Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages in the state that have a similar governmental situation.As of the 2000 census, Scarsdale's population was 17,886.
Colonial era
Caleb Heathcote purchased the lands that would become Scarsdale at the end of the seventeenth century and, on March 21, 1701, had them elevated to a royal manor. He named the lands after his ancestral home in Derbyshire, England. The first local census of 1712 counted twelve inhabitants, including seven African-American slaves. When Caleb died in 1721, his daughters inherited the property. The estate was broken up in 1774 and the town was officially founded on March 7, 1788.The town saw fighting during the American Revolution when the Continental and British armies clashed briefly at what is now the junction of Garden Road and Mamaroneck Road. The British commander, Sir William Howe, lodged at a farmhouse on Garden Road that remains standing. Scarsdale's wartime history formed the basis for James Fenimore Cooper's novel, The Spy, written while the author lived at the Angevine Farm in the present-day Heathcote section of town.
1790-1945
According to the first federal census in 1790, the town's population was 281. By 1840, that number had declined to 255—the vast majority farmers and farm workers. In 1846, the New York and Harlem Railroad connected Scarsdale to New York City, leading to an influx of commuters.The Arthur Suburban Home Company purchased an 150-acre (0.61 km2) farm in 1891 and converted it into a subdevelopment of one-family dwellings, starting a transformation of the community from rural to suburban. Civil institutions soon appeared: the Heathcote Association (1904), the Town Club (1904), the Scarsdale Women's Club (1918) and the Scarsdale League of Women Voters (1921). Scarsdale High School and Greenacres Elementary School were built in 1917 and the Edgewood Elementary School opened in 1918. The first store in Scarsdale opened on the corner of Popham Road and Garth Road in 1912. By 1915, the population approached 3000. By 1930, that number approached 10,000.In 1940, German agent Gerhardt Alois Westrick secretly met with American business leaders at his Scarsdale home until public pressure drove his family from the community.
1945-present
Scarsdale became the subject of national controversy in the 1950s when a 'Committee of Ten' led by Otto Dohrenwend alleged 'Communist infiltration' in the public schools. A thorough investigation by the town rejected these claims. This same group, known at the Scarsdale Citizens Committee, sued to prevent a benefit for the Freedom Riders from taking place at the public high school in 1963 because some of the performers (Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Pete Seeger) were allegedly 'communist sympathizers and subversives.'Another controversy enveloped the town in 1961, when the Scarsdale Country Club, headed by Charles S. McCallister, refused to allow a young man who had converted from Judaism into the Episcopal Church to escort a young woman to her debut at the club. It was the club's policy, at the time, to prohibit Jews from the premises. In response, Rev. George French Kempsell of the Church of Saint James the Less announced that he would ban any supporters of the club's decision from receiving holy communion. The event marked a turning point toward the decline of anti-Semitism in the town.Scarsdale's public library, which had been housed in historic Wayside Cottage since 1928, moved to its present structure on the White Plains Post Road in 1951. The driving force behind the library was New York City publisher S. Spencer Scott, who raised $100,000 for the project after the village rejected a bond issue to fund the building in 1938. The new library opened with 27,000 books and Sylvia C. Hilton serving as the first librarian.The last of the town's five elementary schools, Heathcote School, opened in 1954. The $1,000,000 architectural landmark was designed by Perkins & Will of Chicago. Walter B. Cocking, the president of the New York State Committee for the Public Schools, delivered the dedication address.In 1967, former longtime resident Dean Rusk returned to Scarsdale at the height of the Vietnam War to receive the town's Man of the Year Award and was greeted with a silent protest.Scarsdale was the subject of a landmark United States Supreme Court decision, ACLU v Scarsdale (1985), that established the so-called 'reindeer rule' regarding public nativity scenes and upheld the right of local religious groups to place crèches on public property.
Historians
The first official historian of the Village of Scarsdale was Richard Lederer. He was succeeded by Irving J. Sloan. On the death of Sloan in 2009, Eric Rothschild assumed the position of village historian.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.6 square miles (17.2 km²), of which, 6.6 square miles (17.2 km²) of it is land and 0.15% is water.
Climate
Scarsdale has a Hot Summer Continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa).
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,823 people, 5,662 households, and 4,993 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,685.7 people per square mile (1,036.4/km²). There were 5,795 housing units at an average density of 873.2/sq mi (337.0/km²).According to the 2000 Census, the race distribution of Scarsdale was: White (non Hispanic) 84.1%, Asian 12.6%, African-American 1.5%, Hispanic or Latino 2.6%.There were 5,662 households out of which 51.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 81.8% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.8% were non-families. 10.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.35.In the village the population was spread out with 32.8% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.The median income for a household in the village was $182,792, and the median income for a family was $200,001. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $62,319 for females. The per capita income for the village was $89,907. That ranks 59th highest income in the country and 2nd most for towns with a population with over 10,000. About 1.7% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.2% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.
Neighborhoods
The neighborhoods within the village of Scarsdale are:Arthur Manor (Edgewood Elementary); Berkley in Scarsdale (Edgewood and Fox Meadow Elementary); Bramlee Heights (Fox Meadow Elementary); Colonial Acres (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Drake Edgewood (Edgewood Elementary); East Heathcote (Heathcote Elementary); Fox Meadow (Fox Meadow Elementary); Greenacres (Greenacres Elementary); Murray Hill/Middle Heathcote (Heathcote Elementary); Old Scarsdale (Fox Meadow Elementary); Overhill (Fox Meadow Elementary); Quaker Ridge (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Scarsdale Meadows (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Secor Farms (Quaker Ridge Elementary); Sherbrooke Farms (Heathcote Elementary); West Quaker Ridge (Quaker Ridge Elementary);
School system
The Scarsdale Union Free School District operates five elementary schools in the elementary school districts Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote and Quaker Ridge made up of parts of the neighborhood associations above, as well as Scarsdale Middle School and Scarsdale High School.
Scarsdale post office and postal zone
The Village of Scarsdale is the site of a post office, assigned ZIP code 10583. The post office building on Chase Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The population of the 10583 zip code is more than twice that of the Village of Scarsdale proper and is served by two additional post offices. Sections of the following neighboring communities are also covered by the Scarsdale zip code:EastchesterGarth Road
Green Knolls
Greenvale
Edgemont (Town of Greenburgh)Town of MamaroneckMurdock Woods
New RochelleYonkersBeech Hill
Local media
The Scarsdale Inquirer, a weekly newspaper, reports on local issues. The newspaper began publishing in 1901. The Scarsdale Inquirer does not have a Web site.
Notable people
People associated with Scarsdale include:
Television, film, music and radio personalities
Bruce Beck, television sportscaster forWNBC-TV.
Joan Bennett, Hollywood actress from the 1930s and 40's once owned a home on Chase Road North.
BeyoncéandJay-Z
Aaron Brown, former host ofCNN'sNewsNight with Aaron Brownonce resided in Scarsdale
Dorothy Dalton, silent-film actress.
Lisa Donovan, (LisaNova)YouTubecelebrity and former featured cast member of MadTV, graduated fromScarsdale High Schoolin 1998.
L B Fisher, born in Scarsdale and acted on popular shows such asFelicity,ER,Boston Public.
Will Hawkins,singer-songwriterandplaywrightattended SHS from 1981 until 1985.
Rupert Holmes,composerandwriter, once resided in Scarsdale.
Al Jolson, 30's film star owned a house on Fenimore Rd. in Scarsdale.
Joseph Kaiser, opera, theater, and film actor, grew up in Scarsdale.
David Lascher, sitcom actor from such shows asHey Dude,Blossom,Sabrina the Teenage Witch, andBeverly Hills, 90210, was born and raised in Scarsdale.
Susan Lucci, born in Scarsdale and the star of soap TV seriesAll My Childrenas well as many other notable films and television shows.
Linda McCartney, actress, writer, cinematographer, producer, photographer, and wife ofBeatlesstar Paul McCartney, attended Scarsdale High School
Liza Minnelli, singer and actress, lived in Scarsdale with her mother,Judy Garlandand attended Scarsdale High School. She also toured Europe and Israel in an SHS production ofThe Diary of Anne Frank.
Yoko Ono, singer. Her family moved to Scarsdale in the early 1950s; she later joined them from Japan.
Bill Pankow, film editor ofThe Black Dahlia,Assault on Precinct 13,Paid In Fulland others.
Nina Totenberg,NPRlegal correspondent, graduate of Scarsdale High School
Business
Fred Manocherian, Film Director, New York Businesses
Jennifer Manocherian, Broadway Producer
Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO, Alcoa Inc.
Writers
Jacob M. Appel, short-story writer ('Creve Coeur'), playwright (Arborophilia), bioethicist. (SHS graduate)
James Fenimore Cooper(September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851). His classic bookThe Spyis set in a Scarsdale historical home, The Locusts.
Eve Ensler, dramatist.Raisedin Scarsdale, attended SHS.
Gish Jen(pseudonym of Lillian Jen), novelist. Born in Scarsdale, 1956. A thinly disguised version of Scarsdale is a subject of some of her works.
Richard Kostelanetz, writer and artist, graduated from SHS in 1958.
Harold Krents(1944–1987), lawyer, whose life story inspired the dramaButterflies Are Free. Author ofTo Race the Wind.(SHS graduate)
Nicholas Kristof,journalistandcolumnistfor theNew York Times, and twice the winner of thePulitzer Prize. Most recent Pulitzer Prize was in 2006 for his columns regarding the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
G. Adrienne Lopez,attorney, author andfilm producerresided with her family in Scarsdale for two decades. Author ofTo Love, Honor and Betray: The Secret Life of Suburban Housewives. Executive Producer of award-winning filmDirty Laundry(2005).
Dan O'Brien, playwright,Dear Boy,The Voyage of the Carcass(1992 SHS Graduate)
Bryan Reynolds, critical theorist, playwright, graduated SHS in 1983.
Carl Schorske, historian and author ofFin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culturewith his sister,Florence Wald, formerDeanof theYale School of NursingandfounderofAmerican Hospice
Alan Schwarz, reporter for theNew York Timesand author ofThe Numbers Game, grew up in Scarsdale and graduated from SHS in 1986.
Aaron Sorkin, writer and creator of the TV seriesSports NightandThe West Wing.Raisedin Scarsdale.
Sheryl WuDunn, journalist and columnist for theNew York Times. She is married toNicholas D. Kristof, also a columnist forThe Times.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Financial columnist for theNew York Timesand editor of DealBook, an online financial daily report.
David Galef, raised in Scarsdale, has written and edited children's books, anthologies of poetry and short fiction, essays, literary criticism.
Doctors
Gerald B. Appel, celebrity physician[citation needed]
Herman Tarnower, author ofThe Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet
Sports personalities
Benny Feilhaber, (American soccer midfielder) He moved to Scarsdale at the age of six.
Joe Garagiola(1926- ) catcher for theSt. Louis Cardinals,Pittsburgh Pirates,Chicago CubsandNew York Giants. He later became a popularbroadcaster. He and his wife raised their children in Scarsdale.
Paul Heyman,professional wrestlingmanagerand former promoter, best known for his role inExtreme Championship Wrestling.
Bill Mazer(1920- ) New York sports talk and talkshow personality. He has resided in Quaker Ridge since the mid 1960's.
David Stern, current Commissioner of theNational Basketball Association.
Hugh WhiteCaptain of the 1901 national championUniversity of Michiganfootballteam, winners offirst Rose Bowl(1902), combined score for season (550-0). Engineer and businessman. Scarsdale village president.
Legal
William Glendon, argued thePentagon Paperscase before theUnited States Supreme Courton behalf ofThe Washington Post.
Mitch Berger, litigation co-chair at Patton Boggs
Political figures
Otto Dohrenwend, chairman of the anti-Communist 'Committee of Ten' during the 1950s.
Daniel Tompkins, 6th Vice President of the United States, born in Scarsdale.
Gangsters and spies
Robert Hanssen, Soviet spy, lived at 150 Webster Road in Scarsdale from 1978 until 1981; his children attended IHM. His wife told theFBIthat he had had dealings with Moscow during that time
Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel,gangsterandLas Vegasresort builder. He owned a house in Scarsdale from 1929 on; he was increasingly absent in later years but his family continued to live there.
Ronald 'Escalade' Piscina, gangster, a key figure in setting up the Apalachin Meeting for the Mafia in 1957 in Apalachin, NY.
Science, space and technology
Frank McDowell Leavitt, early engineer and inventor, patent for manufacturing tin cans, inventor of Bliss-Leavitt torpedo
Joseph Capecci, scientist, architect, Dean-CCNY, holder of several US patents critical in the evolution of nuclear weapons,NASAconsultant during the space race has resided in Scarsdale since 1970.[citation needed]
Jeffrey A. HoffmanPh.D., astronaut. Born in Brooklyn but 'considers Scarsdale to be his hometown', seebioat NASA website. (SHS graduate)
Brewster Kahle, Internet Pioneer. FoundedWide Area Information Servers,Alexa Internet,Internet Archive.[citation needed]
Ivan Sutherland,computer graphicspioneer. (SHS 1955 graduate)[citation needed]Source: 'Bandersnatch 1955', Scarsdale High School, Scarsdale NY.
Benoît B. Mandelbrot, Frenchmathematician,IBMresearch scientist and father offractal geometry.[citation needed]
Legal
Dr. Eugene Tarnower was murdered in Purchase, NY by Jean Harris on March 10, 1980. He had his medical practice in Scarsdale (The Scarsdale Medical Center). He was a noted cardiologist and author of the Scarsdale Diet.
Film
Bugsy-Barry Levinson's 1991 Oscar-winning film featuresWarren Beattyas gangster Benjamin Siegel, who lived in Scarsdale during the 1940s. The film opens at Siegel's house in Scarsdale (actually filmed in Hancock Park, Los Angeles), and Scarsdale is mentioned numerous times throughout the film. The movie's co-producerSam Gagnongrew up in Scarsdale[citation needed].
Charlie Wilson's War-Mike Nichols's 2007 film, starringTom Hankscontains a line regarding the placement of acrècheon city property. A constituent fromNacogdoches, Texaswho has traveled to DC to press Wilson to take action says: “It’s East Texas. Who are we offending? This isn’t Scarsdale, for goodness' sakes.”[citation needed]The line is a reference to an early 1980s Supreme Court case regarding a nativity scene in the village center[citation needed]. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin grew up in Scarsdale.
Johnny Cool- The 1963 film featuresElizabeth Montgomeryas a young woman in New York City who grew up in Scarsdale, and considers going back for a brief, restful break from her chaotic situation[citation needed].
Seconds-John Frankenheimer's 1966 film, starringRock Hudson, opens with the central character taking aMetro Northtrain to Scarsdale, where he lives with his wife.
Wait Until Dark- InTerence Young's 1967 adaptation ofFrederick Knott's play, the character Harry Roat (played byAlan Arkin) hails from Scarsdale
Television
Late Night With Conan O'Brien- On the thirteenth anniversary of 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien', the show is 'Bar Mitzvahed' and Scarsdale is cited as the home of Temple Emanuel, the fictional temple of the fictional Rabbi Grossman, who performs the Bar Mitzvah ceremony.[citation needed]
Seinfeld- Kramer is accidentally rewarded with aTony Awardfor the fictional musical 'Scarsdale Surprise', supposedly based on the Scarsdale Diet doctor murder.[citation needed]
Taxi-Tony Danza's character, Tony Banta, attempts to adopt a young boy from a wealthy foster family in Scarsdale in several episodes.[citation needed]
Fringe- Plane Crashes in Scarsdale in the beginning of episode 'The Transformation'. Dan Robins, one of the writers of the show, lives in Scarsdale. Original air date: February 3, 2009[citation needed]
Broadway
Guys and Dolls- A Broadway man chides a woman's marital aspirations by saying 'You have wished yourself a Scarsdale Galahad, a breakfast-eating, Brooks Brothers, type.'[citation needed]
Rent- The main character, Mark, makes two references to Scarsdale as his hometown. Scarsdale is mentioned within the song 'Tango: Maureen'[citation needed]
Literature
Jacob M. Appel's 'Scouting for the Reaper' is set in Scarsdale.[citation needed]
Jane Austen in Scarsdale: or Love, Death and the SATs- byPaula Marantz Cohen[citation needed]
Next-Michael Crichtonuses Scarsdale in parts of his novel as the residence of an overspending eldery couple[citation needed]
See How They Run-James Patersonuses Scarsdale as the setting in his novel.[citation needed]
Sleepless In Scarsdale-John Updikeuses Scarsdale as the setting for his poem.[citation needed]
The Spy-James Fenimore Coopersets his novel in a house in Scarsdale, 'The Locusts'.[citation needed]
Music
'Hey Nineteen' -Steely Danmentions Scarsdale in this song[citation needed]
'Fo'eva Blunted' -Ninethreatens to hit someone with agarbage pailunless they go home to Scarsdale[citation needed]
Events
Scarsdale Town Pool was the swimming venue for the 2007 Empire State Games .Scarsdale is home to the Scarsdale Concours, an annual auto show for charity.
