14 Cohawney Road, Scarsdale, New York

Meher Baba stayed in this house when he visited New York in July 1952

Scarsdale, New York
—  Village & Town  —
Scarsdale, New York Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 40°59′32″N 73°47′13″WCoordinates: 40°59′32″N 73°47′13″W
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Westchester
Settled	March 21, 1701
Incorporated (town)	March 7, 1788
Incorporated (village)	May 24, 1915
Government
- Village Manager	Alfred A. Gatta
Area
- Total	6.6 sq mi (17.2 km2)
- Land	6.6 sq mi (17.2 km2)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	217 ft (66 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	17,886
- Density	2,685.7/sq mi (1,036.9/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	10583-4409
Area code(s)	914
FIPS code	36-65431
GNIS feature	0977410

Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages in the state that have a similar governmental situation.^[1] As of the 2000 census, Scarsdale's population was 17,886.^[2]

[edit] History

[edit] Colonial era

Caleb Heathcote purchased the land that would become Scarsdale at the end of the 17th century and, on March 21, 1701, had them elevated to a royal manor. He named the lands after his ancestral home in Derbyshire, England. The first local census of 1712 counted twelve inhabitants, including seven African-American slaves. When Caleb died in 1721, his daughters inherited the property. The estate was broken up in 1774 and the town was officially founded on March 7, 1788.

The town saw fighting during the American Revolution when the Continental and British armies clashed briefly at what is now the junction of Garden Road and Mamaroneck Road. The British commander, Sir William Howe, lodged at a farmhouse on Garden Road that remains standing. Scarsdale's wartime history formed the basis for James Fenimore Cooper's novel, The Spy, written while the author lived at the Angevine Farm in the present-day Heathcote section of town.

[edit] 1790–1945

According to the first federal census in 1790, the town's population was 281. By 1840, that number had declined to 255—the vast majority farmers and farm workers. In 1846, the New York and Harlem Railroad connected Scarsdale to New York City, leading to an influx of commuters.

The Arthur Suburban Home Company purchased an 150-acre (0.61 km²) farm in 1891 and converted it into a subdevelopment of one-family dwellings, starting a transformation of the community from rural to suburban. Civil institutions soon appeared: the Heathcote Association (1904), the Town Club (1904), the Scarsdale Women's Club (1918) and the Scarsdale League of Women Voters (1921). Scarsdale High School and Greenacres Elementary School were built in 1917 and the Edgewood Elementary School opened in 1918. The first store in Scarsdale opened on the corner of Popham Road and Garth Road in 1912. By 1915, the population approached 3000. By 1930, that number approached 10,000.

In 1940, German agent Gerhardt Alois Westrick secretly met with American business leaders at his Scarsdale home until public pressure drove his family from the community.^[3][4]

[edit] 1945–present

Harwood Court

Scarsdale became the subject of national controversy in the 1950s when a "Committee of Ten" led by Otto Dohrenwend alleged "Communist infiltration" in the public schools.^[5] A thorough investigation by the town rejected these claims. This same group, known at the Scarsdale Citizens Committee, sued to prevent a benefit for the Freedom Riders from taking place at the public high school in 1963 because some of the performers (Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Pete Seeger) were allegedly "communist sympathizers and subversives."^[6]

Another controversy enveloped the town in 1961, when the Scarsdale Country Club, headed by Charles S. McCallister, refused to allow a young man who had converted from Judaism into the Episcopal Church to escort a young woman to her debut at the club. It was the club's policy, at the time, to prohibit Jews from the premises.^[7] In response, Rev. George French Kempsell of the Church of Saint James the Less announced that he would ban any supporters of the club's decision from receiving holy communion.^[7] The event marked a turning point toward the decline of anti-Semitism in the town.^[7]

Scarsdale's public library, which had been housed in historic Wayside Cottage since 1928, moved to its present structure on the White Plains Post Road in 1951.^[8] The driving force behind the library was New York City publisher S. Spencer Scott, who raised $100,000 for the project after the village rejected a bond issue to fund the building in 1938. The new library opened with 27,000 books and Sylvia C. Hilton serving as the first librarian.^[8]

The last of the town's five elementary schools, Heathcote School, opened in September 1953. The $1,000,000 architectural landmark was designed by Perkins & Will of Chicago. Walter B. Cocking, the president of the New York State Committee for the Public Schools, delivered the dedication address.^[9]

In 1967, former longtime resident Dean Rusk returned to Scarsdale at the height of the Vietnam War to receive the town's Man of the Year Award and was greeted with a silent protest.^[10]

Scarsdale was the subject of a landmark United States Supreme Court decision, ACLU v. Scarsdale (1985), that established the so-called "reindeer rule" regarding public nativity scenes and upheld the right of local religious groups to place crèches on public property.

[edit] Historians

The first official historian of the Village of Scarsdale was Richard Lederer. He was succeeded by Irving J. Sloan. Upon the death of Sloan in 2009, Eric Rothschild assumed the position of village historian.

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.6 square miles (17.2 km²), of which, 6.6 square miles (17.2 km²) of it is land and 0.15% is water.

[edit] Climate

Scarsdale has a Hot Summer Continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa).

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[12] of 2000, there were 17,823 people, 5,662 households, and 4,993 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,685.7 people per square mile (1,036.4/km²). There were 5,795 housing units at an average density of 873.2 per square mile (337.0/km²).

According to the 2000 Census, the race distribution of Scarsdale was: White (non Hispanic) 84.1%, Asian 12.6%, African-American 1.5%, Hispanic or Latino 2.6%.

There were 5,662 households out of which 51.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 81.8% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.8% were non-families. 10.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.35.

In the village the population was spread out with 32.8% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $182,792, and the median income for a family was $200,001. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $62,319 for females. The per capita income for the village was $89,907. That ranks 59th highest income in the country and 2nd most for towns with a population with over 10,000. About 1.7% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.2% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Neighborhoods

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

The neighborhoods within the village of Scarsdale are:

Arthur Manor (Edgewood Elementary); Berkley in Scarsdale (Edgewood and Fox Meadow Elementary); Bramlee Heights (Fox Meadow Elementary); Colonial Acres (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Drake Edgewood (Edgewood Elementary); East Heathcote (Heathcote Elementary); Fox Meadow (Fox Meadow Elementary); Greenacres (Greenacres Elementary); Murray Hill/Middle Heathcote (Heathcote Elementary); Old Scarsdale (Fox Meadow Elementary); Overhill (Fox Meadow Elementary); Quaker Ridge (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Scarsdale Meadows (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Secor Farms (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Sherbrooke Farms (Heathcote Elementary); West Quaker Ridge (Quaker Ridge Elementary);

[edit] School system

Scarsdale High School from the Brewster Road side

The Scarsdale Union Free School District operates five elementary schools in the elementary school districts Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote and Quaker Ridge made up of parts of the neighborhood associations above, as well as Scarsdale Middle School and Scarsdale High School.

[edit] Scarsdale post office and postal zone

The Village of Scarsdale is the site of a post office, assigned ZIP code 10583. The post office building on Chase Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[13]

The population of the 10583 ZIP code is more than twice that of the Village of Scarsdale proper and is served by two additional post offices. Sections of the following neighboring communities are also covered by the Scarsdale zip code:

Eastchester

• Garth Road
• Green Knolls
• Greenvale

Edgemont (Town of Greenburgh)

Town of Mamaroneck

• Murdock Woods

New Rochelle

Yonkers

• Beech Hill

[edit] Events

The Scarsdale Town Pool was the swimming venue for the 2007 Empire State Games. Scarsdale is home to the Scarsdale Concours d'Elegance, an annual auto show for charity.

[edit] Local media

The Scarsdale Inquirer, a weekly newspaper, reports on local issues. The newspaper began publishing in 1901.^[14]

[edit] Notable people

People associated with Scarsdale include:

[edit] Television, film, music and radio personalities

• Bruce Beck, television sportscaster for WNBC-TV.^[15]
• Joan Bennett, Hollywood actress from the 1930s and 40's once owned a home on Chase Road North.
• Beyoncé and Jay-Z
• Aaron Brown, former host of CNN'sNewsNight with Aaron Brown once resided in Scarsdale ^[16]
• Dorothy Dalton, silent-film actress.^[17]
• Lisa Donovan, (LisaNova) YouTube celebrity and former featured cast member of MadTV, graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1998.^[18]
• L B Fisher, born in Scarsdale and acted on popular shows such as Felicity, ER, Boston Public.
• Will Hawkins, singer-songwriter and playwright attended SHS from 1981 until 1985.^[19]
• Rupert Holmes, composer and writer, once resided in Scarsdale.^[20]
• Al Jolson, 30's film star owned a house on Fenimore Rd. in Scarsdale.
• Joseph Kaiser, opera, theater, and film actor, grew up in Scarsdale.
• David Lascher, sitcom actor from such shows as Hey Dude, Blossom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Beverly Hills, 90210, was born and raised in Scarsdale.
• Susan Lucci, born in Scarsdale and the star of soap TV series All My Children as well as many other notable films and television shows.
• Linda McCartney, actress, writer, cinematographer, producer, photographer, and wife of Beatles star Paul McCartney, attended Scarsdale High School ^[21]
• Liza Minnelli, singer and actress, lived in Scarsdale with her mother, Judy Garland and attended Scarsdale High School. She also toured Europe and Israel in an SHS production of The Diary of Anne Frank.^[22]
• Yoko Ono, singer. Her family moved to Scarsdale in the early 1950s; she later joined them from Japan.^[23]
• Bill Pankow, film editor of The Black Dahlia, Assault on Precinct 13, Paid In Full and others.
• Nina Totenberg, NPR legal correspondent, graduate of Scarsdale High School^[24]

[edit] Writers

• Jacob M. Appel, short-story writer ("Creve Coeur"), playwright (Arborophilia), bioethicist. (SHS graduate)
• James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851). His classic book The Spy is set in a Scarsdale historical home, The Locusts.^[25]
• Eve Ensler, dramatist. Raised in Scarsdale, attended SHS.
• Gish Jen (pseudonym of Lillian Jen), novelist. Born in Scarsdale, 1956. A thinly disguised version of Scarsdale is a subject of some of her works.[12]
• Richard Kostelanetz, writer and artist, graduated from SHS in 1958.
• Harold Krents (1944–1987), lawyer, whose life story inspired the drama Butterflies Are Free. Author of To Race the Wind. (SHS graduate)[13]
• Nicholas Kristof, journalist and columnist for the New York Times, and twice the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Most recent Pulitzer Prize was in 2006 for his columns regarding the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. [14][15]
• G. Adrienne Lopez, attorney, author and film producer resided with her family in Scarsdale for two decades. Author of To Love, Honor and Betray: The Secret Life of Suburban Housewives. Executive Producer of award-winning film Dirty Laundry (2005). [16] [17][18]
• Dan O'Brien, playwright, Dear Boy, The Voyage of the Carcass (1992 SHS Graduate)
• Bryan Reynolds, critical theorist, playwright, graduated SHS in 1983.
• Carl Schorske, historian and author of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture^[26] with his sister,
  • Florence Wald, former Dean of the Yale School of Nursing and founder of American Hospice
• Alan Schwarz, reporter for the New York Times and author of The Numbers Game, grew up in Scarsdale and graduated from SHS in 1986.
• Aaron Sorkin, writer and creator of the TV series Sports Night and The West Wing. Raised in Scarsdale.
• Sheryl WuDunn, journalist and columnist for the New York Times. She is married to Nicholas D. Kristof, also a columnist for The Times.
• Andrew Ross Sorkin, Financial columnist for the New York Times and editor of DealBook, an online financial daily report.
• David Galef, raised in Scarsdale, has written and edited children's books, anthologies of poetry and short fiction, essays, literary criticism.

[edit] Doctors

• Gerald B. Appel, celebrity physician^{[citation needed]}
• Herman Tarnower, author of The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet^[27]

[edit] Sports personalities

• Benny Feilhaber, (American soccer midfielder) He moved to Scarsdale at the age of six.
• Joe Garagiola (1926- ) catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. He later became a popular broadcaster. He and his wife raised their children in Scarsdale.[19]
• Paul Heyman, professional wrestling manager and former promoter, best known for his role in Extreme Championship Wrestling.[20]
• Bill Mazer (1920- ) New York sports talk and talkshow personality. He has resided in Quaker Ridge since the mid 1960's.
• David Stern, current Commissioner of the National Basketball Association. [21]
• Hugh White Captain of the 1901 national champion University of Michigan football team, winners of first Rose Bowl (1902), combined score for season (550-0). Engineer and businessman. Scarsdale village president.

[edit] Legal

• William Glendon, argued the Pentagon Papers case before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of The Washington Post.^[28]

[edit] Political figures

The Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial at the intersection of Post Road and Tompkins Road

• Otto Dohrenwend, chairman of the anti-Communist "Committee of Ten" during the 1950s
• Daniel D. Tompkins, sixth Vice President of the United States, born in Scarsdale^[29]

[edit] Gangsters and spies

• Robert Hanssen, Soviet spy, lived at 150 Webster Road in Scarsdale from 1978 until 1981; his children attended IHM. His wife told the FBI that he had had dealings with Moscow during that time^[30]
• Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, gangster and Las Vegas resort builder. He owned a house in Scarsdale from 1929 on; he was increasingly absent in later years but his family continued to live there. [22]
• Ronald "Escalade" Piscina, gangster, a key figure in setting up the Apalachin Meeting for the Mafia in 1957 in Apalachin, NY.
• Joseph DiNapoli, Italian American mobster

[edit] Science, space and technology

• Frank McDowell Leavitt, early engineer and inventor, patent for manufacturing tin cans, inventor of Bliss-Leavitt torpedo
• Joseph Capecci, scientist, architect, Dean-CCNY, holder of several US patents critical in the evolution of nuclear weapons, NASA consultant during the space race has resided in Scarsdale since 1970.^{[citation needed]}
• Jeffrey A. Hoffman Ph.D., astronaut. Born in Brooklyn but "considers Scarsdale to be his hometown", see bio at NASA website. (SHS graduate)
• Brewster Kahle, Internet Pioneer. Founded Wide Area Information Servers, Alexa Internet, Internet Archive.^{[citation needed]}
• Ivan Sutherland, computer graphics pioneer. (SHS 1955 graduate)^{[citation needed]}Source: 'Bandersnatch 1955', Scarsdale High School, Scarsdale NY.
• Benoît B. Mandelbrot, French mathematician, IBM research scientist and father of fractal geometry, see [23].