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                    Westchester County New York

 

                                           

Westchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York with about 950,000 residents. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. It was named after Chester, in England, and the county seat is White Plains. According to 2006 HUD data, the median income for a household of one person in the county was $67,555 and the median income for a family of four was $96,500.

The native inhabitants of Westchester County belonged to the larger family of Native Americans called the Algonquin Lenape. Their connection to the Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley, the Aztecs of Mexico or the native groups of Central America, if any ever existed, must have been extremely remote. Their traditions referred in a very vague way to long journeys from the Northwest and of contests with a people who occupied the land before them. As a group, they were not very aware of their own history and records were never made. From this the European settlers were able to obtain very little information about the Algonquin people or their forefathers. Fortunately title deeds given to the European settlers supply considerable information about the location of sub-tribes in the region. The Manhattans occupied the island upon which New York City was built, as well as land in Southern Westchester now covered by the city of Yonkers. The Weckquaesgeeks occupied land along the Hudson River and the central portions of the county where Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown and White Plains now stand. The Siwanoy tribe lived along the coast of Long Island Sound where Pelham, New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck and Rye now stand. The northern portions of the county were occupied by smaller tribes such as the Tankitekes, Kitchawanks and Saint Siks.

The first Europeans to explore Westchester were Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. The first European settlers were sponsored by the Dutch West India Company in the 1620s and 1630s. English settlers arrived from New England in the 1640s. Westchester County was an original county of the Province of New York, one of twelve created in 1683. At the time, it also included the present Bronx County, which constituted the Town of Westchester and portions of three other towns: Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846 a new town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the Town of Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In 1873, the Town of Kingsbridge seceded from Yonkers.

In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the then towns of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County, consisting of the Town of Westchester and portions of the towns of Eastchester and Pelham, was transferred to New York County. By that time, the portion of the town of Eastchester immediately north of the transferred portion had seceded from the town of Eastchester (1892) to become the City of Mount Vernon so that the Town of Eastchester had no border with New York City. In 1914, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx county.

Today it is one of the most affluent counties in the country, home to many of New York City's most desirable suburban communities. It is a haven for commuters, whether traveling by car or by the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.
Westchester County is located in the southeastern end of New York State. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 500 square miles (1,295 km²), of which, 433 square miles (1,121 km²) of it is land and 67 square miles (174 km²) of it (13.45%) is water.

The highest elevation in the county is a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark known as "Bailey" at 300 m (985 feet) above sea level in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line. The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound.

Officially, the Westchester County Department of Planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub regions.

The closest point on the southern border of Westchester is a little under 11 miles from Columbus Circle in Manhattan (which is a customary point at which distances from New York City are measured), where Pelham Manor meets Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. At over 2,700 acres, Pelham Bay Park is the largest of New York City's Parks and forms a substantial 'buffer' between suburban Westchester and urban Bronx County. The closest point on the northern border is a little over 38 miles by air (51 miles by road).

Westchester County has 6 cities, 19 towns and 23 villages. [1] The largest city is Yonkers.


 Cities

The six cities in the county (in order of size) are:

Yonkers
New Rochelle
Mount Vernon
White Plains (County seat)
Peekskill
Rye (Rye is also the name of a town.)
[edit] Towns and Villages
The county has 19 towns. Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages. The towns of Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale are coterminous with the village of the same name. Two villages are split between two towns - Briarcliff Manor crosses the border between Ossining town and Mount Pleasant, and Mamaroneck village straddles the boundary between Mamaroneck town and Rye town.

With the exception of the towns of Rye, Pelham, Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale, all the towns contain area and residents which do not belong to any village. These areas may contain communities referred to as hamlets, or "unincorpated areas". Hamlets have no legal status and depend upon the town for all municipal government and services. There are also areas called census-designated places (CDPs), which are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. A CDP may or may not correspond to a hamlet.

Because some municipalities have the same name, it is often necessary to indicate whether one is referring to the city, town, village, or hamlet. For example, the town of Rye is completely separate from the city of Rye. Pelham is the name of a town and also of a village in the town. The village of Mamaroneck is located partially in the town of Mamaroneck and partially in the town of Rye, but has nothing to do with the city of Rye.

All of the towns have Justice Courts, and some of the villages do as well.


The towns are listed as follows:

Town
Villages (if any), one per bullet
CDPs (if any), all listed on a single bullet
Communities not in a village or CDP (if any), all listed on a single bullet
(The list of towns, villages and CDPs is complete. The listing of additional communities should not be considered complete.)

Bedford, containing no villages
(contains the CDP of Bedford)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, and Katonah)

Cortlandt, containing two villages:
Buchanan
Croton-on-Hudson
(contains the CDPs of Crugers and Verplanck)
(plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the communities of Montrose and Cortlandt Manor)
 
Eastchester, containing two villages:
Bronxville
Tuckahoe
(contains the CDP of Eastchester, which encompasses all area outside the villages)

Greenburgh, containing six villages:
Ardsley
Dobbs Ferry
Elmsford
Hastings-on-Hudson
Irvington
Tarrytown
(contains the CDPs of Fairview, Greenville/Edgemont and Hartsdale)

Harrison, coterminous with the village of the same name
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Purchase)
Lewisboro, containing no villages
(contains the CDP of Golden's Bridge)
(plus additional area belonging to no village, including the communities of Cross River, Lewisboro, South Salem, Vista and Waccabuc)

Mamaroneck, containing two villages:
Larchmont
Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Rye.)
(plus additional area belonging to no village)

Mount Kisco, coterminous with village of same name

Mount Pleasant, containing three villages:
Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Ossining.)
Pleasantville
Sleepy Hollow (formerly named North Tarrytown)
(contains the CDPs of Hawthorne, Thornwood and Valhalla)
(plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the communities of Eastview and Pocantico Hills)

New Castle, containing no villages
(contains the CDP of Chappaqua)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Millwood and Tompkins Corners)

North Castle, containing no villages
(contains the CDP of Armonk )
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Banksville)

North Salem, containing no villages
(contains the portion of the CDP of Peach Lake that is not in Putnam County)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Croton Falls, Purdys and Salem Center)

Ossining, containing two villages:
Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Mount Pleasant.)
Ossining (The village of Ossining is contained within the Town of Ossining.)
(plus additional area belonging to no village, including the community of Crotonville)

Pelham, containing two villages:
Pelham (The Village of Pelham is contained within the Town of Pelham.)
Pelham Manor
(The villages cover the entire area of the town.)
(The village of North Pelham existed from 1896 to 1975, when it was merged into the village of Pelham.)
Pound Ridge, containing no villages
(contains the CDP of Scotts Corners)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP)

Town of Rye (Rye is also the name of a city.), containing three villages:
Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Mamaroneck. The portion in Rye is unofficially also called "Rye Neck". The city of Rye separates Mamaroneck from the rest of the town of Rye.)

Port Chester
Rye Brook (Prior to 1982, Rye Brook was, in part, a portion of Port Chester, and still shares the same ZIP Code.)
(The villages cover the entire area of the town.)

Scarsdale, coterminous with village of same name

Somers, containing no villages
(contains the CDPs of Heritage Hills, Lincolndale and Shenorock)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Amawalk, Baldwin Place, Granite Springs, and Somers)
Yorktown, containing no villages
(contains the CDPs of Crompond, Jefferson Valley-Yorktown, Lake Mohegan, Shrub Oak and Yorktown Heights)
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Kitchawan and Yorktown)

 

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