located in the central part of the town. It is the seat of town government and the main town library.
 * Banksville – a hamlet, also known as the "Eastern District of North Castle", located in the eastern part of the town, close to Connecticut.
 * North White Plains – a hamlet located in the southern part of the town. It is south of the Kensico Reservoir Dam, west of the White Plains Reservoirs, and east of the Bronx River, although the name generally refers to any portion of North Castle south of the Kensico Reservoir. The Elijah Miller House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Economy
Due to its proximity to Manhattan and its idyllic setting, a number of major companies call Armonk home. IBM has its world headquarters in Armonk. Its principal building, referred to as CHQ, is a 283,000-square-foot (26,300 m2) glass and stone edifice on a 25-acre (10 ha) parcel amid a 432-acre former apple orchard the company purchased in the mid-1950s. The American headquarters of Swiss Re is located in Armonk on a 127-acre site overlooking the Kensico Reservoir. In addition M.E. Sharpe, the academic publisher, also has its headquarters in Armonk.

Top employers
According to North Castle's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Election results
Supervisor - 2009 Councilman - 2009
 * William Weaver (Republican, Independence, Conservative) - 1,648 - 46%
 * Frank Benish (Libertarian)                             - 990   - 27%
 * Becky Kittredge (Democrat)                             - 965   - 27%
 * John J. Cronin (Republican, Independence, Conservative) - 2,311 - 35%
 * Diane Roth (Republican, Independence, Conservative)    - 1,800 - 27%
 * Bob Romano (Democrat)                                  - 1,437 - 22%
 * Stacey Slipe (Democrat)                                - 1,118 - 17%

Supervisor - 2005
 * John Lombardi (Republican, Independence, Conservative) - 1,901 - 43%
 * Reese Berman (Democrat, Protect North Castle)         - 2,264 - 51%
 * Anthony Futia, Jr. (Libertarian)                      - 233   - 5%

Councilman - 2005
 * William Weaver (Republican, Independence, Conservative) - 2,089 - 26%
 * John Stipo (Republican, Independence)                  - 1,398 - 18%
 * Anthony Baratta (Democrat, Protect North Castle)       - 1,953 - 24%
 * Gerry Geist (Democrat, Conservative)                   - 2,548 - 32%

Supervisor - 2001
 * John Lombardi (Republican) - 2,950 - 100%

Supervisor - 1999
 * John Lombardi (Republican) - 1,562 - 100%

Supervisor - 1997
 * John Lombardi (Republican) - 2,827 - 100%

Supervisor - 1989
 * John Lombardi (Republican) - 2,126 - 74.21%
 * John Stipo (Integrity)    -   739 - 25.79%

Population growth (1800–2020)

 * 1800 – 1,168
 * 1850 – 2,189
 * 1900 – 1,471
 * 1950 – 3,855
 * 2000 – 10,849
 * 2010 – 11,841
 * 2020 – 12,408

Population growth in North Castle reflects the pattern of rural to suburban development typical of the post-World War II years. Like many other suburban communities in Westchester County and the nation, the town experienced a surge of population growth between 1940 and 1970. The overall rate of growth was moderate between 1970 and 1990 because of national economic conditions, including the rising cost of land, construction and interest, which helped to bring about a general decline in housing construction. The median price of houses sold in North Castle in 1998 was approximately $600,000.

title: North Castle, New York


text:
North Salem, New York

North Salem is a town in the northeastern section of Westchester County, New York, United States. The town, incorporated in 1788, is a suburb of New York City, located approximately 50 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 census, North Salem was recorded as possessing a population of 5,243 people living on a land area of 21.37 square miles.

Founded prior to the American Revolution, North Salem contains an amalgamation of urban and rural features, including parks, forests, lakes, and horse trails alongside commuter train service and an interstate highway. The town has been referred to as "Billionaires' Dirt Road" due to a number of wealthy residents, although local median household income is not exceptionally high.

Revolutionary Era
Prior to the end of the Colonial Era, what would become North Salem and its neighboring town of South Salem were a single municipality, Salem. After the breakout of the American Revolutionary War in 1776, town residents sided with the revolutionary cause.

On September 22, 1780, amidst the war, John Paulding and Isaac Van Wart left from what was later known as the Yerkes Tavern, joined by David Williams. Their expedition resulted in the capture of the British spy Major John André. The foundation of Yerkes (Yerks) Tavern is all that is left of the historic building, once at the intersection of Yerkes Road and Bogtown Road. An historic plaque posted on the site reads: On this site stood one of North Salem's early taverns. Its proprietor was John Yerkes, who received a license from the town "to operate a tavern or inn for the accommodation and entertainment of travelers" in 1815. Early records indicate that this property was owned by the Smith family prior to this date. In late May 1784, soon after the end of the American Revolution, Salem split into two towns. What would become known as North Salem was known as Upper Salem for about four years after the split, until an act of the New York State Legislature in 1788 gave the town its modern name.

Nineteenth Century
The 1800 United States Census recorded several hundred enslaved individuals being held in North Salem. New York State began operating under a policy of gradual abolition in 1799, with full abolition in 1827; the practice of slavery in North Salem can therefore be estimated to have come to an end sometime between the years 1800 and 1827.

The Great Blizzard of 1888, which impacted communities across the northeastern United States, seriously disrupted agricultural production in North Salem and prevented train movement. It took over a week after the storm to restore roads and trains to operational order.

In 1893, the Titicus Reservoir began serving the New York City water supply. Today, the reservoir is stocked with brown trout each spring and fishing from rowboats is permitted.

Modern History
In 1932, the town became host to a library. The North Salem Free Library was established in the North Salem Town House. It was formally chartered by the State of New York in 1952 and later renamed the Ruth Keeler Memorial Library. Its current building was constructed in 1980 and renovated most recently in 2003.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Interstate 684 was constructed through North Salem. When finished in 1974, the new interstate included an exit on Hardscrabble Road.

North Salem's Union Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

In 2015, a small Cessna aircraft crashed into the Titicus Reservoir, killing both passengers.

Geography
Putnam County, New York borders North Salem to the north, while the State of Connecticut abuts it to the east. The town itself has a total area of 22.939 sqmi, of which 21.37 sqmi is land and 1.57 sqmi is water. Climatically, the town is in plant hardiness zone 6b on the U.S.D.A. scale, meaning that in extreme circumstances, winter temperature lows could reach -5 F.

A geographic curiosity of North Salem is the so-called Standing Rock, a granite boulder sitting on several smaller stones. Since the boulder is not consistent with the geographic surroundings, it has been hypothesized that the rock was deposited by glaciers during the Last Ice Age, although others argue that it may have been moved and placed by Vikings or Native Americans.

Demographics
In 2011, the average income for a household in the town was $157,258, with an average net worth of $1,300,058. The median house value in 2009 was $772,817. The per capita income for the town was $59,403. About 1.5% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,173 people, 1,764 households, and 1,374 families residing in the town. The population density was 241.5 PD/sqmi. There were 1,979 housing units at an average density of 92.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.44% White, 0.75% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.97% Asian, 1.12% from other races, and 1.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.65% of the population.

There were 1,764 households, out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.1% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.1% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.17. In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.

Hamlets

 * Croton Falls, New York – a hamlet in the northwest corner of the town, with the Croton Falls station of Metro-North
 * Grants Corner – a hamlet southeast of North Salem
 * North Salem – a hamlet in the western part of the town. The North Salem Town Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
 * Salem Center – a hamlet at the eastern end of Titicus Reservoir. The fictitious headquarters of the X-Men Marvel Comics superhero team is located in Salem Center.
 * Purdys – a hamlet south of Croton Falls, with the Purdy's station of Metro-North. The Joseph Purdy Homestead was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
 * Peach Lake- a hamlet and CDP in the northeastern part of town, situated mostly in the town of Southeast, Putnam County.

Education
North Salem Middle School/High School is located on June Road in North Salem. In 2004, the high school was distinguished as a Blue Ribbon School for high levels of educational achievement by the United States Department of Education.

Pequenakonck Elementary School, located 0.3 mi away from the middle school/high school, serves grades K-5. The middle school, which shares the same building as the high school, serves grades 6–8. This school is particularly small, with about 90 children on average per grade, making the student to faculty ratio relatively small.

Town government
North Salem's town government consists of a town supervisor and four town board members. The supervisor serves a two-year term, and the board members serve four-year terms. Elections are staggered such that in any given election year, the supervisor and two board members' seats will be up for election.

* Aronchick first won his seat in 2011, lost it in 2015 to Lisa Douglas, and won a seat back in 2016 in a special election.

The town is part of New York's Eighteenth Congressional District, represented by Mike Lawler, a Republican. First elected in 2009, Warren Lucas, a Republican, serves as North Salem's Town Supervisor.

Notable people

 * Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), writer
 * Chapman Grant (1887-1983), grandson of President Ulysses S. Grant
 * Paul Newman (1925-2008), actor, director and race car driver
 * Dick Button (born 1929) figure skater
 * David Letterman (born 1947), talk show host
 * David Marks (born 1948), original member of the Beach Boys
 * Alan Menken (born 1949), film composer and songwriter
 * Richard Gere (born 1949), actor
 * Steven Rattner, (born 1952), financier, in charge of 2008 General Motors auto bailout, owns a horse farm in North Salem.
 * Laurence D. Fink (born 1952), business executive, owns a farm there
 * Emily Bindiger (born 1955), singer
 * Robbie Kondor, musician
 * Rodrigo Pessoa (born 1972), Brazilian show jumper
 * Jacob M. Appel (born 1973), author of Einstein's Beach House
 * Yannis Pappas (born 1976), comedian
 * Sam Savitt (born 1917-2000), equestrian artist and author

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: North Salem, New York


text:
Peekskill, New York

Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, 35 miles north of New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point in Rockland County. The population was 25,431 at the 2020 U.S. census, up from 23,583 at the 2010 census. It is the third-largest municipality in northern Westchester County, after Cortlandt and Yorktown. The area was an early American industrial center, primarily for iron plow and stove products. The Binney & Smith Company, now named Crayola LLC and makers of Crayola products, is linked to the Peekskill Chemical Company founded by Joseph Binney at Annsville in 1864, and succeeded by a partnership by his son Edwin and nephew Harold Smith in 1885. The well-publicized Peekskill Riots of 1949 involved attacks and a lynching-in-effigy occasioned by Paul Robeson's benefit concerts for the Civil Rights Congress, although the main assault following the September concert properly took place in nearby Van Cortlandtville. Nevertheless, the city of Peekskill has since had multiple African American mayors since 1984.

Pre-Revolution
In September 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson, captain of the Half Moon, anchored along the reach of the Hudson River at Peekskill. His first mate noted in the ship's log that it was a "very pleasant place to build a town". After the establishment of the province of New Netherland, New Amsterdam resident Jan Peeck made the first recorded contact with the Lenape people of this area, then identified as "Sachoes". The date is not certain (possibly early 1640s), but agreements and merchant transactions took place, formalized in the Ryck's Patent Deed of April 21, 1685. Peekskill derives from a combination of Peeck's surname and the Dutch word for stream, kil or kill''.

Indian Village of Sachoes
Not much is currently known about the village of the Sachoes or their origin. It was suggested by city historian Charles Arthur Clark that the grove of tall pine trees that the Sachoes lived amongst were "not a native of this region, so it is believed that Indians must have brought them from somewhere, and planted them. The same may be believed about the cluster of weeping willow trees indicated."

The last known Sachem (chief) of the Sachoes at the time of the signing of Ryck's Patent was named Sirham. After trading with Jan Peeck for a considerable amount of the time, the Sachoes began calling the creek where he set up his trading post as "John Peek's Creek" and is likely how the city's name came to be.

Some early writings regarding the Natives and Peekskill refer to the last Sachem as "Saham." Other names quoted as the locality now known as Peekskill were Sachus, Sackhoes and Sackock. They are equivalents and refer to the outlet of Magregere's Brook and have the same meaning - "at the mouth or outlet of a creek or river." Their territory extended from this brook to Dickey Brook which runs through Depew Park and Blue Mountain Reservation. Sachus is regarded as the first Sachem of Sachoes. This name can be translated "black kettle". After the signing of the patent, portions of then Van Cortlandt Manor, north of Magregories brook remained in its wilderness state and the natives roamed the entire section until approximately 1742.

Appearance in World's End
The Sachoe tribe play a prominent role in World's End, a novel by T. C. Boyle which takes place in a fictitious version of Peekskill named Peterskill.

Fort Independence
On the north bank of Annsville Creek as it empties into the Hudson, Fort Independence combined with Forts Montgomery and Clinton to defend the Hudson River Valley. Fort Independence was built in August 1776, while Forts Montgomery and Clinton were started in June. Fort Hill Park, the site of Camp Peekskill, contained five barracks and two redoubts.

Settlement was slow in the early 18th century. By the time of the American Revolution, the tiny community was an important manufacturing center, which made it attractive to the Continental Army, which established an outpost here in 1776. Several creeks and streams powered mills, which provided gunpowder, leather, planks, and flour. Slaughterhouses provided fresh meat, easily shipped from docks along the river. Much was needed to support several other forts and garrisons located to support the Hudson River Chains between Bear Mountain Bridge and Anthony's Nose during the Revolution to prevent British naval passage upriver.

Though Peekskill's terrain and mills were beneficial to the Patriot cause, they also made tempting targets for British raids. The most damaging attack took place in early spring of 1777, when an invasion force of a dozen vessels led by a warship and supported by infantry overwhelmed the American defenders. On leaving New Windsor in June 1781, Washington briefly established his quarters at Peekskill.

Post-Revolution
Peekskill's first legal incorporation of 1816 was reactivated in 1826 when Village elections took place. The Village was further incorporated within the Town of Cortlandt in 1849 and remained so until separating as a city in 1940.

In 1859, Henry Ward Beecher bought a 36-acre farm at Peekskill. He made many improvements and established a summer home for his family. In 1902, the locally prominent McFadden family bought the property. In 1987, the Beecher-McFadden Estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In August 1949, following reports misquoting Paul Robeson's speech to the World Peace Conference in Paris as saying that African Americans would not fight for the United States in any prospective war against the Soviet Union, a planned benefit concert for the Civil Rights Congress in Peekskill was canceled amid White Nationalist and anti-communist violence. An effigy of Robeson was lynched in the town. The artists planned a second concert in nearby Van Cortlandtville on a farm owned by a Holocaust survivor. (His house was subsequently shot into and brickbats thrown through his windows.) The publicity drew a crowd of around 20,000, and two men with rifles were discovered and removed before any violence during the concert. It was one of the earliest performances of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer"; Robeson sang surrounded by union guards and volunteers from the audience as protection against snipers. Afterward, area police and state troopers directed exiting traffic down a single road into an ambush where rocks were thrown through car windows (even at cars with small children). Some were overturned and their occupants beaten without police intervention. These Peekskill Riots were subsequently well-publicized in news reports and folk songs and formed a major event in E.L. Doctorow's historical fiction novel The Book of Daniel.

Peekskill was the landing point of a fragment of the Peekskill Meteorite, just before midnight on October 9, 1992. At least 16 people recorded the meteoric trail on film. This was only the fourth meteorite in history for which an exact orbit is known. The rock had a mass of 27.7 lb and punched through the trunk of a Peekskill resident's automobile upon impact.

The Peekskill Evening Star and the Peekskill Highland Democrat were two of the city's daily newspapers through much of the city's history. The Evening Star published under various mastheads from the 19th century on, and as the Evening Star from 1939 until 1985, when the paper folded into what became the nexus of the Journal News, a conglomeration of local papers throughout Westchester County. But the Journal News focused more on statewide and New York City issues, which led to the founding of the Peekskill Herald in 1986. Although numerous prominent citizens came together to try to keep the paper afloat after a series of New York Times articles about the paper's foundering fiscal situation, it folded in 2005, replaced by the Peekskill Daily in 2009.

The Centennial Firehouse, built in 1890, was under a U.S. Route 9 bridge. During the bridge's original construction in 1932, part of the roof of the firehouse was removed. As part of a 2008 highway reconstruction project it was to be relocated to a new historic district. The city spent $150,000 in grant money in preparing the building. Unfortunately a mechanical failure during a turn caused the building to collapse.

In 1984, Richard E. Jackson became Peekskill's first African American mayor.

Geography
Peekskill is located at 41.28333°N, -73.91667°W (41.2889, −73.9200) in northwestern Westchester County.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 5.5 sqmi, of which 4.3 sqmi is land and 1.1 sqmi (20.99%) is water. The city's eastern border is the Town of Cortlandt and its western border is the Hudson River.

Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 23,583 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 35.8% White, 21.4% Black, 0.2% Native American, 2.9% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from some other race and 2.5% from two or more races. 36.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The American Community Survey in 2020, the city was 13.8% Ecuadorian, 10.4% was Puerto Rican, 4.9% Guatemalan.

As of the census of 2000, there were 22,441 people, 8,696 households, and 5,348 families living in the city. The population density was 5,189.7 PD/sqmi. There were 9,053 housing units at an average density of 2,093.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 57.12% White, 25.54% African American, 0.42% Native American, 2.38% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 9.83% from other races, and 4.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.92% of the population.

There were 8,696 households, out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.7% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.5% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.4% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,177, and the median income for a family was $52,645. Males had a median income of $38,091 versus $34,757 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,595. About 10.3% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line.

Arts and culture
Some local art-related highlights included Paramount Center for the Arts, a restored 1930 movie palace that served as the area's cultural hub, offering music, comedy, drama and independent films before suspending operations in 2012; STUDIO No.9 Gallery and Workshops; and the Peekskill Coffee House, which showcases local acts. The Bean Runner Cafe, on South Division Street, and 12 Grapes, on North Division Street, also showcase local artists and musicians.

The Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art (Hudson Valley MOCA), formerly known as the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, has a 12,000 foot exhibition space and an artist-in-residence program.

Media
Locally owned WLNA 1420 AM has served the community since 1948.

Parks
The town has several parks and recreation areas, including Charles Point, with bay and river views; Depew Park, which has pools and a pond in addition to ballfields and trails and is the home of the Recreation Department headquarters; Franklin Park; Lepore Park; Fort Hill Park; Peekskill Dog Park; Peekskill Stadium; Riverfront Green Park; and Tompkins Park (home of Little League).

Primary and secondary schools
The Peekskill City School District is the local school district, with Peekskill High School the main high school.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools in Westchester County. Our Lady of the Assumption School in Peekskill closed in 2013. The closest Catholic school to Peekskill is St. Columbanus School, which is in Cortlandt Manor.

Healthcare
Peekskill is served by the Hudson Valley Hospital Center (HVHC), founded in 1889 as Peekskill Hospital on lower South Street. In 2014, the hospital began an affiliation with New York-Presbyterian Hospital and is now called New York Presbyterian – Hudson Valley Hospital.

The hospital has 128 inpatient beds and includes a comprehensive cancer center, maternity center, neonatal intensive care unit, and surgery center, among other patient care services.

The city also has an emergency medical service staffed by EMTs and paramedics from the city's fire department and volunteer ambulance corps. The fire department staffs seven EMTs and eight paramedics whereas the volunteer corps has 60 active riding members. Most patients are transported to NYP-Hudson Valley Hospital.

Transportation
Peekskill train station provides commuter service to New York City, 41 mi away via Metro-North Railroad. The Bee-Line Bus System provides bus service to Peekskill on routes 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 31. The Bear Mountain Bridge, five miles (8 km) to the northwest, gives road access to Bear Mountain State Park across the Hudson River, Palisades Interstate Parkway and to the United States Military Academy at West Point via US 6 and US 202. The Croton Expressway portion of US 9 ends here. NY 9A and NY 35 also run through the city.

Notable people

 * Hilton Armstrong, NBA basketball professional, is a Peekskill High School graduate.
 * Reggie Austin, an actor, was born in Peekskill and is a Peekskill High School Graduate.
 * Peter Bagge, a noted cartoonist, was born and brought up in Peekskill.
 * Becca Balint, Congresswoman for Vermont's at-large congressional district, raised in Peekskill
 * Moses S. Beach, politician, New York Sun's owner, friend of Mark Twain
 * Henry Ward Beecher was an influential Civil War-era minister who built his family mansion on East Main Street in 1878.
 * T. C. Boyle, a novelist, is a former Peekskill resident.
 * Elton Brand, an NBA All-Star basketball professional, is a Peekskill High School graduate. Brand is now General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.
 * Benjamin Civiletti, a former United States Attorney General and attorney, was born in Peekskill.
 * Harriet Redfield Cobb, longtime math professor at Smith College, born in Peekskill
 * Chauncey Depew was chairman of the board of the New York Central Railroad and then served as a United States senator for New York.
 * Peekskill and Waterfront.jpg Ferrara, an independent filmmaker, was born in the Bronx, moved to Peekskill as a child and graduated from high school there.
 * Mel Gibson, actor, director, producer and screenwriter, was born in Peekskill.
 * Jackie Gleason, actor and comedian, lived in Peekskill from 1959 to 1963.
 * Theodore Haupt, American modernist artist, lived in Peekskill from 1941 until 1948.
 * Samuel Frost Haviland, established first bank in Chile.
 * James William Husted was a U.S. Representative from New York.
 * Richard E. Jackson, a former Peekskill mayor, was the first African-American mayor in New York State.
 * Tre Johnson, a former NFL lineman, graduated from Peekskill High School, and had a nine-year NFL career highlighted by his selection to the 2000 Pro Bowl with the Washington Redskins.
 * Sean Murphy, MLB catcher for the Atlanta Braves
 * George Pataki, former New York Governor was born in Peekskill. He served as Peekskill's mayor from 1981 to 1984.
 * Cornelius A. Pugsley was a congressman and preservationist whose name is still attached to a national preservation award for public parks.
 * Paul Reubens, an entertainer (aka Pee-wee Herman)
 * Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada (born Keith Gordon Ham), Hare Krishna guru
 * Herb Trimpe, a longtime Marvel Comics artist (The Incredible Hulk) was raised in Peekskill.
 * Stanley Tucci, an actor, was born in Peekskill.
 * Malcolm Koonce, NFL Defensive End for the Los Vegas Raiders

Popular culture
The 1980s American sitcom The Facts of Life was about teenagers and young women who attend a fictional all-girls' boarding school in Peekskill, Eastland School for Girls (inspired by a now-defunct all-girls school that still overlooks the city) and similarly fictional Langley College.

title: Peekskill, New York


text:
Pelham Manor, New York

Pelham Manor is an affluent village located in Westchester County, New York. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 5,752. It is located in the town of Pelham.

History
The Bolton Priory, Edgewood House, and Pelhamdale are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,466 people, 1,862 households, and 1,504 families residing in the village. The population density was 4,121.3 PD/sqmi. There were 1,909 housing units at an average density of 1,439.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 92.15% White, 2.12% African American, 0.07% Native American, 2.80% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.06% from other races, and 1.79% from two or more races. 4.63% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,862 households, out of which 43.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.1% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.2% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 3.32.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 31.9% under the age of 19, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

The average household income in the village was $253,261, and the median income for a family was $154,865. Males had a median income of $93,054 versus $52,424 for females. The per capita income for the village was $61,104. 4.3% of the population and 3.1% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 5.8% of those under the age of 18 and 2.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Shopping
Four Corners, at the intersection of Boston Post Road (US1) and Pelhamdale Avenue, boasts two mini strip malls, facing each other on either side of Boston Post Road.

Post Road Plaza is a shopping mall located on the Pelham Manor/Bronx border, at 895 Pelham Parkway, at the intersection of Boston Post Road (US 1), Pelham Parkway, and the Hutchinson River Parkway.

title: Pelham Manor, New York


text:
Pleasantville, New York

Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,513 at the 2020 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary campus of Pace University and to the Jacob Burns Film Center. Most of Pleasantville is served by the Pleasantville Union Free School District, with small parts of northern Pleasantville served by the Chappaqua Central School District. The village is also home to the Bedford Road School, Pleasantville Middle School, and Pleasantville High School. The region of Pleasantville commonly referred to as "The Flats" is mostly served by the Mount Pleasant Central School district.

History

The settlement of Pleasantville dates back to the Rechgawawank and Sinsink tribes, belonging to the Munsee dialect of the Lenni Lenape. This region of the Hudson Valley has been inhabited since just after the last ice age. Lenape communities practiced ecosystem management, small-scale agriculture, hunting and gathering, democratic politics, and matrilineal governance. Called the “Grandfathers” by neighboring tribes, the Lenape were peaceful and skilled at conflict resolution between tribes and established trading routes crossing through the present-day village before the arrival of Europeans. By the end of the 17th century, most if not all of the New York Lenape people had been killed by disease or conflict or had been displaced westward; Lenape in the 21st century reside in Ontario, Oklahoma, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. French Huguenot Isaac See settled here as an agent for Dutch landowner Frederick Philipse in 1695, beginning the modern settler-colonial history of Pleasantville.

By the time of the American Revolution, the population of the growing settlement comprised English, Dutch, and Quakers, most of whom were tenant farmers. During the Revolution, this area was part of the Neutral Ground, where there were conflicting loyalties among the settlers. British spy Major John André passed through present-day Pleasantville carrying information from Benedict Arnold at Fort Clinton (West Point) to the British in New York City. André lost his bearings near the present-day corner of Bedford Road and Choate Lane and was captured in Tarrytown, New York. The capture of André is often cited as a key factor in the ultimate victory of the American forces.

As the area's population grew in the early 19th century, the settlement was called Clark's Corners, referring to property owned by Henry Clark at the intersection of Broadway and Bedford Road. This area was the village's original commercial center. In the 1820s, the newly appointed postmaster, Henry Romer, was directed by the Postmaster General's office in Washington, D.C., to give a name to the post office planned here. Romer's proposed name, Clarksville, was rejected because another New York post office already had the name. His second choice, Pleasantville, was accepted, and the Pleasantville Post Office opened on February 29, 1828.

A significant change in the development of Pleasantville came with the arrival of the New York Central Railroad and New York and Harlem Railroad in 1846. In the following year, a train station was built near the present corner of Bedford Road and Wheeler Avenue, and as a result the commercial center of Pleasantville shifted to its current location. The older business district at Bedford Road and Broadway is today called the Old Village. The railroad offered a speedier and more frequent connection with New York City—only 70 minutes away by rail, compared with a five-hour overland journey by stagecoach or a two-hour steamboat trip down the Hudson River. The present-day train station, which currently houses a restaurant, was built in 1905 and was moved to its present location in the 1950s to accommodate the lowering of the tracks below grade. Before the addition of the now heavily trafficked station, commuters working in New York City and lower Westchester County were forced to rely on rides from Marc Damon, now famous in Pleasantville for being "The Friendly Coachman".

According to several sources, Pleasantville was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses for escaped slaves from the South on their way to freedom in the north.

The latter half of the 19th century was a time of rapid growth in Pleasantville. By the 1870s, there were four shoemaking businesses, a shirtmaking business, and a pickle factory. The first newspaper to serve the village, The Pleasantville Pioneer, was launched at about 1886. The village's numerous small farms and orchards began to be subdivided for a wave of solid foursquare and Victorian houses built for a growing middle class. The 1890s saw the establishment of a police department, volunteer fire department, and a library system. Pleasantville was incorporated as a village on March 16, 1897.

In the following years, Pleasantville quickly developed into a modern suburb of New York, with a large number of workers commuting between the village and the metropolis on what is now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line. During the first two decades of the 20th century, roads were paved for the first time, water mains were installed, and electrical wires brought power to the village's houses. Other improvements during the first half of the 20th century include the construction of Soldiers and Sailors Field in 1909, the Saw Mill River Parkway in 1924, the Rome Theater in 1925, Memorial Plaza in 1930, Parkway Field in 1930, and Nannahagen Park in 1937 (the adjacent village pool was completed two years later). By the time of World War II, the village had taken on the appearance that it bears today.

Pleasantville merits interest for its literary history. Playwright Lillian Hellman (The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes) bought Hardscrabble Farm on the western outskirts of Pleasantville and lived there in the 1940s and 1950s. For many years author Dashiell Hammett (The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon), with whom Hellman was romantically involved, lived and worked at Hardscrabble Farm. DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace, co-founders of Reader's Digest, made Pleasantville their headquarters in 1922, using a converted garage and pony shed on Eastview Avenue as their office and later building a home and larger office space on adjacent property. Subsequently, the Digest held office space in several buildings throughout Pleasantville, including the present-day Village Hall at Bedford Road and Wheeler Avenue and, diagonally opposite, the bank building currently occupied by Chase. Reader's Digest moved its headquarters to nearby Chappaqua in 1939, but retained its Pleasantville post office box, thus making the name of the village familiar to millions of Reader's Digest subscribers around the world. Pleasantville is also the home of Joseph Wallace, writer of the novel Diamond Ruby. Today Pleasantville is home to many novelists, editors, and writers, who find its easygoing charm and proximity to New York an attractive combination.

Pleasantville's reputation as a cultural center was enhanced in 2001 with the opening of the nonprofit Jacob Burns Film Center in the landmark Rome Theater, a Spanish mission-style building and one of the first movie theaters in Westchester County. The Burns Center is dedicated to presenting independent, documentary, and world cinema. Guest speakers at the Burns Center have included Jerry Lewis, Woody Allen, Jonathan Demme, Robert Klein, Oliver Stone, Stephen King, Rob Lowe and numerous other notable filmmakers and actors.

Usonia Homes, a neighborhood of 50 houses spread among 100 acre of wooded hillside, was started in 1948. Three houses were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Pleasantville is home to the Westchester Table Tennis Center, where over 250 members compete, practice and train for various tournaments, and now, many are even training to become olympic athletes. The Captain Lawrence Brewing Company's first brewing location was in Pleasantville.

Another addition to Pleasantville's cultural scene is the Pleasantville Music Festival, made possible by the village, over 150 volunteers and WXPK, an all-day outdoor event stage at Parkway Field on the second Saturday in July. Main stage acts have included Roger McGuinn, The Bacon Brothers, Rusted Root, Jakob Dylan, Dar Williams, Carney, Back Door Slam, Marc Cohn, Augustana, Z.Z Ward, and Joan Osborne.

Pleasantville is also home to the Pleasantville Farmers Market. Started in 1998 as one of the first markets in Westchester with a goal of breathing life into a struggling downtown, the Saturday morning market is now the largest year-round farmers market in Westchester County, attracting upwards of 3,500 people a week to shop from about 60 vendors of locally grown and produced food. The market is run by volunteers in the community as a non-profit, and it has won the readers' choice "Best of Westchester" award from Westchester Magazine for eight consecutive years, since 2014.

From 1975 to 1987, Pleasantville was home to the New York Giants Training Camp. Each summer the Giants would hold their off-season workouts and Training Camp at the Pace University Pleasantville Campus. During their time at Pleasantville, thousands would flock to camp. During their stay in Pleasantville many businesses benefited from the influx of people and many of the players would be seen at many of the restaurants and delicatessens in town.

Pleasantville is also the only place in America to have hosted a royal wedding, between Estelle Bernadotte and Count Folke Bernadotte, a duke of Sweden who rejected his claim to the crown.

The Marmaduke Forster House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.8 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,172 people, 2,637 households, and 1,824 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,943.4 PD/sqmi. There were 2,684 housing units at an average density of 1,475.7 /sqmi. The estimated racial makeup of the village in 2018 was 71.7% Non-Hispanic White, 90.8% White, 4.3% African American, 0% Native American, 3.1% Asian, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.3% of the population.

There were 2,637 households, out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.3% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 28.5% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $86,632, and the median income for a family was $105,227. Males had a median income of $62,344 versus $47,978 for females. The per capita income for the village was $41,397. About 2.0% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * John Emory Andrus, politician
 * Matt Ballinger, singer in the pop band Dream Street
 * Dave Barry, humorist, author
 * Estelle Bernadotte (1904–1984), American-Swedish countess who was a leading figure in the International Red Cross and Girl Scout movement
 * Louis Biancaniello, record producer
 * Nick Catalano, author
 * Benjamin Cheever, author
 * Chips, the most decorated war dog of World War II
 * Anne Hyde Choate, early and prominent leader of the Girl Scouts
 * Johnny Craig, comic book artist
 * Will Englund, journalist
 * Edward Gelsthorpe (1923–2009), marketing executive known as "Cranapple Ed" for his best-known product launch
 * Terry George, Irish screenwriter, director
 * Paul Geroski, economist
 * Bill Graham (1931–1991), rock promoter
 * Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), author
 * David G. Hartwell (1941-2016), science fiction critic, publisher and editor
 * Lillian Hellman (1905–1984), playwright
 * Otis Hill, professional basketball player, standout at Pleasantville High School and Syracuse University
 * Douglas Kennedy, journalist, part of the Kennedy family
 * Morgana King, singer and actress
 * Boris Koutzen (1901–1966), violinist, composer, conductor of the Chappaqua Orchestra
 * Brandon Larracuente, actor, known for 13 Reasons Why
 * Norman Leyden, musician, arranger, composer and founder of the Westchester Youth Symphony
 * Kyle Lowder, actor
 * Gavin MacLeod, actor
 * Sean Maher, actor
 * Aaron Maine, founder, songwriter, and lead guitarist for the band Porches
 * Janet Maslin, film critic
 * Seabury C. Mastic, lawyer and politician
 * Kurt McKinney, actor (1994–2000, 2006-; recurring character on The Guiding Light)
 * Scott Mebus, author, composer, playwright, theatrical producer
 * John Nonna, Olympic fencer, mayor, and county attorney
 * Stephen O'Leary Soccer player
 * Scott Perlman, Hall of Fame baseball player (WRWBL)
 * George Petitpas, expert in human resource management
 * Sidney Poitier (1960s), actor
 * Steven Clark Rockefeller
 * Deion Sanders, Head Football Coach at University of Colorado, NFL Hall of Famer, 2x Super Bowl Champion, Former New York Yankee
 * David Selby, actor, producer, writer
 * Will Shortz, puzzle creator and editor for the New York Times
 * Henry Stone, owner of TK Records
 * Robert Tagliapietra, fashion designer
 * DeWitt Wallace (1889–1981), magazine publisher, co-founder of Reader's Digest
 * Lila Bell Wallace (née Acheson) (1890–1984), magazine publisher, co-founder of Reader's Digest
 * Mark Ambor, singer-songwriter

title: Pleasantville, New York


text:
Port Chester, New York

Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most populous village in New York State. In 2019, its population grew to a census-estimated 29,342 residents. Located in southeast Westchester, Port Chester forms part of the New York City metropolitan statistical area. Port Chester borders Connecticut and the town of Greenwich to the east. It is one of only 12 villages in New York still incorporated under a charter; other villages either incorporated or reincorporated under the provisions of Village Law.

The village of Port Chester is nicknamed the "Gateway to New England" and serves as a transportation hub between New England states and New York. Its economy is primarily stimulated by small businesses, the local government and several national chain stores.

Names
The Wappinger people called the land on which the village was founded "Haseco", meaning "marshy land" or "marshy hassock". Upon colonial settlement, the area became known as Saw Pit (or Sawpits ) for the saw pits in use during the time. Logs were cut in holes in the ground for wood to be used for homesteading. The name Saw Pit was used for the first time in 1732. The village outgrew this name and became Port Chester by incorporating as a village in 1868.

History
In 1660, three settlers from Greenwidge (now Greenwich, Connecticut)—Thomas Studwell, John Coe, and Peter Disbrow—arranged to buy Manursing Island and the land near the Byram River from the Native Americans. This First Purchase on Peningo Neck comprised the lower part of the present town of Rye, on the east side of Blind Brook. Over the next decade, additional purchases filled in the shoreline from Rye to Greenwich, made via land agreements with the Native Americans in the area.

These Native Americans' tribal affiliation has been a source of considerable debate. They may have been small, independent families or tribes, or subgroups of larger tribes in the area. What is documented is the names of the natives who signed land agreements. Their names were written by the English, using their semi-skilled interpretation of the phonetics. In spite of the English phonetic variations, the land records still existent were clearly signed by the same people:

Shawanórõckquot, aka Shanarockwell, aka Shanarocke (and other variations)

Cockho, aka Cokow, aka Cokeo (and other variations)

Cockinsecawa, aka Cokinseco, aka Cockenseco (and other variations)

Kamaque, aka Quaraiko, aka Rawmanquaie (and other variations)

Mehúmõw, aka Maowbert

Shanarocke was referred to by the others as their leader, or "sachem". These elder tribe members or "sagamores" made many of the tribal decisions, and there were several instances where agreements could not be signed because he was not present.

Shanarocke was a Wiechquaeskeck Native American. Wiechquaskeck settlements were well-documented in shore areas from present-day Pelham to the Byram or "Armonk" river on the Connecticut state line. Shanarocke is specifically named a "Wiechquaskeck sachem" or titled "Sachem of Poningoe" on deeds that include parts of the Bronx and Harlem River area, as well as parts of Queens and Nassau County.

"No Indian name more frequently occurs in the history of the county than that of Wechquaesgeek, nor one the precise location of which there is more difficulty in determining. O'Callaghan says: 'This tract is described as extending from the Hudson to the East river. The name is from wigwos, birch bark, and keag, country—'the country of the birch bark.' Bolton gives the name to an Indian village which occupied the site of Dobbs' ferry, which he denominates 'the place of the bark kettle.'

In Albany Records, III, 379, is this entry: 'Personally appeared Sauwenare, sachem of Wieckqueskeck, Amenameck his brother, and others, all owners, etc., of lands situated on North river called Wieckquaeskeck, and declared that they had sold the same to Wouter Van Twiller in 1645" (source: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River: Their Origin, Manners and Customs; Tribal and Sub-Tribal Organizations; Wars, Treaties, Etc., Etc., p. 366 (Albany, NY: J. Munsell, 1872).

Wechqueskeck is not the name of a particular Native American tribe but the name applied to the territorial jurisdiction of a clan of Indians in Westchester County whose principal village was on the headwaters or tributaries of Armonck or Byram's River. The later treaties at West Farms and Hunts Point, where Shanarocke is labeled "Sachem of Rye", hint at his tribal affiliation. On that agreement are also the sachems of the Reckgawawancs.

Recent investigation points to affiliations with the Wappinger, Lenape, Mohawk, Mohegan, and other Westchester County natives. But Native Americans continued to live in Sawpit until their presence was considered a nuisance, a fate befell many Native Americans.

The Saw Pit area remained largely untouched until Revolutionary times except for a few farms in the hills above the Byram River and a few taverns along the trail that became the Boston Post Road. Although Rye and Saw Pit were created within Fairfield County, Connecticut, the King of England gave the Duke of York large territories west of present-day Connecticut, forming the New York Colony in 1683.

The controversy of divided loyalties to the King and the Duke continued for 105 years. In 1788, the Legislature of New York ruled that Saw Pit was a part of the town of Rye, New York. Families from Rye and Greenwich began to settle the Saw Pit area just before the Revolution, but even as late as 1800 there were only a handful of established homesteads.

Early roads in the area grew from native trails. The Boston Post Road, King Street, and Grace Church streets are some of the early migration paths in the Saw Pit/Rye settlement. Water transportation was equally important. The local waterways (the Byram River and Long Island Sound) were a key part of the growth and development of Saw Pit/Port Chester. Early residents took part in farming and fishing. After the Revolution, the harbor area became a shipbuilding site, with the Lyon family operating a considerable shipyard that produced some of the best sloops and seafaring fishing vessels. By the time the village of Saw Pit incorporated as Port Chester, it was considered a major seaport.

The Byram river provided a decent harbor, which became a factor in the industrialization of Port Chester at the beginning of the 19th century. The railroad's arrival in 1849 turned Port Chester into a destination for manufacturing and wealthy NYC families, with hotels, theaters, and large estates. These exclusive properties included some of the East Coast's grandest mansions, but slowly gave way to the crushing need for housing. Successive waves of immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and Italy each brought industry and prosperity as the village grew.

Steamships regularly sailed from Port Chester to New York City from 1870 until the First World War. The last two decades of the 19th century saw public services expand, and roads were widened and paved in the 1920s. Over 5,000 men from Port Chester served in the First and Second World Wars. After the Second World War, numerous corporations established headquarters or production centers in Port Chester. Examples include Life Savers, whose former factory is now a residential building, evidence of Port Chester's progression from an industrial center to a suburban residential municipality.

On June 30, 1974, a nightclub fire killed 24 people. The Gulliver's nightclub fire was the deadliest dance club fire in the U.S. in more than a generation (the November 28, 1942, Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston killed 491), and called attention to the dangers of herding young people into windowless underground rooms without smoke alarms, sprinklers, fire-resistant walls, or occupancy limits.

Despite the fire, there was no comprehensive New York State Fire Code reform until the 1980s. Fire code enforcement remains a top priority in Port Chester.

In 1999, the village of Port Chester established a "redevelopment area" and relegated regulatory authority in that area to private developer Gregory Wasser from G&S Port Chester, LLC, including power to condemn private property. The decision spawned several lawsuits, including Brody v. Village of Port Chester, Edward Eways v. Village of Port Chester, and Didden v. Village of Port Chester.

In the late 20th and early 21st century, Port Chester underwent several redevelopment proposals and projects. The Port Chester Historical Society is dedicated to learning and teaching the public about Port Chester's history.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has an area of 2.4 sqmi, of which 2.33 sqmi is land and 0.07 sqmi, is water.

Port Chester has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). Due to its location on the coast, temperatures are neither extremely cold nor warm, and precipitation is plentiful for the entire year. Winters are usually cool, and powerful nor'easters can occur, sometimes dropping large amounts of rain and snow on the village. Average annual snowfall is 29.8 inches, significantly more than New York City's 25.3. Snow cover is sporadic as the sea moderates temperatures, which melt snow. During the summer, Port Chester is typically warm, but far cooler than towns even a few miles inland, due to the sea's influence.

Demographics
At the 2019 American Community Survey, there were 29,342 people living in the village of Port Chester. The racial and ethnic makeup of Port Chester in 2019 was 30.6% non-Hispanic white, 3.0% Black or African American, 1.7% Asian, 0.3% some other race, 0.3% two or more races, and 63.9% Hispanic or Latin American of any race. Of the Hispanic and Latino population, the largest single group were Mexican Americans (14.4%) and other Hispanics and Latin Americans made up 45.0% of the demographic. At the 2020 American Community Survey, the Latino population was 14.1% Mexican, 11.8% Guatemalan, 10.3% Ecuadorian, 7.3% Peruvian, 3.7% Dominican, 3.4% Colombian.

At the 2010 census, there were 28,967 people, 9,240 households, and 6,348 families residing in the village. The population density was 11,722.5 PD/sqmi. There were 10,046 housing units at an average density of 4,185.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 31.6% White, 5.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.7% some other race, and 0.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 59.4% of the population.

There were 9,240 households, out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.5% were headed by married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.08 and the average family size was 3.54.

In the village the population was spread out, with 22.6% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 34.2% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.4 males.

At the 2000 U.S. census, the median income for a household in the village was $45,381, and the median income for a family was $51,025. Males had a median income of $32,848 versus $32,461 for females. About 10.1% of families and 13.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 12.6% of those age 65 or over. In 2019, the median income for a household in Port Chester was $74,920 and the mean income was $99,001.

Port Chester contains a more diverse, working-class population than many of its surrounding communities. The population of Port Chester is also a relatively religious suburban community in Downstate New York. The largest religious group in the village and area is Christianity, dominated by the Roman Catholic Church (47%). Of the Christian community, the second largest group operating in the village is the United Methodist Church (1.8%) and the third largest were Baptists (1.7%). The second largest religion in Port Chester was Judaism as of 2021 (5.2%), and Islam was the third largest single religious group (1.5%).

Economy
The Life Savers Candy Company operated a factory in Port Chester from 1920 until 1984. The factory building, which now contains apartments, is one of Port Chester's prominent landmarks. National Collector's Mint was headquartered in Port Chester, and Port Chester was the home of the chili restaurant Pat's Hubba Hubba (also known as "Hubba's").

Business

 * American Automotive Equipment (1969)

Education
Within the village's borders, there is one public school district, the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District. Established in 1884, it Westchester County's oldest school district. Two notable schools in Port Chester are Port Chester Middle and Port Chester High School.

The Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy (now Carmel Academy) opened in Port Chester in 1997, in rented space. It has since moved out of town.

The Japanese Weekend School of New York, a hoshū jugyō kō (Japanese weekend school), holds classes at Port Chester Middle School. As of 2006, the school had about 800 students, including Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans, at locations in Westchester County and Long Island.

Arts and culture
The Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library is an association library funded by and for the villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook. The library was founded in 1876 by Jared V. Peck and was dedicated at its present location in 1926 at the intersection of Haseco and Westchester Avenues. Three major renovations have taken place, in 1967, 2007, and 2012. The latest renovation included the creation of a teen room, a multipurpose meeting room, the addition of new furniture and carpets, and the relocation of the children's room and the implementation of an elevator. Although the renovation did not add square footage to the original three-story, 18,900-square-foot building, it provided a more open design, with better use of space and light to promote parent and child reading activities. The 2012 renovations, which cost $1 million, were paid for with the bequest of Douglas and Elise Lefferts. According to 2011 records, 19,900 people hold library cards and 10,221 people attended programs including GED and community interest classes. The summer reading program typically draws 13,000 children.

Another notable cultural landmark in Port Chester is the Capitol Theatre, a music venue that has hosted bands and artists such as The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and The Ramones. Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead said, "There's only two theaters, man... that are set up pretty groovy all around for music and for smooth stage changes, good lighting and all that—the Fillmore [in Silver Spring, Maryland] and The Capitol Theatre." Because of Garcia's fondness for the theatre, a section of Port Chester has Grateful Dead-themed adornments on sidewalks and telephone poles and in local businesses. Joplin also wrote her song "Mercedes Benz" outside the Capitol Theatre.

Government and politics
Port Chester's government comprises a mayor and seven trustees. The board and mayor also employ a professional village manager. The current mayor of Port Chester is Luis Marino (D).

Board of trustees

 * John J Allen, Jr. (D)
 * Juliana C Alzate (D)
 * Joan Grangenois-Thomas (D)
 * Bart Didden (C)
 * Joseph E. Carvin, Jr. (R)
 * Philip Dorazio

Stuart L. Rabin serves as village manager.

Local elections in Port Chester occur in March. As part of a 2009 U.S. Justice Department consent decree, Port Chester employed cumulative voting for trustee positions. The decree expired in 2016, and after exploring voting options for elections scheduled for March 2019, Port Chester adopted cumulative voting in its charter by popular referendum in 2018. The mayor continues to be elected at large.

Voting
To enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the United States Department of Justice brought a lawsuit in 2006 to compel the village government to change from an allegedly racially discriminatory at-large electoral system to one that was district-based. This lawsuit would halt the March 2007 elections until the village developed an acceptable plan. In its December 15, 2006, complaint the Justice Department wrote, "the current at-large system for electing members of the Port Chester Board of Trustees results in Hispanic citizens having less opportunity than white citizens to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice to the Port Chester Board of Trustees." Local Latino activist Cesar Ruiz, State Assemblyman Peter Rivera, and National Institute for Latino Policy President Angelo Falcón held a news conference on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (January 15, 2007) to display support for the Justice Department's lawsuit and the need to reform the village's electoral system.

The village board of trustees passed a resolution on December 4, 2006, expressing its disagreement with the Department of Justice's decision that the village must reform its election system, claiming that the problem was not discrimination but rather "apathy" in the Hispanic community. Federal authorities believed that the village's "at large" voting system denied Hispanics representation on the board of trustees and the board of education. According to Reuters, "All voters in town elect each board member, whereas dividing the town into six electoral districts would give Hispanics a majority in at least one of them because they are largely concentrated in one area of town, the suit said." Although Latinos make up a significant portion of Port Chester's population, none had ever been elected to the board of trustees or school board.

On March 2, 2007, federal court judge Stephen C. Robinson ruled in favor of the Department of Justice and placed an injunction on the upcoming trustee elections. This ruling did not affect the mayoral election, but was expected to result in Port Chester being broken into election districts. Instead, village officials came up with an alternative plan to address the problem by using cumulative voting. Robinson approved this plan on November 6, 2009.

U.S. Post Office
Port Chester's United States Post Office is a historic building on Westchester Avenue. It was designed by consulting architects Zoller and Muller for the Office of the Supervising Architect, built in 1932-1933, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It is a symmetrical, one-story building faced with brick and trimmed in limestone and granite in the Colonial Revival style. The front facade features a projecting central pavilion with a shallow portico composed of two pairs of limestone Corinthian columns echoed by Corinthian pilasters.

The lobby features an array of four large New Deal murals and nine slightly smaller lunettes, designed by Domenico Mortellito with Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) funding and installed in 1936. They depict a wide range of human activities, including firefighting, shipbuilding, baking, iron working, medicine, music, and teaching.

Parks and recreation
Port Chester has at least six parks, together totaling nearly 50 acre:

 * Abendroth Park: a 10.1 acre park that includes a section for dogs.
 * Columbus Park: a 9.4 acre park east of Ryan Avenue, west of I-95, and north of Fox Island. It has one basketball and two volleyball courts, one large and one small playground, a picnic pavilion with grills, a seasonal water spray playground, and an artificial turf soccer field. Bathroom facilities are available.
 * Crawford Park: owned by the town of Rye. The park is used for soccer, T-ball, and softball.
 * Edgewood Park: a 3.2 acre park with one youth baseball field and small playground structure.
 * Joseph Curtis Recreation Park: a 7.5 acre park north of downtown, not far from Lyon Park. It is bounded by Putnam Drive on the west, Locust Avenue on the east, and Willett Avenue on the south. It has a small playground structure, an adult-size baseball field and batting cage, a roller-skating rink, and bocce courts with fencing and lighting. Bathroom facilities are available.
 * Lyon Park: a 20.3 acre park that contains two Little League fields, a playground, and the historic Bush-Lyon Homestead. The park is bounded by Putnam Avenue, King Street, and Parkway Drive.
 * The Bush-Lyon Homestead, Capitol Theater, Life Savers Building, Putnam and Mellor Engine and Hose Company Firehouse, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, and United States Post Office are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Transportation
The Bee-Line Bus System provides bus service to Port Chester on routes 13 and 61.

Connecticut Transit Stamford Division provides bus service to Port Chester on routes 311 and 311B. The 13 was combined with the southern portion of the former 76 route on December 31, 2011.

Metro-North Railroad's Port Chester train station is on the New Haven Line, and provides commuter rail service to Grand Central Terminal in New York City and to Stamford Transportation Center and New Haven-Union Station in Connecticut.

Notable people

 * PC Chris, gamertag of Chris Szygiel, professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player. The handle PC Chris comes from his hometown of Port Chester, New York.
 * John Abercrombie, jazz guitarist
 * Jon Alpert, reporter and documentary filmmaker
 * Lex Barker, film actor, famous for playing Tarzan
 * Herman Barron (1909–1978), professional golfer
 * Keter Betts, jazz double bass player
 * Nick Bianco, Amateur motocross racer
 * Edson Buddle, Major League Soccer player
 * Jackie Carter, children's book editor and author
 * William W. Cook, legal scholar and major benefactor of the University of Michigan Law School
 * Paul Costa, professional football player
 * Luigi Del Bianco, chief carver of Mount Rushmore
 * Elliot del Borgo, composer
 * Arnold Diaz, journalist for Fox 5 News
 * Aaron Sabato, 2020 MLB First Round Pick by the Minnesota Twins
 * Meaghan Francella, LPGA player
 * Kenneth R. Force, musician, band director, and composer
 * George Gallo, screenwriter and filmmaker
 * Arnold Gamson, conductor
 * Doug Grean, musician and producer
 * Adam Haslett, writer and winner of the PEN/Malamud Award
 * Jean Holzworth, veterinarian
 * Rob Ianello, University of Akron football coach
 * E.L. Konigsburg, author, illustrator, Newbery Award winner
 * Ferdinand Kramer, architect of Greyrock Park and Alden Estates 1939/1940 to 1945
 * Joe Langworth, Broadway performer, choreographer and director
 * Frank E. "Lank" Leonard, cartoonist and creator of the Mickey Finn comic strip
 * Val Lewton, writer and producer
 * Barry Lopez, writer, National Book Award winner
 * D. J. MacHale, American writer, director, and executive producer
 * Robert W. McKnight, Florida state legislator, businessman, and writer
 * Terrence McNally, Playwright, librettist, and screenwriter
 * Brian Moran, professional baseball player
 * Colin Moran, professional baseball player
 * Andy Newmark, rock and funk drummer
 * Leslie R. Nicholas, businessman and Pacific War veteran
 * Richard Ogilvie, Governor of Illinois 1968-1972
 * Frank Pavone, Roman Catholic priest
 * Ruth Roberts, songwriter
 * Saul Rosen, computer scientist
 * André Roy, NHL player
 * Rachael Sage, singer-songwriter
 * Carl Schmehl, director and producer
 * Ed Sullivan, entertainer
 * Art Tomassetti, record-setting test pilot
 * David Tutera, celebrity wedding planner
 * Anthony Vincent, YouTuber and musician
 * Peter J. Vita, holder of the world record for the longest working career as a barber

Sister cities
Port Chester is twinned with:
 * Jingzhou, Hubei in China (2000–present)
 * Portchester, Hampshire in England (2010–present)

title: Port Chester, New York


text:
Pound Ridge, New York

Pound Ridge is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,082 at the 2020 census. The town is located toward the eastern end of the county, bordered to the north and east by the town of Lewisboro, by Stamford, Connecticut, and New Canaan, Connecticut, to the south, Bedford, New York, and North Castle to the west.

Native Americans
In the early 17th century, Pound Ridge was inhabited by Native Americans who spoke the Munsee language and were members of the Wappinger Confederacy. The geographical boundaries of the tribes within the Confederacy are unclear. Pound Ridge has been variously listed as within the territory of the Kitchawong, Siwanoy, and Tankiteke bands.

The Siwanoy are generally agreed to have lived along the north Long Island Sound Coast with a maximum range extending from Hell Gate to the Five Mile River separating today's Darien, Connecticut, from Rowayton to its east. The Tankiteke appear to have occupied easternmost Westchester County above the coast but extending further west in the northern part of the county and into southern and eastern Putnam County, and eastward in Fairfield County to the Saugatuck River in Westport. The territory of the Kitchawong is thought to have extended from the Croton River to Anthony's Nose along the Hudson and some distance east from the river.

The Wappinger Confederacy participated in Kieft's War which began in 1640 as a result of escalating tensions over land use, livestock control, trade and taxation between the Dutch West India Company colony of New Netherland and neighboring native peoples. In March 1644, a Wappinger Confederacy village in present-day Pound Ridge was attacked by a mixed force of 130 New Netherland soldiers under the command of John Underhill. This event is now known as the Pound Ridge Massacre. The soldiers surrounded and burnt the village in a night attack killing between 500 and 700 Indians. The dead included 25 members of the Wappinger tribe, with the remainder being either Tankiteke or Siwanoy or both. The New Netherland force lost one man killed and 15 wounded. More casualties were suffered in this attack than in any other single incident in the war. Shortly after the battle, four Wappinger Confederacy sachems arrived in the New England settlement of Stamford to sue for peace.

The territory of modern Pound Ridge was first permanently settled by Europeans in 1718 in the present-day Long Ridge Road area. Long Ridge Road was originally an Indian path and had been used by the first settlers of Bedford, New York, as they traveled to that destination from Stamford. Although the very first settlers were from Huntington on Long Island, most of the original settlers of Pound Ridge were from Stamford. A large portion of Pound Ridge was included in the town of North Castle when it was incorporated in 1721.

Grants and patroons
Three thousand acres in the northern part of present-day Pound Ridge were included within the more than 86,000 acre Cortlandt Manor grant which extended from the Hudson River in the west 20 miles east to the Connecticut border. A member of the historically prominent Lockwood family first purchased land in Pound Ridge in 1737 and several members of the family settled in the town within the next six years. The Scofield family first settled in the area in 1745 and the first Fancher settled in the area in 1758. Roads in the modern town bear the name of each of these families. The first record of the term "Old Pound Ridge" to refer to the present-day town's territory is found in the North Castle records from 1737. "Old Pound Ridge" begins to appear in Stamford records in 1750. The name "Old Pound Ridge" is thought to have originated from the presence of an Indian game pound on a hill within the territory when the settlers first arrived.

During the 1700s, the Boutonville area of Pound Ridge found itself at the center of a 50-year land dispute concerning overlapping grants of the Van Cortlandt Manor grant to Stephanus Van Cortlandt and to the Stamford patentees. After a lengthy legal battle, clear title to the 3,000 acres was finally given to Van Cortlandt heirs in 1788. Most of this land is now part of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. Sometime after that, Pierre Van Cortlandt built a home there. In 1815, Samuel Piatt (Peatt) (1773–1850) purchased 7 acres and an existing house from Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt. This home, since demolished, was on what now is Honey Hollow Road. The farmland in the Pound Ridge and Lewisboro sections (Ward Pound Ridge Reservation) were part of the Van Cortlandt Manor lands that were divided into "great lots" of about 3,000 acres each. These lots were further divided into 300 acre farms.

American Revolutionary War
Pound Ridge was the site of a battle during the American Revolutionary War. On July 2, 1779, a force of 300 American rebels was attacked by 200 British soldiers under the command of Banastre Tarleton. The raid was the first independent command for the 24-year-old Tarelton. The attack was planned as one of a series of raids on rebel forces in the region, the purpose of which were to draw Washington's army away from the Hudson River.

The rebels had been warned of an impending raid on the night of June 30 by the rebel spy Luther Kinnicutt. However, the spy was not able to discover the date of the attack. The American force consisted of 100 continental foot soldiers of the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Major Eli Leavenworth, 90 of Colonel Sheldon's 2nd Regiment of Light Horse, and about 100 militia under Major Lockwood. The light horse detachment had been under the temporary command of Major Benjamin Tallmadge until the day before the attack when Colonel Sheldon arrived. Benjamin Tallmadge had organized the Culper Spy Ring which operated in British-occupied New York. The British force consisted of 200 mounted light dragoons and infantry and included some Hessian Jagers.

Tarleton left his base on the Bronx River near Yonkers on the night of July 1 in a heavy rain storm and rode until he reached North Castle early on July 2. He then decided to attack Pound Ridge by an indirect northern route. In this way he managed to avoid the force of continentals located on the southern road. A lookout spotted the British as they approached the town and warned Colonel Sheldon. The commander dispatched Major Tallmadge with a small group to find out if the arriving force were British or expected reinforcements under the command of Colonel Moylan. The force under Tallmadge withdrew upon contact with the British. The force of light horse and militia under Sheldon and Lockwood were scattered and withdrew to the south. Tarleton's force pursued them for a time before returning to the town. They were then fired upon by some militia from behind cover. The British burned the Presbyterian Church and the home of Major Lockwood before withdrawing with prisoners, cattle, arms, equipment and the battle standard of Sheldon's 2nd Regiment back along the northern road to Bedford. Tarleton had the Presbyterian Church in Bedford burned as well as the house of a patriot. The British abandoned the cattle in Bedford before returning to the Bronx River camp under pursuit by the Americans as far as North Castle. In the course of the raid the British had managed to capture some of Benjamin Tallmadge's papers including a letter from George Washington. These papers revealed information on the operations of the Culper Spy Ring.

Reports on battle casualties are contradictory. One secondary source provides a figure of 10 Americans wounded and eight captured along with two British killed and four captured. The nearby towns of Bedford and Norwalk were burned by the British on July 11. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the region was witness to raids by both Patriots and Loyalists against opposing residents. A Loyalist raid in Pound Ridge in 1779 led to the death of a resident. Pound Ridge held a number of Loyalists as prisoners or under house arrest throughout the war. Later in the war Loyalists were denied freedom of speech, lost the use of the courts, were prevented from practicing their trades and had their property confiscated.

19th century
Pound Ridge was officially incorporated in 1788. In 1782, the population was 707 which increased to 1,062 by 1790 and 1,256 by 1800. One slave is listed as a resident in the 1800 and 1820 federal censuses. In 1830, the population was 1,437. The population remained between 1,400 and 1,500 through the census of 1860 after which the census indicates population decline. During this period Pound Ridge was an agricultural community in which families raised a variety of crops for their own consumption. Commercial beef and dairy farming were also practiced. The town was a center for shoemaking with almost 150 families listed as shoemakers. Shoe parts were acquired from factories in Long Ridge and New Canaan. Residents would then stitch, fit and attach the parts and return the completed shoes to the factories. This activity was greatest in the winter during which farmers had the time to pursue secondary occupations. This cottage industry declined as the shoemaking industry began to employ full-time workers around mid-century. As a result, a number of local shoemakers moved out of town to become factory workers. Pound Ridge became a center of basketmaking with 80 families employed in the trade at its peak. Basketmaking was concentrated in the present-day hamlet of Scotts Corners which was known as Basket Town. Baskets were used for a variety of purposes but were particularly important for the oyster industry along the Long Island Sound. This local industry reached its height in the 1860s, with basket prices falling thereafter. The decline of basketmaking in Pound Ridge was caused by a combination of competition from foreign and machine-made products as well as the collapse of the oyster industry in the Sound due to environmental pollution. Pound Ridge furnished 109 men to fight in the American Civil War. Of the 94 new recruits, 53 served in Connecticut regiments and 41 in New York Regiments. Seven men were killed in action, 13 died of disease, three died in prison, seven were wounded and 13 disabled. When conscription was enacted, the town began to raise money to give to conscripts for their personal use or so that they could purchase substitutes. The money was raised through taxes, bonds and loans from the county. By the end of the war the town had $35,000 in debts. A significant portion of the money was entrusted to Alsop Hunt Lockwood who served as the town supervisor from 1844 to 1853 and then county sheriff for three years before becoming supervisor again from 1856 to 1868. In the spring of 1868, the town attempted to audit the supervisor to determine how the war funds were disbursed. The supervisor resigned in the summer of 1868 and the town went to court against him to recover $9,155.77 in damages and costs. The case was apparently settled out of court. The former supervisor sold his Pound Ridge house in 1871 and moved to White Plains where he died three years later. Alsop was the sixth and last member of the Lockwood family to serve as town supervisor.

In 1869, the Stamford Water Company purchased land for the construction of a dam and the creation of a reservoir for the use of the city of Stamford. Three ponds were joined to create Trinity Lake which reached a capacity of 450 million gallons when the dam height was increased in 1895. In 1891, the Stamford Water Company purchased additional land and created Siscowit Reservoir with a capacity of 88 million gallons. Annual farmers' picnics were held on the eastern shore of Trinity Lake for about 20 years from 1886 onwards. Up to 2,000 people from the region would attend.

20th century
The population of Pound Ridge declined from 1,417 in 1860 to a low of 515 in 1920. During this period general farming was replaced by dairy farming. Forest grew back over land cleared during the previous two centuries. The town had lost all three of its post offices by 1903. In May 1911, a series of fires broke out that burned hundreds of acres. George Irving Ruscoe served as town supervisor from 1894 to 1927. He also served as a justice of the peace for 62 years until his retirement in 1945. In 1916, the Northern Westchester District Nursing Association requested permission to open a Polio hospital in Pound Ridge. Sentiment in the town was strongly against the proposal and the hospital was not approved. The town board passed a resolution requiring all outside children under the age of 17 to be examined by health officials before they would be allowed to visit the town. In 1917, Pound Ridge was caught up in a Polio epidemic.

In 1925, Westchester County purchased over 4,000 acres of land in northern Pound Ridge and adjacent Lewisboro to create the Pound Ridge Reservation. The park was renamed the Ward-Pound Ridge Reservation in 1938 after the park planner and longtime Republican county leader William L. Ward. From 1933 to 1940, the Reservation was host to a Civilian Conservation Corp camp known variously as Camp SP-9, Camp No. 24 and Camp Merkel after the parks superintendent for Westchester County. The camp had about 200 enrollees at any one time. Workers improved roads and built bridges, planted trees and constructed shelters, picnic areas, walls, latrines and a museum.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.1 sqmi, of which 22.3 sqmi of the town is land and 0.8 sqmi (3.37%) is water. The eastern and southern town lines are along the border with Connecticut.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,726 people, 1,699 households, and 1,406 families residing in the town. The population density was 207.3 PD/sqmi. There were 1,868 housing units at an average density of 81.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.54% White, 1.21% African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.65% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.45% of the population.

There were 1,699 households, out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.4% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.2% were non-families. Of all households 13.2% were made up of individuals, and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town the population was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 32.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 95.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $183,208, and the median income for a family was $191,439 (since 2008). Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $50,553 for females. The per capita income for the town was $74,914. About 0.9% of families and 1.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.6% of those under aged 18 and 2.8% of those aged 65 or over.

Government

 * Kevin C. Hansan, Town Supervisor
 * Diane Briggs, Deputy Supervisor
 * Nicole Engel, Chief of Staff

Pound Ridge government offices are located in the Pound Ridge Town House on Westchester Avenue.

Schools
The local school is the Pound Ridge Elementary School, one of five K-5 schools in the Bedford Central School District. Older children take the bus to the Fox Lane Campus in Bedford, where the middle and high schools are located.

Communities and locations in Pound Ridge

 * Pound Ridge – the historic hamlet of Pound Ridge in the center of the town, which contains the Pound Ridge Community Church, the Hiram Halle Memorial Library, the Pound Ridge Museum, as well as many privately owned Hiram Halle restorations in the Pound Ridge Historic District. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
 * Sarles Corners – a hamlet west of Scotts Corners; originally named Taylor's Corner.
 * Scotts Corners – a hamlet in the southern part of the town which serves as the business district. This is where the post office and firehouse are located.

Local media
The Westchester Journal-News, a daily newspaper, is the Town's official newspaper.

Pound Ridge as a film location
Pound Ridge and the Pound Ridge reservation were the settings for several films, including:
 * the 1976 thriller Marathon Man
 * the 1997 film Jungle 2 Jungle
 * the 1997 HBO film In the Gloaming

Notable people

 * Max Abramovitz (1908–2004), architect and long-time resident; died here
 * Eva Amurri (b. 1985), lifelong resident and actress
 * Tallulah Bankhead, actress
 * Ellen Barkin, actress who lived in town in the 1990s
 * David Bloom, journalist
 * Jerry Bock, composer and long-time resident
 * George E. Bria, journalist
 * Tom Brokaw (born 1940), journalist and author
 * Blackleach Burritt, noted Congregational clergyman in the American Revolution
 * Gabriel Byrne (born 1950), actor; resided here in the 1990s
 * Zoe Caldwell, long-time resident and stage actress
 * Howard Cosell (1918–1995), sportscaster
 * Hume Cronyn, long-time resident and actor; husband of Jessica Tandy
 * Melissa Claire Egan (born 1981), actress
 * Ari Fleischer (born 1960), press secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush (2001 to 2003); grew up in the town and later returned to raise his family
 * Richard Gere (born 1949), actor and producer
 * Benny Goodman, jazz clarinetist and bandleader
 * Michael Gore, songwriter, producer, and brother of '60s singer Lesley Gore
 * Fred Gwynne (1926–1993), actor
 * Hiram Halle (1867–1944), philanthropist, inventor, and businessman; died here
 * Elizabeth Hand, author; grew up here
 * Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain, author and screenwriter
 * Zach Iscol (born 1978), US Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur, candidate in the 2021 New York City Comptroller election
 * Anne Jackson (1925–2016), actress
 * Stephen Jenks, composer and singing master
 * Eartha Kitt, long-time resident and actress
 * Björn Kjellström, one of the inventors of the modern compass and founder of the Silva Compass company, resident from 1950 to 1995
 * Andrew Klaber, investor and philanthropist
 * Ronnie Lee, Broadway actor, producer, and founder of Group Sales Box Office
 * Blake Lively (born 1987), actress and wife of Ryan Reynolds
 * Samuel D. Lockwood, 19th century Illinois politician
 * Stanley Lomas, television and advertising pioneer; produced first televised college football game
 * Carey Lowell, actress, ex-spouse of Richard Gere
 * Ross Lowell (1926–2019), inventor and cinematographer; died here
 * Ali MacGraw (born 1939), actress, ex-spouse of Robert Evans and Steve McQueen
 * Mike Myers (born 1963), actor
 * Stuart Ostrow, Broadway producer; resident 1966–1995
 * Jane Pauley, journalist and author
 * Maggie Q (born 1979), actress and model
 * Christopher Reeve, long-time resident and actor; died here in 2004
 * Dana Reeve, long-time resident and actress; died here in 2006
 * Steve Reich, composer
 * Ryan Reynolds (born 1976), actor and husband of Blake Lively
 * Tim Robbins, long-time resident, Little League sponsor, and actor
 * Steven C. Rockefeller, professor, philanthropist
 * Robert Rubin (born 1938), 70th US Treasury Secretary
 * Susan Sarandon, long-time resident and actress
 * Lisl Steiner, long-time resident and photographer, photojournalist, and filmmaker
 * Martin Stone, producer of Howdy Doody and owner of WVIP Radio
 * Jessica Tandy, long-time resident and actress, wife of Hume Cronyn
 * John Waite (b. 1952), prolific lyricist/balladier, of The Babys and Bad English fame, who wrote many tunes while living here
 * Eli Wallach (1915–2014), actor
 * Jessica Walter (1941–2021), actress
 * Vera Wang (born 1949), lifelong resident and fashion designer
 * Robert Whitehead (1916-2002), producer
 * Sloan Wilson (1920–2003), author

title: Pound Ridge, New York