The area that is now Hastings-on-Hudson and Dobbs Ferry was the primary settlement[3] of the WeckquaesgeekAlgonquian people, who called the community Wysquaqua.[4] In the summer, the Weckquaesgeeks camped at the mouth of the ravine running under the present Warburton Avenue Bridge. There they fished, swam and collected oysters and clamshells used to make wampum. On the level plain nearby (which is now Maple Avenue), they planted corn and possibly tobacco.
The findings of large numbers of artifacts have suggested that there was significant tribal activity in the confluence of Factory Brook and Scheckler's Brook just behind what is now the Cropsey Studio, but the interest in the site failed to generate any archeological inquiry.[5]
Pre-1920
Around 1650, a Dutch carpenter, named Frederick Philipse, arrived in New Amsterdam. In 1682, Philipse traded with the Native Americans for the area that is now Dobbs Ferry and Hastings-on-Hudson. In 1693, the English Crown granted Philipse the Manor of Philipsburg, which included what is now Hastings-on-Hudson. After dividing the area into four nearly equal-sized farms, the Philipses leased them to Dutch, English and French Huguenot settlers.
During the American Revolution, what is now Hastings-on-Hudson, lay between the lines of the warring forces and was declared neutral territory. In reality, the area became a no-man's land and was raided repeatedly by both sides. The minor Revolutionary War skirmish known as the Battle of Edgar's Lane was fought in Hastings. Following the Revolution, the Philipses, who had been loyal to George III, saw their vast lands confiscated and sold by the newly established American state. In 1785, the four farms comprising today's Hastings-on-Hudson were bought by James DeClark, Jacobus Dyckman, George Fisher, and tavern keeper Peter Post.
View of Hastings-on-Hudson, oil on canvas, John Ludlow Martin, 1856
Around the same time, Westchester County, which had been established as one of the 10 original counties in New York, was divided into towns, and the area that is now Hastings-on-Hudson became part of the town of Greenburgh. The village was incorporated in 1879 and its name changed from Hastings-Upon-Hudson to Hastings-on-Hudson.
Stone quarrying was the earliest industry in Hastings-on-Hudson. From 1865 to 1871, hundreds of Scottish and Irish laborers blasted huge quantities of dolomitic marble from a white Westchester marble quarry. An inclined railroad carried the marble down to the quarry wharf where it was dressed by skilled stonecutters and loaded onto ships bound for cities like New York and Charleston, South Carolina.
By the 1880s, Hastings Pavement was producing hexagonal paving blocks which were used extensively in Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Between 1895 and 1900, Hastings Pavement produced 10 million such blocks and shipped them throughout the United States and to cities in Canada, Brazil and England. By 1891, the National Conduit and Cable Company had established an operation on the waterfront producing cables for utility companies here and abroad. In 1912, labor strife between striking workers and their employer, the National Cable and Conduit Company, left two striking workers and two bystanders dead. Similar labor unrest occurred in 1916, whereby the Village was put under house arrest.
During World War I, 200 National Guardsmen were stationed in Hastings-on-Hudson because of the security interests of the National Conduit plant and a chemical plant opened by Frederick G. Zinsser that produced a wood alcohol called Hastings Spirits.[6]
The plant was important because in 1915 it took orders from the UK to produce .303 ammunition[7] but they could not pump up the production, so the contract were cancelled in late 1916.[8] In 1917 it produced .30-06 ammo for the US Navy and Army.[9]
1920–recent
The Anaconda Copper Company took over National Conduit in 1929, and a few years later acquired the Hastings Pavement property. By the end of World War II, Anaconda owned most of the industrial waterfront. Anaconda closed its Hastings-on-Hudson plant in 1975, bringing to an end the century-long era of heavy industry on the Hastings-on-Hudson waterfront.[6]
Billie Burke, actress (the "Good Witch" in The Wizard of Oz), lived in Hastings-on-Hudson and left her property to the school district, which still owns it, and uses it for various sports.
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, from Ripley, in western New York, used real estate profits to purchase the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson. The following year, Goodrich relocated the business to Akron, Ohio.
Children's Village, a boarding facility for children in difficult circumstances, located in neighboring Dobbs Ferry, sold about 50 acres (200,000 m2) of its property in Hastings-on-Hudson to a developer in 1986. The developer was planning to build close to 100 homes that would result in traffic on the roads adjoining Hillside Elementary School. Local residents formed a committee called "Save Hillside Woods" and raised close to $800K. As a result of the 1987 stock market crash and the subsequent receivership of the bank that held the mortgage on the property, the Village purchased this parcel from the FDIC with the funds accumulated and a bond floated by the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson to expand and maintain Hillside Woods.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Village has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), of which 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2), or 32.65%, is water.
Several small tributaries and headwaters of the Hudson River are located in the village, including Scheckler's Brook which originates in Hillside Woods[5] and Factory Brook which begins in a spring in the southern end of the Burke Estate,[5][14] these merge behind the Cropsey Studio west of the Aqueduct Trail.[5]
The Saw Mill River Parkway has exits in Hastings-on Hudson - Northbound at Exit 12 at Farragut Parkway and Exit 13 at Farragut Avenue, and Southbound Exit 14 at Clarence Avenue and Exit 15 at Cliff Street. US Route 9 runs through the Village, as Broadway.
As of the census[16] of 2020, there were 8,590 people residing in the Village. The population density was 4,020.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,552.2/km2). There were 2875 housing units at an average density of 1,665.7 per square mile (643.1/km2), with 94.63% (3,121) of units occupied, and 5.37% (177) vacant.
The racial makeup of the Village was 86.8% (7456) White, 2.9% (249) African American, 5.2% (446) Asian, and 2.50% (215) from two or more races. White alone, no Hispanic or Latino were 81.7% (7018) Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% (567) of the population.
As of the census of 2020, the median income for a household in the Village was $139,879. The per capita income for the Village was $79,190. About 2.9% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line.
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,093 households, out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the Village, as of the census of 2000, the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.9 males.
As of the census of 2000, the median income for a household in the Village was $83,188, and the median income for a family was $129,227. Males had a median income of $76,789 versus $50,702 for females. The per capita income for the Village was $48,914. About 1.5% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 1.9% of those age 65 or over.
In 2013, the infusion of urban professionals from New York City resulted in characterization of the town as an example of "hipsturbia", a neologism coined by The New York Times to describe the hip lifestyle as lived in suburbia by "hipsters".[17] However, this article has been the subject of much controversy both within and with-out the community, with The New York Observer publishing one particularly scathing commentary.[18]
Hastings-on-Hudson is one of six incorporated villages that lie within the town of Greenburgh. The village is governed by a mayor, who is elected every two years in odd-numbered years, and four trustees, who also serve two-year terms. Two of the trustees are elected in even-numbered years, with the mayor and the other two in odd-numbered years. A paid village manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the village.
Attractions and recreation
In 2018 Brooke Lea Foster of The New York Times stated that it was one of several "Rivertowns" in New York State, which she described as among the "least suburban of suburbs, each one celebrated by buyers there for its culture and hip factor, as much as the housing stock and sophisticated post-city life."[20] Of those, Foster stated that Irvington was the "artsiest".[20]
Barron H. Lerner, internist, medical historian and ethicist, professor of medicine, author of The Good Doctor, When Illness Goes Public, and other books
Robert K. Merton, sociologist and creator of popular concepts including "self-fulfilling prophecy", "role model", "unintended consequences", and "anomie"
