History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900
Among the new citizens acquired by Yonkers through the partition of the Wells estate was Ethan Flagg, one of the heirs, who bore an exceedingly important part in the building up of the Thus at the period at which we place. have arrived in our general narrative, Yonkers, destined to a position of unquestioned supremacy among the municipalities ofWestchester County, was just preparing to emerge from a primitive condition of absolute insignificance. .Mount Vernon was still nntlionght of. The representative villages for local enterprise wore Sing Sing and Peekskill on the COKXEI.irS YAXm.RKILT. Hudson, and West Farms in tin southern section of the county. West Farms had by this time become the most progressive locality within tin1 ancient Township of Westchester. To its prominence in this regard it was indebted for the employment of the water power of the Bronx River for manufacturing uses. in 1836 an ambitions attempt was made by a syndicate of New York capitalists to create a new community in Westchester County, which it was fondly hoped would spring at once into a flourishing condition. Allen W. Hardy and nine associates, attracted by the beautiful situation of Verplanck's Point, and believing that a village founded there would speedily rival Peekskill, bought the property for |300,()00 from its proprietor, Philip Verplanck, to whom it had descended from the original Philip Verplanck, grandson of Stophanus Van Cortlandt. These £>entlemen laid oil the Point into streets and
GENERAL
COUNTY
HISTORY
avenues, reserving portions of it for parks; but lot purchasers did not appear, and after a year or two the undertaking was abandoned with heavy loss. Thereupon John Henry, one of the chief members of the syndicate, acquired substantially the whole of the Point, and proceeded to organize the brick-making industry which has since become so extensive at Verplanck's. lie was tolerably successful from the start, and within a few years the brick yards of Verplanck's Point were yielding a large output and giving employment to numerous workmen.