The History of Horace Greeley, Chappaqua and its Waters

1
The History of Horace Greeley, Chappaqua and its
Waters

• When in the history of Chappaqua was the water
  quality of Greeley Brook and the Saw Mill River
  better or worse than today?
• Presented by the New Castle Historical
  Society

2
Who were the original inhabitants of Chappaqua?

• When Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, Mahicans
  dominated the east bank of the Hudson River,
  which they called Mahicanituck.
• The Chappaqua area was occupied by Mahicans from
  the Wappinger tribes, most likely the Tankitekes,
  Sint-Sinks, and Siwanoys. They were part of the
  larger Algonquin language group.
• Hierarchy Mahicans Algonquin language group
  Wappinger Confederacy nine tribes.
• Local tribes led by Sachem (local chief) Wampus
• Villages or sites included Chappaqua Hill
  (between Quaker Road and railroad, next to Saw
  Mill River), the foot of Roaring Brook, Byram
  Lake, Wampus Lake
• A reminder of the Native Americans that lived
  here are place names we continue to use Wampus
  Pond, Armonk, Shappequa (Algonquin spelling on a
  1609 map of the area under Mohegan Indians.

3
What does the name Chappaqua mean?

• Shappequa is variously translated as running
  water or laurel swamp.
• Chappaqua has possible translations of
  boundary or place of separation or
  unoccupied land, from the native words
  chadchapunum and chipohke.

4
Who was the first owner of property in New Castle?

• Native Americans did not share the European
  concept of property ownership.
• In October, 1696, in council with Chief Wampus,
  an Englishman named Caleb Heathcote paid 100
  pounds to become the owner of the land which is
  present-day New Castle.
• This land was available because it was located
  between established Dutch and English Manors and
  Patents along the Hudson River and those in
  Connecticut along the Long Island Sound. This
  explains the shape of New Castle looking like a
  piece of a jigsaw puzzle.
• Caleb Heathcotes land in 1696 was described as
  feeding woods, underwoods, meadows, marshes,
  lakes, ponds, rivers, rivulets

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Who were the Quakers?

• 1652 In England, George Fox gathered together
  those who were finding the Light within, people
  of faith desiring simplicity in their religion.
  They believed God, the Inward Light, was in every
  man.
• 1657 Eleven Quaker missionaries arrived in New
  Netherland (NYC area). They found religious
  tolerance on Long Island and new English
  supporters.
• Quakers had plain speech, clothing, furniture,
  behavior.
• Quakers used intimate forms of pronouns, like
  thee and thou.
• Quakers were against fighting with weapons and
  war.
• Quakers were self-sufficient farmers and
  part-time millers and craftsmen.

6
Why did Quakers settle in Chappaqua?

• It was the abundance of water that attracted
  them. The streams became the source of power
  which ran their mills.
• 1740 John Reynolds moved from Long Island to
  Shapiqua (Quaker spelling) buying several hundred
  acres near the mill pond close to Kipp Street.
  His farm house on Quaker Road continues to be a
  private residence.

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• 1753 Built Chappaqua Friends Meeting House on
  two acres given by John Reynolds.
• The meeting house was the hub of the growing
  Quaker settlement, the center of town.
• 1782 First school in Chappaqua established at
  the Chappaqua Friends Meeting House.

8

• The oldest gravestone in the graveyard is dated
  1774 and is engraved with the initials of Phebe
  Vail Quinby. It is a simple field stone, yet she
  was from a wealthy Quaker family.
• The Quaker Meeting House was used as a field
  hospital for George Washingtons troops after the
  Battle of White Plains in the Fall of 1776.

9
What is a gristmill?

• A gristmill is a building where grains,
  especially the customers own grain, are ground
  into flour.
• Grist is grain carried to a mill that is to be
  ground or has been ground.
• Gristmills contained rotating mill stones. Water
  wheels, propelled by falling or running water,
  powered the mills.

10

• There was a large mill pond just south of Kipp
  Street off Quaker Road, made by damming the
  current stream. This pond, no longer in
  existence, was later known as Chappaqua Lake. A
  smaller Duck Pond was added. Before the advent
  of steam power, these mill ponds supported three
  mills a sawmill, a gristmill, and a fulling mill
  for treating wool fabric.

11
What industries could be found in 19th Century
Chappaqua?

• Pickle Factory Farmers sold their pickles to the
  factory near the railroad (near present-day N.
  Greeley Avenue) for 25 cents per thousand.
  Disposal of the brine was a public health issue.
• Shoes, Golf Balls, and Hardware
• Spencer Optical Manufacturing Co. on the Kisco
  River in Mt. Kisco made spectacles and lenses.
  It was the largest eyeglass maker in the world.
  The factory used water power to drive its
  machines. The water came from Leonard Pond (now
  Leonard Park). The pond was drained because it
  was thought to be causing malaria.

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How did the railroad bring change to Chappaqua?

• 1846 The railroad brought a new town center of
  businesses and houses when the first train
  station was built near King Street (behind Penny
  Auntie). The location of the railroad was partly
  decided by the topography along the Bronx and Saw
  Mill Rivers. The trains were wood burning steam
  locomotives.
• Freight service caused farmers to shift from
  subsistence farming to selling dairy products,
  apple products, and farm produce to a market
  outside of Chappaqua.
• Commuter service, as early as 1856, allowed the
  area to be suburbanized. Horace Greeley was the
  towns first commuter.

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Who was Horace Greeley?

• Founder and editor of the New York Tribune
• Ran for President of the U.S. against Ulysses S.
  Grant in 1872
• Gentleman farmer

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Why was Horace Greeley an important figure in
American history?

• The New York Tribune was the most widely read
  newspaper and it influenced people throughout the
  nation.
• He influenced political leaders, such as Abraham
  Lincoln.
• He posted bail for Jefferson Davis after the end
  of the Civil War.

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Why did Horace Greeley come to Chappaqua?

• To provide a healthful country life for his
  children.
• Mrs. Greeleys specification for property to have
  three requisites, - 1. A peerless spring of
  pure, soft, living water 2. A cascade or
  brawling brook 3. Woods largely composed of
  evergreens. Recollections of a Busy Life, p.
  297
• The railroad made Chappaqua within week-end
  commuting distance of his NYC office.
• He wanted a farm on which to experiment with his
  ideas on farming, enabling him to write about his
  results in the New York Tribune.

16
Where was Horace Greeleys property in Chappaqua?
17
Was Horace Greeley a typical gentleman farmer?

• A Gentleman farmer is defined as a farmer having
  an independent source of income, who farms for
  pleasure rather than money.
• Horace Greeley farmed for pleasure on weekends.
• I should have been a farmerI would have been a
  farmer, had any science of farming been known to
  those among whom my earlier boyhood was passed.
  Recollections of a Busy Life, p.295
• Horace Greeley experimented with new ideas about
  farming. He wrote about his experiences in the
  New York Tribune. Farmers across the nation read
  his first hand accounts. He influenced the
  farming practices of farmers in all sections of
  our expanding country.
  

18
What kinds of problems existed for Greeley as a
farmer?

• The inferior land presented a challenge on which
  to experiment with irrigation, fertilization,
  drainage, tree conservation, pest control, and
  other new ideas.
• My swamp has been my chief difficulty. have
  seamed the entire flat with underdrains burying
  tiles have cut down the little runnel small
  brook from its centre, collecting the waters
  of a dozen springs But the slope of the land
  was too gentle to effectively drain the water
  into the brook. I am still flooded at
  intervals with back-water, which chokes my drains
  and threatens to inundate my fattest acres.
  Horace Greeley brought in an engineer experienced
  with working on Central Park (New York City) and
  Prospect Park (Brooklyn) to help. Recollections
  of a Busy Life, p. 307

19
Did the flooding continue into present times?

• The South Greeley Avenue section of Chappaqua,
  including the Bell School fields flooded at
  intervals. The Town of New Castle brought in the
  Army Corp of Engineers to help with the drainage
  of this area.
• This photo shows flooding on South Greeley Avenue
  in 1975.

20
Why was Greeley Brook so important to Horace
Greeley?

• In the glen through which my brook emerges
  from the wood wherein it has brawled down the
  hill, to dance across a gentle slope to the swamp
  below, is the spring, - pure as crystal,
  never-failing, cold as you could wish it for
  drink in the hottest day, It determined the
  location of my house, Recollections of a
  Busy Life, p. 305
• Near the brook on the gentle slope were his
  vegetable and flower gardens and greenhouse,
  sheltered by the evergreen trees (transplanted
  from his woods) we see today.

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• An Invitation
• To
• Visit Horace Greeleys House
• 100 King Street
• Hours Tues., Wed., Thurs., Sat. 1-4pm