HISTORY & MYSTERIES
Today marks the 120th anniversary of the incorporation of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, which took place on February 12, 1898. The Manual of Westchester County, published the same year, noted that a special election was held “on the question of incorporation” and “the electors of that locality . . . cast seventy-four (74) votes in … Continue reading Croton’s 120th Anniversary
On May 15, 1922, when the Rum Plane crashed in Croton with 250 quarts of Canadian Scotch, it attracted the attention of the police, the press and curious Crotonites. An article in the New York Times reported that when the Westchester County police reached the wrecked plane they found “country folk grouped about the battered remains … Continue reading Another Mystery of the Rum Plane
LIQUOR LADEN PLANE FROM CANADA FALLS AS IT NEARS CITY Drops 250 Quarts of Scotch Near Croton, Where Water for Highballs Comes From FLIER ESCAPES IN AN AUTO Car Apparently in Waiting Whisks Limping Aviator From Scene “Dusk was deepening into darkness” on the night of May 15, 1922, as a Curtis biplane circled slowly … Continue reading The Mystery of the Rum Plane
"This is Lovers Bridge of Croton so they say," is written on the front of this early postcard (circa 1901-1907) of what was then officially called the Van Cortlandt Bridge. The photo shows the small section of what was originally called the Long Bridge, when it was first built in the 1860s to carry the … Continue reading The Lovers Bridge of Croton
This photograph from Scientific American shows the end result of the first phase of constructing the New Croton Dam—diverting the natural flow of the Croton River in order to dig the gigantic hole that would become the foundation of the dam. Construction started on September 20, 1892 with excavation to divert the Croton River. A … Continue reading Diverting the Croton River
Here's a nice postcard showing the intersection of Grand Street and Mt. Airy, circa 1900, when Croton's streets were unpaved and the firehouse building you can see through the trees was a school. The circular object in the street on the right was the Mt. Airy cistern. There was another cistern at the intersection of Grand … Continue reading Grand Street and Mt. Airy
If you have an extra $8,000 to $12,000 to spend* you should bid on a magnificent painting of the Croton area by Robert Havell, Jr. being auctioned at Sotheby’s tomorrow. The painting has been owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts since 1935 and is being sold to fund future acquisitions. When we first saw View … Continue reading View of the Hudson from Horton’s Road Near Croton
During a walk along the beach on the north side of Croton Point we spotted some old bricks, encased in a piece of concrete. "IX" could be seen stamped on one of them and "XL" on the other. As we wrote in this previous post, these bricks were made at the William A. Underhill Brickyard … Continue reading History on the Beach
If you're walking on Elliott Way, south of the Yacht Club, you’ll see some red bricks scattered among the rip rap along the shore. These all appear to be what were called Croton Point bricks, made at the William A. Underhill Brickyard on the northern end of the point. Some Underhill bricks were stamped with … Continue reading History on the River
Sixty-nine years ago today, on April 1, 1948, the postal service officially added hyphens to the cancellation stamp for what had been the “Croton on Hudson” post office. The transition was recorded on this pair of envelopes, called “commemorative cacheted covers”, inscribed by Croton postmaster Augustus W. Dymes, Jr.—the uncle of Croton’s current Village Historian, … Continue reading Croton-on-Hudson Gets Hyphenated, April 1, 1948
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