Today marks a significant milestone for the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, celebrating 120 years since its official incorporation on February 12, 1898. According to the Manual of Westchester County published that same year, the incorporation process i…

Harmon Map and Plan of Lots, 1907 The article presents two historical maps showing the Harmon area from 1907, with both front and back views. A commenter named Charles Heckman observed: "Interesting that Sing Sing is not indicated on Harmon's map. R…

Croton in the 1850s In his classic work "The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea", Benson John Lossing documented the Hudson River's beauty and historical significance. This excerpt presents his observations of the Croton area from the 1850s, fea…

A Dummy Forever! By Carl Oechsner Edited by Gretchen Bock Visitors to Croton-on-Hudson often notice an unusual landmark at the intersection of Old Post Road South and Grand Street. This "dummy light" is a traffic signal standing on a pedestal in the …

nominated for the National Register of Historic Places through the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Reading and Dedham, Massachusetts, took different approaches during downtown redevelopment. Dedham replaced its dummy light with overhead signa…

In Search of Teatown In the 1970s, historian Lincoln Diamant investigated the origins of Teatown's distinctive name. Local tradition suggested it derived from an English village, since English tenant farmers originally settled the area. However, Dia…

Postcard Tour This selection of vintage postcards shows Croton in the first half of the 20th century. Some of the images are of places we still see today, others are long gone -- but should not be forgotten. Thanks to Susan Hack-Lane, President of th…

Register, the style is brick Romanesque, featuring a bay window for the station master and a slate/tile roof. Today, the building is the office of F.A. Burchetta Co., electrical contractors. The inscription along the bottom of this circa 1906 postcar…

1894 and is one of Westchester's oldest surviving bridges. Indeed, survival was a real issue with 18th and 19th century Croton River bridges, because spring "freshets" of melting snow or heavy rain tended to wash away early wooden bridges with surpri…

Silver Lake, Croton's Hidden Gem By Carl Oechsner Silver Lake stands as one of Westchester County's most beautiful hidden gems. Hundreds of families visit annually to swim, sunbathe, and relax along the Croton River's secluded shoreline -- an exper…

The Graven Images of Bethel Cemetery Text by Carl Oechsner Photographs by Howie Myers Cemeteries serve as records of a nation's past, offering rich collections of historical artifacts. Bethel Cemetery in Croton contains remarkable examples of gravest…

well represented at Sleepy Hollow's Old Dutch Burying Ground. Carvers often charged by the letter, so longer inscriptions represented greater investment by the bereaved. Minimal-information stones were presumably less costly. The Gothic Revival Influ…

The Other Harmon By Carl Oechsner Edited by Gretchen Bock Clifford B. Harmon is well-known to Crotonites as the famous aviator and real estate developer who created what he modestly advertised as "HARMON, the New City on the Hudson -- the most import…

Chicago, and to Boston, Brooklyn, Midwood, Flatbush and Staten Island. In the years just after 1900, the company spent more than $4 million for building sites in Brooklyn that were sold on small partial payments. When Brooklyn became part of New York…

Water Over the Dam (1900-1907) The New Croton Dam was constructed primarily by immigrant laborers, predominantly Italian workers alongside Irish, African American, and Scandinavian employees. These workers inhabited small communities near the constr…

The Wappinger were Eastern Algonquian, Munsee-speaking Native Americans from southern New York and western Connecticut. Their primary base was Dutchess County, NY, extending south to include parts of Putnam, Westchester counties, the western Bronx, a…

Kieft's War (1643-1645), also called the Wappinger War, was a conflict between Dutch colonial New Netherland and regional Indigenous peoples including the Wappinger, Lenape, and other Algonquian tribes in present-day New York and New Jersey. Willem K…

Daniel Nimham (also spelled Ninham), born around 1726, served as the final sachem of the Wappinger people. He was described as "the most prominent Native American of his time in the lower Hudson Valley." His father, known as "One Shake" or Cornelius …