Old Chappaqua Historic District | |
Location | Chappaqua, NY |
---|---|
Nearest city | White Plains |
Coordinates | 41°10′23″N73°46′38″W / 41.17306°N 73.77722°W |
Area | 33 acres (13 ha) |
Built | 1753–1850 [1] |
NRHP reference No. | 74001319 [2] |
Added to NRHP | July 15, 1974 |
The Old Chappaqua Historic District is located along Quaker Road (New York State Route 120) in the town of New Castle, New York, United States, between the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood. It was the original center of Chappaqua, prior to the construction of the New York and Harlem Railroad and the erection of its station to the south in the mid-19th century. In 1974 it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [2]
What is today Chappaqua was first settled around 1740 by a group of Quakers from Long Island. They built the still-used Chappaqua Friends Meeting House, a Friends meeting house and the oldest known building in the town, [3] around which the district centered a decade later. The other contributing properties, all timber frame buildings up and down the road on either side near the meeting house, are the surviving buildings from some of the farms established then and later. They have been preserved intact from that time.
The district begins on the west side of the road, approximately 0.6 mi (1 km) north of downtown Chappaqua and the Saw Mill River Parkway interchange, at 332 Quaker Road, just opposite Commodore Road. It follows the south line of that lot, then a line consistent with the west line of that lot through Fair Ridge Cemetery up to 478 Quaker, then turns 100 ft (30 m) to follow the north line and cross the road to take in 485 Quaker. It turns south at the lot corner to create a corridor 450 feet (140 m) wide with the road at the center south back to 385 Quaker, just north of Chappaqua Mountain Road, where it returns west to the road and continues back to its southern boundary. [1]
The terrain is hilly, forcing the road through some gentle curves as it passes through the district. Despite the extensive residential development in the area, it is still heavily wooded, with many tall trees shading the houses and few clearings. Streams in the area drain into the Saw Mill River, which rises in the woods to the east. Quaker Road climbs approximate 140 feet (43 m) from south to north through the district. [4]
Within this boundary, along a 0.6-mile (1 km) stretch of Quaker, are 33 acres (13 ha) with 30 buildings, half of which are contributing properties. All of them, whether contributing or not, are wood frame houses of two to three stories with gabled roofs. Those of more modern construction are sympathetic to their historic neighbors. Except for the meeting house, all are still used as residences. In the middle of a small grassy island at the Chappaqua Mountain Road intersection is a rock with a commemorative plaque to the district attached. [1]
Quakers, fleeing religious persecution in England as Dissenters, settled in British colonies during the 17th century. One group established a meeting on Long Island in 1645. By the early 18th century their offshoots had crossed Long Island Sound to Westchester County, where they established Mamaroneck and Purchase by 1727. [1]
In 1730, further offshoots of those groups moved further inland, to Wampus Pond (now Armonk) and "Shapequaw". Ten years later one of them, John Reynolds, established a 100-acre (40 ha) farm that included the area of the future district, along Quaker Road from Kipp Street to Roaring Brook Road. By 1747 there were enough Quakers in Shapequaw that they began petitioning the Purchase meeting to establish their own. Permission was granted shortly thereafter, and Reynolds donated two of his acres (8,100 m2) to the group so it could build a meeting house and burial ground. [1]
By 1753 the meeting house was finished. In 1776 it would serve as a hospital for Continental Army soldiers injured at the nearby Battle of White Plains. [1] Two years later a wing was built on it. [1]
The original Reynolds farm was eventually subdivided. Other farmers, like Samuel Allen and Elnathan Thorn, built houses near the meeting house. By 1825 the area had become the community of what was now known as Chappaqua. [1] The residents were largely self-sufficient farmers with side businesses as craftsmen. [3]
That ended with the construction of the New York and Harlem Railroad (still in use today as Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) in 1846. It followed the river valley, and so the station was built a mile (1.6 km) south of the meeting house. Gradually that area became developed and grew into the downtown Chappaqua that exists today. Allen built a couple of small houses across the road from the meeting house, and cabinetmaker Henry Dodge built a large house at what is today 386 Quaker, moving the older Thorn house in the process. That was the last development in the district related to the original Quaker settlers and their families. [1]
As the railroad spurred the suburbanization of northern Westchester in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the meeting house and associated farm buildings remained in use. However, the economy changed. With the railroad close by, the farmers switched to growing cash crops for the New York City market, and sold some of their larger landholdings. [3]
Some buildings, such as the outbuildings on the Thorn–Dodge property, were destroyed by the 1904 tornado. New construction in the district did not replace any of the historic structures. In 1961 another wing was added to the meeting house. There have been few other changes to the older buildings since then. [1]
Among the contributing properties, several are particularly important in the context of the district. None have yet been listed individually on the National Register, but they are all local landmarks, carrying markers indicating what they are and their year of construction. [5]
While New Castle's zoning does not include any special measures for the district, the town has other measures to protect and preserve it. Most prominently, all of the historic properties within the historic district have been designated town landmarks. [5]
The town's historic preservation ordinances provide for the designation of local landmarks. [6] A Landmarks Advisory Committee, consisting of the town historian and four residents with an interest in preservation and development appointed by the town board to three-year terms, guides the town in not only its designation of landmarks but the preservation of those already designated. [7] Any change to an existing landmark's exterior must be approved by the committee. [8] As allowed under New York state law, property tax exemptions are available to any owner of a landmark who restores or rehabilitates it, if they have been approved in advance by the committee and the town assessor certifies that they were finished as planned. [9]
Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York. It is approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line. In the New York State Legislature it is within the New York State Assembly's 93rd district and the New York Senate's 40th district. In Congress the village is in New York's 17th District.
New Castle is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 18,311 in the 2020 United States census, an increase over 17,569 at the 2010 census. It includes the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood.
Chappaqua station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Chappaqua, New York, United States, within the town of New Castle.
New York State Route 120 (NY 120) is a state highway in southern Westchester County, New York, in the United States. It begins in the city of Rye at an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and runs for about 18 miles (29 km) north to the hamlet of Millwood, where it ends at a junction with NY 100. The route intersects with Interstate 684 (I-684) and the Saw Mill River Parkway, and serves the Westchester County Airport in North Castle. Portions of the route have been signed ceremonially in remembrance of American serviceman killed in the 2000s and 2010s during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Saw Mill River is a 23.5-mile (37.8 km) tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost tributary. It is the only major stream in southern Westchester County to drain into the Hudson instead of Long Island Sound. It drains an area of 26.5 square miles (69 km2), most of it heavily developed suburbia. For 16 miles (26 km), it flows parallel to the Saw Mill River Parkway, a commuter artery, an association that has been said to give the river an "identity crisis."
The Swedish American Farmsteads of Porter County, Indiana are representative of the numerous rural communities settled by a significant ethnic population. They influenced the religious community and social community. This collection is the most complete early 20th century complex within the Swedish cultural landscape of Baileytown and has retained a great deal of integrity.
The 1904 Chappaqua tornado was an intense tornado that struck northern Westchester County, New York during the afternoon of Saturday, July 16, 1904. As of 2019, this tornado ranks as the strongest tornado to touch down in the county, ranking as F3 on the modern-day Fujita Scale. The tornado formed around 3:30 pm EST within a severe thunderstorm near Chappaqua, New York. The tornado quickly began to produce damage in the hamlet, destroying several structures and killing two people. Homes were knocked off their foundations and rolled over along the tornado's path. By 4:00 pm EST, the tornado dissipated and left $100,000 worth of damage in its wake. Hail associated with the same storm cell also inflicted damage upon a few structures. The tornado is known as the worst disaster in the history of Chappaqua.
Amawalk Friends Meeting House is located on Quaker Church Road in Yorktown Heights, New York, United States. It is a timber frame structure built in the 1830s. In 1989 it and its adjoining cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is an Episcopal church located on South Greeley Avenue in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It was built in the early years of the 20th century on land donated by Horace Greeley's daughter Gabrielle and her husband, himself a priest of the Episcopal Church. In 1979 it was one of several properties associated with Greeley in Chappaqua listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Church of Saint Mary Virgin and Greeley Grove.
The Terwilliger–Smith Farm is located on Cherrytown Road near the hamlet of Kerhonkson in the Town of Rochester in Ulster County, New York, United States. It was established in the mid-19th century.
The former Smith Tavern is located on Bedford Road in the hamlet of Armonk, New York, United States. It is a red frame building dating to the late 18th century, one of the few left in a region that has rapidly suburbanized over the past century. The Smith family, for whom it is named, did not build it but owned it for most of the 19th century.
The William E. Ward House, known locally as Ward's Castle, is located on Magnolia Drive, on the state line between Rye Brook, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It is a reinforced concrete structure built in the 1870s.
The Carrie Chapman Catt House, also known as Juniper Ledge, is located on Ryder Road in the town of New Castle, New York, United States. It is an Arts and Crafts-style building from the early 20th century. In 2006 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; five years later it was designated a town landmark as well.
The Greeley House is located at King and Senter streets in downtown Chappaqua, New York, United States. It was built about 1820 and served as the home of newspaper editor and later presidential candidate Horace Greeley from 1864 to his death in 1872. In 1979 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with several other properties nearby related to Greeley and his family.
Rehoboth is a historic former barn located on Aldridge Road in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It is a concrete structure that has been renovated into a house with some Gothic Revival decorative elements. In 1979 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bedford Road Historic District is located along that street in the unincorporated hamlet of Armonk, New York, United States. Its 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) contain nine contributing properties, all wood frame buildings from the mid-19th century in variations and combinations of the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles. In 1985 the group was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Chappaqua Mountain Institute was a private co-educational college preparatory school in Chappaqua, New York founded by the Quakers in 1870. The school closed in 1908 and re-opened in Valhalla, New York where it eventually became a girls-only boarding school. Highly regarded in its day, it was described in a contemporary travel guide as "a seat of Quaker learning". The Institute's alumni included Mario García Menocal, who became the third president of Cuba; copper magnate William Cornell Greene; and songwriter Irving Caesar.
There are numerous nationally and locally designated historic sites and attractions in Westchester County. These include architecturally significant manors and estates, churches, cemeteries, farmhouses, African-American heritage sites, and underground railroad depots and waystations. There are sites from pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary times, as well as battlegrounds. Westchester County also played an important role in the development of the modern suburb, and there are many associated heritage sites and museums.
Ward Acres is a 62-acre park in the Wykagyl section of the city of New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York. Formerly part of a large country estate and horse farm, New Rochelle purchased the land in 1962 with help from the New York State Park and Recreation Land Acquisition Bond Act.
The Chappaqua Friends Meeting House, built 1753, is the oldest Quaker meeting house in Westchester County, New York, a stop on the Underground Railroad and a birthplace of the abolitionist movement in New York. In 1776 it would serve as a hospital for Continental Army soldiers injured at the nearby Battle of White Plains. Part of the Old Chappaqua Historic District, it is a stop on the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County.
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