Chappaqua, New York | |
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| Etymology:Algonquian for "the rustling land" | |
 Location of Chappaqua, New York | |
| Coordinates (Downtown):41°9′32″N73°46′20″W / 41.15889°N 73.77222°W /41.15889; -73.77222 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Region | Hudson Valley |
| County | Westchester |
| Town | New Castle |
| Established | 1730s |
| Seat | New Castle Town Hall 41°9′19″N73°46′28″W / 41.15528°N 73.77444°W /41.15528; -73.77444 320 ft (98 m) |
| Government | |
| • Town Supervisor | Victoria Tipp |
| • Town Board |
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| Area | |
• Total | 0.92 sq mi (2.39 km2) |
| • Land | 0.91 sq mi (2.35 km2) |
| • Water | 0.015 sq mi (0.04 km2) |
| Elevation | 330 ft (100 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 2,598 |
| • Density | 2,867.5/sq mi (1,107.16/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Code | 10514 |
| Area code | 914 (Exchange: 238) |
| GNIS feature ID | 946393 |
| FIPS code | 36-13805 |
| River | Saw Mill |
| Website | www |
| [2][3][4][5][6] | |
Chappaqua (/ˈtʃæpəkwɑː/CHAP-ə-kwah) is ahamlet andcensus-designated place in thetown ofNew Castle, innorthernWestchester County,New York,United States. It is approximately 30 miles (50 km) north ofNew York City. The hamlet is served by theChappaqua station of theMetro-North Railroad'sHarlem Line.
Chappaqua was founded by a group ofQuakers in the 1730s and was the home ofHorace Greeley,New-York Tribune editor and U.S. congressman. Chappaqua's high school is named after him.
Since the late 1990s, the 42ndpresident of the United States,Bill Clinton, and the 67th secretary of State,Hillary Clinton, have lived there.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: a more comprehensive history of the town since 1846. You can help byadding to it.(August 2025) |
In the early 1730s, a group ofQuakers moved north fromPurchase, New York, to settle in present-day Chappaqua. They built their homes on Quaker Road (more recently, Quaker Street; Quaker Road still exists but is no longer in the town center) and held their meetings at the home of Abel Weeks. Theirmeeting house was built in 1753 and still holds weekly meetings each Sunday. The area around the meeting house, known asOld Chappaqua Historic District, was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1974.[7]Horace Greeley's home, known asRehoboth and built by Greeley himself, still stands in Chappaqua. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places along withChappaqua Railroad Depot and Depot Plaza,Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove, and theGreeley House.[7]
Various spellings were used for the name Native Americans gave to their valley and hillside. It was anAlgonquian word,shah-pah-ka, and it meant "the rustling land" or "the rattling land," or a place where nothing is heard but the rustling of the wind in the leaves. The Quakers spelled it Shapiqua, Shapaqua, Shapequa, Shappaqua, and, finally, Chappaqua. Their meeting was often referred to as the Shapequa Meeting as early as 1745.[8]
On March 18, 1791, the government of New York decided to split the overly large town of North Castle (jokingly called "the two saddlebags") into two smaller towns, one of which was namedNew Castle. The border was drawn from the southwest corner ofBedford to the northeast edge ofMount Pleasant. New Castle's borders have remained the same since 1791, except for a small piece of land received fromSomers in 1846 and the secession ofMount Kisco in 1978.
Chappaqua had great streams such as theSaw Mill River and Roaring Brook. These bodies of water poweredmills to crush corn and press oil from beans. The eastern half of Chappaqua was very suitable for farming. The majority of the Quaker settlers of Chappaqua were farmers. The popular farming industry also helped give way to Chappaqua's high milk production. Other popular industries from Chappaqua included shoes, hardware, vinegar, pickles, eyeglasses, and furniture. Many early homes and businesses were demolished in the1904 Chappaqua tornado.
In 1846 when theNew York and Harlem Railroad extended through Chappaqua, business became centered on thenew train station. These businesses included a hotel, livery stables, a public library, and various stores and small factories. The railroad enabledcommuters to travel toNew York City and back each day.[citation needed]
According to the2020 U.S. census, Chappaqua has a total area of 0.45 square miles (1.2 km2), all land.[9] As delineated for the 2000 census, the CDP of Chappaqua covered a much greater area: 9.44 square miles (24.4 km2), of which 9.38 square miles (24.3 km2) was land and 0.06 square miles (0.16 km2), or 0.64%, was water.
Parts of the ChappaquaZIP Code area are located in the towns ofMount Kisco,New Castle,Mount Pleasant,Yorktown, andBedford, and the hamlet ofMillwood. Parts of the Chappaqua Central School District include homes in other zip codes, such as 10570, thePleasantville zip code.
Chappaqua is accessible from theSaw Mill River Parkway, which runs through Westchester County.
| Climate data for Chappaqua, New York | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 67 (19) | 73 (23) | 85 (29) | 95 (35) | 94 (34) | 94 (34) | 101 (38) | 100 (38) | 95 (35) | 87 (31) | 79 (26) | 73 (23) | 101 (38) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 34 (1) | 37 (3) | 46 (8) | 58 (14) | 69 (21) | 77 (25) | 82 (28) | 80 (27) | 73 (23) | 62 (17) | 50 (10) | 39 (4) | 59 (15) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 18 (−8) | 19 (−7) | 28 (−2) | 38 (3) | 49 (9) | 58 (14) | 63 (17) | 61 (16) | 53 (12) | 42 (6) | 34 (1) | 24 (−4) | 41 (5) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −15 (−26) | −10 (−23) | 0 (−18) | 14 (−10) | 30 (−1) | 38 (3) | 46 (8) | 39 (4) | 32 (0) | 20 (−7) | 11 (−12) | −9 (−23) | −15 (−26) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 4.06 (103) | 3.09 (78) | 4.20 (107) | 4.39 (112) | 4.84 (123) | 4.21 (107) | 4.63 (118) | 4.55 (116) | 4.75 (121) | 4.09 (104) | 4.51 (115) | 3.81 (97) | 51.13 (1,299) |
| Source:[10] | |||||||||||||
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Chappaqua downtown is located along King Street and South Greeley Avenue. It includes many commercial buildings such as restaurants, a bank, and various local hardware shops. South Greeley Avenue is also home to Robert E. Bell Middle school, the Chappaqua Library, and the local police station.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,598 | — | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[11] | |||
As of the 2010 census, following a major revision to the delineation of its boundaries by the Census Bureau, the population was 1,436.[12] At the 2000 census, with very different census-defined boundaries, Chappaqua had a population of 9,468.[13] Note the Chappaqua census-designated-place is different from the Hamlet of Chappaqua, which has a much higher population as part of theTown of New Castle.
As of thecensus of 2010, there were 1,434 people residing in Chappaqua. According to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, there are 595 housing units and the median household income is $250,000+. The racial makeup of the CDP was 76.1% White alone, 0% Black or African American alone, 0% Native American alone, 22.6% Asian alone, 0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone, 0% some other race alone, and 1.3% from two or more races.
According to the 2010 census, the median age was 39 years, with 3.8% of the population under 5, 81.6% 18 and older, and 10% 65 and older. Males had a median income of $207,083 versus $128,750 for females. 0% of families were below the poverty line. 6.6% of people old enough had a high school or equivalent degree of education, 5.8 had some college but no degree, 4% had an associate degree, 37.3% had a bachelor's degree, and 46.3% had a graduate or professional degree.
Nationwide, Chappaqua ranks 42nd among the 100 highest-income places in the United States (with at least 1,000 households). In 2008, CNNMoney listed Chappaqua fifth in their list of "25 top-earning towns."[14] Chappaqua 2007 estimated median household income was $198,000.[15]
Although Chappaqua'scrime rate is far below the national average,[16] the area has had a few high-profile murders. In 1996, a battle between a lottery winner and his former lover over custody of their 5-year-old child resulted in a gun battle; the winner was acquitted of the murder of his former lover on the basis of self-defense, and convicted of the shooting of the woman's father.[17] In November 2006 a disbarred attorney drove the body of his severely injured wife to Northern Westchester Hospital, claiming that the couple had been ambushed and shot in the nearby town of Millwood. She died soon after. For over a year, police expressed skepticism about the husband's account and did not rule him out as a suspect. In December 2007 the man was charged with his wife's murder after trying to collect onlife insurance policies.[18][19] Carlos Perez-Olivo was convicted October 4, 2008 for the murder of his wife, Peggy Perez-Olivo, who had been working as a teaching assistant at Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua.[20]
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2025) |
Chappaqua is within theNew York State Assembly's 93rd district and theNew York Senate's 40th district. The village is in New York's17th District.
A Georgian-inspired mansion in Chappaqua served as the shooting location for the 2022 horror filmBodies Bodies Bodies.[24][25]
TheChappaqua Central School District includes the village.[26] In 2024, Chappaqua Central School District had around 3.5 thousand students from grades K-12, above the national average.
Around 1928, Robert E. Bell Middle School,[27] known at the time as Horace Greeley School, was built. The present day Horace Greeley High School was built in 1957. The three elementary schools in Chappaqua were completed over a twenty-year period: Roaring Brook School[28] in 1951, Douglas G. Grafflin[29] in 1962, and Westorchard[30] in 1971.
In 2003, after the opening of the new middle school, Seven Bridges, and the moving of the fifth grade from Chappaqua's elementary schools to the middle schools, the district added a full day kindergarten.[31][32]
In 2024, Chappaqua Central School District was ranked as the 17th best public school district in New York State.[33]
Schools currently operating in Chappaqua include:[34]
Small, one-room schoolhouses devoid of windows were prevalent in the 1800s. In the Chappaqua region, there were eight such schoolhouses.[citation needed] These small schools prevailed until around 1870, when the Quakers built a large school called theChappaqua Mountain Institute on Quaker Street. In the year 1885 the school caught fire,[35] and much refurbishing was done, with the addition of two new wings. It was sold in 1908 and the school's property is now owned byChildren's Aid.
Emergency medical services and fire protection are provided by volunteer agencies. The Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides basic life support services to most of New Castle, including Chappaqua. Paramedic service is provided by Westchester EMS, a non-profit provider. The hamlet is protected by the New Castle Police Department, which also provides first-response services for medical emergencies. The volunteer-based Chappaqua Fire Department, established in 1910, provides firefighting services to the hamlet of Chappaqua.[36][37] The fire department currently maintains two firehouses in Chappaqua.[38]
Municipalities and communities ofWestchester County, New York,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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