[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] A visitor to the present village in 1781 described it as con-sisting of some twenty houses, quite close together. This considera-ble growth in population of the Town of Cortlandt, as evidenced by the census returns, between 1700 and 1820, was largely contributed by Peekskill village. According to the author of the article on the Town of Cortlandt in Scharfs History, iron industry of Peekskill dates from 1820, when Stephen Gregory " commenced the manufacture of plowshares.... At first the manufacture was carried on in an exceedingly primitive style. The fire which melted the iron was brought to the proper degree of heat by an ordinary blacksmith's bellows, which was at first, operated by his wife, and then, as the business expanded, GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1S12 545 by a horse. Pig iron was too large to be melted by this simple appa-ratus, and he used old stove-plates and old plow eastings instead." He sold the business to his brolher, and after several changes in