Irvington, sometimes known as
Irvington-on-Hudson, is an affluent suburban village in the Town of
GreenburghGreenburgh is a town in the western part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 86,764 at the 2000 census. Paul J. Feiner has been Town Supervisor since 1991.-Geography:...
in
Westchester CountyWestchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles and has a diverse population of approximately 950,000, residing in 45 municipalities...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located on the eastern bank of the
Hudson RiverThe Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into...
, north of midtown
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
and is served by a
station stopThe Irvington Metro-North Railroad station serves residents of Irvington, New York via the Hudson Line. Trains leave for New York City every 25 to 35 minutes on weekdays...
on the Metro-North
Hudson LineMetro-North Railroad's Hudson Line is a commuter rail line running north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River. Metro-North service ends at Poughkeepsie, with Amtrak's Empire Corridor trains continuing north to and beyond Albany...
. To the north of Irvington is the village of
TarrytownTarrytown is a village in the Town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
, to the south the village of
Dobbs FerryDobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,622 at the 2000 census.The Village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a part of, the Town of Greenburgh...
, and to the east unincorporated parts of Greenburgh, including East Irvington. Irvington includes within its boundaries the community of
Ardsley-on-Hudson, which has its own zip code and
Metro-North stationThe Ardsley-on-Hudson Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of Dobbs Ferry, New York and Irvington, New York via the Hudson Line. Trains leave hourly for New York City 7 days a week, and every 25 to 35 minutes on weekday morning peak times...
, but which should not be confused with the nearby village of
Ardsley, New YorkArdsley is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 4,269 at the 2000 census.The Village of Ardsley is located in the Town of Greenburgh....
.
The population of Irvington at the 2000 census was 6,631. The estimated population in 2007 was 6,682.
History
Before the site where Irvington is now located was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by the Wickquasgeck Indians, one of the
LenapeThe "Lenape", pronounced IPA: , , or in English, means "the people." Sometimes the name is spelled Lenape or Lenapi. Also known as the Lenni Lenape, the "true people", or as the "Delaware Indians", they are organized bands of Native American peoples with shared cultural and linguistic...
(Delaware) tribes which dominated lower New York state and New Jersey. The land was originally part of the Bisightick tract of the Van der Donck grant purchased by Frederick Philipse in 1682, but in 1785 the state of New York confiscated the land from his grandson, Frederick Philipse III, after he sided with the British in the Revolution, and sold it to local farmers. This is presumably how part of it came to be the farm of William Dutcher. Dutcher sold half of his farm to Justus Dearman in 1817, who then sold it to Gustavo F. Sacchi in 1848 for $26,000. Saachi sold the parcel to
John JayJohn Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, President of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and, from 1789 to 1795, the first Chief Justice of the United States...
that same year, and Jay laid it out as a village which he called "Dearman", and sold lots at auction in New York City starting on April 25, 1850. At that time, a ferry point ran across the Hudson from Dearman to
PiermontPiermont is a village in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades; east of Sparkill and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of the Hudson River...
on the west bank, and the hamlet of "Abbotsford" (which would later become Ardsley-on-Hudson) was forming along Clinton Avenue.
In 1854 the village changed its name, by popular vote, to "Irvington", after the American author
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
, who was still alive at that time and living in nearby "
SunnysideSunnyside is a historic house on 10 acres of grounds alongside the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York. It was formerly the home of noted early American author Washington Irving, best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", and is a National Historic...
" – which is today preserved as a museum. Influential residents of the village prevailed upon the Hudson River Railroad to change the name of the train station to "Irvington", and also convinced the Postmaster to change the name of the local post office as well. It was thus under the name of "Irvington" that the village incorporated on April 16, 1872.
The side streets off of Irvington's Main Street, which originally were designated "A", "B", "C", and so forth, are today named after many of the area's early settlers, such as Barent and William Dutcher, Captain John Buckhout (who lived to 103) and
Wolfert EckerWolfert Acker was a colonial-period American. He is featured in Washington Irving's short story collection Wolfert's Roost...
(or "Acker"). It was Ecker's house, then owned by Jacob van Tassel, which was burned by the British in the
Revolutionary WarThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
because it had become a notorious hang-out for American patriots.
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
later wrote about it under the name of "Wolfert's Roost", and purchased and re-modeled the house to become "Sunnyside". Another early settler was Capt. Jan Harnse, and the Harnse-Conklin-Odell Tavern on Broadway was built in 1693. (see below British troops camped near Odell's Tavern during the Revolution.
Beginning in the 1850s Irvington's cool summer breezes off the Hudson and the rural riparian setting began to attract wealthy residents of New York City to the area to build large summer residences. For many years, through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Irvington was a relatively small community surrounded by numerous large estates and mansions where millionaires, aristocrats and captains of industry lived – the population was reported as 2,299 in 1890 and 2013 in 1898. Many of the estates and mansions are now gone, having been replaced by suburban sub-divisions, although a small number still exist, but Irvington still has many large houses, and is still an overwhelmingly well-heeled community.
Irvington is protected by its own 22 man police department, along with a volunteer fire department and volunteer ambulance corps.
Geography
Irvington is located at (41.034371, -73.865471).
The village has a total area of 4.0 square miles (10.5 square kilometers), of which, 2.8 square miles (7.2 square kilometers) of it is land and 1.2 square miles (3.2 square kilometers) of it (30.94%) is water.
The village's main thoroughfare is Broadway (Route 9, formerly the
Albany Post RoadThe Albany Post Road was a post road - a road used for mail delivery - in the U.S. state of New York. It connected the cities of New York and Albany along the east side of the Hudson River, a service now performed by US 9.The rough route was as follows:...
, completed in the area of Irvington by 1723), which runs north-south parallel to the river, and connects Irvington to Dobbs Ferry in the south and Tarrytown in the north. All of the village's major streets, including Main Street, branch off east and west from Broadway, and are designated as such. Broadway is designated "North Broadway" above Main Street, and "South Broadway" below it. Main Street begins at the Metro-North train station, just off the Hudson River, and travels uphill to Broadway. Side streets off of Main, which were originally designated A Street, B Street, C Street, etc. when the village grid was laid out, now have names, most of which come from local history: Astor, Buckhout, Cottenet, Dutcher, Ecker, Ferris and Grinnell.
The southbound
Saw Mill River ParkwayThe Saw Mill River Parkway is a , north-south parkway running diagonally through Westchester County, New York. Named for the Saw Mill River, which the highway parallels, the Saw Mill Parkway begins at the Westchester-Bronx border, where it continues into New York City as the Henry Hudson Parkway...
can be reached via Harriman Road/Cyrus Field Road, past the village reservoir, or East Sunnyside Lane/Mountain Road through East Irvington. The northbound Saw Mill and the
New York State ThruwayThe New York State Thruway is a limited-access toll highway in the U.S. state of New York...
are accesible via
ArdsleyArdsley is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 4,269 at the 2000 census.The Village of Ardsley is located in the Town of Greenburgh....
, and the
Tappan Zee BridgeThe Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, almost always referred to as the Tappan Zee Bridge, or simply the Tappan Zee, is a cantilever bridge in New York over the Hudson River at one of its widest points, the Tappan Zee, named for an American Indian tribe from the area called the "Tappan"...
is nearby in Tarrytown.
Commuter train service to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
is available at the
IrvingtonThe Irvington Metro-North Railroad station serves residents of Irvington, New York via the Hudson Line. Trains leave for New York City every 25 to 35 minutes on weekdays...
and
Ardsley-on-HudsonThe Ardsley-on-Hudson Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of Dobbs Ferry, New York and Irvington, New York via the Hudson Line. Trains leave hourly for New York City 7 days a week, and every 25 to 35 minutes on weekday morning peak times...
train stations, served by the
Metro-North RailroadThe Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. Metro–North runs service between New York City to its...
of the
MTAThe Metropolitan Transportation Authority is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S. state of New York, serving 12 counties in southeastern New York, along with 2 counties in southwestern Connecticut under contract to the Connecticut Department of...
. Bus service is provided on Broadway by the Westchester County
Beeline Bus System via route #1T (The Bronx-Yonkers-Tarrytown) and #1W (The Bronx-Yonkers-White Plains).
As with all river communities in Westchester, Irvington is traversed by a stretch of the old
Croton AqueductThe Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842...
, about long, which is now part of the Old Croton Trailway State Park. The Aqueduct is a
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance. All NHLs are listed in the National Register of Historic Places...
.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 6,631 people, 2,518 households, and 1,812 families residing in the village. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 2,377.4 people per square mile (917.7/km²). There were 2,601 housing units at an average density of 932.5/sq mi (359.9/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 88.66% White, 1.45% African American, 0.11% Native American, 6.95% Asian, 1.16% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.79% of the population. 18.1% were of
ItalianThe Italian people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Italian culture, descent, and speaking the Italian language as a mother tongue...
, 17.3%
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
, 7.3% German and 5.9% Russian ancestry according to Census 2000. 88.0% spoke
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
, 4.2%
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
, 3.6%
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, 1.8%
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
and 1.0%
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
as their first language.
There were 2,518 households out of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.2% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.0% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the village the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $96,467, and the median income for a family was $120,895. Males had a median income of $85,708 versus $50,714 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the village was $59,116. About 1.2% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 0.9% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Although Irvington is still a suburban "bedroom community", with a large number of people commuting into New York City to work, there are also several notable businesses and institutions located in the village:
- Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
's Nevis LaboratoriesNevis Labs is a research center owned and operated by Columbia University. It is located in Irvington, New York on the property originally owned by Col. James Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton, a graduate of Columbia College...
is a research center specializing in the preparation, design, and construction of high-energy particle and nuclear experiments and equipment which are transported to accelerators such as FermilabFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located in Batavia near Chicago, Illinois, is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. As of January 1, 2007, Fermilab is operated by the Fermi Research Alliance, a joint venture of the University of...
, CERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , , is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border, established in 1954...
and Brookhaven National LaboratoryBrookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
. The resulting data is analyzed at Nevis using their extensive computer systems. Twelve faculty members, fourteen postdoctoral research scientists and twenty graduate students work at the lab, along with an engineering and technical staff of twenty.
- Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
has its headquarters on the same property as Nevis Labs.
- Foundation for Economic Education
The Foundation for Economic Education is "one of the oldest free-market organizations" established in the United States specifically "to study and advance the freedom philosophy." The FEE promotes, researches and promulgates free-market, classical liberal, and libertarian ideas...
was founded in 1946 by Leonard E. Read to study and advance the freedom philosophy: the sanctity of private property, individual liberty, the rule of law, the free market, and the moral superiority of individual choice and responsibility over coercion. FEE is located on a rambling seven-acre 19th-century estate on South Broadway with a main building, the "Big House", with offices, library and archives, classroom, a commercial kitchen, a formal dining room, a large reception lounge, and a men's dormitory. Women stay in the Carriage House dormitory, next to the main building.
- Eileen Fisher
Eileen Fisher, Inc. is an American women's clothing retailer founded by a clothing designer of the same name. Her clothing is known for simplicity. She has sometimes used non-traditional models in print advertisements, including employees of the company....
, a clothing design company, has corporate offices on Bridge Street.
- The Student Center, a community website for teenagers and college students has offices on Main Street.
- House Party, an experimental marketing firm which specializes in arranging parties to promote their clients' products, has its offices on Bridge Street in Irvington.
Education
Irvington is part of the
Irvington Union Free School District, which also includes East Irvington, an unincorporated area of the
Town of GreenburghGreenburgh is a town in the western part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 86,764 at the 2000 census. Paul J. Feiner has been Town Supervisor since 1991.-Geography:...
, and the Pennybridge section of
TarrytownTarrytown is a village in the Town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
, Irvington's northern neighbor. The schools are Dows Lane School (K-3), Main Street School (4&5), Irvington Middle School (6-8), and
Irvington High SchoolIrvington High School is a public high school in Irvington, New York 10533. It is a part of the Irvington Union Free School District in Westchester County. The building the high school currently occupies was opened for the 1965-1966 school year, but was extensively rebuilt in the 1980s. Prior to...
(9-12). The Middle School and High School are sited together on a combined campus on Heritage Hill Road off of North Broadway, on the site where the Stern castle, "Greystone", once stood.
The school system is known for its small class size and emphasis on academics; the high school is #91 in the ranking of the top 100 high schools in the nation by the
U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
, and about 98% of graduates go on to higher education.
Located in Irvington, but not part of the regular public school district, is the
Abbott School, which serves homeless, neglected, abused, or developmentally disabled boys in grades 2 through 9. The students come both from the residential
Abbott House, where the school is located, and as day students from community schools in Westchester County, Rockland County, and New York City.
The Immaculate Conception School, a Catholic Elementary School, was closed by the Archdiocese of New York in June 2008.
Religion
Irvington has four Christian churches. Three of them, the
Irvington Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian), the
Immaculate Conception Church (Roman Catholic) and
The Church of St. Barnabas (Episcopalian/Anglican), are clustered together on Broadway, just north of Main Street. The
Calvary Chapel of Westchester (
EvangelicalCalvary Chapel, a non-denominational, Evangelical fellowship of Christian churches, began in 1965 in Southern California. It presents itself as a "fellowship of churches" in contrast to a denomination. Churches that apply and qualify for affiliation through an extensive and thorough application...
) is located in the Trent Building on South Buckhout Street.
The Jewish community of Irvington is served by three nearby
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
s: the traditional/non-denominational
Chabad of the Rivertowns, the conservative
Greenburgh Hebrew Center in Dobbs Ferry and the dual reform/conservative synagogue
Temple Beth Abraham in Tarrytown. Irvington itself features a "chavruah," or member-led Jewish congregation that follows in the conservative tradition, known as
Rosh Pinah Chavruah of the Rivertowns.
Irvington is also home to a number of members of the
Unification ChurchThe Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity...
, including several high-ranking families. There are several Church-owned estates and buildings located in Irvington, or in the neighboring village of
TarrytownTarrytown is a village in the Town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
. Reverend
Sun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects involved in political, cultural, artistic, mass-media, educational, public service, and other activities. One of the best-known of these is the...
, the founder of the Church and its spiritual leader, has a large private residence, the former Frederic Clark Sayles estate, on East Sunnyside Lane. The Moon estate is 17.67 acres.
Points of interest
- Sunnyside
Sunnyside is a historic house on 10 acres of grounds alongside the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York. It was formerly the home of noted early American author Washington Irving, best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", and is a National Historic...
(1656/1835) - In 1835 Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
bought for $1,800 a two-room pitched-roofed Dutch farm house built in 1656 from the property that was William EckerWilliam Marsh Acker, Jr. is a United States federal judge for the District Court for the Northern District of Alabama....
's, and spent 15 years expanding and redesigning the house with the help of his friend and neighbor George HarveySir George Harvey , Scottish painter, the son of a watchmaker, was born at St Ninians, near Stirling....
, a landscape painter. Ten years later Irvng continued, adding a tower his friends called "The Pagoda". Today, the house is owned and operated as a museum by Historic Hudson ValleyHistoric Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, in Westchester County...
. (West Sunnyside Lane at the river)
- Washington Irving Memorial
The Washington Irving Memorial is located at Broadway and West Sunnyside Lane in Irvington, New York, United States. It features a bust of Irving and sculptures of two of his better-known characters by Daniel Chester French, set in a small stone plaza at the street corner designed by Charles A....
(1927) - Designed by Daniel Chester FrenchDaniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Biography:...
, America's leading sculptor at the time and the designer of the Lincoln MemorialThe Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and was dedicated on May 30, 1922. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French,...
in Washington, D.C., the Irving memorial, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places (2000), shows a bust of Irving flanked by two of his characters, BoabdilAbu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII , known as Boabdil , was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate...
from The Alhambra and Rip van Winkle"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...
, all set against polished pink Vermont granite. (North Broadway at West Sunnyside Lane)
- Odell's Tavern (1693) - The main part of the Odell-Conklin-Harmse Tavern, the oldest house extant in Irvington, is constructed of fieldstone, with walls that are four feet thick. It was built by Jan Harmse after he moved to the area from Long Island, and was converted to a tavern in 1742 Mathius and Sophia Conklin, a function it served until sometime in the 1800s. The "Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York" stopped there in April 1776, when Jonathan Odell was the proprietor, on their way out of New York City when the British occupied it, and discussed General Washington's defeat at the Battle of Long Island
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the...
. In 1989, the Village of Irvington had the opportunity to purchase for $5.5 million the Murray-Griffin property that includes the Tavern, as well as 19th century barn and carriage house and a 23-room four-story Bedford stone house built in 1938, but did not. The Tavern, which in 2006 was reported as having undergone a recent restoration using artisans from Lyndhurst, is now part of a private residence and is not open to the public. (South Broadway at West Clinton Avenue)
- Nevis (1836) - Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
's Nevis LaboratoriesNevis Labs is a research center owned and operated by Columbia University. It is located in Irvington, New York on the property originally owned by Col. James Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton, a graduate of Columbia College...
is located on a property originally owned by James Hamilton-Dukes:*James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton , heir to the throne of Scotland*James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton , Scottish nobleman*James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton , Scottish nobleman...
, the third son of Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
. He called the estate, which was originally , "Nevis" after the CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
islandNevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 220 miles southeast of Puerto Rico and fifty miles west of Antigua. The 36-square-mile island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...
which was the birthplace of the elder Hamilton. The Greek revival mansion James Hamilton built in 1836 is still standing on the grounds. The estate was given to Columbia in 1934 by Mrs. T. Coleman DuPont, of Delaware, "to make more satisfactory provision for its increasingly important work in landscape architecture and general horticulture." One early pamphlet remarked, "Nevis is one of the superb examples of historic and landscape architecture in America. No other country place north of Maryland so perfectly exemplifies the taste of the Early Republican Period in our history." The property contains an inventory of 2,640 trees and 1,928 ornamental shrubs. (South Broadway)
- Station Road Tunnel (1837-1842) - At Station Road, west of Broadway, the Old Croton Aqueduct passes overhead in a large stone and earthwork viaduct, through which a single-lane tunnel was built to allow the road to pass through it. (Station Road)
- Nuits
Nuits, also known as the Cottenet-Brown House, is an Italian villa-style house located in the Ardsley-on-Hudson section of the village of Irvington, New York, United States. Built in 1852 for Francis Cottenet, a wealthy New York merchant, it was later owned and renovated by Cyrus West Field, John...
(1853) - This Italianate villa was built as a summer home by the textile importer Francis Cottenet (who came from Nuits-St.-George in France, and whose name adorns "Cottenet Street" in Irvington) out of brick faced with Caen stoneCaen stone or Pierre de Caen, is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen.It was used in the construction of the late eleventh century austere Norman Romanesque Church of Saint-Étienne, at the Abbaye-aux-Hommes , that was founded by William the...
– a light creamy-yellow limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geologic record...
quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen, and brought to America as ballast in Cottenet's ships – to a design by the noted Danish architect Detlef LienauDetlef Lienau was a German architect. He is credited with having introduced the French style to American building construction, notably the mansard roof and all its decorative flourishes...
. The house was built in two stages, the south entrance area first in 1853, and the north extension, which features a Lord and Burnham conservatory, in 1860. The house passed through numerous owners, including Cyrus Field, John Jacob Astor IIIJohn Jacob Astor III was the elder son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. and the wealthiest member of the Astor family in his generation.-Biography:...
and Amzi Lorenzo Barber. Nuits remains a private residence, albeit on rather than the original estate. Nuits, which is also known as the Cottenet-Brown House, was added to the National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1977, and the house was restored between 1980 and 2000. (Hudson Road and Clifton Place, Ardsley-on-Hudson)
- St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (1853) - A stone Gothic
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
building listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(2000), the cornerstone of St. Barnabas was laid on May 29, 1853. It was originally intended as a chapel and school, and was designed by the Reverend Dr. John McVickar, a professor at Columbia CollegeColumbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King...
and the General Theological SeminaryThe General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is located at 175 Ninth Avenue near 21st Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York...
and friend of Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
– his son, William McVickar was the church's first rector. The building was constructed from stone quarried on the former Rutter estate across Broadway, where the "Fieldpoint" development is now located. In the early 1860s the building was enlarged to become a parish church, to plans produced by the firm of Renwick and Sands. (James Renwick, Jr.James Renwick, Jr. , was a prominent American architect in the 19th-century. The Encyclopedia of American Architecture calls him "one of the most successful American architects of his time".-Life and work:Renwick was born into a wealthy and well-educated family...
was the architect who would design the Irvington Presbyterian Church which stands next to St. Barnabas.) The "Lich Gate" entryway dates from circa 1896, and was designed by A.J. Manning, who later designed the Irvington Town Hall. The Gate is made of solid oak on a stone foundation, and was a memorial to Mrs. H. B. Worthington. (North Broadway, north of Main Street)
- McVickar House (1853) - The McVickar House was built by Reverend John McVickar for his son, the Reverend William McVickar, the first rector of St. Barnabas Church. John McVickar's own house was on Fargo Lane, not far from Sunnyside, and it is said that Washington Irving enjoyed the view from John McVickar's house better than the one from his own. The backyard of the William McVickar house became the site of a Con Edison substation in 1957, and served as a doctor's office until 1984. The Village of Irvington acquired it in 2002, and it was restored and renovated to be the headquarters of the Irvington Historical Society, opening in November 2005 as the Irvington History Center. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(2003). (131 Main Street, between North Dearman and Broadway)
- Octagon House (Armour-Stiner House
The Armour-Stiner House, also known as the Carmer Octagon House, is a unique octagon-shaped and domed Victorian style house located at 45 West Clinton Avenue in Irvington, in Westchester County, New York...
) (1860) - Built by Paul J. Armour to ideas advanced by Orson Fowler and expanded and refurbished by Joseph Stiner in 1872, the Armour-Stiner House is said to be one of the most lavish octagon houseOctagon houses are houses with an octagonal plan. The style was popularized by the phrenologist and amateur architect Orson Squire Fowler in 1848 and enjoyed a brief fad in the 1850s.-History:Early examples, before Fowler:...
s built in the period, and is now one of only perhaps a hundred still extant. The house was later occupied by historian Carl CarmerCarl Carmer was an author of nonfiction books, memoirs, and novels, many of which focused on Americana such as myths, folklore, and tales. His most famous book, Stars Fell on Alabama, was an autobiographical story of the time he spent living in Alabama...
, who maintained that it was haunted. In 1976, the house was briefly owned by the National Trust for Historic PreservationThe National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities....
to prevent it from being demolished. The Trust was unable to fund the amount of renovation the property required, and sold it to a preservationistHistoric preservation or heritage conservation is a professional endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historic significance...
architect, Joseph Pell LombardiJoseph Pell Lombardi is a New York City-based architect, heading the firm The Office of Joseph Pell Lombardi, Architect. Lombardi holds degrees in both Architecture and Historic Preservation , and he established his firm in 1969 to specialize in restoration, preservation, adaptive re-use and...
, who has conserved the house, interiors, grounds and outbuildings. The house is a National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance. All NHLs are listed in the National Register of Historic Places...
. (West Clinton Avenue, west of the Old Croton Trail)
- Irvington Presbyterian Church (1869) - A Romanesque
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed in the late 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque style of architecture. Popular features of these revival buildings are round arches, semi-circular arches on windows, and belt courses...
church designed by James Renwick, Jr.James Renwick, Jr. , was a prominent American architect in the 19th-century. The Encyclopedia of American Architecture calls him "one of the most successful American architects of his time".-Life and work:Renwick was born into a wealthy and well-educated family...
, who also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral, New YorkSaint Patrick's Cathedral is adecorated Neo-Gothic-style Catholic cathedral church in the United States. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church, located on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in midtown Manhattan,...
; the stained-glass windows were designed by Louis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
. The cost of construction was $53,0000. (North Broadway, north of Main Street)
- Lord and Burnham Building
The Lord and Burnham Building is located at the corner of Main and Astor streets in Irvington, New York, USA, right across from the village's train station...
(1881) - Lord and Burnham manufactured greenhouses – a splendid example of which can be seen at Lyndhurst, the estate of Jay GouldJason "Jay" Gould was an American financier who became a leading American railroad developer and speculator...
, in neighboring Tarrytown – and boilers. The Burnham factory building, built in 1881 to replace a factory that burned down on the same site that year, is listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1999. It has been renovated and repurposed into residences and the new home of the expanded Irvington Public Library. Across the railroad tracks, the buildings of Lord & Burnham's expansion factory are now utilized as offices, shops and restaurants. (Foot of Main Street at the train station)
- Hermit's Grave (1888) - Johann W. Stolting was a native of Heligoland
Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea...
who lived deep in the woods of Irvington as a hermit in the 1800s. He slept in his coffin, made of local chestnut wood, in a cabin overlooking the Saw Mill River valley. Stolting made his own clothes, wore sandals for shoes, but never wore a hat. He survived by selling wooden buttons made on a homemade foot-powered lathe. He died in 1888 at the age of 78, and his grave is only a few hundred feet west of the Saw Mill Parkway – the only marked grave in Irvington. The grave is reachable by a marked trail (the blue and white blazed "HG" trail) that begins at the north end of the village reservoir. (trail head at Fieldpoint Road)
- Cosmopolitan Building (1895) - This three-story stone neo-Classical revival
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque...
building topped by three small domes was designed by Stanford WhiteStanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be...
as the headquarters for CosmopolitanCosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
when the magazine moved from New York to Irvington. John Brisben WalkerJohn Brisben Walker was a United States magazine publisher and automobile entrepreneur, in later years a resident of Jefferson County, Colorado....
, who had bought the general interest magazine in 1889, had a mansion in Irvington only a short walk away. In 1897 Walker started a free correspondence school, the Cosmopolitan Educational University Extension. When 20,000 people enrolled, Walker was unable to keep to its offer of a no-cost education for all, and had to ask the students to pay $20 per year. Nevertheless, the venture attracted well known academics to its staff, and public lectures and other events associated with the school were held in the headquarters building. The magazine also sponsored several automobile races from New York to Irvington to promote the automobile. Cosmopolitan left Irvington shortly after William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher.Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, to millionaire mining engineer George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson. Following preparation at St...
bought the magazine in 1905 and moved it back to New York. Afterwards, the building was used as a silent movie studio for some period of time, but for most of its subsequent history has primarily housed manufacturing concerns of various types, including one that made radio oscillators used by the U.S. Army in World War II, and a company that made looseleaf binders and other paper products. The Cosmopolitan Building still stands, although it is known as the "Trent Building" after the family that owns it, but it is quite run down, and its visage has suffered from pedestrian industrial buildings which were stuck on to its rear, obscuring the eastern facade. The building houses manufacturers, offices, a video production facility, a publisher of art books, interior design firms, a yoga studio, a chapel, photographers, a spa, a florist and event space and at least one restaurant. (50 South Buckhout Street)
- East Irvington Public School
East Irvington School, or East Irvington Public School, is a former school that served the neighborhood of that name in the town of Greenburgh, New York, United States as part of the Irvington School District. It was built in 1891 to educate the children of a growing population of Irish American...
(1898, 1925) - Built by as a one-story school house for the community of East Irvington, the building was expanded to two stories in 1925, and remained in active use as a school until 1970. East Irvington, an unincorporated area of the town of GreenburghGreenburgh is a town in the western part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 86,764 at the 2000 census. Paul J. Feiner has been Town Supervisor since 1991.-Geography:...
which is part of the Irvington School District, but not of the Village of Irvington, had been known as "Dublin" due to the number of Irish immigrant workers living there, many of whom worked at the nearby quarry. The building was converted to condominiums in 1983, when it was also placed on the National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. A similar school is located in the section of TarrytownTarrytown is a village in the Town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
known as "Pennybridge", which is also past of the Irvington School District.
- Irvington Town Hall
Irvington Town Hall is located along Main Street in that village in the U.S. state of New York. In addition to being home to the village government, police department, and until 2000 the public library, it has a public reading room in keeping with the requirements of the original land deed...
(1902) - The Irvington Town Hall, which was listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1984, is built on land deeded to the village before the turn of the century by the Mental and Moral Improvement Society of Irvington, which required that the building must have in perpetuity a reading room, and also specified that it have a public hall. The brick, stone and terra cotta building, which is called a "Town Hall" despite Irvington being only a village, was designed by Alfred J. Manning and cost $150,000 to build.The library was to replace the short-lived Irvington Free Library (later the "Atheneum") which began in the local "little red schoolhouse". The new library, which opened in 1902, was designed by Louis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
, with Tiffany-glass lighting fixtures. The furnishings were donated by Helen Gould, the daughter of Jay GouldJason "Jay" Gould was an American financier who became a leading American railroad developer and speculator...
, and Frederick Guiteau (uncle of Charles J. GuiteauCharles Julius Guiteau was an American lawyer who assassinated U.S. President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. He was executed by hanging.- Background :...
, who assassinated President James GarfieldJames Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest in United States history.Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the...
) paid for the books. Although in 2000 the library moved into the Burnham Building, a reading room, the so-called "Tiffany Room", remains in the Town Hall, to fulfill the requirements of the deed. A recently installed statue of Rip Van Winkle"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...
stands next to the Town Hall, on the grounds of the Main Street School. (Main Street at North Ferris Street)
- Town Hall Theater (1902) - The theatre was designed to be a replica of Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a historic theatre in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
in Washington, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and when completed in 1902 it was widely thought to be one of the best "opera houses" in the Hudson Valley. For decades the social life of Irvington revolved around the theatre, which hosted concerts, recitals, balls, cotillions, graduations, minstrel shows, auditions, political rallies and public meetings. However, it gradually fell into disuse and disrepair by the 1960s, being used only for occasional exhibitions and overnight "camping" by the local Boy Scout troops. In 1978 concerted citizen action had started the ball rolling to completely renovate and revitalize the theater, and it re-opened in 1980, run by Irvington Town Hall Theater, Inc., a non-profit corporation under the auspices of the Town Hall Theater Commission, whose members are appointed by the mayor. Today, the Town Hall Theater presents a wide variety of events, including concerts, plays and musicals, in its 432-seat facility. (Main Street at North Ferris Street)
- Halsey Teahouse (1905) - A. J. Manning was commissioned by oil and cotton magnate Melchior Beltzhoover to build an exact replica of a Rhineland castle. The building, called "Rochroane" was sold to Benjamin Halsey in 1927 and renamed "Grey Towers", but was abandoned in 1976, and it burned down the next year (the exterior was stone, but the interior was wood). The "Halsey Playhouse" or "Teahouse", which was restored in 1997, is the last remnant of the forty-four room castle, except for a Tiffany landscape window now in the Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, explores every facet of glass: its unique place in art, history, culture, science and technology, craft, and design....
. It has two floors, and an open hexagonal tower with gothic-srched windows, and there's a walkway and stone bridge around Halsey Pond, which the structure overlooks. Vestiges of a fountain, dam, and other structures can be seen in the nearby woods. (Halsey Pond Lane)
- Villa Lewaro
Villa Lewaro, also known as the Anne E. Poth Home, was the home of Madam C. J. Walker, 1867-1919, believed to be the first female, and first African-American, millionaire. It is an Italianate villa house designed for Walker by Vertner Tandy, the first registered African-American architect, and has...
(1917) - Among Irvington's famous residents was Madam C.J. Walker, America's first female millionaire. An African American woman, she made her fortune in creating the first ever hair-straightening method, which included a shampooing technique along with a chemical product that helped the process. In 1917, Madame Walker had a $250,000 country home built on Broadway in Irvington, designed by Vertner TandyVertner Woodson Tandy was one of the seven founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. Before transferring to Cornell, Vertner studied architecture at Tuskegee University...
, the first registered African-American architect. She wanted the home to be an example for her people, "to see what could be accomplished, no matter what their background." The name Villa Lewaro was coined by Enrico CarusoEnrico Caruso was an Italian tenor who sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America...
, from the first two letters of each word in Lelia Walker Robinson, the name of her daughter, who later went by the name of A'Lelia WalkerA'Lelia Walker was an American businesswoman and patron of the arts. She was the daughter and only child of self-made millionaire Madam C.J. Walker.- Early life :...
. A'Lelia Walker inherited the house, and occupied it until her death in 1931, when it was bequeathed to the NAACP which could not accept it because of the cost. The house became the Anne E. Poth Home, a retirement home for seniors, until the 1970s. The neo-Palladian-style mansionA mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. realtors define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
still stands today, and is again a private residence. Villa Lewaro is a National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance. All NHLs are listed in the National Register of Historic Places...
. (North Broadway at Fargo Lane)
- The Shadowbrook estate, located at the corner of West Sunnyside Lane and Broadway just over the border from Tarrytown, has been the home of Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
the great American songwriter and jazz musician Stan GetzStanley Gayetzky or Stanley Gayetsky , usually known by his stage name Stan Getz, was an American jazz saxophone player...
. It is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Parks and recreation
Three of Irvington's parks,
Memorial Park (Dows Lane or Station Road),
Matthiessen Park (Bridge Street off Astor Street) and
Halsey Pond Park (Halsey Pond Lane), are open only to village residents with a permit, but others are accessible by the general public. The Irvington Parks and Recreation Department is located in the Isabel K. Benjamin Community Center on Main Street.
- The Old Croton Trailway State Historic Park and Trail
The Old Croton Trailway State Historic Park and Trail extends for in Westchester County, New York, providing public access along all but four segments of the route, including across the lawn of Lyndhurst. It more or less follows the route of the Old Croton Aqueduct...
, which runs along the Croton Aqueduct, traverses the village between Broadway and the Hudson River, and is a popular biking and jogging path. (west of Broadway)
- Scenic Hudson Park is located on the river side of the railroad tracks, not far from the foot of Main Street. Pedestrians can use the underpass at the train station, cars cross the tracks via Bridge Street. The park has ballfields, children's playgrounds, about a mile of flat walking paths, a boat launch and of lawn. It is co-owned by the Village of Irvington and The Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Inc. (Bridge Street at the river)
- Irvington Woods Hiking Trails - an extensive network of hiking trails, most of them fairly non-strenuous, criss-crosses the woods between Broadway and the Saw Mill River Parkway. One of the highlights of the area is the Irvington Reservoir and its associated watershed, through which many of the trails pass. (trailheads on Cyrus Field Road, Mountain Road, Fieldpoint Road, and near Irvington High School)
- Westchester County's V. Everett Macy Park is located in part in Irvington, along the Saw Mill River Parkway at the eastern side of the village boundaries. Created in 1926 and originally called "Woodlands Park", it was renamed for the scion of the Macy family who was Westchester's first Commissioner of Public Welfare and later became a local newspaper baron. The park has three distinct areas with slightly different atmospheres. One part, with an entrance in Ardsley, New York
Ardsley is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 4,269 at the 2000 census.The Village of Ardsley is located in the Town of Greenburgh....
(not Ardsley-on-Hudson) on Saw Mill Road, functions as a local park with ballfields, a playground, public toilets and picnic pavilion. Another, accesible by car only by the northbound lanes of the Saw Mill River Parkway, features the Great Hunger Memorial commemorating the Irish famine of 1845-1852 which drove many Irish immigrants to settle in Westchester. The area also includes Woodlands Lake, with fishing, ice skating, a recently-closed restaurant, access to the South County TrailwayThe South County Trailway is a long trail stretching from Van Cortlandt Park in the The Bronx to Elmsford, NY. While the majority of the trail is paved and contiguous, some sections remain disconnected and unpaved....
, and of the former Putnam Division Railroad. The final area is largely undeveloped. A county park permit may be required for some uses of the park.
- There are no public golf courses located in Irvington, however the Ardsley Country Club, a private club founded in 1895, is located in Ardsley-on-Hudson, which is part of Irvington. The Ardsley Curling Club is located on the grounds of the country club.
Notable residents
Notable past residents of Irvington include
Madam C.J. Walker (see "Villa Lewaro" in Points of Interest above);
Louis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
whose
Tiffany glassTiffany glass is the generic name used here to describe the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1848 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios, by Louis Comfort Tiffany. However, it is his head designer until 1909, Clara Driscoll, who is the person now recognized as the real creator of...
can be seen in the clock tower and lighting fixtures in the Town Hall and the
stained glassThe term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
windows in the Presbyterian Church;
Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first
transatlantic telegraph cableThe transatlantic telegraph cable was the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed from , Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The transatlantic cable bridged North America and...
;
Chauncey M. Depew, President of the
New York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
and
United States SenatorThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
;
John Jacob Astor IIIJohn Jacob Astor III was the elder son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. and the wealthiest member of the Astor family in his generation.-Biography:...
, the wealthiest man in America at the time;
Frank Jay GouldFrank Jay Gould was a philanthropist and the son of financier Jay Gould.-Early years:He was born on December 4, 1877 to Jay Gould and Helen Day Miller . Frank Jay was the owner of a string of French Riviera casinos and hotels, which he leased to a French syndicate...
, the philanthropist son of
Jay GouldJason "Jay" Gould was an American financier who became a leading American railroad developer and speculator...
;
Amzi Lorenzo Barber, the asphalt king;
Justine Bayard Cutting WardJustine Ward née Bayard Cutting was a musical educator who developed a system for teaching music to children known as the Ward Method....
, who developed the Ward method of music education; and
Albert BierstadtAlbert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his large landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
, a noted landscape painter. Jazz saxophonist
Stan GetzStanley Gayetzky or Stanley Gayetsky , usually known by his stage name Stan Getz, was an American jazz saxophone player...
also lived in Irvington – his estate, "Shadowbrook", is less than a mile from Washington Irving's home, at the intersection of Broadway and West Sunnyside Lane. Actress
Patricia NealPatricia Neal is an American actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky...
lived in Irvington for a while, and
Ted MackTed Mack may refer to:*Ted Mack , Edward Mack, Australian politician*Ted Mack , born William Edward Maguiness, American television host...
, for many years the host of
Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour on television, was also a resident, as was actress
Joan BlondellRose Joan Blondell was an American actress.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career. Establishing herself as a sexy wisecracking blonde, she was a pre-Hays Code staple of Warner Brothers and appeared in more than 100 movies and television productions...
and her husband for a time in the late 1940s and early 50's movie producer
Mike ToddMichael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
– and Blondell's children, including
Norman S. Powell, adopted son of
Dick PowellRichard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.-Biography:...
, went to Irvington's public schools. Silent film actor
William BlackWilliam Black was a novelist born in Glasgow, Scotland to James Black and his second wife Caroline Conning....
was born in Irvington.
Currently, Irvington is home to number of notable residents, including Today Show co-host
Meredith VieiraMeredith Louise Vieira is an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She currently co-hosts NBC's Today and often contributes to Dateline NBC. She is the current host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in syndication, replacing Regis Philbin in 2002...
, ABC News weatherman
Storm FieldElliot "Storm" Field is a retired American television meteorologist, most noted for his time in the New York media market. Storm Field followed his father, longtime New York weatherman Dr. Frank Field, into the business.-WABC:...
, FOX News newscaster
Jon ScottJon Scott is an American television news anchor, co-hosting Happening Now from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. ET with Jane Skinner on Fox News Channel. He is also hosts Fox News Watch after Eric Burns left Network....
, the acting couple
Debra Winger-Early life:Winger was born Mary Debra Winger in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the daughter of Ruth , an office manager, and Robert Winger, a meat packer. She was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. In the early 1970s, she spent several weeks at Beit Zera, a kibbutz in Israel...
and
Arliss HowardArliss Howard is an American actor, writer and film director.-Life and career:Howard was born in Independence, Missouri in 1954, and graduated from Columbia College . Howard established his career with stand-out roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby...
, writer
Robert K. MassieRobert Kinloch Massie is an American historian, writer, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and a Rhodes Scholar.-Biography:Born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1929, Massie spent much of his youth in Nashville, Tennessee and currently resides in Westchester County, New York in the village of Irvington...
, designer
Eileen FisherEileen Fisher, Inc. is an American women's clothing retailer founded by a clothing designer of the same name. Her clothing is known for simplicity. She has sometimes used non-traditional models in print advertisements, including employees of the company....
, singer
Julius La RosaJulius La Rosa is an American traditional popular music singer who has worked in both radio and television since the nineteen fifties.-Early years and big break:...
, jazz musician
Bob JamesBob James is a smooth jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in turning fusion jazz more mainstream...
, choreographer
Peter MartinsPeter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. He was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981, retired from dancing in 1983 at which time he became...
,
Monica Getz, co-founder of
Sesame WorkshopSesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world .-History:Founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett to...
and the Reverend
Sun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects involved in political, cultural, artistic, mass-media, educational, public service, and other activities. One of the best-known of these is the...
head of the
Unification ChurchThe Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity...
.
Julianna Rose MaurielloJulianna Rose Mauriello is an American actress. She starred in LazyTown, and has appeared in various Broadway musicals....
, the star of the children's television series
LazytownLazyTown is an Icelandic children's television program that features a cast and crew from Iceland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It has aired on Nick Jr., YTV, BBC One, CBeebies, RTP2, ABC1, Super RTL, Sjónvarpið, Discovery Kids, V-me and Ketnet, among other television networks...
was born in Irvington.
Movies with scenes filmed in Irvington
- 1. Trial Run of the Fastest Boat in the World, 'The Arrow' (1903)
- 2. North by Northwest (1959)
- 3. Shamus (1973)
- 4. This Pretty Planet: Tom Chapin in Concert (1992)
Video box title: This Pretty Planet: Tom Chapin Live in Concert
- 5. The Last Seduction (1994)
- 6. The Devil's Own (1997)
- 7. Unfaithful (2002)
- 8. Cruel to Be Kind (2004)
- 9: The Hoax (2006)
- 10: Across the Universe (2007)
2005 Mayoral Election
The controversial 2005 Irvington
mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
al
electionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
was held on March 15 2005, but was not decided until October 27 2005. The race between
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
incumbentThe incumbent, in politics, is the holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Dennis P. FloodDennis Flood, a Republican, was a mayor of the Village of Irvington, New York from 1994 to 2006. Before his election to mayor in 1994, Flood served on the village board from 1991 and formerly served as the chief financial officer for a local law firm....
and
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
challenger Erin Malloy ended up being decided "by lots", as required by New York state law when a village election is tied (847 votes for each candidate).
The count that took place on election night gave Flood a one-vote lead. On March 18, the Westchester County Board of Elections recounted the votes, giving Malloy a one-vote lead. Turning to two unopened
absentee ballotAn absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this...
s, the board found that one was for Flood, resulting in a tie. The other absentee ballot was not opened as the name on the envelope did not match any names on the voter-registration list. Susan B. Morton, who had registered to vote as Susan Brenner Morton, stepped forward three days later and demanded that her vote for Malloy be counted. For several months afterward, various suits, motions, and appeals were filed in state courts. On October 20, the
Court of AppealsThe New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges which are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
, New York State's highest court, denied requests by Malloy and Morton, leaving the election in a tie. To comply with state law, the village had to use random lots to decide the winner.
State law does not specify the method of drawing lots, so the village opted to draw quarters from a bag. Eight quarters were used. Four had a bald eagle on the back and represented Malloy. Flood was represented by four quarters with the
Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty , officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World , dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship...
on the back. Village Trustee/
Deputy MayorDeputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments. Many elected deputy mayors are members of the city council who are given the title and serve as acting mayor in the mayor's absence...
Richard Livingston, a Republican, drew a quarter from the bag. It was handed to Village Clerk Lawrence Schopfer, who declared Flood to be the winner. Flood was then sworn in for his sixth two-year term as mayor of Irvington.
Months later, to complicate the situation even more, it was learned that an Irvington resident who has two houses and was registered to vote in both Irvington and a Long Island suburb, inadvertently broke the law by voting in both elections, although his intent was to cancel his Irvington voter registration. He was an adamant supporter of Flood.
Erin Malloy was elected mayor in the election of 2007, but resigned in 2008 to spend more time with her injured daughter.
External links