Scarsdale, New York

Toponymy

Scarsdale derives from "scars", the old Saxon word for rocky crags, and "dale", the common name for valley.^{[2]: 9 [3]: 17} The name originated from Heathcote's ancestral home in Derbyshire known as Sutton Scarsdale.^[2]: 10

Before founding as Scarsdale

The region was once inhabited by several Native American tribes, the most prominent being the Wappinger people. Westchester Native Americans formed the Wappinger Confederacy as protection against the Iroquois people.^[3]: 4

Colonial and Antebellum eras

Caleb Heathcote purchased land that would become Scarsdale from four Native American leaders named Patthunk, Beaupo, Kohawney, and Wapetuck at the end of the 17th century and had it elevated to a royal manor on March 21, 1701, after receiving a royal patent.^{[4]: 19 [2]: 9 [3]: 17} The Manor of Scarsdale was one of the Six Manors of Westchester, and was substantially larger than Scarsdale is today.^[3]: 17 It extended over 6,000 acres and includes all of modern Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, Harrison, and parts of North Castle.^[3]: 18

The first local census of 1712 counted twelve inhabitants, including seven African slaves.^[3]: 19 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.^{[2]: 16–17 [3]: 24}

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, in what was called the Neutral Ground. The British commander, Sir William Howe, lodged at a farmhouse on Garden Road that remains standing.^[5]

According to first federal census in 1790, the town's population was 281.^[5] However, in the 1840 census, that number had declined to 255, due to a clerical error caused by the assistant marshal tasked with the census who did not understand Scarsdale's layout, resulting in him recording dozens of Scarsdale residents under the neighboring towns of Mamaroneck and White Plains.^[6] The true population climbed slowly from 317 in 1830 to 342 in 1850 — the vast majority farmers and farm workers.^[6]

Suburbanization

In 1877, Scarsdale became an express stop on the New York and Harlem Railroad, leading to an influx of commuters which jumpstarted the suburbanization process.^[7]: 1 Scarsdale remained mostly a farming village until after the Civil War, when The Arthur Suburban Home Company noticed the population spillover from the nearby metropolitan area, and wanted to convert Scarsdale from a rural town to a residential suburb.^{[3]: 50 [8]: 5} In 1891 it purchased a 150-acre (0.61 km²) farm and converted it into a subdevelopment of one-family dwellings, which ended up starting a transformation of the community from rural to suburban.^[8]: 6 Following this, civil institutions soon appeared: the Heathcote Association in 1904, the Town Club in 1904, the Scarsdale Woman's Club in 1918, and the Scarsdale League of Women Voters in 1921. Schools started opening around this time as well, and the first store in Scarsdale opened on the corner of Popham Road and Garth Road in 1912.^[5] From 1910 to 1915, the population had rose from 1,300 to almost 3,000, and by 1930, that number approached 10,000.^{[4]: 1076–1077 [8]: 8 [5]}

In 1908, the neighboring city of White Plains began considering annexing parts of Scarsdale. This ultimately resulted in the people of Scarsdale protesting the idea due to the differences between the two settlements.^[8]: 12 Following this, the Scarsdale Town Club learned that municipalities had greater protection from annexation when incorporated as villages compared to town governments, leading Scarsdale to incorporate as a village on May 24, 1915.^{[8]: 13 [4]: 1075}

1945–present day

Cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who began practicing in this area before the Second World War, initiated the Scarsdale Medical Center postwar. He became famous for devising and popularising the fad Scarsdale diet named for the town in the 1970s.^{[9]: 214 [10]}

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.^[11] A thorough investigation by the town rejected these claims. This same group, known as 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."^[8]: 262

Another controversy enveloped the town in 1961, when the Scarsdale Golf Club, headed by Charles S. McCallister, refused to allow a young man who had converted from Judaism into the Episcopal Church, Michael Cunningham Hernstadt, to escort a young woman, Pamela Nottage, to her debut at the club. At the time, it was the club's policy to prohibit Jews from the premises.^[12] In response, the 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.^[12] The event marked a turning point toward the decline of anti-Semitism in the town.^[12] Beyond local social controversies, the town's relationship with religion also led to a landmark United States Supreme Court decision, Board of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCreary (1985), which examined the right of local religious groups to place crèches on public property.^[13]

Neighborhoods

Scarsdale is divided into 17 neighborhoods, Arthur Manor, Berkeley-in-Scarsdale, Bramlee Heights, Colonial Acres, Drake Edgewood, East Heathcote, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote, Murray Hill, Middle Heathcote, Old Scarsdale, Overhill, Quaker Ridge, Scarsdale Meadows, Secor Farms, Sherbrooke Park, and West Quaker Ridge,^[19] however these are often bundled into five geographic zones, which are Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote, and Quaker Ridge, corresponding to the subsequent elementary schools.^[19][20]

Climate

The town is in a humid continental climate zone (Köppen climate classification: Dfa), with cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers and four distinct seasons.^[21] The United States Department of Agriculture places Scarsdale in plant hardiness zone 7a.^[22] Summer high temperatures average in the lower 80s Fahrenheit (upper 20s Celsius), with lows averaging in the lower 60s F (upper 10s C).^[23] Its highest recorded temperature was 102 °F (39 °C) in 1966, and its lowest was −14 °F (−26 °C) in 1979.^[24]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 18,253 people and 5,510 households living in Scarsdale, which had a population density of 2,734.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,055.8/km²). There were 5,747 total housing units, of which 95.9% were occupied and 4.1% were vacant or for occasional use. The racial makeup of the village was 68.5% White, 21.0% Asian, 1.3% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American, and 0.0% Pacific Islander. Residents who identified as some other race were 1.4%, while those who identified as more than one race were 7.8% of the population. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 5.1% of the population.^[29]

Of the 5,510 households in the city, 81.2% were married couples living together and 1.1% were cohabiting but unmarried. Households with a male householder with no spouse or partner present were 5.7% of the total, while households with a female householder with no spouse or partner present were 11.9%. Out of all households, 53.0% had individuals under the age of 18 living with them and 30.7% had residents who were 65 years of age or older. There were 5,510 occupied housing units, of which 90.5% were owner-occupied and 9.5% were occupied by renters.^[29]

The median age in the city was 41.7 years old for both sexes, 41.4 years old for males, and 42.0 years old for females. Of the total population, 31.0% of residents were under the age of 18, and 14.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.1% male and 50.9% female.^[29]

Racial and ethnic composition

Historic sites

The village of Scarsdale has six properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which are the Caleb Hyatt House, listed in 1973 and spanning 0.9 acres (0.36 ha), the Quaker Ridge Golf Club, listed in 2020 and spanning 139 acres (56 ha), the Scarsdale station, listed in 2000 and spanning 0.9 acres (0.36 ha), the Scarsdale Woman's Club, listed in 2008 and spanning 3.9 acres (1.6 ha). The United States Post Office, listed in 1989 and spanning 0.9 acres (0.36 ha), and the Wayside Cottage, listed in 1981 and spanning 0.7 acres (0.28 ha).^[39]

Library

Scarsdale's public library was founded at Wayside Cottage in 1928.^[40] New York City publisher S. Spencer Scott raised $100,000 to erect a new library, which opened with 27,000 books in 1951.^[40] The $1,000,000 building was designed by Perkins&Will.^[41] The library is one of 38 public libraries in the Westchester Library System. The 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m²) building houses a collection of over 147,000 books and audiovisual materials, and roughly 450,000 items are checked out of the library each year.^{[42]: 2 [43]}

History

There is evidence of a schoolhouse existing in the late 18th century, as records show a town meeting was held there in 1783 or 1784.^{[3]: 55 [4]: 261} There were two school districts in Scarsdale up until 1965 when they were merged. Scarsdale District #1 included most of Scarsdale, while New Rochelle District #3 (eventually Scarsdale District #2) included Quaker Ridge and parts of New Rochelle and Mamaroneck. Records from District #1 have vanished, but there are hand written records from the 1870's and on.^[3]: 77 Until 1876, only one teacher was hired, which changed when the board of education believed that the single teacher needed help. As the population grew, so did the building, and by 1900 there were two full time teachers. New Rochelle District #3 dates back to 1815 when the Quakers built a schoolhouse, which was later transferred into the school district. It was replaced in 1863 by a schoolhouse built at Weaver Street and Quaker Ridge. The building was moved 30 years later when New Rochelle District #3 officially became Scarsdale District #2.^[3]: 77 Multiple private schools operated in Old Scarsdale, all of which closed down.^[3]: 145

Primary and secondary schools

Public education is administered by the Scarsdale Union Free School District, which covers the entirety of the village of Scarsdale, and some of Mamaroneck.^{[7]: 25 [65]} It serves over 4,500 students each year.^[66][67] Elementary schools offer kindergarten to fifth grade,^[66][68] and are each named after their corresponding neighborhood:^[69] Schools include:^[5]

• Greenacres Elementary School
• Scarsdale High School
• Edgewood Elementary School
• Fox Meadow Elementary School
• Quaker Ridge Elementary School
• Heathcote Elementary School
• Scarsdale Middle School

Private parochial schools include the Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart of Mary, opened in 1928, St Pius X, opened in 1956, and Trinity Christian School, opened in 1955.^[3]: 146

Transportation

In 1846, the New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line)^[75] connected Scarsdale to New York City, leading to an influx of commuters.^[2]: 89 It eventually became an express stop in 1877.^[7]: 1 The Scarsdale station is used by many commuters; as in 2019, 43% of workers took public transit to work while 41% drove alone, and in 2018 it was the seventh busiest Metro-North Station out of the 109 stations for inbound weekday boarding.^[76]: 5 Westchester County's Bee-Line Bus System provides service to Scarsdale.^[7]: 34

For over 100 years, the Scarsdale Central Taxi served transportation needs of locals, typically by picking up or dropping off residents at the Scarsdale station, however recently the company has been losing business after COVID-19, partially due to competitors such as Uber and Lyft, along with the introduction of hybrid work, which resulted in many commuters not needing to travel to the station.^[77]

Limited-access highways in Scarsdale include the Bronx River Parkway and the Hutchinson River Parkway, with the Heathcote by-pass being a limited-access highway at a local scale.^{[7]: 32 [78]} Major surface streets include Route 22 and Route 125.^[7]: 32

Services