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Home My WebLink About12 Subdivisions pg 373-425 Anderson Hill Road to Airport 2026-06-01 ... 1004AM 373 Chapter 12: Subdivisions & Land Use at Anderson Hill Road and to the north This chapter addresses the residential, commercial and mixed-use PUDs (Planned Unit Developments) at the northern end of Village of Rye Brook, along Anderson Hill Road and the King Street corridor, north to the Westchester County airport. Most of the unincorporated portion of the Town of Rye, which incorporated in July 1982 as the Village of Rye Brook, had been farmland and large country estates that didn’t get developed until the WWII post-war era. This is particularly the case with respect to land north of Anderson Hill Road. 1932-1934 Aerial View looking north at the westside of King Street (tree-lined, roadway at right side of photo) as captured by avid pilot and professional photographer, Robert Yarnall Richie (1908-1984). Photo is from the Robert Yarnall Richie Photograph Collection of DeGolyer Library, SMU Libraries (Southern Methodist University) via link: https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/ryr/id/570/rec/5 . Bottom to Top: (a) John A. Hartman’s 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm (now the Kingfield PUD) with Hartman’s mansion at lower left; (b) Percy Straus’ 142-acre, Hilholme (now BelleFair PUD) at center of photo; and (c) former ~306-acre, John H. Shults’ Shultshurst that became part of the County airport in 1942 & 1949. That’s Rye Lake at top of photo, part of the New York City water supply. 374 Map of the Town of Rye dated January 1943, prepared by Westchester County Department of Planning, from their Atlas of County-owned land. Courtesy of Westchester County Archives (Resource Identifier No. A0493_Page058). It also roughly depicts the streets from recorded subdivisions as of January 1943. 375 2023 Aerial Mapping of Village Rye Brook, and abutting portions of Harrison, North Castle, Port Chester & Greenwich via Westchester County GIS. Use the following link to the County GIS to search by municipality, school district, address, etc. and select base mapping options: https://giswww.westchestergov.com/GISMap/index.html 376 December 19, 1940 flyover survey #99_2_68 by Aero Service Corp. from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection – Westchester County GIS showing the areas north/ northwest of Anderson Hill Road and west of Conncticut’s Merritt Parkway ... including the undeveloped, farm land that would later become part of the Westchester County Airport after WWII. Also visible are: (i) the 142-acre, Percy Straus estate Hilholme; (ii) the 79-acre Undercrest Farm purchased 9 months earlier in March 1940 by Dr. George W. Henry for a new use as the Brooklea Farms sanitarium; (iii) The Blind Brook Club at Anderson Hill Road; and (iv) Old Oaks Country Club at Purchase Street. 377 The Blind Brook Club (since 1916) ... Blind Brook Realty Company (1909-1916) ... William H. Catlin & daughter Mary Bradford Catlin (1898-1909) ... George Read/Roxton Farm (1889-1896) ... James Wilson/Thomas G. Willson (1841 - 1889) The ~190 acres of assembled parcels of land at the west side of King Street in the Towns of Rye and Greenwich that became The Blind Brook Club in 1916 with supporting superintendent’s cottages and housing along King Street (now house numbers 996, 998, 1000, 1002 & 1004) and Harrison Avenue (renamed as Anderson Hill Road) has a long history as farmland and stock farms. The northeasterly 15.246 acres straddling the NY/CT border was sold by the club in May 1983 for embattled hotel projects (La Reserve, then Hilton Garden Inn), never approved by the Village of Rye Brook, which 27 years later, finally became the 2010 Kingswood subdivision of 30 homes along Carol Court & David Lane, re-branded by Toll Brothersä in 2012 as The Enclave at Rye Brook, and built in 2016-2018. ä Excerpt of 1867 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 29, showing the King Street corridor intersected by Ridge Street (center) and Harrison Avenue (top ... now Anderson Hill Road) to highlight the farms of J.C. Brundage, Thomas G. Willson and his father, James Willson, that have been The Blind Brook Club (~190 acres) since 1916. 378 Thomas Green Willson (1836-1896), a farmer and elected, 3-term (9 years) Town of Rye, Commissioner of Highways in the 1880s, grew up on the east side of King Street in the Glenville section of Greenwich, CT, on a large family farm (part of the Tommy Green Farm) stretching east down to the Byram River and the parallel, Riversville Road. The family name being spelled as Willson and Wilson. As the 1896 obituary for Thomas G. Willson reveals, he lived his entire life in that King Street neighborhood near Anderson Hill Road (then known as Harrison Avenue) ... later on ~80 acres at the west side of King Street in the Town of Rye, that his parents, James Willson (1802-1878) and Sarah Green Willson (1796-1860), purchased from Mary & Catharine Strang in 1841, opposite the King Street Baptist Cemetery in Greenwich CT, where he is buried. The King Street Baptist Cemetery is one of three adjoining Greenwich burial grounds at King Street, along with the Anderson Cemetery and the Strang Cemetery. The Green Cemetery is in at Pecksland Road, near Riversville Road. Thomas Green (1762-1834) owned large farms on both sides of King Street, including land now part of Country Ridge Estates, the Hutchinson River Parkway, 900 King Street, The Arbors, and Rye Brook Village Hall. Find A Grave™ photos via Jan Franco, showing the King Street Baptist Cemetery (above left), just west of the 114’ tall x 50’ diameter, blue, water tower at 20 Bowman Drive, erected by the Greenwich Water Company, pursuant to a February 1952 deed from King Merritt Acres, Inc., the King Merritt Estates developer, and the Anderson Cemetery (below) in front, at King Street with the 1002 King Street white barn/garage visible across King Street. Above Right: Map also via Find A Grave™ of the three (3) adjacent cemeteries, we often visited in late 1960s while RSS students. 379 The Port Chester Journal, December 3, 1896, obituary of Thomas Green Willson (1836-1896), a farmer, and for 9 years, an elected Town of Rye, Commissioner of Highways, living his entire life on large farms on each side of King Street, just south of Anderson Hill Road. 380 Excerpt of 1890 Miller Robbins Jr & Co. Road and Property Map showing the Towns of Greenwich and Stamford Conn. highlighting the King Street corridor (left) at the Glenville side of King Street. The ~117-acre farm of Thomas G. Sutton that formerly part of the Tommy Green Farm (now part of the 1951 King-Merritt subdivision and land east of the Merritt Parkway at Riversville Road that became the 1955 subdivision of Perry M. Duncan), where Thomas Green Willson (1836-1896) was born & raised by parents, James Willson (1802-1878) and Sarah Green Willson (1796- 1860) on the Glenville side of King Street, opposite Harrison Avenue (later renamed as Anderson Hill Road). 381 Above Left & Center: The Port Chester Journal, March 29, 1888 (page 1 with close-up), with Town of Rye election results when Thomas G. Willson of King Street, won one of his three terms (3 years each) as Town of Rye, Highway Commissioner. Above Right: The Port Chester Journal, February 27, 1879, ad for March 5, 1879, auction of the ~117-acre homestead of James Willson, deceased (father of Thomas G. Willson), at Glenville side of King Street. Roxton Farm advertisements in The Port Chester Journal on February 20, 1890 (Below Left) and January 24, 1895 (Below Right) during the 7-year ownership (1889-1896) by NYC real estate broker George R. Read, who bought the ~78.4735-acre farm, from the Willson family, who owned it from 1841-1889. George Read gave Roxton Farm its name. 382 During the 11-year stewardship of Roxton Farm from 1898-1909 by Mary Bradford Catlin (1869-1930), the deed owner, and her father William Huggins Catlin (1845-1911), they dramatically expanded the size of the farm from ~78.5 acres to ~185.1 acres in NY plus 2.7 acres in CT or ~187.8 acres total. Mr. Catlin had married widow, Margaret Livingston (née Stuyvesant) Wainwright (1843-1928) in July 1880, in London. Margaret was both: (i) a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant (1610-1672), the leader of the Dutch colony, New Netherland; and (ii) the widow of John Howard Wainwright (1829-1871), the New York stockbroker who became Vice President of the NYSE. In 1864, the Wainwrights purchased ~90 acres of land at Rye Point (now Milton Point) in Rye, NY, where their third son, Col. J. Mayhew Wainwright (1864-1945), would later build Wainwright House in 1931 at 260 Stuyvesant Avenue ... 9 miles south of Roxton Farm, situated at the north end of the Town of Rye. Wainwright House was established in 1951 as a not-for-profit to preserve the property. Roxton Farm became The Blind Brook Club in 1916. The Catlins had added ~110 acres to Roxton Farm as follows: (a) 13 acres in August 1901 from Sarah E. Willson; (b) 32.448 acres came from the Clark family in January 1906; (c) 32.984 acres came from Frederick C. Schmaling in December 1906; (d) 1.5 acres in August 1908 from James McClenahan ; and (e) and 30.14 acres from Richard Tighe Wainwright (son of Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant Wainwright Catlin and stepson of William H. Catlin) on October 4, 1909 ... the day before selling the entire (expanded) ~185-acre, Roxton Farm tract to Blind Brook Realty Company (James McClenahan, President ... George R. Read, Treasurer ) on October 5, 1909 for $145,000 for resubdivision and redevelopment as a 1910 subdivision with smaller lots (see filed plat maps on the following pages. Blind Brook Realty Company instead sold the entire property to The Blind Brook Club entity of Poningoe Land Company, Inc. in 1916. Above Left: 1909 photo of William H. Catlin at Roxton Farm via Find A Graveä website. Above Right: Circa-1902, 36” x 29.125” oil on canvas portrait by artist Marie Constantin, of Mrs. William Huggins Catlin (formerly Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant Wainwright) that was a gift to the New York Historical Society (Accession No. 1946.196) from The Estate of Colonel J. Mayhew Wainwright, one of her four sons with first husband, John Howard Wainwright, who died in 1871, a decade after their 1861 wedding. Their four sons having been born in 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1868. While William Catlin and his daughter Mary are buried in New Haven CT, his widow, Margaret Livingston (née Stuyvesant) Wainwright Catlin is buried in Rye, NY at Greenwood Union Cemetery, along with her four sons and other members of the Wainwright family. Below: Excerpt of the July 5, 1880, marriage record for William Huggins Catlin and Margaret Livingston (née Stuyvesant) Wainwright via Find A Graveä website. 383 Excerpts of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 33 (left) showing the Milton Point peninsula (formerly Rye Point, and before that Brown’s Point and Peningo Neck) and the tract still owned by the Wainwright family in 1910, and where they built homes. The 1867 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 29 (right), shows most of the former Brown family farm under ownership of the Wainwrights. Married in 1861, John Howard Wainwright and Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant Wainwright, acquired a ~90.7-acre tract in 1864, then known as Rye Point, from The Roosevelt Hospital of the City New York, who had acquired the peninsula at Milton Harbor and the Long Island Sound in 1861, under a trust created for James H. Roosevelt, by Elizabeth Brown, whose ancestors, Thomas and Hackaliah Brown, acquired the land in 1666 from John Coe, one of the four (4) Peningo Neck purchasers from Greenwich CT. After John Howard Wainwright’s death in 1871, Margaret married William H. Catlin in 1880. That’s why some of the Wainwright parcels in the 1910 map, list M.L. Catlin, (Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant Wainwright Catlin) as the owner. The Wainwright House remains in 2026 at 260 Stuyvesant Avenue, as a not-for-profit venue, while other former Wainwright parcels along Stuyvesant Avenue, include those sold for the: 1887 American Yacht Club; 1933 Coveleigh Club housed in the 50- room, Georgian mansion built in 1902 by Margaret’s son Richard Tighe Wainwright (1868-1933), as his Coveleigh residence; and the 1946 Shenorock Shore Club that was the Milton Point Casino from 1924-1945. HomeAbout usBrowse All CollectionsOrdering ReproductionsImage Use Policy Contact Us Archives Main Web site Log in Powered by CONTENTdm® Home1910-1911 Atlas of Westchester CountyVolume 1, Page 33 Volume 1, Page 33 ... Item Description Resource IdentiﬁerPlate 33 (Rye) TitleVolume 1, Page 33 Full TitlePart of the Village of Rye Map date1910 PublisherGeorge W. Bromley and Walter S. Bromley - Philadelphia, PA LocationRye (City) - Westchester County - New York FormatAtlas bound volume; color, 22.5 in. x 17.5 in. x 1.5 in. TypeImage: map LanguageEnglish SourceA-0261(7-8)S(DD) Contributing InstitutionWestchester County Archives Contact Information2199 Saw Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY 10523; 914.231.1500; http://archives.westchestergov.com RightsThis image is provided for education and research purposes and should not be altered in any way. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rests with the user. For additional information see our Image Use Policy. Cite AsCourtesy of the Westchester County Archives Digital CollectionHistorical Maps Date Digital2016-08 Digitization SpeciﬁcationsArchival TIFF - Zeutchel OS 14000, Omniscan 12, Adobe Photoshop CS6, 300 dpi, 24 bit color, no compression; JPG2000 - enhanced for web Metadata TechnicianCourtney Fallon PARTOFTHEVILLAGEOFRYE   Search this record    Skip to main content Advanced Search  384 Above: Map of a Portion of Roxton Farm in the Town of Rye (185.101 acres in NY) prepared by J.A. Kirby & Son, filed August 10, 1918, as Map 2182. There is another ~2.7 acres in CT, at the southwest of King Street and Anderson Hill Road (then known as Harrison Avenue). See triangular CT parcel at upper right of this 1910 survey filed in 1918. Below: Map of Roxton Farm, prepared June 1910 by J.A. Kirby & Son, filed July 2, 1914 in Vol. 42 at Page 5. 385 Above & Below: Map of Roxton Farm Belonging to The Blind Brook Realty Company in the Towns of Rye, NY and Greenwich, CT, prepared June 1910 by J.A. Kirby & Son, filed June 25, 1914 as Map No. 2065 (2 folios due to size). 386 Kingswood (2010) ... rebranded by Toll Brothers™ as The Enclave at Rye Brook The 15-acre site straddling the Rye Brook, NY/ Greenwich, CT border at Anderson Hill Road and King Street, was originally part of various farms including Roxton Farm. It became part of The Blind Brook Club in 1916, who sold the land on May 31, 1983, to Omnitel, Inc. (a Delaware corporation based in Westport CT) for $1.5 million for a proposed 112-key (86 rooms & 26 suites), European-style, country inn/ boutique hotel named La Reserve, as reported in a prior March 16, 1982 The Daily Item article. A PepsiCo entity Border Properties, Inc. acquired the land a decade later in November 1993 for $2.679 million as a so-called effort to keep the wooded property near Pepsi’s HQ, as “green space,” before PepsiCo sold it 13 years later in August 2006 for $4.1 million. After almost three decades of hotel development applications being scrutinized by the Rye Brook Planning Board and Board of Trustees, for the La Reserve boutique hotel, and the subsequent Hilton Garden Inn proposal, the site reverted back to the prior residential zoning ... modified for clustered, semi-attached, single-family, townhomes as Kingswood in 2010 following a March 24, 2009 Rye Brook Board of Trustees approval resolution ... then rebranded as The Enclave at Rye Brook after Toll Brothers acquired the site in December 2012 for $7,093,000, and built the project with 30 townhomes in 2016-2018. Final Subdivision Plat of Kingswood prepared by Barrett, Bonaci & VanWeele, P.C., filed April 20, 2010, as Map No. 28352-1 with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office. It shows the thirty (30) single-family, townhomes later built along Carol Court and David Lane by developer Toll Brothers in 2016-2018 as the rebranded, Enclave at Rye Brook site, at the southwest corner of King Street & Anderson Hill Road, consisting of 12.727 acres in Rye Brook, NY + 2.709 undeveloped acres in Greenwich, CT = 15.436 acres. NOTE: Sheet 2 of 2 of this plat map, depicting a water main easement is not shown here, nor is the separate drawing of revised water main easement at Anderson Hill Road water supply booster station, in favor of United Water Company filed October 13, 2013, as Map No. 28720. 387 December 19, 1940 flyover survey #99_2_67 by Aero Service Corp. from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS showing the areas north/ northwest of the Hutchinson River Parkway along the Purchase Street, Lincoln Avenue and King Street corridors ... including the undeveloped, farm land that would later become part of the Westchester County Airport in 1942-1944. Also visible are: (i) the 142-acre, Percy Straus estate Hilholme; (ii) the 79.5-acre Undercrest Farm purchased 9 months earlier in March 1940 for a new use as the Brooklea Farms sanitarium; (iii) The Blind Brook Club at Anderson Hill Road; (iv) the Purchase Country Club golf course; (v) the 90-acre, Lawridge estate of Robert Law, Jr. and adjacent 45.7-acre, Irving Lehman estate, both at Ridge Street (vi) part of the 1906 Byram Ridge subdivision at King Street, including the 39, 41, & 59 Hillandale Road houses; and (vii) the remaining 80 acres of the former 96-acre William W. Cook estate beqeathed after his June 1930 death to the Presbyterian Hospital of New York, was used for its Mary Harkness Convalescence Home unit, as 16 of Cook’s 96 acres was condemned by Westchester County for the Hutchinson River Parkway extension to meet the Merritt Parkway at King Street (the border between NY and CT) in 1935. NOTES: 10 acres of the 45.7-acre Irving Lehman estate was acquired in July 1946 for the 1950 Ridge Street School and another 5 acres of the Lehman estate was added in 1955 by Country Ridge developer, Mannie Shapiro. 20 acres of the former 80-acre Harkness/ Cook tract was acquired in 1971 for the Blind Brook High School at King Street. 388 Arrowwood Conference Center (1982) ... Doral Greens PUD & Condominiums (1991-1995) Above: Subdivision Map of Arrowwood filed August 28, 1991, as Map No. 24503 with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office. Below: The land areas table at top of plat map, highlighted in the excerpt below, breaks down the 113.76-acre overall PUD site as: the 22.63-acre Doral Greens residential condominiums area, the 32.58-acre Arrowwood Conference Center plus its 58.15 acres of golf course and the 0.28-acre roadway dedication area at Doral Greens Drive. 389 The sale of the Underhill L. Purdy farm was delayed following his July 1889 death at age 94, because his farmland was improperly seized on August 3, 1889 and farmed without permission, by James Pine (1802-1890), the brother of Underhill Purdy’s late wife, Sarah B. Pine Purdy (1801-1875), who died at age 74 on December 21, 1875 ... and by James Pine’s son, Sullivan Moulton Pine (1842-1933). Litigation in 1895-1896 in Haight v. Pine 10 App. Div. 470; 42 N.Y.S. 303 resolved matters involving a $10,000 legacy to James Pine under the Last Will & Testament of Sarah B. Pine Purdy, which was exploited by James Pine, and his son Sullivan Moulton Pine, as their basis to improperly seize and occupy the entire Underhill L. Purdy farm. Excerpt of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 29 of the Harrison & Rye school district that shows the farmlands between the north/ south roadways of Purchase Street and King Street ... and along Ridge Street and Harrison Avenue (later re-named as Anderson Hill Road). Note the monument and cemetery for Revolutionary War, Major General Thomas (now in the heart of SUNY Purchase College) along the north/south (dotted line = = = = = =) roadway that became Lincoln Avenue and the Cross Road extending east to connect with King Street, above the ~266-acre, Daniel Hamilton Brooks estate (now Bellefair and part of SUNY Purchase College). South of D.H. Brooks is the Underhill L. Purdy farm at the westside of King Street that is now the 79.5-acre, Kingfield site at 1100 King Street. Along Ridge Street, you can see the farms of Ward Acker, Daniel & Emma Merritt, James Pine & George P. Weeks. Underhill L. Purdy farm ... Undercrest Farm (1910-1940) ... Brooklea Farms (1940-1966) ... General Foods (1966-1980) ... Royal Executive Park (1982 & 1986) ... Kingfield (2018) 390 On December 27, 1902, the former 69.295-acre farm of Underhill L. Purdy and Sarah B. Pine Purdy at the westside of King Street in the Town of Rye, was sold by Underhill’s executor (John B. Haight, Esq.) to Alida Beekman Chanler Emmet of Manhattan for $18,000, who then re-sold the property six months later on June 4, 1903, to Elisha McCurdy Fulton, Jr., who later acquired the abutting 3.5 acres in April 1906 from Lydia S. Scofield (widow of James H. Scofield) with a 1.5-story, frame house in Greenwich CT at the westside of King Street. After Elisha Fulton’s 1906 death of typhoid at age 38, his widow, Mary B. Green Fulton married John A. Hartwell in 1910, and then purchased at June 1914 referee’s auction, the adjoining ~4-acre, King Street property, formerly of William D. Deblois, with 1.5-story house to add to Mary & John Hartwells’ Undercrest Farm (1910 & 1929 mapping below). Excerpts of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 38 (left) and 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 44 (right) showing the 79.509-acre, Undercrest Farm, straddling the Towns of Rye, NY (75.953 acres) and Greenwich, CT (3.556 acres). Elisha McCurdy Fulton, Jr., the first husband of Mary Butler Green Fulton (1872-1947), acquired the property in 1903, and he added the 3.5-acre Scofield parcel in 1906. Mary took title to the entire property in 1906, before her husband, Elisha, died in November 1906 at age 38 of typhoid fever. Four years later, in April 1910, Mary married noted surgeon, avid sportsman, and 1892 Yale Medical School graduate (top of his class), football player and crew team captain, John Augustus Hartwell (1869-1940). Two weeks before Dr. Hartwell died at age 71 of a heart attack at the South Side Sportsmen’s Club in Oakdale (Long Island), NY on November 30, 1940, Mary sold the 79.509-acre, Undercrest Farm on November 16, 1940, to psychiatrist, Dr. George William Henry, who operated his Brooklea Farms sanitarium under the corporate entity of Undercrest Farm, Inc. for 2½ decades until General Foods bought the property in July 1966 after his May 1964 death. General Foods owned the property for 13.5 years until they sold in January 1980 to London-based developers, London & Leeds, who built their Royal Executive Park office project. 391 Excerpts of: (i) 1926 flyover photo #1926_611_1043 by Airmap Corp. of America (above); and (ii) December 19, 1940, flyover photo #1940_99_2_67 by Aero Service Corp. (below) ... both from Historical Aerial Photograph Collection-- Westchester County GIS, showing the 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm (1910-1940) that was sold by widow, Mary Butler Green Hartman on March 16, 1940 to Dr. George W. Henry for use as his Brooklea Farm sanitarium from 1940-1966. The 142-acre, Hilholme (1925-1944) estate of Percy S. Straus (now Bellefair PUD & Rye Brook parkland) to the north. 392 Above: Circa-1932/1934 aerial photo from the Robert Yarnall Richie Photograph Collection within the Southern Methodist University Libraries (Link: https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/ryr/id/569/rec/1), looking northwest at the mansion (center of photo) on the northerly portion of the 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm (Mary B. Green Hartman & Dr. John A. Hartman). The southwestern portion of abutting Edith & Percy S. Straus’ 142- acre, Hilholme estate with the garden planting beds visible north of the Undercrest Farm mansion, and Hilholme’s circa-1897, Marion Story mansion at the upper right of photo and the circa-1897 garage/ stables at center top. 393 Above: May 2, 1940, page 19 photo of the 2½-story, red brick Undercrest Farm mansion in The Daily Item regarding the March 16, 1940, sale of 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm (1910-1940) property by widow, Mary Butler Green Hartman to Dr. George W. Henry for his Brooklea Farm sanitarium that operated from 1940-1966 at 1100 King Street. Below: Those red brick driveway walls/ pillars with concrete ball finials atop each pillar that you see near the northern border of 1100 King Street with 1200 King Street (Atria at Rye Brook assisted living facility), date back to the 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm (1910-1940). In 2019, the rear, red brick pillars were removed to widen the northern driveway for emergency access purposes to the 110 new Kingfield homes ... and the concrete ball finials were relocated to the front, lower pillars as can be seen below as of the various dates indicated. June 2022 November 2019 (AFTER alteration) ... December 2015 (BEFORE alteration) FUN FACT: Several Ridge Street School students lived with their families in Brooklea Farms sanitarium staff housing. See RSS phone directory excerpts: 1962-63 (Iannarelli); 1964-65 (Gottschalk & Kobayashi). 394 After sweeping, circa-1980, re-zoning legislation by the Rye Town Council under the leadership of Town of Rye Supervisor Anthony J. Posillipo (who held that office for 30 years, 1954-1984), to increase the tax base and attract office park uses along upper King Street, the first application to be approved and built was the Royal Executive Park at 1100 King Street by a joint venture of Stamford, CT partner Largo Properties and British developer London & Leeds (a subsidiary of London’s Ladbroke Group), who then bought out Largo’s 44.75% minority stake in 1983. This 79.068-acre, Royal Executive Park at 1100 King Street, north of Anderson Hill Road, was approved in 1980 for subdivision as three (3) parcels with a cluster of three, 2-story, 90,000 sf office buildings to be erected on each of: Parcel I (26.575 acres including 0.643-acre in Greenwich CT) in 1982; and Parcel II (18.268 acres) in 1986 ... for a total of six (6) office buildings facing King Street, with telecommunications company, MCI Communications Corporation, being the lead office tenant, occupying two of the three, 90,000 sf, Parcel I buildings (for a total of 180,000 sf) in 1983. The third building of 90,000 sf was leased in mid-1983 to New York Telephone who became part of newly formed NYNEX entity, effective January 1, 1984 as an independent local phone service company, in the aftermath of the 1982 anti-trust lawsuit that led to the break-up of the AT&T monopoly and forced AT&T’s divestiture of the Baby Bells ... the regional, local Bell Telephone companies, as AT&T transformed into a long distance phone carrier, without its prior monopoly over both local and long distance phone services. The three (3) Parcel II buildings were built in 1986 as multi-tenant office buildings in a changing rental market. See June 3, 1990, The New York Times article below that describes the changing commercial real estate market: Parcel III (31.56 acres, including 0.525-acre in Harrison) at the rear of the 79.5-acre tract, was approved for a proposed Phase 3 cluster of office buildings. Despite a series of Site Plan reviews every five years or so, and modifications over ensuing decades to keep the required site plan approvals active and in place, while searching for an anchor office tenant, Phase 3 office buildings were never built. Parcel IV with 2.665 acres in Greenwich CT, once had a white, clapboard dwelling on it (since demolished) of which only the artesian well remains near the King Street roadway opposite the 1088 King Street entrance to Shemin Nurseries (now Site One Landscape Supply™) in Greenwich, CT, founded by Emanuel “Manny” Shemin in 1968, when he lived at 12 Berkley Drive as his daughters (twins Grace & Suzanne of RSS Class of 1971, and younger sister Leslie) attended the Ridge Street School. In December 1997, Long Island-based developer, Reckson, purchased the 79.5-acre, site from London & Leeds for $80.377 million under three (3) separate deeds, as follows: $37 million (26.575-acre Parcel 1 with three office buildings) plus 2.769-acre, Parcel 4 in Greenwich, CT ... $36 million (18.26-acre Parcel 2 with another three office buildings) and $7.377 million (31.56-acre, vacant land Parcel 3). On May 9, 2016, Reckson and its public REIT parent company, SL Green, sold Parcel III, the 31.56-acre, vacant land to SC Rye Brook Partners LLC, for $20 million for their residential development of the 110 Kingfield homes. On July 17, 2018, Reckson/ SL Green sold all six (6) office buildings under Parcel I (26.575 acres) and Parcel II (18.26 acres) for $54.4 million to Manhattan-based, developer George Comfort and Sons. 395 Above: Subdivision Plan, Royal Executive Park by J.A. Kirby Company, filed February 29, 1984, as Map No. 21483 with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office. Below: Resubdivision Plan of Royal Executive Park by J.A. Kirby Company, filed October 10, 1986, as Map No. 22473 with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office, showing Parcel I (with proposed 3 office buildings of 90,000 sf each, aggregating 270,000 sf. Built in 1982, they opened in 1983 with MCI International, the telecom carrier that had won a 1974 antitrust lawsuit against AT&T in 1980 that led to the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly after US government antitrust litigation. MCI relocated from Manhattan to occupy two of the three Phase 1 buildings (shown above & below, abutting the lake/ retention basin) or 180,000 sf as its world headquarters). Parcel II at the northeast corner of the site, containing another three (3), 90,000 sf office buildings for an additional 270,000 sf was completed in 1986 with an open house held October 9, 1986, as reported in The Daily Item. The six (6) office buildings, each two stories in height, contain an aggregate of 540,000 square feet. 396 Above: Royal Executive Park III, Overall Site Development by DMJM Architects & Engineers, filed June 14, 1990, as Map No. 24182 with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office, details a Phase 3 office building cluster by London & Leeds that was never built. Below: Subdivision Map of Kingfield of 31.537 acres, as 110 single-family lots, Clubhouse Lot 111 plus 4 other common area lots, as prepared by engineers Divney Tung Schwalbe, LLP, and Link Land Surveyors, P.C., which plat was filed August 30, 2018, as Map No. 29210, with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office. 397 The ~142-acre property at the southwest corner of King Street and Lincoln Avenue that became the BelleFair PUD, including 261 homes and the Atria assisted living facility next door at 1200 King Street, has a fascinating history dating back to the Revolutionary War when it was part of the vast Rye Woods estate of Judge John Thomas and then his son, Revolutionary War, Colonel Thomas Thomas (promoted to Major General), who is buried in the Thomas Family Cemetery in the middle of the SUNY Purchase College campus. See pages 31-33 hereof The hilltop mansion that people will remember as the High Point Hospital, a psychiatric facility operated by Dr. Alexander Gralnick from 1951-1993 (razed by fire and demolished in May 1998), was actually the 31-room, mansion, designed by Clinton & Russell Architects, of Manhattan, and built in 1897 on a 266-acre tract acquired in July 1894 by Marion Story from Alein S. Lawson, wife of Wall Street brokerage firm owner, W. Sheldon Lawson, who himself had acquired the property in 1890 from Daniel Hamilton Brooks, one of five brothers who operated the Brooks Brothers™ clothing retailer. Founded in 1818 by 45-year-old, Henry Sands Brooks (1772-1833) as H. & D.H. Brooks & Co., at the corner of Cherry Street & Catherine Street, just north of the Brooklyn Bridge in the Two Bridges neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Henry’s is oldest son, Henry A. Brooks, took over the business in 1833, just before the father’s death in December 1833. 17 years later in 1850, Henry A. Brooks (1807-1850) passed on the family business to his four younger brothers, before his May 5, 1850, death at age 43. The four younger Brooks Brothers: Daniel Hamilton Brooks (1809-1884), John Brooks (1813-1899), Elisha Brooks (1815-1876) and Edward Sands Brooks (1821-1875) ... renamed their family business as Brooks Brothers™ in 1850 and adopted the Golden Fleece image as part of their trademark logo (see below). The oldest of those four Brooks Brothers, Daniel Hamilton Brooks (1809-1884), assembled ~266 acres of parcels in the Towns of Rye & Harrison in 1849-1853, with 2 of the acres acquired 14 years later in 1867 from Underhill L. Purdy’s farm for the country residence of Brooks and wife, Catherina “Catherine” A. Reynolds Brooks (1810-1874). Marion Story’s Blind Brook Farm (1894-1910) ... Hugh J. Chisholm (1910-1925) ... Percy Straus’ Hilholme (1925-1944); United States of America🇺🇸 (1944-1950) ... High Point Hospital (1951-1993) ... BelleFair PUD (built in 1999-2001 ... 2002-2004) 398 Excerpt of 1868 F.W. Beers atlas, Plate 29 of the Harrison & Rye school district that shows the farmlands between the north/ south roadways of Purchase Street and King Street ... and along Ridge Street and Harrison Avenue (later re-named as Anderson Hill Road). NOTE: the monument and Thomas Family Cemetery, including Revolutionary War, Major General Thomas (now in the heart of the SUNY Purchase College campus), situated along the north/south (dotted line = = = = = =) roadway that became Lincoln Avenue, and the Cross Road extending east to connect with King Street, which became known as the northeastern terminus of Lincoln Avenue, which roadway served as the northern boundary of the ~266-acre, Daniel Hamilton Brooks estate (now BelleFair and north part of SUNY Purchase College). South of D.H. Brooks is the Underhill L. Purdy farm at the westside of King Street that is now the 79.5-acre, Kingfield site at 1100 King Street. Along Ridge Street, you can see the farms of Ward Acker, Daniel & Emma Merritt, James Pine & George P. Weeks. 399 Following the March 1, 1884, death of Daniel H. Brooks at age 74, the property was transferred under a November 28, 1884, Referee’s Deed to plaintiff William Henry Hewlett for $50,000 in a mortgage foreclosure action in White Plains, NYS Supreme Court. 5 ½ years later on May 28, 1890, William Hewlett sold the 266-acre tract to William Sheldon Lawson for $40,000. Lawson deeded the property to his wife, Alein S. Lawson on November 23, 1892. After his May 1890 purchase, Mr. Lawson, the owner of a Wall Street brokerage firm, expanded the former D.H. Brooks residence, but a fire in September 1893, destroyed the mansion and its valuable art collection contents. So, when Marion Story, an artist and painter of miniatures, acquired the 266-acre tract in July 1894, from Alein S. Lawson, Mr. Story built a new, 31-room mansion designed by Manhattan-based architects, Clinton & Russell. Excerpt of 1893 Joseph R. Bien atlas, Plate 17 of White Plains, Harrison & Rye that shows when the former 266-acre, Daniel H. Brooks estate (1849-1884) was owned by William Sheldon Lawson and his wife Alein, for four years from May 1890, until the July 1894 sale to Marion Story. 400 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 38, showing north portions of the Towns of Rye & Harrison, including the King Street and Harrison Avenue (later renamed Anderson Hill Road) corridors, and Marion Story’s 266-acre, Blind Brook Farm, consisting of ~158 acres in the Town of Rye plus ~108.5 acres in the Town of Harrison, with the centerline of the Blind Brook, being the municipal boundary between the two towns (and Villages of Harrison & Rye Brook). 401 The Architectural Record, Quarter Ending December 31, 1897, Volume VII, No. 2, The Works of Clinton & Russell, Architects , pages 55 (above) and 56 (next page), showing the 1897 mansion of Marion Story on the 266-acre Blind Brook Farm at King Street, which mansion remained in use by the 142-acre, High Point Hospital in 1951-1993. The structure was razed by fire on April 29, 1998 ... prior to its planned demolition for the construction of BelleFair. 402 403 August 23, 1907, The New York Times. Marion Story committed suicide, while alone in the library of his 31-room, Blind Brook Farm mansion at King Street, on August 22, 1907. 404 September 1909. Country Life in America magazine ad for the sale of Marion Story’s 266-acre, Blind Brook Farm at King Street & Lincoln Avenue, (now BelleFair PUD, and part of SUNY Purchase College). 405 In January 1910, Canadian-born industrialist, Hugh Joseph Chisholm, Sr. (1847-1912) and wife, Henrietta Mason Chisholm (1851-1932), bought the 266-acre Blind Brook Farm property from Marion Story’s widow, Marie Hunt Story and Philip Adee, as Executor under the Last Will & Testament of Marion Story, for $307,500. Excerpt (close-up) of 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 38, shows Marion Story owning ~266.5 acres (158 acres in Town of Rye + 108.5 acres in Harrison) known as Blind Brook Farm, which his widow, Marie L. Hunt Story and Philip H. Adee, Executor under the Last Will & Testament of Marion Story, sold to Hugh Joseph Chisholm, Sr. for $307,500 in January 1910, with respective January 7th and January 24th deeds being recorded on January 26, 1910. NOTE: This 1910 map shows Marion Story still owning the tract sold to Hugh J. Chisholm, Sr. in January 1910. 406 Hugh Joseph Chisholm, Sr. died in July 1912 at his Fifth Avenue residence in Manhattan. The 266-acre farm at King Street that he purchased 2 ½ years earlier in January 1910, was transferred by Chisholm’s widow, Henrietta, in July 1915, to their son, Hugh Joseph Chisholm, Jr. 1917 photo of Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr., 31-room mansion at King Street, built in 1897 by Marion Story and wife Marie L. Hunt Story, on their 266-acre, Blind Brook Farm, straddling the Blind Brook and the Towns of Rye & Harrison. Sold in January 1910 to Hugh J. Chisholm, Sr. as the beginning acquisition for Chisholm family’s Strathglass Farm of Purchase, NY. The 1897 mansion lasted until April 29, 1998 when destroyed by fire, just prior to planned demolition for the construction of the BelleFair PUD. Photo from 1917 Views of Rye book by realtor Blakeman Quintard Meyer (Library of Congress link: https://lccn.loc.gov/18001579 ). In November 1925, the 266-acre tract, originally assembled 75 years earlier by D.H. Brooks, was split up when Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr. (1886-1959) retained the 108.5 acres of land in Harrison plus ~16 acres in the Town of Rye at Lincoln Avenue, abutting the Blind Brook for his burgeoning Strathglass Farm, a dairy cattle operation, named after the Chisholm ancestral home, dairy cattle operation. Chisholm only sold off 142 acres of the 158 acres in the Town of Rye, to Macy’s heir, Percy Selden Straus, and his wife, Edith Abraham Straus, for the country estate they named Hilholme. Even with the sale of the 142 acres of Town of Rye land in 1925 & 1930 to Percy Straus, Chisholm’s Strathglass Farm acreage was already well on its way to reaching almost 500 acres. All in Purchase, NY (Town of Harrison) except for perhaps less than 30 acres. Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr. was focused on acquiring land west of the Blind Brook in Purchase where the terrain was level ... less elevated than abutting King Street parcels, to the east of the brook. Extensive street frontage/access via Anderson Hill Road ... and Lincoln Avenue that continued running north through the farm, before making a 90 degree turn east to King Street. Lincoln Avenue also served as the north boundary for Straus’ Hilholme estate. 407 Much of Chisholm’s Strathglass Farm, dairy cattle farm, in Harrison had been formerly the property of department store magnate, Alexander Turney Stewart (1803-1876), who emigrated from Ireland in 1823 and starting in 1846, built one impressive department store after another for his A.T. Stewart & Company, where he amassed one of the greatest fortunes at the time. So, owners of three of the most famous department stores, owned large estates north of Anderson Hill Road ... in Harrison (A.T. Stewart), Town of Rye (Macy’s/A&S) and Greenwich (Gimbels). Ida & Isidor Straus’ son, Percy Selden Straus (1876-1944), worked with his father Isidor, and uncle Nathan in the Macy’s business. In 1925, while Percy Straus’ first cousin, Sissie Straus Lehman (daughter of Nathan Straus), and her husband, Judge Irving Lehman, were living 2.8 miles away on Ridge Street. When Percy S. Straus was 35.75 years old, his parents, Ida & Isidor Straus died when the RMS Titanic 🇬🇧 ocean liner, tragically sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, during the wee hours of April 15, 1912 ... 2 hours and 40 minutes after hitting an iceberg at 11:40PM on April 14, 1912. Isidor and his brother, Nathan Straus (father of Sissie Straus Lehman ... uncle of Percy), had been co-owners of R.H. Macy & Co. Isidor’s eldest son, Jesse, became President of Macy’s in 1919 ... with Percy succeeding his older brother, Jesse, as Macy’s President from 1933-1939. The Gimbel’s department store family lived across King Street in Greenwich CT in their estate known as The Chieftains. 408 Undated photos via the Straus Historical Society (https://www.straushistoricalsociety.org ) show the 1897, Marion Story mansion (above) renamed as Hilholme by Macy’s heir, Percy Selden Straus (1876-1944), relaxing at Hilholme (below) during his 18-year, ownership (1925-1944) of the 142-acre estate with wife, Edith Abraham Straus (1882-1957). 409 Excerpt of 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 44, shows how Marie & Marion Story’s ~266.5-acre, Blind Brook Farm (158 acres in Town of Rye + 108.5 acres in Harrison, previously assembled by D.H. Brooks) purchased in 1894 and owned for 15 years by Marion Story, until industrialist, Hugh Joseph Chisholm, Sr., acquired the property for $307,500 in January 1910. Chisholm died 2 ½ years later on July 8, 1912, at his Fifth Avenue residence in Manhattan. This led to the transfer of the 266-acre farm by Chisholm’s widow Henrietta in July 1915, to their son, Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr., who, a decade later, retained the Harrison land and ~16 acres in the Town of Rye at Lincoln Avenue, abutting the Blind Brook, but sold off a 142-acre Town of Rye tract to Macy’s heir, Percy Selden Straus under three (3) deeds: two on November 18, 1925 for two (2) parcels aggregating ~112 acres, covering the King Street frontage from the Hartwell property (now Kingfield PUD at 1100 King Street) to Lincoln Avenue ... and five years later on November 17, 1930 for a 29.888-acre portion of the ~46-acre Rye Town parcel shown in the map, yielding additional frontage at the south side of Lincoln Avenue, plus frontage at the Blind Brook, with Chisholm retaining the ~16-acre balance, with both Lincoln Avenue & Blind Brook frontage (now the SUNY Purchase College operations building). 410 Above: Circa-1932/1934 aerial photo from the Robert Yarnall Richie Photograph Collection within the Southern Methodist University Libraries (Link: https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/ryr/id/3686/), looking northwest from abutting Undercrest Farm (John A. Hartman) at the southwestern portion of Edith & Percy S. Straus’ 142-acre, Hilholme, with its 31-room, mansion (top right), large garage/ barn/ stables (top left), tennis court & swimming pool (center), and staff dwelling at (center left) of photo. Below: Photo of unknown date & origin, but featured on the SUNY Purchase College website, showing tbe rear facade of the Hilholme garage/stables as viewed far and wide from the SUNY Purchase campus to the west, situated at a much lower elevation. The SUNY Purchase College website link below, credits the collection at the Town of Harrison’s Charles Dawson History Center, 2 Park Lane, White Plains, NY 10604 https://www.purchase.edu/purchase-history/20th-century-history-1900-1964/ NOTE: The SUNY Purchase College website is in error when they suggest that Hugh Chisholm built the mansion in 1910, As detailed in the September 1909. Country Life in America magazine ad (below right & page 404) for sale of Marion Story’s 266-acre, Blind Brook Farm, it was built 13 years earlier in 1897 by Marion Story of Blind Brook Farm. 411 United States of America🇺🇸 (1944-1950) ... High Point Hospital (1951-1996) After Percy Slden Straus’ death on April 6, 1944, at age 67, his widow, Edith Abraham Straus (daughter of Abraham Abraham, the Abraham & Straus department store founder, who was also a partner of Sissie Straus’ father Nathan, and her uncle Isidor), gave the King Street property to the United States of America for potential medical research with multiple sclerosis. The government never used it for that purpose. The General Services Administration (GSA) agency of the Federal government) solicited bids that were opened on January 11, 1950, with high bid of $71,100 from Industrial Capital Corp, proposing to build 100 homes. That bid was rejected by the government in favor of a convalescent home to be operated by Irwin Polk, who ran nursing homes in New York City and elsewhere. Irwin Polk took title to the property under a May 3, 1950, deed, but instead sold it 10 ½ months later on March 16, 1951, to the High Point Estates, Inc. entity of Dr. Alexander Gralnick, for his High Point Hospital, which utilized the buildings remaining from the former Hilholme estate of Edith & Percy Selden Straus ... including the 31-room, mansion, large garage/stables and cottage built in 1897 by Marion Story. Dr. Gralnick and his family, including Ridge Street School alumni, lived in a house built at King Street, adjacent to the main entrance driveway. Circa-1951 Map of Land Belonging to Dr. Alexander Gralnick (founder of High Point Hospital) of 142.298-acre tract (BelleFair PUD & VRB parkland in 2025) at southwest corner of King Street/Lincoln Avenue, bounded as follows: south by 79.5-acre, Undercrest Farm/Brooklea Farms sanitarium (Kingfield PUD in 2025); west by Hugh Chisholm’s ~500-acre, Strathglass Farm (SUNY Purchase College in 2025); north by Lincoln Avenue; east by King Street. 412 The following four (4) 35mm photos of the High Point Hospital, were taken by former SUNY Purchase student, Jill Roman, following its 1993 closing, but obviously before the April 29, 1998, fire that destroyed the mansion. Undated photos of High Point Hospital by Jill Roman, while a student at SUNY Purchase College. Above: North façade of the circa-1897 Marion Story mansion & circular driveway used by High Point Hospital. Below: East façade of the circa-1897 Marion Story garage/ stables structure used by High Point Hospital. 413 Above & Below: South (rear) façade of the circa-1897 Marion Story mansion used by High Point Hospital. Undated photos by Jill Roman, while a student at SUNY Purchase College. 414 BelleFair PUD (261 homes in 1999-2001 ... Sterling Glen Assisted Living in 2002-2004 High Point Hospital operated for 42 years, until closing in 1993. Sold on July 1, 1996, to developer Mitchell Hochberg (Spectrum Skanska) for $9,267,966. Demolition was being planned to make way for the proposed re- development as a mixed-use subdivision, known as the BelleFair PUD (Planned Unit Development), when an April 29, 1998 fire, razed the mansion structure that firefighters had to just let burn, because they didn’t have fire hoses long enough to reach the nearest fire hydrant on King Street. For safety purposes, the remaining stone walls had to be immediately demolished, and all rubble removed. The site at the southwest corner of King Street and Upper Lincoln Avenue, was built in 1999-2001 by Spectrum/ Skanska (Mitchell Hochberg). This mixed-use community with its “New Urbanism” design, as described in the April 8, 2001, The New York Times, features 261 single-family homes (including 12 affordable housing units on Parade Lane/ Legacy Court, configured as three (3) buildings, each with four attached townhouses per building). There is a Village Green oval across from the 18,000 sf Bellefair Meeting House with recreation facilities (gymnasium, exercise room, indoor & outdoor swimming pools), a retail food market and a childcare facility. The 168-unit, assisted living component (Lot 250) of the BelleFair PUD, has its own entrance at 1200 King Street, originally known as Sterling Glen’s Stonegate at Bellefaire, that changed to being operated as Atria Rye Brook. Below is the Revised Subdivision Map of Bellefair prepared for Bellefair Home & Land Company, filed April 12, 1999, as Map No. 26335, consisting of five (5) sheets, showing the 138.189-acre BelleFair PUD site (including Atria Rye Brook’s 4.92-acre, Lot 250 and 26.045 acres dedicated to the Village of Rye Brook as “passive recreation parkland”). Before that, 3 acres of the original 142.298 acres was conveyed in July 1996 by High Point Estates, Inc. to the Village, for its compost site, after litigation. The Village approved a 200,000 sf, office building with Houston- based developer Gerald Hines at the corner of Lincoln Avenue/ King Street that was never built, but the Village successfully argued in Court that the parkland was owed for the subdivision approval granted to High Point Estates. 415 416 417 Above: Front elevation rendering of Stonegate at BelleFair on cover sheet for the August 3, 2001 Revised Permit Issue drawings prepared by The Martin Architectural Group, Philadelphia, PA for FC Bellefair LLC, as Tenant. Below: “Final As-Built Survey Prepared for Forest City Housing ...” by Steven J. Willard, Licensed Land Surveyor, dated July 22, 2005, as filed June 12, 2006 with the Rye Brook Building Department, covering the 166-room Sterling Glen assisted living facility. Originally known as Stonegate at BelleFair, this assisted living component of the BelleFair PUD mixed-use project, was built in 2002-2004 as part of the Sterling Glen Communities portfolio of Forest City Enterprises that was sold in 2007-2009, when the 1200 King Street facility became known as Atria Rye Brook. 418 Westchester County Airport (1942) The Westchester County Airport (HPN) was initially built in 1942-1943 during WWII as an intended Air National Guard airfield to protect adjacent Rye Lake (part of the New York City water supply) and New York City itself on 689.544 acres straddling the Towns of Harrison (339.995 acres; and North Castle (135.644 acres) and Rye (213.88 acres), as documented in the 1943 Atlas of County-owned land with pages detailing same, including page 86 with Exhibit Map #1 Airport (shown below, with the above noted acreage in each town). A separate site in Mount Pleasant (0.874-acre) was acquired for an outer marker (beacon). The project funded by the Federal government through the Civil Aeronautics Administration (“CAA”) as project lead, was fraught with delays in choosing a site in 1941-1942 that came down to either Hugh Chisholm’s Strathglass Farm in Purchase, NY at Anderson Hill Road or the ultimately selected Rye Lake site straddling three (3) townships. Politics came into play, especially with neighboring Harrison residents exploiting their political positions, like Howard S. Cullman (Vice Chairman of the Port of New York Authority) and Carl H. Pforzheimer (Chairman of the Westchester County Planning Commission). NYC Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia was concerned about risks of an airport contaminating the NYC water supply in the adjacent Rye Lake. With a solid year or more lost, and ever- increasing appropriation amounts offered by the CAA, ground clearing and construction didn’t begin until June 1942. The County acquired the land for a reported $300,000 (also funded by the Federal government) and leased it to the Federal government for $1 per year, who then built the airport project using local bidders (contractors) for what ended up being almost $4,000,000 after the various changes in scope and added acreage (~126 acres) in 1949. Various Townships –Westchester Airport Exhibit #1 map, prepared by Westchester County Department of Planning, (Page 86 of Atlas of County-owned land), re: 1942 & 1949 (George Clarke at Lincoln Avenue) land acquisitions. Courtesy of Westchester County Archives (Resource Identifier A0493_Page086). It depicts; identifies recorded deed Liber/Page numbers; and tabulates the acreage within each of the three (3) townships of Harrison, North Castle & Rye for the various parcels acquired for the County airport ... plus the outer marker (beacon) in Mt. Pleasant. Home About us Browse All Collections Ordering Reproductions Image Use Policy Contact Us Archives Main Web site Log in Powered by CONTENTdm® Home Atlas of County Owned Lands Page 86 - Exhibit Map #1 Airport Page 86 - Exhibit Map #1 Airport ... Result 1 of 10  Back to results  Item Description Resource Identiﬁer A0493_Page086 Title Page 86 - Exhibit Map #1 Airport Full Title Assembly of Land Aquisition Westchester County Airport Date n.d. Location White Plains (City) - Westchester County - New York Creator Westchester County Department of Planning Format map on paper: color, 18 in. x 15 in. Type Image: map Language English Source Series 312 Contributing Institution Westchester County Archives Contact Information 2199 Saw Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY 10523; 914.231.1500; http://archives.westchestergov.com Rights This image is provided for education and research purposes and should not be altered in any way. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rests with the user. For additional information see our Image Use Policy. Cite As Courtesy of Westchester County Archives Digital Collection Historical Maps Date Digital 2013-10-11 Digitization Speciﬁcations Archival TIFF - Zeutchel OS 10000, Omniscan 11, Adobe Photoshop CS3, 300 dpi, 24 bit color, no compression; JPG2000 - enhanced for web Metadata Technician Courtney Fallon Ein-   Search this record airport  2 Results found   Skip to main contentWESTCHESTERCOUNTYArchives Advanced Search   419 Map Showing Lands To Be Acquired By The County of Westchester For The Rye Lake Airport Located In The Towns of North Castle, Harrison and Rye, Westchester County, NY, filed April 1, 1942, as Map 5548. 420 Survey of Land To Be Acquired By The County of Westchester For The Westchester County Airport Located In The Town of Rye, Westchester County, NY, filed June 2, 1949 as Map 6849. This supplemental, ~126-acre parcel at the north side of Lincoln Avenue, was acquired by the County of Westchester from George Clarke in 1949. Clarke acquired the same land on July 16, 1918, from Macy’s co-owner, Nathan Straus and his wife, Lina Straus. Nathan Straus, whose brother, Isidor Straus & wife Ida Blun Straus, perished with the April 14, 1912 Sinking of the Titanic, purchased the same Lincoln Avenue land under two deeds ... in October 1912 and June 1913, from John H. Shults, the noted horseman and owner of the Shults Bakery in Brooklyn. Shults built his Shultzhurst estate at King Street, north of Lincoln Avenue, that reportedly at one point reached ~600 acres, before he sold it off in 1911-1913, prior to his death in December 1914. Seven years after Nathan Straus sold his ~126 acres at the north side of Lincoln Avenue to George Clarke in 1918, Nathan’s nephew, Percy Selden Straus (son of Isidor & Ida) bought the 142-acre tract across Lincoln Avenue in 1925 from Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr. (the tract that became BelleFair PUD in 1998-2001). 421 With John H. Shults’ (1835-1914) Shultzhurst stock farm at King Street straddling the NY/CT border at upper King Street, reportedly reaching ~600 acres (see newspaper articles below), over 300 acres of former Shults land in the Town of Rye, were acquired for the ~700-acre, County airport in 1942 & 1949 (then owned by Sires Realty & George C. Clarke). That’s almost half of airport site coming from half of once was a magnificent farm dedicated to thoroughbred horses. December 12, 1914, The New York Times ................................... July 23, 1903, The Port Chester Journal 422 1910 G.W. Bromley atlas, Plate 38 showing the northern parts of the Towns of Harrison & Rye (Village of Rye Brook), including the tracts of ~208.5 + ~52.25 + ~45.5 = ~306.25 acres, then owned by John H. Shults, which became part of the Westchester County Airport at the ~700-acre, Rye Lake site, acquired in 1942 and 1949. 423 Map of the Town of Harrison dated January 1943, prepared by Westchester County Department of Planning, Page 21 from their Atlas of County-owned land, including the airport site. Courtesy of Westchester County Archives (Resource Identifier No. A0493_Page021). It also depicts the streets from recorded subdivisions as of January 1943. 424 Map of the Town of Rye dated January 1943, prepared by Westchester County Department of Planning, Page 58 from their Atlas of County-owned land, including the airport site. Courtesy of Westchester County Archives (Resource Identifier No. A0493_Page058). It also depicts the streets from recorded subdivisions as of January 1943. 425 Map of the Town of North Castle dated January 1943, prepared by Westchester County Department of Planning, Page 42 from their Atlas of County-owned land, including the airport site. Courtesy of Westchester County Archives (Resource Identifier No. A0493_Page042). It also depicts the streets from recorded subdivisions as of January 1943.