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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 Chapter pg 145-200 PCRUFSD, Peck, Bush-Lyon 2026-06-01 ...1004AM 145 Chapter 05: Historical List of Schools in Port Chester-Rye UFSD (District No. 4) South Main Street School (1853-1881) Curved corner of [108] South Main Street/Boston Post Road. 0.344-acre Above Left: Following Revolutionary War-era, 1-room schoolhouse locations on the King Street hill, just north of the circa-1831, Summerfield Methodist Church, and a final relocation to the plot of land that became Summerfield Park after the 1852 public auction and sale of the land to a large group of residents as a public park, the circa-1853, South Main Street school (7-8 rooms) was built on at the curving, northwest corner of Westchester Turnpike (Boston Post Road), opposite the intersections with River Avenue (re-named as Purdy Avenue) and Grace Church Street. This school operated for 28 years from 1853-1881. Photo of unknown source/ date from page 44 of the 74-page, March 1, 1968 book: History of the Village of Port Chester New York On the Occasion of the Centennial Celebration of Its Incorporation On May 14, 1868, as published by the Village of Port Chester, Centennial Historical Book Committee. As reported on page 45 of the centennial book, Miss Lavina Horton taught at the above school and was its Principal in 1863-1865 and in 1874-1881. Elected in 1887 to the Port Chester school board, as its first woman, she served 10 of her 12 years on the BOE as its President. NOTE: This 1968 Port Chester centennial book can be obtained as a 42-page PDF from Port Chester’s Village Clerk via eFOIL request. Above Right & Below: Excerpts of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47 (see link to New York Public Library digital collections: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7bf6be90-c5f7-012f-4076-58d385a7bc34), showing the rectangular, South Main Street School on a ~15,000 sf (0.344-acre) lot, the shape of a slice of pie ... located at the curve in the roadway, east of the railroad tracks. In 2026, the 1853 school site is the southwesterly portion of The Magellan at 112 S. Main Street. 146 Subdivision plat Map of Lots Belonging To Samuel Glock & James S. Merritt in the Village of Port Chester NY filed October 31, 1894 with the Westchester County Register’s Office in maps Volume 10 at Page 72, showing the property of Samuel Glock & James S. Merritt, which they purchased for $10,000 on October 1, 1894 from the executor of Jared Valentine Peck (1816-1891). Eight (8) weeks before his December 25, 1891 death, Peck paid $1,055 to the Port Chester school district under a November 1, 1891 deed for the ~15,000 square foot, corner parcel (see lots 13-17 and 24-25 in the above plat map) with the curving portion of the front property line, containing the South Main Street School that operated from 1853-1881, the footprint of which can be seen above by the red arrows. Prior to becoming the successful bidder at the September 25, 1991, public auction for the schoolhouse property that culminated in the November 1st deed, Peck had purchased the balance of the property shown above (abutting the railroad) from Phebe Field under a March 10, 1880, deed for $2,000. It was Samuel Glock & James S. Merritt, who then subdivided the combined tract, as laid out in the above 1894 subdivision plat map with 25 lots. 147 The Magellan, a 9-story, mixed-use building erected in 2024 at 108-112 South Main Street, includes the 15,000 square foot site of the former South Main Street school. See the 1894, filed plat map on prior page, photo of The Magellan (below) from its website & and 2026 AxisGIS/CAI Technologiesä mapping (above) from Town of Rye Assessor’s website to illustrate. 148 Excerpt of 1901 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 28, showing former site of South Main Street School (1853-1881) at the northwest corner of South Main Street with Westchester Turnpike (Boston Post Road), opposite intersections with Purdy Avenue and Grace Church Street ... where The Magellan, a 9-story, mixed-use building, built in 2024 at 108-112 South Main Street, stands in 2026. Notice the circa-1892, Grace Churcb Street elementary school at 18 Central Avenue, just east of Grace Church Street that was re-named in 1921 after President Abraham Lincoln 149 The Sawpit’s own: Jared V. Peck (1816-1891) Jared Valentine Peck, was born in 1816 in the Sawpit (as it was known from 1732 until incorporated as the Village of Port Chester in May 1868). His parents Jared Peck (1773-1842) and Tamazin Adee Peck (1777-1857), were each born in Greenwich, CT. The Peck homestead and business was at Peck’s Point at the foot of Adee Street at the Byram River (see 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47 high resolution scan below, which you can zoom in on), where in 1798, the father, Jared Peck was “principally devoted to the carrying trade, the buying of grain and other farm products, the packing of beef and pork, which was shipped to the New York market. He was very successful, and at one time, had four market sloops plying in the trade” as the opening paragraphs of Jared V. Peck’s 1891 obituary details. Read Jared V. Peck’s December 31, 1891 obituary on page 154 hereof, and see how it transports you back 93 years to his father working in an 18th century, Sawpit, transitioning into the 19th century, and paints a different picture of the Port Chester waterfront and industry than the Costco experience of 2026. 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47, of part of the newly incorporated Village of Port Chester, highlighting the businesses and industry along the Byram River and the railroad that arrived in 1849. While you can zoom in on this high resolution, JPEG, the next page contains an excerpt that does just that for convenience. 150 Excerpt of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47 of Port Chester, serving to zoom in and highlight the businesses and industry along the Byram River and the railroad that arrived in 1849. Notice the 1853-1881 South Main Street School at opposite the intersection with River Avenue (later re-named Purdy Avenue after the Purdy Farm). Lyons Point at the Byram River later became the terminus of Westchester Avenue at the waterfront. Peck’s Point where Adee Street once terminated at the Bryam River, was the homestead of Jared Peck (1773-1842) and Tamazin Adee Peck (1777- 1857), and place of business where they had a number of sloops docked for their transport business of grains and other goods to New York City markets. After his father’s death, Jared V. Peck formed a business in 1843 caled Peck, Smith & Co. with his brother James H. Peck and Horace B. Smith, expanding into a lumber, brick and building materials business. After the retirement of James H. Peck, the company of J.V. Peck & Co. prevailed (see above). 151 Jared V. Peck was a wealthy businessman, who operated and expanded the family lumber and building materials business in Port Chester, after his father passed away in 1842, at age 69. He also became a politician, and was the first from Rye, NY to serve in Congress (1853-1855 ... https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/P00017). Peck was also a Town of Rye auditor (1844-45), a NYS Assembleyman in 1848, a member of the Port Chester school board (District No. 4) in 1952-53. Peck was generally very active in local, civic affairs, including 1859-1865 when he resided in Manhattan and was appointed warden of the port of New York by Governor Edwin D. Morgan. Jared returned to live on a farm at the Boston Post Road, near the Rye train station and the heart of the Village of Rye. Jared V. Peck died at age 75, on Christmas Day 1891 at his residence, The Cedars on the Boston Post Road in Rye, which structure still stands in 2026 at 3 Barberry Lane within the 1911 Loudon Woods subdivision (see plat map below) that was developed by Rye native, Stuyvesant Wainwright. Peck’s JIB Farm was bounded: to the north by Peck Avenue (named after him); to the east by Midland Avenue; and to the west by the Boston Post Road in the heart of the Village of Rye, opposite Purdy Avenue. The tract once had ~1,000 feet of frontage on that New York to Boston thoroughfare (Route 1), before Jared V. Peck sold 18 acres of his ~44-acre tract to John B. Peck in October 1868. Those 18 acres were later acquired by The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. In the early 1920s, the railroad sold off many of its excess land holdings alongside the tracks laid out in 1849 ...this Village of Rye portion, being sold to Joseph F. Park, Jr. It became Hidden Spring Lane homes and the 1949 Rye Colony garden apartment complex. The Port Chester-Rye Brook Library’s website https://portchester-ryebrooklibrary.org/history/ credits Jared V. Peck as being its founder in 1876, when he reportedly donated his 3-story building at 112 N. Main Street (still standing in 2026) to The Library and Reading Room of the Village of Port Chester under a recorded deed dated October 29, 1877. As the website details, the 1877 library occupied the 2nd floor, and used rental revenue from the ground floor retail and 3rd floor tenancies to fund operations. The library moved to 1 Haseco Avenue in 1967. Left: “Map of Loudon, the Property of Stuyvesant Wainwright, Rye Village, Town of Rye, N.Y.” filed November 21, 1911, with the Westchester County Register’s Office, as Map No. 1952. The 48-lot subdivision, commonly known as Loudon Woods, shows the underlying 26.157-acre, JIB farm was built in ~1860 by Jared Valentine Peck (1816-1891) with his house “Cedars” still standing at 3 Barberry Lane, as of 2026, as well as modified outbuildings at 2 and 4 Holly Lane. Right: Illustration of Jared V. Peck, of unknown date/ source via Wikipediaâ 152 Excerpts: of 1901 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 29, “Part of the Town of Rye ...” (above) and 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 35, “Part of the Village of Rye ...” (below) as the Village incorporated six years earlier in 1904. The below 1910 mapping shows: (a) the remaining 26.157-acre farm of Jared V. Peck, between the Boston Post Road to Midland Avenue [he died on Christmas Day 1891, but the farm was sold by his estate in April 1910 to Stuyvesant Wainwright]; (b) the labeling of Peck Avenue; (c) the acquisition of large tracts of land by the railroad in 1905, adjacent to existing railroad tracks, since the above 1901 mapping. Typo Below: “Jard” V. Peck Estate should read as “Jared” 153 Now, in their entirety: 1901 Plate 29 (above) and 1910 Plate 35 (below) of the G.W. Bromley atlas. 154 December 31, 1891, page 1, Obituary for Jared Valentine Peck (1816-1891, age 75) in The Port Chester Journal 155 Abraham Lincoln School 18 Central Avenue (½ block east of Grace Church Street) 1.16-acre site Built in 1892 as the Grace Church Street School. Re-named in 1921 after President Abraham Lincoln. Re-built in 1923 after a fire. Sold to Holy Rosary School in May 1945. Following a 2008-2009 merger with the Corpus Christi School, in 2019, the 18 Central Avenue location served as one of two locations for the Universal Pre-K program of the Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary School (“CC-HRS”). The Pre-K program consolidated at the longtime Corpus Christi Church campus at 135 South Regent Street, and the 18 Central Avenue structure was put on the market on March 31, 2025 (OneKey MLS #833187) for lease as ~30,000 sf of office space. 11 months later in February 2026, the asking rent is $29,900 per month for this former PCRUFSD elementary school property. Above: Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 37, showing 18 Central Avenue site of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School. Below: Photos from March 2025 MLS#833187, offering 18 Central Avenue for commercial lease. 156 Theodore Roosevelt School 114 Pearl Street (SWC of William Street) 0.92-acre site Built in 1910 as the William Street School on a former Our Lady of Mercy School site. Re-named in Feb. 1921 after President Theodore Roosevelt. Sold in 1977 for multi-tenant, commercial uses, with address of 114 Pearl Street. 157 George Washington School (aka Washington Park school) 218 South Regent Street Built in 1905 as the South Regent School. Re-named in 1921 after President George Washington. Also known as the Washington Park School, due to its proximity to the 1891 Washington Park subdivision (136 lots) along West William Street & Ellendale Avenue. Closed after 67 years in June 1972, the school was sold on August 29, 1973, and demolished in 1973 for the 60,000 sf expansion of the circa-1910 J.J. Cassone Bakery in 1977. Above: Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 36, showing the George Washington School, built in 1905 on lots 5- 10 and parts of lots 11-12 of the below Map of Ridgeland filed April 4, 1905 as Map 1485 158 The “H-I-J” buildings Irving Avenue (NEC of Haseco Avenue) 2.01-acre overall site The three map excerpts below, show how the 2.01-acre, Irving Avenue campus was acquired under four (4) deeds: (i) 1.442 acres in 1880 from Robert & Jerusha Vaughan; (ii) 1888 deed from Gilbert Bulkley; (iii) 1889 deed from Garrett Brown; and (iv) 1890 deed for small parcel from Gilbert Bulkley. Three (3) school buildings were erected upon the 2.01-acre site, as follows: 1881 “I” Building at center of lot that was known as the Central School; 1900 “H” Building at Haseco Avenue corner that was the original Port Chester High School, which was later transformed into the Washington Irving School for elementary grades when the current PCHS at 1 Tamarack Road opened on February 1, 1932; 1917 “J” Building ... easterly-most of the three buildings, as the Port Chester Junor High School; The site was sold to local real estate investor Marvin Ravikoff in 1971 for $325,000. He sold the property 14 years later in 1985, to the developers of the 1986 Washington Mews subdivision, consisting of 56 attached townhomes, clustered in 11 buildings. Above Left: Excerpt of Map of Poningo Dale property of Gilbert B. Bulkley filed October 23, 1889, as Map No. 916. Above Right: Excerpt of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 38. Below: May 24, 1962 The Daily Item photo/ caption. 159 Excerpts of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 38, showing the 2.01-acre, Irving Avenue site (between Haseco and Poningo Streets) acquired in 1880- 1890, upon which the three school buildings were erected in 1880, 1900 and 1919. 160 Thomas A. Edison Elementary School 132 Rectory Street 1.72-acre site Built as the Brooksville School in 1892. Re-named in February 1921, as the Thomas Alva Edison School. Serves grades K-5 in 2026. 1892 was also the year that the Grace Church Street School was built at 18 Central Avenue (renamed in February 1921 as the Abraham Lincoln School), but sold in 1945 to the Holy Rosary School. The 1892 Brooksville building at the corner of Rectory & Locust, remains in 2026, as Port Chester’s oldest school structure. Additions were built in 1905, 1910, 1928 and 2001. Excerpts of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 36 (above left) and 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 38 (below left), show the 1892 Brooksville School built on Read Peck subdivision lots 32-33 (a combined 100’ x 125’ or 0.287-acre parcel) purchased in 1890 for $1,800 at 132 Rectory Street (southeast corner of Locust Avenue). Additions in 1905 on said Lots 32/33 (see above pink building) and then a 4-room, perpendicular, 2-story addition in 1910 on abutting Read Peck subdivision Lot 27 at Locust Avenue, acquired in February 1910. Ten (10) more Read Peck lots [numbers 25, 26, 28-31 & 33-36] acquired in June 1929 for $146,600, after $310,000 bond referendum approved by voters on May 24, 1929 ($160,000 allocated for land acquisition + $150,000 for construction costs of the L-shaped, 2-story addition with classrooms and gymnasium/ auditorium that opened in September 1928 (see floor plans below right as featured on page 9 of May 22, 1929, The Daily Item). 3-story addition in 2001 at rear of Orchard Avenue frontage. Above Right: March 3, 2003 photo of Rectory St./Locust Ave. corner, via Town of Rye Assessor’s SDG Imagemateä database. 161 Lavina M. Horton Elementary School 222 Grace Church Street 3-acre site Built in 1923, on a 3-acre site assembled in February-March 1922, as five parcels covering all of Grace Church Street’s westerly frontage, between Cottage and Eldredge Streets. The 1923 Lavina M. Horton Elementary School at 222 Grace Church Street. Early years photo of unknown source/ specific date from page 45 of the 74-page, March 1, 1968 book: History of the Village of Port Chester New York On the Occasion of the Centennial Celebration of Its Incorporation On May 14, 1868, as published by the Village of Port Chester, Centennial Historical Book Committee. Book available as PDF, by FOIL request of Port Chester Village Clerk. During the March 24, 1922, Board of Education meeting, the BOE voted unanimously to name the school after longtime teacher, Lavina M. Horton (1827-1912), who was also principal of the former South Main Street School in 1853-55 and 1874-1881 where she also taught. When Miss Horton retired from that school, a short walk from her 203 William Street residence at the corner of Smith Street, she operated her own private school within her home. Miss Horton was reportedly the first woman to be elected to the Port Chester school board, serving 10 of her 12 years from 1887 onward, as its President. Miss Horton’s brief obituary in the Friday, February 16, 1912, The New York Times: “Obituary Notes. LAVINA M. HORTON, 85 years old, the oldest schoolteacher in Westchester County, died at her home, 203 William Street, Port Chester, Thursday night. Miss Horton was the last of an old Westchester family. She taught school in different parts of Westchester County for nearly fifty years.” The 3-story, Horton elementary school closed in June 1982 after 59 years in operation. The property was sold in July 1983, and converted to multi-tenant, office use. Two decades later in October 2003, the Village of Port Chester purchased it for $6.5 million, for use as its Village Hall and Senior Community Center. The Town of Rye has leased offices on the 3rd floor since 2014, when the Town sold its 10 Pearl Street office building in November 2014. 162 Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 37 showing the Lavina Horton Elementary School, built in 1923 at 220-222 Grace Church Street on five (5) lots aggregating ~3 acres, acquired in February/March 2022: (a) 0.63-acre Cottage Park lot #2 plus 1.9177 acre center parcel, sold by Charles A. Gould & wife Adelaide, of neighboring Grey Rock estate; and (b) 0.425-acre Edgeland lots #1-3. Closed in June 1982 after 59 years in operation, the former Horton school became multi-tenanted office space in 1983 ... then the Port Chester Village Hall site in 2003. 163 January 16, 1922, The Daily Item, page 1 photo & caption prior to the Port Chester Board of Education voting on March 24, 1922, to name the planned elementary school at 220-222 Grace Church Street after Lavina M. Horton. 164 January 23, 1922, The Daily Item, page 4, editorial endorsing the proposition of naming the planned, new elementary school at 220-222 Grace Church Street after Lavina M. Horton, who was affectionately referred to as The Governor as the editorial describes. 165 September 10, 1923, The Daily Item, page 7, enrollment chart for the Port Chester (District No. 4) schools, published after the new Lavina M. Horton Elementary School opened its doors on September 6, 2023 to reduce overcrowding in the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School at William Street (now known as 114 Pearl Street) and at the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School at 18 Central Avenue (just east of Grace Church Street), as the chart reveals. NOTES: (A) This 1923 chart predates the many changes that would occur in ensuing decades that saw the closing of every school on this list, except for the Thomas A. Edison School in the Brooksville neighborhood at 132 Rectory Street. (B) All of these early schools lacked acreage for the necessary recreation uses and were limited regarding future expansion of the school buildings. That approach changed in the late 1920s onward when larger tracts of 10 acres to 24 acres were acquired, to include the required outdoor and indoor recreation facilities. (C) Three (3) new elementary schools were built: (a) Olivia Street Elementary School in 1954, re-named in 1964 as the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, as a memorial to the assassinated POTUS; (b) King Street Elementary School in 1953; and (c) Park Avenue Elementary School in 1928. (D) As detailed herein, the first three schools listed above ... the H-I-J schools as they became known as, were built side-by-side on a tiny, 2-acre site on Irving Avenue at Haseco Street. They all closed over time. (E) The Port Chester High School opened in 1932 at 1 Tamarack Road on the west end of a 27.5-acre tract acquired in March 1928, with the Park Avenue Elementary School opening earlier in 1928, at the eastern end of the tract. (F) The Port Chester Junior High School opened in 1966 at 113 Bowman Avenue, and was converted to the grades 6-8, Port Chester Middle School in Summer 1982. (G) The Abraham Lincoln Elementary School was sold in 1945 to the private, parochial Holy Rosary School. The George Washington Elementary School on South Regent Street was sold for its land, to J.J. Cassone’s bakery. The Lavina Horton and Theodore Roosevelt schools became office uses, as they remain in use as of 2026. 166 Excerpt of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 36, showing 1.9177-acre, E.W. McNeil parcel purchased for $8,000 as the center of 5 parcels acquired in February/March 1922 for the aggregate 3-acre, Lavina M. Horton Elementary School site at 220-222 Grace Church Street in Port Chester, near the Village of Rye (City status as of 1942) border. The 52.306-acre “Grey Rock” estate (incorrectly labeled as 90 acres on the above map) ... plus 7.711 acres underwater at the Long Island Sound, was purchased by industrialist Charles A. Gould (1849-1926) and wife Adelaide Stocking Gould (1848-1929) as 41.306 acres for $150,000 from Emily B. Davis in March 1896 ... plus 11 acres from Edwin Packard in April 1901. Sold after the respective deaths of Charles & Adelaide Gould in 1926 and 1929, it became the 1937 Greyrock subdivision with 49 lots. Notice the proximity of the 1.16-acre, Grace Church Street school, built in 1892 at 18 Central Avenue, just east of Grace Church Street. Re-named as the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in 1921, the public school was sold in May 1945 for use as the private, parochial Holy Rosary School. The Horton school at 220-222 Grace Church Street served the southeast portion of the Village of Port Chester for 49 years from 1923-1982. 167 Above: 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 36 showing future 3-acre, Lavina Horton M. Elementary School site at 220-222 Grace Church Street in Port Chester, acquired in February/ March 1922. Note its positioning at the southeast corner of the Village of Port Chester, near the boundary with the Village of Rye. Below: Excerpt of 1925 flyover survey #1925_12841_0227 by Underwood & Underwood from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS via the Westchester County Department of Planning website, showing the new Horton school, and surrounding neighborhood east of Midland Avenue (top) and the Grace Church Street corridor below. 168 Park Avenue Elementary School 75 Park Avenue 3.23 acres of 27.622-acre PCHS site Port Chester High School 1 Tamarack Road 5.94 acres (w/ buildings) in Rye Brook (grades 9-12) Rye Brook, NY 10573 14.44-acre (athletic fields) in Port Chester The Park Avenue Elementary School opened in late September 1928 for grades K-6 at the easterly end of a 27.622- acre tract of land, acquired a mere 6½ months earlier for $275,000 under a March 5, 1928, deed to the UFSD No. 4 of the Town of Rye (PCRUFSD) from Tamarack Country Club, Inc. The Port Chester High School building opened 3.33 years later, on February 1, 1932, at the westerly end of school property. When the 1966 Port Chester Junior High School at 113 Bowman Avenue converted to the grades 6-8, Port Chester Middle School in 1982, the Park Avenue Elementary School at 75 Park Avenue became a K-5 school, as did all other Port Chester elementary schools. Above: 1990 photo of the 1928 Park Avenue Elementary School at 75 Park Avenue via Westchester County Historical Society (Call No. G-04030). Below: Circa-2021 aerial photo via Homes.comä website, looking west at the rear facade of the 1932 Port Chester High School and its Ryan Stadium with football field that was replaced with a synthetic turf field, following voter approval of an ~$80 million PCRUFSD bond referendum in May 2017. 169 Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 39, showing the 27.622-acre PCRUFSD tract with Park Avenue Elementary School built in 1928 at the eastern end on ~3.23 acres in the Village of Port Chester. PCHS opened February 1, 1932, on the ~6-acre westerly portion in unincorporated (incorporated as the Village of Rye Brook in July 1982). 170 Above: Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 39, amended as of 1932 to show the Port Chester High School, with the building that opened February 1, 1932 on ~6 acres just west of the Town of Rye/ Village of Port Chester municipal boundary, within the unincorporated portion of the Town of Rye that incorporated 50 years later in 1982 as the Village of Rye Brook. The PCHS athletic fields, always being within the Village of Port Chester. Below: First Floor Plan, High School Building, Port Chester, NY by Tooker & Marsh Architects, via June 28, 1930, The Daily Item. Same architect designed the 1928 Park Avenue Elementary School and 1928 gym addition at Thomas A. Edison School. 171 The former 107.4-acre, Ridge Street tract of wealthy farmer, John Lyon (1841-1920) had been leased in April 1909 to the newly formed (unincorporated) Port Chester Country Club. That lease was renewed on March 29, 1921, for another 10 years, with an option to purchase the tract for $250,000. Seven years into the second lease, there was a name change and the lease was assigned on February 28, 1928 to Tamarack Country Club, Inc., a membership- based corporation that then purchased the 107.4-acre tract from the Estate of John Lyon ... six days later on March 5, 1928, when they simultaneously sold 25.72% or 27.622 acres of the John Lyon farm at Ridge Street to the school district in a same-day transaction. The Tamarack Country Club ( https://www.tamarackcountryclub.com/our-history ) purchased the Griffin Farm at 55 Locust Road in the northwest corner of Greenwich CT, near the NY border with the Town of New Castle (Armonk). The new Greenwich clubhouse and 18-hole golf course opened on July 4, 1929, just before the club sold the remaining 79.778 acres of the 107.4-acre John Lyon farm along Ridge Street in the Town of Rye to Tamarack Gardens, Inc. (developers Irving Austin and David J. Kelly, Jr. of Austin & Merritt), under a July 16, 1929 deed. 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 39, showing how the 107.4-acre, Ridge Street farm of John Lyon (1841-1920) was transformed from lease to the Port Chester Country Club in 1909-1928, until the March 1928 assignment to newly incorporated Tamarack Country Club, who then purchased/ sold 27.622 acres to the Port Chester school district on March 7, 1928 and the remaining 79.778 acres to Tamarack Gardens subdivision developers on July 16, 1928. 172 Following NYS Surrogate’s Court partition actions by heirs of John A. Merritt, resulting in a November 5, 1879 auction and December 4, 1879 deeds, John Lyon acquired parcels of 55.957 acres + 41.237 acres +5.148 acres = 102.342 acres at the eastside of Ridge Street, known as the “Homestead Farm” of John A. Merritt, who died intestate on April 28, 1876 at age 71. This is the 107.4-acre tract leased by John Lyon to the Port Chester Country Club in 1909 and 1921 ... then ultimately divided and sold in March 1928 as 27.622 acres to the Port Chester-Rye UFSD on March 7, 1928 and the 79.778-acre deed to the developers of the Tamarack Gardens subdivision on July 16, 1929. October 23, 1879 advertisement for the November 5, 1879 auction of land on both sides of Ridge Street, north of Westchester Avenue, including three (3) parcels at acquired by John Lyon at the auction, at the eastside of Ridge Street [above Lots 5, 1 & 3 of: 55.957 + 41.237 +5.148 acres = 102.342 acres] that were the Homestead Farm of wealthy cattleman & bachelor, John A. [Adee] Merritt (1805-1876), the only child of Jotham Merritt & Charlotte Adee Merritt. 173 Excerpts of 1901 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 28 (above) and 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 36 (below), showing the separate King Street and Ridge Street farms of John Lyon (1838-1920). 174 1925 flyover surveys #1925_12841_0267 (above) and #1925_12841_0265 (below) by Underwood & Underwood from Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS via the Westchester County Department of Planning website, show Ridge Street estates north of Westchester Avenue: (a) 107.4-acre, Port Chester Country Club golf links on farm leased since 1909 from John Lyon; (b) Edgar F. Price; (c) Edna & Everett Crawford; (d) Edwin & Katherine Allen [Elm Hill Farm]; (e) John I. Downey; (f) Sophie & George Clausen; and (g) Dunleavy Milbank. 175 The Legacy of John Lyon and the Lyon Family in Port Chester/ Town of Rye Born on Weaver Street in Glenville, CT, John Merritt Lyon II (1841-1920) was known simply as John Lyon. A wealthy farmer, who benefited from inheritances, he married Sarah H. Merritt Lyon (1846-1932) in 1874. They resided in their latter decades at the Lyon Farm at 383 King Street in Port Chester Lyon Farm served generations of Lyon family dating back to the late 1600s, and once stretched from King Street down to Byram Bridge where Putnam Avenue continues over the Byram River ... the boundary with Greenwich CT. John Lyon’s bachelor son, John Merritt Lyon III (1876-1968), who was known as John M. Lyon, also lived at the 383 King Street farm with unmarried, sister Sarah E. Lyon (1887-1965). Their sibling, Lillian Florence Lyon (1892-1980) had also been a lifelong Port Chester resident, living both on the farm, and nearby on King Street, while married (Ritch). Following the deaths of her older siblings (John M. Lyon in 1965) and (Sarah “Sadie” E. Lyon in 1968), Lillian presided over the 1979 sale of the remaining 14.362-acre, Lyon Farm parcel at 383 King Street. The Lyon Farm buildings were demolished by the 1981 Lyon Farm Village subdivision developer, who in 1983-1984, constructed 100 townhouses, clustered into 13 buildings with recreation amenities and common areas. Left: Lyon Memorial, New York Families Descended From The Immigrant, Thomas Lyon [1621-1690] of Rye, title page, published 1907 by Press of William Graham Printing Co., Detroit, MI. Link to 568-page PDF: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/lyonmemorial00mill/lyonmemorial00mill.pdf NOTE: With any research, it is important to cross-reference information sources. Certain entries in the above 1907 Lyon Memorial publication are incomplete, erroneous. For example: John Merritt Lyon II (1838-1920), known simply as the John Lyon of John Lyon Park fame, has been assigned conflicting birth years of: 1845, 1841 and 1838 (the correct year) and an incomplete list of his three surviving children: John Merritt Lyon III, known as John M. Lyon (1876-1968, unmarried); Miss Sarah E. Lyon (1887-1965, unmarried); and Lillian Florence Lyon (1892-1980), divorced. 176 Obituary of John Merritt Lyon II (1838-1920), the namesake of Lyon Park in the July 12, 1920, The Daily Item. 177 February 5, 1978, The Daily Item article about the process to sell off the remaining Lyon family parcel of 14.362 acres with the Lyon Farm residence and barn at 383 King Street. It took several years and two different developers to obtain the 1981 subdivision approval from the Village of Port Chester’s Planning Commission/ Board of Trustees. 178 Lyon Park at 331 Putnam Avenue is named after John Merritt Lyon II (September 24, 1838 - July 12, 1920 ... age 81), known simply as John Lyon. Under a March 12, 1928 deed, 5 acres at the curve in Putnam Avenue (where the baseball fields are built), was donated to the Village as parkland, in addition to other former Lyon and Bush family parcels, including a 3-acre (~1,253’ x ~105’ deep strip of land at the northside of Parkway Drive (50 subdivision Block “A” lots), sold for $60,000 by Lyon Terrace subdivision developers to the Village of Port Chester on April 20, 1928 ... the day after the John Lyon’s three (3) children sold ~25 acres to developers in a April 19, 1928 deed. Lyon Park at 331 Putnam Avenue, including the historic Bush-Lyon Homestead at 479 King Street, is 20.3 acres. Above: February 26, 2026 CAI TechnologiesÔ tax mapping via Town of Rye Assessor’s website, showing former Lyon family farmland, including: (i) ~7.57-acre, Brooksville Playground that we knew as “Rec Park” (short for Recreation Park) in the 1960s/ 1970s that had been renamed in September 1966 by the Port Chester Board of Trustees, as the Joseph E. Curtis Recreation Park at 584 Locust Avenue, to honor the widely respected pioneer in suburban recreation and youth programs, who served as Recreation Commissioner in White Plains and later New Rochelle, amidst a lifetime of public service; and (ii) 20.3-acre John Lyon Park at 331 Putnam Avenue, shortened to Lyon Park. 179 Above: Pre-2003 Town of Rye Assessment Office Tax Map #3452 excerpts (right) of the 7.57-acre Joseph E. Curtis Recreation Park; and Tax Map #3451 (left) by J.A. Kirby surveyors, via Town of Rye website & Westchester County Clerk’s Office Land Records online database, showing Lyon Park tax parcels: Bush Homestead parcels of 5.3 +7.2 = 12.5 acres ... plus 7.8 acres from the Lyon Farm aggregating 20.3 acres. The 5.3-acre and 7.2-acre parcels are from the historic Bush Homestead at 479 King Street that the Village of Port Chester acquired by recorded June 5, 1925, deed for $100,000. Also, note the 14.362-acre Lyon Farm Village subdivision’s six (6) tax parcels (red « arrows) at the 383 King Street/ Chestnut Street corner. Below: June 6, 1925, The Daily Item, page 1 article about the Village of Port Chester acquiring the remaining Bush family 12.5 acres at King Street & Putnam Avenue containing the historic, Colonial-era, Bush-Lyon Homestead. According to the article, this was the first time the Village acquired land for public park use. 180 As Baird writes on page 84 (see below) of his 1871 book, Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, NY, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains Till 1788, Justus Bush (1674-1739) of Dutch descent (surname of Bosch changed to Bush), purchased land in 1726 from one of “The Eighteen” ... proprietors of Peningo Neck, John and Jonathan Brondig of English descent, with their ancestral surname having other variations such as Brondish or Brundage as reflected in recorded Town of Rye deeds, and as Baird addresses. Baird reports that the land acquired in 1726 from Brondig (Brundage) was transferred in 1745 by Justus Bush’s widow, Anne ... as in Annatje Hendricks (née Smith) Bosch/Bush (1677-1745) to their youngest son Abraham Bosch/Bush (1720-1814), who had married Ruth Lyon (1724-1802) the year before in 1744. While the Justus Bush Homestead appears to be in the heart of the Village near today’s intersection of Westchester Avenue/ King Street/ Main Street, the seven children of Abraham Bush and Ruth Lyon Bush were reportedly all born 9/10 of a mile north in the Bush-Lyon Homestead at 479 King Street, between 1747-1766. Circa-1900 photo of the Bush-Lyon Homestead at 479 King Street via https://sites.google.com/view/bush-lyon-homestead/home website. 181 Mary Emeline Bush Bulkley (1799-1893), the only child of Gilbert Bush (1753-1831) and Sabrina Seymour Bush (1761-1831), inherited the Bush-Lyon Homestead. Mary married a sea captain, Gershom Bulkley (1789-1876) in December 1823 at Christ’s Church in Rye, NY. The Bulkley family had a long history in shipping and related business on the water, and like the Bush family, had vast land holdings in Port Chester. Gershom & Mary’s 3 daughters and 5 sons, including Gilbert Bush Bulkley (1836-1890), all predeceased Mary, except for son, Charles Seymour Bulkley, a civil engineer, who according to 1899-1900 articles in The Port Chester Journal newspaper, had disappeared from Port Chester in the 1860s, but reportedly died in 1894 in Guatemala City, having been engaged in building railroads in that Central American country ... after having abandoned a wife Jane A. Bulkley decades earlier in Port Chester, and illegally marrying (without divorcing) a second wife in California, with whom he had two sons. The Bulkley homestead that Baird describes on page 268 (see below) of his 1871 book as serving the sea-faring, Bulkley family for no less than six generations, was near the harbor, in the heart of the Village ... just west of Main Street at the foot of the current terminus of King Street (then the 2-block Fountain Street as shown in the excerpt of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47 on the next page). 182 Excerpt of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 47 of Port Chester, showing the Captain Gershom Bulkley homestead at Fountain Street (later re-named as the southern terminus of King Street) that was likely the prior location of the Justus Bush homestead, where Mary Emeline Bush Bulkley (1799-1893) grew up as the only child of Gilbert Bush (1753-1831) and Sabrina Seymour Bush (1761-1831), before marrying Gershom Bulkley (1789-1876) in 1923. Mary inherited vast Bush land holdings of her father Gilbert Bush in 1831, and of her husband Gershom Bulkley in 1876. 183 Early 20th Century housing subdivisions of former Bush property at King Street Let’s start with a little Bush-Lyon genealogy. Abraham Bosch (Bush) married Ruth Lyon in 1750. One of their two sons, Abraham Bush (1751-1786), married Mary Polly Lyon (1756-1838) in 1780. They had one child: William Bush (1781-1856), who married Elizabeth Davenport (1795-1870) on September 14, 1811, in New Rochelle. They had nine children: four sons and five daughters. It was their children who were involved in the sell-off of the Bush land holdings along King Street in vicinity of Putnam Avenue, starting in 1902. Henry Hobart Bush and his daughter Eliza Davenport Bush were involved with the parcel west of King Street, and she handled the sale of the remaining 12.5-acre Bush-Lyon Homestead at 479 King Street to the Village of Port Chester in 1925. Excerpts of FamilySearchä online database search. Link: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/M583- 18X/william-bush-1781-1856 for William Bush [1781-1856], his wife Elizabeth Davenport Bush (1795-1870) & their 9 children, as an example of a search. 184 Deed conveyances by Bush family members prior to subsequent housing subdivisions November 19, 1870, deed to unmarried Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) from the five children of his deceased brother, William Lawrence Bush (1817-1868), for $10,400.38 covering: (a) 210.50 acres at eastside of King Street, stretching north/ northeast from and including the Bush portion of the future, circa-1909, Putnam Avenue, and land in the Pemberwick section of Greenwich CT; and (b) 15.79 acres at southwest corner of King Street & North Regent Street. Liber 790; Page 283. December 1, 1890, deed to Aggie H. Clark by Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) and other heirs of William Bush, deceased, for $5,000 for 5.45 acres at westside of King Street (now the 1924 Clermont Park subdivision at Glendale Place extension & North Regent Street with 10 lots ... and the 1982 Village Green subdivision at King Street with 28 attached townhouses clustered into 7 buildings, across King Street from the Lyon Farm townhouses). Liber 1221; Page 21. December 1, 1891, deed to William E. Ward by Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) and other heirs of William Bush, deceased, for $4,500 for 3.152 acres at southwest corner of King Street and North Regent Street (now the 1926 Regal Ridge subdivision with 21 lots and the Rex Road through street), opposite the Bush-Lyon Homestead. Liber 1250; Page 454. January 15, 1902, deed to Laura Adele Quintard Palmer by Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) as executor of William Bush, deceased, for 40 acres at eastside of King Street in the Town of Rye, abutting Ellen Osborn. Liber 1597; Page 448. July 1, 1902, deed to Francis Fletcher Palmer by Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) as executor of William Bush, deceased, for 13.316 acres at eastside of King Street, abutting other land previously conveyed by same grantor to Laura A. Palmer. Liber 1619; Page 15. May 12, 1903, deed to Francis Fletcher Palmer by Andrew Lyon Bush (1817-1910) as executor of William Bush, deceased, for 109.50 acres at eastside of King Street in Towns of Rye & Greenwich, bounded to the north by Comly Avenue. Liber 1656; Page 212. 185 Photos of the King Street mansions of Laura Adele Quintard Palmer (1852-1931) and husband, Nicholas Fletcher Palmer, Jr., (1847-1922) and their sons, Francis Fletcher Palmer (1874-1923) & George Quintard Palmer (1873-1933), from pages 45 & 46 of 94-page, Views of Rye book, self-published in 1917 by Rye realtor, Blakeman Quintard Meyer. 186 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 42 (above) and Plate 39 (below) showing land owned by the Bush family for almost two centuries, later developed into housing subdivisions at King Street, as detailed on pages 182-191. 187 Above:: Amended Map of Alden Estates in the Towns of Rye, NY and Greenwich, Conn. filed July 21, 1938 as Map 4728. Below: Subdivision Map of a Portion of Property Belonging To Laura A. Palmer in the Towns of Greenwich, Conn. & Rye, N.Y. , as prepared by F.S. Odell Engineering Corporation, with 455 lots, filed on August 29, 1922, with the Westchester County Register as Map No. 2436. This tract is predominantly in the Pemberwick section of Greenwich, CT, south of Comly Avenue, while extending Town of Rye’s Upland Street into Greenwich, to the Byram River. NOTE: Quintard Drive, Francis Lane, Fletcher Avenue Nicholas Avenue and Morgan Avenue, are all based upon Palmer family names of Laura Adele Quintard Palmer and Nicholas Fletcher Palmer, Jr. 188 Map of Bush Homestead Park in the Village of Port Chester, N.Y. , as prepared by F.S. Odell Engineering Corporation, with 26 lots along King Street, North Regent Street and Davenport Avenue, filed on September 15, 1922, with the Westchester County Register as Map No. 2441. 189 Above: Map of Longview Ridge in the Village of Port Chester, N.Y. and the Town of Greenwich, Conn. subdivision with 213 lots, filed on June 10, 1920, with the Westchester County Register as Map No. 2253. The deeds for vacant building lots at this Bush family subdivision with streets named after Bush family names/surnames (Halstead, Hewlett, Hobart, Caroline etc., were signed in 1920 through 1926 by the Executor for Sarah Hewlett Bush plus the Mutual Trust Company of Westchester, as Trustee. NOTE: The path of the 60-foot wide, Putnam Avenue named after Revolutionary War, General Israel Putnam (1718-1790) was originally slated as an extension of North Regent Street across King Street down towards the Connecticut border at Byram Bridge. Under an April 5, 1909, roadway dedication deed by Andrew L. Bush to the Village of Port Chester (“VPC”), 64,579 square feet or 1.48 acres of Bush land was conveyed to the VPC. Just like how John Lyon, the namesake of the 1928 John Lyon Park, and his wife Sarah H. Lyon, conveyed 74,790 square feet or 1.71 acres of their Lyon Farm on February 9, 1909 to the VPC for the next segment of the Putnam Avenue roadway, heading eastward towards the intersection with the Boston Post Road & Main Street at Byram Bridge over the Byram River into Connecticut. Below: June 1, 1920, The Daily Item, page 2 ad re: auction of Longview Ridge subdivision’s 213 building lots. 190 June 9, 1920, The Daily Item, page 1 & 6 article re: the Longview Ridge subdivision that will substantially reduce the remaining Bush acreage at King Street that has been sold off after two centuries. 191 A next-day, follow-up June 10, 1920, The Daily Item, page 1 & 9 article re: the Longview Ridge subdivision and remembrances of the vast Bush estate’s tenure at King Street that was diminishing in acreage. 192 Two (2) separate March 13, 1928, The Daily Item articles (above) and March 14, 1928, The New York Times article (below) regarding the Lyon family donation of 5 acres ... and the Village of Port Chester’s purchase of an additional 3 acres, to top off the 20.3-acre parkland tract, newly named as John Lyon Park. Published: March 14, 1928 Copyright © The New York Times 193 King Street Elementary School 697 King Street 11.41-acre site Built in 1953-1954 as a K-6 elementary school, it opened on January 6, 1955. Reduced to a K-5 school when the 1966 Port Chester Junior High School at 113 Bowman Avenue was converted to a grades 6-8 middle school in Summer 1982, which then debuted in September 1982 as the Port Chester Middle School. August 14, 1953, The Daily Item, page 1, groundbreaking ceremony photo, caption and architectural rendering of the $943,170 King Street Elementary School at 697 King Street, scheduled to open in September 1954. 194 January 7, 1955, The Daily Item, full page 12 page of photos of the exteriors of the new, 1-story elementary schools built in 1954 at 697 King Street (top) and 40 Olivia Street (bottom). As the caption states, the interiors are of the King Street School that opened January 5, 1955, but also representative of the Olivia Street School opening mid-April 1955. 195 John F. Kennedy Elementary School 40 Olivia Street 9.85-acre site Built in 1954 as the Olivia Street School, it opened in April 1955 serving grades K-6. The Olivia Street School was re-named during a dedication ceremony held on Monday, October 26, 1964, as the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, as a memorial to the late POTUS, assassinated eleven months earlier on November 22, 1963. Since Summer 1982 alterations converted the grades 7-8 Port Chester Junior High School at 113 Bowman Avenue, to the grades 6-8 Port Chester Middle School, the JFK school and other elementary schools have served grades K-5. With the concept of “magnet schools” coming into existence nationwide in the 1970s to promote diversity in schools, Port Chester’s John F. Kennedy Magnet School debuted in September 1989 on Olivia Street. Above: August 25, 1989, The Daily Item, page 3 article introducing the John F. Kennedy Magnet School debut in September 1989, 35 years after the Olivia Street School was built at 40 Olivia Street. Below: August 3, 1989, The Daily Item, page 3 article, offers an update nine years later at the JFK Magnet School. With many elementary schools nationwide in 2026, offering STEM initiatives in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the Olivia Street school is simply known as the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in 2026. 196 Port Chester Middle School (“PCMS”) ... 113 Bowman Avenue ... 24-acre site in Rye Brook NOTE: Built for and operated as the Port Chester Junior High School during 1966-1982 Built in 1965-66 on a 24-acre campus between Bowman Avenue and Westchester Avenue as the grades 7-8, Port Chester Junior High School, (“PCJHS”), which had relocated from Irving Avenue at the corner of Haseco Avenue, the PCJHS at 113 Bowman Avenue was converted in Summer 1982 to the grades 6-8, Port Chester Middle School for a September 1982 debut within the Village of Rye Brook, which incorporated that same summer in July 1982. Above: Port Chester Middle School (1990) photo of front (east) facade via Westchester County Historical Society [call no. G-03974]. Below: Excerpt of March 11, 1970, flyover survey #1970_504_k_06 by Raytheon Corp. from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS via the Westchester County Department of Planning website, showing: (a) the grades 7-8 Port Chester Junior High School that opened in September 1966 on 24-acre site at 113 Bowman Avenue, converted into the grades 6-8 Port Chester Middle School in Summer 1982 in the Village of Rye Brook: and (b) proximity to the 1932 Port Chester High School [the building at 1 Tamarack Road, Rye Brook] and its 27.5-acre campus stretching east into Port Chester, to include the 3.23-acre, 1928 Park Avenue Elementary School. 197 Survey of Property to be conveyed to Union Free School District No. 4 in the Town of Rye, NY dated December 23, 1963, as prepared by surveyors, J.A. Kirby Co., shows the 24-acre property ... including the 18th century burial ground with a 1771 headstone of “R.B.” (perhaps Robert Bloomer as Baird suggests in his 1871 book ... or maybe Robert Brundage, since both were property owners) near Bowman Avenue that was relocated in 1966 into the wooded area, west of the left outfield of the PCMS baseball field, fenced in with a 4-foot high, chained link fence. See the pages to follow, as well as Chapter 1 of this history paper, for more details abouts the burial ground and its relocation within the PCMS property in 1966. 198 December 18, 1963, The Daily Item Page 1 (Full Page), article re: 18th century burial ground at 113 Bowman Avenue. Photo looks west along Bowman Avenue from the Port Chester JHS (now PCMS) baseball field, built in 1966. 199 December 18, 1963, The Daily Item page 1 article re: 18th century burial ground at 113 Bowman Avenue with photo looking west along Bowman Avenue from where the Port Chester JHS (now PCMS) baseball field was built in 1966. 200 December 18, 1963, Page 47 continuation of The Daily Item article re: 18th century burial ground at 113 Bowman Avenue property purchased by the Port Chester school district.