Indians and Early Settlers
Mohegan, Osceola, Amawalk, Kitchawan and Mohansic - all familiar names of local places - remind us that the Indians were the earliest people we have knowledge of in Yorktown.
The Mohegans of the Algonquin nation had habitations within the boundaries of the approximately 40 square miles that is the Town of Yorktown. Archaeological digs in both the 19th and 20th centuries have brought a few of their sites to light.
The last Indian settlement in the County of Westchester was supposedly located near Indian Hill in Jefferson Valley. An Indian burial ground was discovered on the south slope of the hill and along the shore of Lake Osceola. Amawalk, anglicized from Appamaghapogh, was another Indian site. There was also an Indian village in the area of modern day Kitchawan.
In 1683, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, with a license issued by the Royal Governor of New York, made his first purchase of land from the Indians. By 1697, when he confirmed his patent with the authorities, he had acquired roughly 80,000 acres. On June 17 of that year, a patent for the Manor of Cortlandt was granted by the British King William the Third. The Manor house was located north of the confluence of the Hudson and Croton Rivers.
Stephanus Van Cortlandt died at the turn of the century, but it was not until 1730 that his manor lands were divided among his heirs and some of the Great Lots, as they were called, were put up for sale. In 1712, there were only 91 people living on the entire manor, and they lived close to the Hudson. After 1730, settlers from the southern part of the colony and from Connecticut migrated to the Manor, many settling in what later became the Middle Ward of the Manor known as Hanover. Although mostly of English extraction, settlers also included French Huguenots and blacks.
The main hamlet in the Hanover area was at the junction of what is now Crompond Road and Old Yorktown Road and was known as Crompond. In 1788, after the Revolutionary War, however, the township was officially designated as Yorktown in commemoration of the Americans' decisive victory at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781.
Nineteenth Century
Crompond Corners, where Old Yorktown Road meets Route 202, was the business center of town from colonial days until the railroad was built.The corner looks today something as it did in the 19th century. The Presbyterian Church is on one corner, and the house on the other side of the road was an inn. Buildings across the street on Route 202 housed the post office, tannery, slaughter house and cobbler shop. There was a large house where the Yorktown Civil War recruits drilled. Their guns and supplies were stored in the barn that is still standing on the site. Yorktown's quota during the Civil War was 281 soldiers, but only 133 recruits were actual residents, since it was possible to buy a replacement.
Some of Crompond Road's traffic was ox carts taking milk and product to Croton Point for river shipping to New York City, horse drawn mail wagons going between the river dock and the post office stage coaches between Danbury and Peekskill.
When the railroad was built in 1881, business began to concentrate at the railroad plaza. Local farmers began shipping their milk by rail. The post office near the station was first called Underhill, later Yorktown Station and finally Yorktown Heights. The railroad shut down in 1958, except for a very few freight runs. A year's commutation, 1890 style, cost $90.
New York City was growing too in the 19th century and needed a large water supply. Residents of Westchester fought a proposal to dam the Croton River, but despite their objections the dam was built. By June of 1842, New York City was celebrating the arrival of water from the 400 acre Croton Reservoir. The original dam and pump house are still partly visible when the reservoir is very low. (Click here for pictures of the dam during construction.)
In 1892, 1,750 more acres were acquired by New York City to enlarge the system, a new dam begun and additional bridges built. In 1905, the Croton Dam was completed and tourists came to view one of the wonders of man's handiwork.
Twentieth Century
Yorktown changed gradually from 1900 to 1945. Starting as a popular summer place around 1900, Mohegan still attracts many summer visitors. In those days, farming was the major industry, but two noteworthy concerns were the Amawalk Nursery, the largest tree nursery in the country which supplied the first living Christmas tree to the White House (click here for an illustrated feature about the nursery) and the Mohegan Quarry, out of which came the granite for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The Taconic Parkway was built and Mohansic Park developed, further changing the character of Yorktown.
"How you going to keep 'em down on the farm" were World War I lyrics that could have been named "Yorktown". Population dropped to 1,500 - half of what it had been before the war.
After World War II, a new era, in many ways our era, began. The building boom started and the population of Yorktown began to increase significantly. Census figures illustrate the rapid growth: 1950 - 4,731; 1957 - 11,804; 1960 - 21,235; 1974 - 32,000. The peak year for construction starts was 1955, when 564 new building permits were issued. The years of 1973 and 1974 saw a dramatic slow down in the amount of new construction due to economic conditions and the limited sewer facilities in certain portions of the Town.
Yorktown's population is still increasing, but at a slower rate than it did a decade ago. Town officials and concerned citizens are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of carefully planning the future development of our remaining undeveloped land so as to insure a sound and healthy environment for all Yorktowners.
Yorktown today is primarily a suburban community within the Greater New York City Metropolitan area. Its character is predominantly residential, with a major portion of its work force commuting daily to jobs in New York City, White Plains and other locations in Westchester County. The Town's major industry is IBM, which has two laboratories within the Town. Smaller industrial businesses are situated in industrial parks located in various parts of Yorktown. Commercial businesses are concentrated in the five hamlet areas that make up the Town - Yorktown Heights, Shrub Oak, Jefferson Valley, Crompond and Mohegan. The number and variety of commercial enterprises has grown with the increased population of the Town so that the community has become self sufficient to most of its needs.
During the Town's Bicentennial in 1988, Yorktowners took stock of their historic heritage and commemorated their community's participation in the events that lead up to the birth of our nation. A Bicentennial Committee reviewed the Town's still remaining historic sites and determined which were to be preserved as a reminder of that past and as a link between the Yorktown of yesterday and the Yorktown of tomorrow. (Select the Landmark Preservation button at the left for more information about our remaining historic sites.)