# Hartsdale, New York

Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City.

## History

Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Greenburgh, New York, lies on the Bronx River 20 miles (32 km) north of New York City. It is served by the Metro-North Harlem River commuter rail line into Grand Central Terminal. Hartsdale is the home of America's first canine pet cemetery (started by veterinarian Samuel Johnson in 1896), and the world's first Carvel Ice Cream store (1934), which closed in 2008.

### Pre-Colonial Period

Hartsdale's earliest settlers were the Wecquaesgeek (sometimes spelled Weckquaesgeek), a band of the Wappinger people, an Algonquian tribe that lived in southeastern New York from northern Westchester down through Manhattan. Weekquaeskeek is an Algonquian term believed to mean "place of the bark kettle"; a representation of this kettle appears in the Greenburgh town seal.

### Colonial Era and American Revolution

After the earliest British settlers arrived, the area was developed under the manor system when Frederick Philipse, a Dutch merchant and British Loyalist, was granted the land by the British government. As lord of his Philipse Manor, he leased his land to tenant farmers who for a time lived alongside their Native American neighbors.
There is evidence to show that Hartsdale played a significant role during the American Revolution, some of which still stands today. On October 28, 1776, a battle was fought alongside the Bronx River, near the site of the current Hartsdale train station. The Odell House (on Ridge Road, built in 1732) served as the headquarters for the French general the Comte de Rochambeau, and is where the count and George Washington are supposed to have formed an alliance leading to the Battle of Yorktown. The house was later named after John Odell, Washington's guide, who bought the property in 1785. In 1965, his descendants deeded it to the Sons of the American Revolution, which today stands in severe decay, awaiting funds to transform it into a museum.
After the Continental Army's triumph, Tory sympathizer Frederick Philipse III (third lord of the manor and great-grandson to Frederick Philipse I) fled, his land was confiscated, and auctioned to the remaining tenants, many of whom were descendants of the Hart family. The intersection of Central Park Avenue and Hartsdale Avenue was named "Hart's Corners" after Robert Hart, one of those farmers, and by the mid-19th century the entire area became known as "Hartsdale".

### 19th Century

The area remained largely agrarian until 1865, when Eleazar Hart deeded land for the development of the New York and Harlem Railroad line into Manhattan, setting the stage for Hartsdale's change into a more cosmopolitan commuter village. Between 1880 and 1940, large tracts of farmland and estates were subdivided and converted into private houses and apartments at a furious pace. By the 1960s, almost no remaining farmland was left for sale.

### 20th Century

In 1904, the successful German-Jewish banker Felix M. Warburg (1871–1937) purchased large tracts of land to build his 500-acre (2.0 km$^2$) "Woodlands" estate in Hartsdale, a summer home next to the country club where he and his wife Frieda Schiff Warburg (1876–1958) spent considerable time. The estate would later become an important site in the history of modern American ballet, when in 1934, their son Edward M. M. Warburg (1908–1992) helped produce George Balanchine's "Serenade", his first full-length ballet in America. In keeping with the family's philanthropic efforts, Frieda Schiff Warburg, on her death in 1958, bequeathed a remaining 150 acres (0.61 km$^2$) to the town of Greenburgh to build a public school. This parcel is now the home of the Greenburgh Central School District (formerly called Greenburgh Central 7 School District) and Woodlands High School. The main Warburg mansion currently serves as the school district headquarters, but other remnants from the original estate grounds can still be seen standing in the surrounding woods and neighboring streets.
In 1932, Henry Jacques Gaisman, inventor and founder of the Gillette safety razor blade, purchased 136 acres (0.55 km$^2$) of land along Ridge Road, most of which he purchased from George A. C. Christiancy, son of the former U.S. minister to Peru, Isaac Peckham Christiancy. In 1952, at age 82, Gaisman married his nurse Catherine "Kitty" Vance Gaisman, aged 33, a former Catholic nun. In 1957, he and his wife Catherine (Mrs. Henry J. Gaisman) passed the title for his land to the New York Archdiocese for $600,000, with the agreement that they could live there as long as they wished. Mr. Gaisman died in 1974 at age 104, and Mrs. Gaisman remained on the estate until she moved to Connecticut in 1995. In 1999, the estate was saved from sale and development when the Town of Greenburgh acquired the property and reopened it as the Hart's Brook Nature Preserve. Part of the agreement included the preservation of some portion of the estate as a home for retired Catholic nuns. Today the Catherine and Henry J. Gaisman Foundation continues to donate large amounts of money to support medical research.
On a hot Memorial Day weekend in 1934, Greek immigrant and ice cream salesman Tom Carvelas was selling ice cream from his truck around roads in Westchester when he broke down with a flat tire on the southbound side of Central Avenue (just south of the "Four Corners" section of Hartsdale). With his inventory melting rapidly, he decided to simply sell it off right there. Successful, he bought the land there, and in 1936 opened up the world's first Carvel ice cream store. It stood there until 2008, when it was closed and the land sold to developers. To commemorate the birth of Carvel ice cream in Hartsdale, the Hartsdale Fire Company distributes Carvel "Flying Saucers" from Fire Station 1 after every Memorial Day parade.

## Geography

Hartsdale is one of the few communities immediately surrounding New York City that still has two working farms, both on Secor Road. It also has several parks, including the 25-acre (100,000 m$^2$) Secor Woods Park, the 170-acre (0.69 km$^2$) Ridge Road Park, and 86-acre (350,000 m$^2$) Rumbrook Park.
The town can generally be subdivided into several areas, including the "Village" or downtown part (East Hartsdale Avenue), Manor Woods, Windsor Park, Poet's Corner, Ridge Road, Orchard Hill, College Corners, or more specifically one of the several condominium developments built since the 1970s. Over the years, the town has attracted many different ethnic groups, and the downtown village has a significant Japanese population with Japanese shops, restaurants, real-estate brokers, and even a Japanese supermarket all within walking distance of East Hartsdale Avenue.
Ferncliff Cemetery is located on Secor Road in Hartsdale, famous as the burial grounds for many celebrities, including Aaliyah, Malcolm X, Heavy D, Judy Garland, Jerome Kern, Joan Crawford, Basil Rathbone, Ed Sullivan, Jam-Master Jay, James Baldwin, Michel Fokine, Tom Carvel, Oscar Hammerstein, Thelonious Monk, Paul Robeson, Minnesota Timberwolves Guard Malik Sealy, soprano Arleen Auger, and others. British rocker John Lennon, U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and Muppets creator Jim Henson were cremated there. Composer Béla Bartók was initially buried in Hartsdale before being reinterred in his native Hungary in 1988. Radio DJ Alan Freed was also initially interred in Hartsdale until his ashes were moved to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
The Hartsdale Railroad Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, as was the Evangeline Booth House in Hartsdale hamlet.
Major roads include NY 100 and the Bronx River Parkway. For mass transit to NYC, residents can take either Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line or the Bee-Line Bus routes 1X, 3, 20, 21, and BxM4C. Bee-Line also provides local service on bus routes 34, 38, 39, 43, and 65.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km$^2$), all land.

## Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,830 people, 4,314 households, and 2,756 families residing in the community. The population density was 3,068.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,184.6/km$^2$). There were 4,478 housing units at an average density of 1,397.6 per square mile (539.6/km$^2$). The racial makeup of the community was 76.14% White, 8.71% African American, 0.19% Native American, 10.17% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.64% from other races, and 2.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.55% of the population.
There were 4,314 households, out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.1% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the CDP the population was spread out, with 18.2% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 28.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.2 males.
The median income for a household in the community was $81,824, and the median income for a family was $100,330. Males had a median income of $62,362 versus $47,380 for females. The per capita income for the community was $45,691. About 1.6% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.
As of 1991 Hartsdale has a sizable Japanese American community.
In addition, there is an Albanian Catholic Church in Hartsdale with the name "Our Lady of Shkodra".

## Education

The census-designated place is divided between Greenburgh Central School District and Edgemont Union Free School District.

## Notable people

* Freddie Blassie, pro-wrestler
* Peter Riegert, actor
* Billy Vera, singer/musician/composer
* Arleen Auger, soprano
* Mary Ritter Beard, women's history archivist
* Evangeline Cory Booth, Salvation Army leader
* Tom Carvel, inventor of soft serve ice cream and Carvel ice cream
* Sean Casten, Illinois Democratic Congressman
* Mike "SuperJew" Epstein, Major League Baseball player
* Michael d'Orlando, racing driver
* Nicholas d'Orlando, racing driver
* Jack Davis, Mad magazine artist
* Malvina Hoffman, artist/sculptor
* Louis J. Ignarro, Nobel laureate
* Charles Ives, classical music composer
* Michael Jamin, television writer and producer, podcaster
* Vernon Jordan, American businessman
* John Edward Jacob, National Urban League president
* Morris E. Lasker, US federal judge
* Charles Wellford Leavitt, landscape architect, urban planner, and civil engineer
* Allan Rosenfield, academic
* Michael Rubin, novelist and educator
* Billy Vera, composer/songwriter/singer/producer/actor

## In popular culture

The popular J-pop rap/R&B duo Heartsdales borrow their name from Hartsdale, as the two members spent considerable time here.
On the NBC series Heroes, The Company's Primatech Research facility and home of Level 5 is located in Hartsdale.
One scene from the comedy film The Other Guys was filmed at the Harmon Discount in Hartsdale.