This article is about the county in New York State. For the borough of West Chester, which is in Pennsylvania, seeWest Chester, Pennsylvania. For the neighborhood in The Bronx, New York City, seeWestchester Square, Bronx.
Westchester County is acounty located in the southeastern portion of theU.S. state ofNew York, bordering theLong Island Sound and theByram River to its east and theHudson River on its west. The county is the seventhmost populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north ofNew York City.[7] According to the2020 United States census, the county had a population of 1,004,456, its highestdecennial count ever and an increase of 55,344 (5.8%) from the 949,113 counted in2010. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles (1,200 km2), consisting of six cities, 19 towns, and 23 villages. Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city ofChester, England.[8][9][a] Thecounty seat is the city ofWhite Plains, while the most populous municipality in the county is the city ofYonkers, with 211,569 residents per the 2020 census. The county is part of theHudson Valley region of the state.
The annual per capita income for Westchester was $67,813 in 2011. The 2011median household income of $77,006 was the fifth-highest in New York (afterNassau,Putnam,Suffolk, andRockland counties) and the 47th highest in the United States.[10] By 2021, the county's median household income had risen to $105,387.[11] Westchester County ranks second in the state after New York County (the New York Cityborough ofManhattan) for median income per person, with a higher concentration of incomes in smaller households. Simultaneously, Westchester County had the highest property taxes of any county in the United States in 2013.[12]
Westchester County is one of the centrally located counties within theNew York metropolitan area. The county is positioned with New York City, plus Nassau and Suffolk counties (onLong Island, across the Long Island Sound) to its south; Putnam County to its north;Fairfield County, Connecticut to its east (partially across the Byram River); andRockland County andBergen County, New Jersey across the Hudson River to its west. Westchester was the first suburban area of its scale in the world to develop, due mostly to the upper-middle-class development of entire communities in the late 19th century and the subsequent rapid population growth.[13]
At the time of Europeancontact in the 16th and 17th centuries, this region was a part ofLenapeCountry, properly calledLenapehoking. The Lenape, also known as the 'Delaware' Nation, are anAlgonquian people, related to large nations like theWampanoag,Anishinaabe,Abenaki, and thePowhatan ofTsenacommacah as well as neighboring communities like the Manhattans, Weckquaesgeek andSiwanoy bands of theWappinger in the south, and Tankiteke, Sintsink and Kitchawank Wappinger in the north.
The firstEuropean explorers to visit the Westchester area wereGiovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 andHenry Hudson in 1609.Dutch settlers began arriving in the 1620s, followed by settlers from England in the 1640s. Westchester County was one of the original twelve counties of theProvince of New York, created by an act of the New York General Assembly in 1683. At the time it included present-dayBronx County, and abutted then-Dutchess County to the north. By 1775, Westchester was the richest and most populous county in the colony of New York. Although theRevolutionary War devastated the county, recovery after the war was rapid. In 1788, five years after the end of the war, the county was divided into 20 towns. In 1790, the first federal census recorded a population of 24,000 for the county.
Two developments in the first half of the 19th century—the construction of the firstCroton Dam andAqueduct, and the coming of the railroad—had enormous impacts on the growth of Westchester. The Croton Dam and Aqueduct was begun in 1837 and completed in 1842; now aNational Historic Landmark, the Croton Aqueduct is considered one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century. In the 1840s, the first railroads were built in Westchester, and included theNew York and Harlem Railroad, the Hudson River Railroad,[c] and theNew York and New Haven Railroad. The railroads often determined the growth of a town, and the population shifted fromNorthern toSouthern Westchester. By 1860, the total county population was 99,000, with the most populated city being Yonkers.
The period following theAmerican Civil War enabled entrepreneurs in the New York area to create fortunes, and many built largeestates, such asLyndhurst, in Westchester. During the latter half of the 19th century, Westchester's transportation system and labor force attracted a manufacturing base, particularly along the Hudson River andNepperhan Creek. In 1874, thewestern portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was also transferred to New York County. These would later split from Manhattan to form a county.
During the 20th century, the rural character of Westchester transformed into the suburban county known today. TheBronx River Parkway, completed in 1925, was the first modern, multi-lane limited-access roadway in North America. The development of Westchester's parks and parkway systems supported existing communities and encouraged the establishment of new ones, transforming the development pattern for Westchester. With the need for homes expanding afterWorld War II, multistory apartment houses appeared in the urbanized areas of the county, while the market for single-family houses continued to expand. By 1950, the total county population was 625,816. Major interstate highways were constructed in Westchester during the 1950s and 1960s. The establishment of these roadways, along with the construction of theTappan Zee Bridge, led to further growth in the county.
Westchester County is located in theNew York metropolitan area andDownstate New York, north ofNew York City and south ofUpstate New York. It shares its southern boundary with New York City and its northern border withPutnam County. It is bordered on the west side by the Hudson River and on the east side by the Long Island Sound andFairfield County, Connecticut. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 500 square miles (1,300 km2), of which 430 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 69 square miles (180 km2) (14%) is water.[15]
Westchester's Long Island Sound shore is generally rocky, interspersed withtidal mud flats,marshes andwetlands, as well as several natural and artificially-maintained sand beaches. Municipal and county owned parks provide access to beaches, nature preserves and passive and active waterfront recreational facilities. Several large harbors lie along the shore includingMilton Harbor inRye,Mamaroneck Harbor,Larchmont Harbor, andEcho Bay, and theupper andlower harbors in southernNew Rochelle.
A number of islands can be found off the Long Island Sound shore, most of which are located in New Rochelle.Davids Island, the former location of the U.S. Army'sFort Slocum, is currently unoccupied but is slated for use as passive parkland;Glen Island, currently a Westchester Parks Department run beach and park, was one of the first amusement parks in the country serving as a summer resort at the turn of the twentieth century;Huckleberry Island is largely undeveloped, and has one of the largestrookeries in western Long Island Sound; Echo Island is owned and used by a privateyacht club;Execution Rocks is the site of a 19th-century lighthouse listed on theNational Register of Historic Places;Columbia,Pea, andGoose Islands are undeveloped; Clifford, Harrison and Tank Islands are part of the Five Islands Park and nature preserve; while Oak and Pine Islands are used as private residences.
The widest section of the Hudson River, at 3.6 miles (6 km), is found between the Westchester and Rockland County shorelines immediately north of Croton Point. In Colonial times, this area was called the Tappan Zee or Sea. The Hudson River is tidal and brackish through Westchester and contains a small number of estuarine marshes. Two bridges span the Hudson in Westchester: theBear Mountain Bridge crosses atCortlandt and theTappan Zee Bridge atTarrytown. Municipal, county and state-owned parks provide access to waterfront landmarks and sites, including Croton Point in Croton, Kingsland Point inSleepy Hollow and JFK Memorial Marina in Yonkers.
The Hudson River waterfront in Westchester is in a transitional period, converting from primarily industrial uses to mixed residential, commercial, retail, and recreational uses. This transformation is most notable in Yonkers,Hastings-on-Hudson,Dobbs Ferry,Irvington, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow,Ossining, andPeekskill, where redevelopment projects are in various stages of design and completion. In 2004, the county began a project to create Westchester RiverWalk, a walkway along the Hudson River of 51.5 miles (80 km) which will provide pedestrian access between New York City and Putnam County. 32.9 miles of the route are complete and accessible.[16]
At 987 feet (301 m), the highest elevation in the county is aU.S. Coast and Geodetic Surveybenchmark known as "Bailey" in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line.[17] The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound.
Westchester County is divided into six primarydrainage basins or watersheds: the Upper and Lower Long Island Sound; and the Bronx, Upper Hudson, Lower Hudson, and Croton River basins. Within these primary drainage basins are approximately 60 smaller basins, or subwatersheds. The principal streams draining the southern part of the county include Beaver Swamp Brook,Blind Brook,Bronx River,Hutchinson River,Mamaroneck River,Saw Mill River, Sheldrake River, Stephenson Brook andTibbetts Brook. The primary streams draining the central part of the county includeByram River, Kisco River,Mianus River, Mill River,Pocantico River and Silvermine River. The principal streams draining the northern part of the county include Dickey Brook, Furnace Brook, Hallocks Mill Brook, Hunter Brook, Muscoot River, Peekskill Hollow Brook, andTiticus River. The county contains several major reservoirs; TheCroton system and theKensico Reservoir are important components of the New York City water supply system. The system is a series of interconnected reservoirs and lakes in northern Westchester and Putnam Counties that provide 10% of New York City's water under normal conditions and up to 30% in times of drought. The components of the system include theNew Croton Reservoir, theCross River Reservoir, theTiticus Reservoir, theAmawalk Reservoir, and theMuscoot Reservoir. Other major reservoirs are theKensico and Byram Lake Reservoir, while there are a number of smaller reservoirs throughout the county.
The Westchester County Department of Planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions.[18]
The climate of Westchester County is borderlinehumid subtropical andhumid continental (Köppen:Cfa/Dfa). Winters are cold, wet, and occasionally snowy throughout the county, with more snow inland in higher elevations. Summers are hot inland but cooler towards the coast, with a relative dryness in the early summer. Precipitation is plentiful and in some elevated areas reaches over 50 inches. Snowfall is more common in Westchester than in New York City, with the exception of the southeast of the county where snowfall is often between 20 and 25 inches. In January, inland areas have a low of 21–26 °F and a high of 34–37 °F while coastal areas have a low of 27–30 °F and a high of 38–41 °F. In the summer, this effect is much milder. Coastal areas, including Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Rye, and Port Chester have highs of 81–83 °F and lows of 68–73 °F, while inland highs will be 84–87 °F and lows will be 65–70 °F. Winds can be heavy, especially by the coast.
Westchester County, New York – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
From 2014 to 2018 there were 375,852 housing units and 347,332 households. The owner-occupied housing rate was 61.3% and the median monthly owner costs of a house were $3,398 with a mortgage and $1,426 without. The median gross rent in 2018 was $1,493, up $517 from the monthly owner cost without a mortgage. The average persons per household in 2018 was 2.71 and 33.3% of residents spoke a language other than English at home. 21.9% of Westchester was under 18 and 17.1% were aged 65 and older.
Westchester County's median income was $92,758 and the per capita income was $54,572. The Census Bureau reported 65.4% of the county's residents aged 16 and older were employed in the civilian labor force, and 59.5% of women worked in the labor force. 8.3% of the county lived below the poverty line from 2014 to 2018.
As of 2010, there were 949,113 residents at an average density of 807 per square mile (312/km2). Theracial makeup of the county was 57.4% non-Hispanic White, 15.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 5.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7.6% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.8% of the population. 71.7% spoke onlyEnglish at home, while 14.4% spokeSpanish, 3.5%Italian, 1.1%Portuguese and 1.1%French at home.
There were 337,142 households, of which 34% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% weremarried couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.2% were non-families. Of all households 25.7% were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.21.
Age distribution was 25% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 14% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.30 males.
According to census data, theper capita income for the county in 1999 was $36,726. The American Community Survey lists Westchester in 2011 with the median household income of $77,006, the 47th highest in the country.[10] TheU.S. Census Bureau reports that 6.4% of families and 8.7% (2003) of the population were below thepoverty line, including 26.53% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.
In March 2020 during theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the state government ordered a one square mile "containment zone" in the northern part of the city ofNew Rochelle. Part of New Rochelle is adjacent tothe Bronx, where the majority of New York State's COVID-19 positive cases were (as of May 8, 350,000 out of 20 million residents). As of April 22 there were a total of 25,276 cases, 838 deaths, and 9,371 recoveries. As of May 22, 2020, there were between 30 and 35,000 cases going both by COVID-19 testing and serological samples, constituting the highest number of highest per capita infections in the world: 3% out of 1 million residents. On May 26, 2020, the area started their first phase of reopening after being placed on lockdown for two months.[36]
Cities in Westchester have many well established sub-areas within the municipal boundaries. Many of these are similar to hamlets and date back to as early as the late 1600s such asCooper's Corners in New Rochelle. These areas also include some of the first planned communities in the country such as New Rochelle'sResidence Park,Rochelle Park and Heights andSutton Manor.
37th most populated city in New York State, also the name of a town
Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may have from zero to multiple villages. The largest city in the county by population isYonkers with over 211,000 residents. The city with the highest population density isMount Vernon with a density of 16,824 individuals per square mile.[38][39]
The towns of Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale arecoterminous with the villages of the same names. Two villages are split between two towns: Briarcliff Manor crosses the border between Ossining town and Mount Pleasant, and Mamaroneck village straddles the boundary between Mamaroneck town and Rye town.
With the exception of the towns of Rye, Pelham, Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale, all the towns contain area and residents which do not belong to any village. These areas may contain communities referred to ashamlets, or "unincorporated areas". Hamlets have no legal status and depend upon the town for all municipal government and services. There are also areas calledcensus-designated places (CDPs), which are defined by the U.S.Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. A CDP may or may not correspond to a hamlet.
Because some municipalities have the same name, it is often necessary to indicate whether one is referring to the city, town, village, or hamlet. For example, the town of Rye is completely separate from the city of Rye. Pelham is the name of a town and also of a village in the town. The village of Mamaroneck is located partially in the town of Mamaroneck and partially in the town of Rye, but has nothing to do with the city of Rye.
ZIP Codes in Westchester often are not coterminous with the actual municipality borders, causing mailing addresses to sometimes differ from the actual municipal location in which a property resides. For instance, the ZIP Codes forBronxville,Larchmont,Rye, andScarsdale contain large areas that lie outside of those municipalities.
All of the towns havejustice courts, and some of the villages do as well.
(plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community ofPound Ridge)
Town of Rye (Rye is also the name of a city.), containing three villages:
Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Mamaroneck. The portion in Rye is unofficially also called "Rye Neck". The city of Rye separates Mamaroneck from the rest of the town of Rye.)
Tech Valley is a marketing name for the eastern part of New York State, including the Hudson Valley and theCapital District.[41] The term originated in 1998 to promote the GreaterAlbany metropolitan area as a competitor to regions such asSilicon Valley andBoston. It has since grown to represent the counties in New York betweenIBM's Westchester County plants in the south and theCanada–U.S. border to the north.
Westchester County has also developed a burgeoningbiotechnology sector in the 21st century, with over $1 billion in planned private investment as of 2016,[42] spurringWestchester Magazine to nickname the countyBiochester.[43] In April 2017, county officials unveiled plans for an 80-acre, 3 million square-foot biotechnology hub to be built with US$1.2 billion in private investment on vacant land adjacent toWestchester Medical Center inValhalla; the bioscience center, a public-private partnership, is anticipated to create 12,000 new jobs and include over 2.25 million square feet of biotechnologyresearch space.[44][45]
Westchester County contains 48public schooldistricts,[46] nearly 120privatecollege-preparatory andparochial schools, and 14 colleges and universities. Many public and private high schools are continuously ranked among the best in New York State and the United States.[47][48] Public schools in the county are largely funded by local property taxes, and the median annual property tax bill for Westchester County residents was $13,842 in 2013, the highest in the United States.[12] According to the 2018 rankings provided by the education websiteNiche, taking into account public comments, 28 of the top 100 school districts in the state of New York were located in Westchester County.[49]
Westchester County is served by the Westchester Library System, established in 1958. The system comprises 38 public libraries and 25 college and special libraries in the county. The Westchester Library Association is an organization which advocates on behalf of libraries and their personnel and support systems within Westchester County.
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative branch of Westchester County. Currently, there are fifteen Democrats, one Republican, and one Conservative who caucuses with the Republicans. The current chair of the board is Vedat Gashi.[53]
Westchester County generally leans toward the political left in recent decades. The Republican nominee for president last won a majority in 1988.
Historically, Westchester County was a classic "Yankee Republican" county. It supported Republican presidential candidates in all but two elections from 1896 to 1988. The only exceptions were 1912, when the GOP was divided betweenWilliam Howard Taft andTheodore Roosevelt, and 1964, whenLyndon B. Johnson won a national landslide and swept every county in New York. As a measure of how Republican the county was for years, it was one of the few counties whereFranklin D. Roosevelt of neighboring Dutchess County was completely shut out in all four of his campaigns for president.
However, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s—much like other New York City suburbs. In the most recent national elections, Westchester voters tended to be far more Democratic than the national average. In fact, Westchester, after New York City andAlbany County, has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly concentrated in the more populated southern and central parts of the county. More than 63 percent of Westchester County voters voted forBarack Obama in the2008 presidential race, the seventh-highest percentage of any New York county.
Currently, Westchester County is represented in the U.S. House by RepublicanMike Lawler and DemocratGeorge Latimer. Lawler's district covers most of the county's northern half. It also includes all ofRockland andPutnam Counties and a portion ofDutchess. Latimer's district includes most of the southern half of the county, including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, New Rochelle and Rye along with a sliver of the Bronx.
Additionally, Republicans remain competitive with Democrats in state and local elections. For instance, it voted for RepublicanGeorge Pataki, by a margin of 23.07% against Democratic candidate,Carl McCall in thegubernatorial race of 2002, and by 26.22% in 1998. Pataki hails from Westchester; he previously served as mayor of Peekskill and represented part of the county in the state Assembly and state Senate prior to being elected governor.
In 1998, County ExecutiveAndrew Spano became just the second Democrat to hold the post in at least a half-century. In 2006, county legislatorAndrea Stewart-Cousins defeated 20-year incumbentNicholas Spano for a seat in theNew York State Senate in a rematch of the 2004 race, which she had lost by only 18 votes. His brother, Assembly MemberMike Spano, switched parties in July 2007 to become a Democrat. District attorneyJanet DiFiore also switched parties from Republican to Democratic in August 2007. In 2009, RepublicanRob Astorino ousted three-term county executive Andy Spano, who had the endorsement of the New York Conservative Party, winning in a landslide. Astorino became the first Republican county executive sinceAndrew O'Rourke left the post in 1997. In 2011, the GOP broke the Democratic two-thirds majority in the county legislature by picking up two seats. However, two of the Democrats formed a coalition with the Republicans to control the board, with a Republican becoming vice-chair. In 2017 Democrats gained three seats to take outright control of the board. In 2019 Democrats gained two seats and in 2020 the last remaining Republican switched parties to become a Democrat. As of the 2021 elections the current composition is fifteen Democrats, one Republican and one Conservative.
There are currently 42 local police agencies located in Westchester County. These agencies frequently work with one another and with other agencies, including county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting Westchester County.
Westchester County has a wide array ofemergency services and is the home to 58 municipal fire departments, one federal fire department, 42 ambulance services, threeHaz-Mat teams, a volunteer technical rescue team, a fire academy and a fire investigations unit. Each department has career, volunteer or a combination of personnel. Westchester County Department of Emergency Services operates the main dispatching system for EMS and fire departments, located in Valhalla. The department also provides numerous support services for the various agencies throughout the county.
The Career Chief's Association, a cooperative of career fire departments, also operates the Special Operations Task Force. The force consists of six squad companies that can be rapidly assembled for a major hazardous materials incident, CBRNE event, collapse or confined space rescue, or other incident requiring a large number of HazMat or rescue technicians. Over 700 firefighters, police officers and EMS providers were trained to be part of this effort and serve over half the population of Westchester County including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Scarsdale, Eastchester, and the Fairview, Hartsdale, and Greenville Fire Departments in the Town of Greenburgh.
The Westchester Guardian, a print and online newspaper, distributed three days a week.
The Rivertowns Enterprise, a print and online newspaper covering Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley and Irvington.
The Scarsdale Inquirer, a weekly newspaper that serves the residents of Scarsdale and Greenburgh.
El Sentir Hispano Kaffury Latin Magazine, a magazine and website that covers news, culture, lifestyle, nightlife, shopping, and other local information within Westchester, New York. It is published monthly by Today Media
Westchester Magazine, a magazine and website that covers news, culture, lifestyle, nightlife, shopping, and other local information withinWestchester County, New York. It is published monthly by Today Media, LLC, a company located inRye, NY.[57] Its circulation in 2010 was over 800,000.[58]
The combination of the county's numerous roadways and bridges, proximity to New York City, and the county's large population all lead to substantial traffic enforcement and busy local courts.
Transportation routes have been responsible for the county's development patterns, with city and town growth being most pronounced along these corridors.[59] There are five mostly north–south corridors and three which traverse the county in the east–west direction. The north–south routes are (going from west to east): S. Route 9/Albany Post Rd/Broadway Corridor, the Saw Mill River Parkway Corridor, the Sprain Brook Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, and the I-95/New England Thruway. The east–west corridors are, from south to north: the Cross County Parkway, the Cross Westchester Expressway/I-287, and the U.S. 202 corridor.[60]
Westchester County Airport serves the county, and is adjacent to White Plains. Bus service is provided by theBee-Line Bus System (owned by the Westchester County Department of Public Works and Transportation) within Westchester and to/from the Bronx, Manhattan, and Putnam County. Additionally, theMTA Bus Company runs to and fromGetty Square in Yonkers toMidtown Manhattan. TheHudson Link operates express bus routes from city centers and train stations in Tarrytown and White Plains to Nyack, Nanuet, Spring Valley in Rockland County on the opposite side of the Hudson River.
In theX-Men multimedia series, theX-Mansion is located on the Titicus Reservoir, on Graymalkin Lane, outside of Salem Center.[62] At the mansion,Professor Charles Xavier runs the Xavier "School for Gifted Youngsters" to educatemutant children and keeps a headquarters for the X-Men.[f]
One of the most successful films shot in the county was the 1988 filmBig. While the majority of the film takes place in New York City, the amusement park scenes were filmed inRye Playland in Westchester.[64]
In print media, the area is a frequent setting of theNero Wolfe detective stories byRex Stout, which ran from 1934 to 1975. An early documented mention of Westchester County is in theTrixie Belden series (which ran from 1948 to 1986). The series was set in Sleepyside-on-Hudson, a fictional village in the Hudson Valley. The original author,Julie Campbell Tatham, modeled the fictional Crabapple Farm in Sleepyside after her own home at Wolf Hollow on Glendale Road in Ossining. She also mentioned it in her last work in the series: Cherry Ames, Country Doctor's Nurse. Westchester is the primary setting and residence of the main characters inThe Clique young adult novel series byLisi Harrison. InEdward Lewis Wallant's novelThe Pawnbroker, the main character Sol Nazerman lives in Mount Vernon.
In television, an early broadcast media presentation of Westchester County was onThe Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), whose main characters live in New Rochelle. Much was made of their suburban setting and Rob's separate world from New York City. The 1970s sitcomMaude was set inTuckahoe.[65] In thefinal season of the American sitcomFriends, the charactersMonica andChandler moved from New York City to live in Westchester. In theCBS sitcomHow I Met Your Mother,Future Ted and his family live in Westchester. In theAMC showMad Men, Ossining is home to main charactersDon Draper and his family. From season 4, Don lives in Manhattan andBetty lives with Henry Francis and the children inRye. The animated showBig Mouth is also set in Westchester County, where creatorNick Kroll grew up.[66]
E. L. Doctorow's novelRagtime and the subsequent musical adaptationRagtime: The Musical are both partially set in New Rochelle. The town serves as a setting that represents the affluence of white suburbanites in the early stages of the 20th century.
^Was designated aNational Historic Site in 1942. The original church, a wooden structure known as Church of Eastchester, was built in 1695. The present-day stone church was completed in 1764, and its name was changed to St. Paul's in 1795. The church property, which is operated by theNational Park Service, includes a cemetery with burial stones dating to 1704 and the remnants of a village green that was the site of what came to be known as the "Great Election" of 1733. The publisher of theNew York Journal,John Peter Zenger, wrote an account of the election and was arrested and tried forseditious libel. His acquittal established the legal precedent forfreedom of the press, which was later incorporated as a basic freedom in theU.S. Bill of Rights.[52]
^"Few heroes enjoy such elaborate bases of operations as Batman and Superman, although the X-Men headquarters is a site to be reckoned with. Marvel Comic's mutant band of superheroes spend most of their time at their mentor Professor X's mansion, located in Westchester County, New York. Xavier's estate houses the X-Men's training facility, which fronts as an Ivy League-like school."[63]
Aiken, Charles Curry; Kane, Joseph Nathan (2013).The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, Area, and Population Data, 1950-2010 (6th ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc.ISBN978-0-8108-8761-9.OCLC809988969.
Hudson River Museum (2006). Panetta, Roger G. (ed.).Westchester: The American Suburb (2nd ed.). Fordham University Press.ISBN978-0-8232-2594-1.
Sanderson, Peter (2007).The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. New York City: Pocket Books.ISBN978-1-4165-3141-8.
Shonnard, Frederic; Spooner, W. W. (1900).History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900. New York: New York History Co.LCCN00006960.OCLC3155986.
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