Place:Westchester, New York, United States

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NameWestchester
Alt namesWestchestersource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCounty
Coordinates41.117°N 73.8°W
Located inNew York, United States     (1683 - )
Contained Places
Unknown
Poundridge
Cemetery
Assumption Cemetery
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Greenwood Union Cemetery
Hillside Cemetery
June Cemetery
Kensico Cemetery ( 1889 - )
Oakland Cemetery
Old Van Cortlandt Cemetery
Old Van Cortlandtville Cemetery
Saint John's Cemetery
Saint Pauls Church Cemetery
Saint Peters Episcopal Churchyard ( 1693 - 1874 )
Westchester Hills Cemetery
Census-designated place
Heritage Hills
Jefferson Valley-Yorktown
Lake Mohegan
Scotts Corners
Hamlet
Cortlandt Manor
Purchase
Inhabited place
Amawalk
Annsville
Archville
Ardsley
Armawalk
Armonk
Bedford (town)
Bedford Center
Bedford Hills
Bedford
Boutonville
Briarcliff Manor
Bronxville
Buchanan
Buckhout Corners
Butlerville
Chappaqua
Chimney Corners
Colonial Acres
Cortlandt
Courtland
Crompond
Cross River
Croton Falls
Croton-on-Hudson
Crotonville
Crugers
Dobbs Ferry
Dunwoodie Heights
East Chester
East Irvington
East Woods
Eastchester (town)
Eastchester
Eastview
Elmsford
Elmsmere
Fairview
Fox Meadow
Fox Meadows
Furnace Woods
Gallows Hill
Glendale
Glenville
Golden's Bridge
Graham
Granite Springs
Grant Corner
Greenburgh
Greenville
Grey Oaks
Harbor Heights
Harmon
Harrison
Hartsdale
Hastings-on-Hudson
Hawthorne
Heath Ridge
Horseshoe Hill
Irvington
Jefferson Valley
Katonah
Kitchawan
Lake Lincolndale
Lake Purdy
Larchmont
Lewisboro
Lincolndale
Lowerre
Mamaroneck (town)
Mamaroneck
Mariandale
Millwood
Milton
Mohegan Lake
Montrose
Mount Airy
Mount Kisco
Mount Pleasant
Mount Vernon
Mt. Vernon
Murdock Woods
Nepperham
New Castle
New Rochelle
North Castle
North Salem
North White Plains
Oceola Lake
Oscawana
Ossining (town)
Ossining
Peekskill
Pelham (town)
Pelham Manor
Pelham
Pleasantside
Pleasantville
Pocantico Hills
Port Chester
Pound Ridge
Purdys Grove
Purdys
Quarry Heights
Roe Park
Rosedale
Rye (town)
Rye Brook
Rye
Salem Center
Sarles Corners
Scarsdale Park
Scarsdale
Secor Gardens
Shenorock
Shrub Oak
Sleepy Hollow Manor
Sleepy Hollow
Somers
South Salem
Stanwood
Tarrytown
Thornwood
Toddville
Tompkins Corners
Tuckahoe
Twin Lakes Village
Valhalla
Van Cortlandtville
Verplanck
Vista
Waccabuc
Waverly
White Plains
Whitehall Corners
Windmill Farm
Woodlands
Woodybrook
Yonkers
Yorktown Heights
Yorktown
Unknown
Mount Hope
Salem
Scarborough
Tackahoe
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in New York State and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population of 1,004,456, an increase of 55,344 (5.8%) from the 949,113 counted in 2010. Situated in the Hudson Valley, Westchester covers an area of , consisting of six cities, 19 towns, and 23 villages. Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city of Chester, England.[1][2] The county seat is the city of White Plains, while the most populous municipality in the county is the city of Yonkers, with 211,569 residents per the 2020 U.S. Census.

The annual per capita income for Westchester was $67,813 in 2011. The 2011 median household income of $77,006 was the fifth-highest in New York (after Nassau, Putnam, Suffolk, and Rockland counties) and the 47th highest in the United States.[3] By 2014, the county's median household income had risen to $83,422. Westchester County ranks second in the state after New York County for median income per person, with a higher concentration of incomes in smaller households. Simultaneously, Westchester County had the highest property taxes of any county in the United States in 2013.[4]

Westchester County is one of the centrally located counties within the New York metropolitan area. The county is positioned with New York City, plus Nassau and Suffolk counties (on Long Island, across Long Island Sound), to its south; Putnam County to its north; Fairfield County, Connecticut to its east; and Rockland County and Bergen County, New Jersey across the Hudson River to the west. Westchester was the first suburban area of its scale in the world to develop, due mostly to the upper-middle-class development of entire communities in the late 19th century and the subsequent rapid population growth.[5] Westchester County has numerous road and mass transit connections to New York City, and the county is home to the headquarters of large multinational corporations including IBM, Mastercard, PepsiCo, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Westchester County high school students often feature prominently as winners of the International Science and Engineering Fair and similar STEM-based academic awards.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Native American inhabitants of present-day Westchester County were part of the Algonquian peoples, whose name for themselves was Lenape, meaning the people. They called the region Lenapehoking, which consisted of the area around and between the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. Several different tribes occupied the area, including The Manhattans, and the Weckquaesgeek and Siwanoy bands of the Wappinger in the south, and Tankiteke, Sintsink and Kitchawank Wappinger in the north.

The first European explorers to visit the Westchester area were Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. Dutch settlers began arriving in the 1620s, followed by settlers from England in the 1640s. Westchester County was one of the original twelve counties of the Province of New York, created by an act of the New York General Assembly in 1683. At the time it included present-day Bronx County, and abutted then-Dutchess County to the north. By 1775, Westchester was the richest and most populous county in the colony of New York. Although the Revolutionary War devastated the county, recovery after the war was rapid. In 1788, five years after the end of the war, the county was divided into 20 towns. In 1798, the first federal census recorded a population of 24,000 for the county.

Two developments in the first half of the 19th century—the construction of the first Croton Dam and Aqueduct, and the coming of the railroad—had enormous impacts on the growth of Westchester. The Croton Dam and Aqueduct was begun in 1837 and completed in 1842; now a National Historic Landmark, the Croton Aqueduct is considered one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century. In the 1840s, the first railroads were built in Westchester, and included the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Hudson River Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad. The railroads often determined the growth of a town, and the population shifted from Northern to Southern Westchester. By 1860, the total county population was 99,000, with the most populated city being Yonkers.

The period following the American Civil War enabled entrepreneurs in the New York area to create fortunes, and many built large estates, such as Lyndhurst, in Westchester. During the latter half of the 19th century, Westchester's transportation system and labor force attracted a manufacturing base, particularly along the Hudson River and Nepperhan Creek. In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was also transferred to New York County. These would later split from Manhattan to form a county.

During the 20th century, the rural character of Westchester would transform into the suburban county known today. The Bronx River Parkway, completed in 1925, was the first modern, multi-lane limited-access roadway in North America. The development of Westchester's parks and parkway systems supported existing communities and encouraged the establishment of new ones, transforming the development pattern for Westchester. With the need for homes expanding after World War II, multistory apartment houses appeared in the urbanized areas of the county, while the market for single-family houses continued to expand. By 1950, the total county population was 625,816. Major interstate highways were constructed in Westchester during the 1950s and 1960s. The establishment of these roadways, along with the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge, led to further growth in the county.

Historic and Cultural Attractions

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia


Timeline

Date Event Source
1667 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1683 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1790 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1900 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1790 24,003
1800 27,373
1810 30,272
1820 32,638
1830 36,456
1840 48,686
1850 58,263
1860 99,497
1870 131,348
1880 108,988
1890 146,772
1900 184,257
1910 283,055
1920 344,436
1930 520,947
1940 573,558
1950 625,816
1960 808,891
1970 894,104
1980 866,599
1990 874,866

Note: Bronx County was formed from New York County in 1912, comprising territory that had been annexed by New York County from Westchester County in 1874 and 1895. (Since 1898 this area also has comprised Bronx Borough of New York city.) The population of Bronx's present-day area was 200,507 in 1900 and 430,980 in 1910. According to the 1900 census, its estimated population at earlier censuses was: 1790, 1,781; 1800, 1,755; 1810, 2,267; 1820, 2,782; 1830, 3,023; 1840, 5,346; 1850, 8,032; 1860, 23,593; 1870, 37,393; 1880, 51,980; 1890, 88,908. Estimates consistent with these for the present-day area of Westchester are: 1790, 22,222; 1800, 25,618; 1810, 28,005; 1820, 29,856; 1830, 33,433; 1840, 43,340; 1850, 50,231; 1860, 75,904; 1870, 93,955, 1880, 98,634; 1890, 131,949.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Westchester County, New York. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.