Spring Valley, New York
Spring Valley is a suburb of New York City, a village in the towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Chestnut Ridge, east of Airmont and Monsey, south of Hillcrest, and west of Nanuet. The population was 33,066 at the 2020 census, making it the 2nd most populous community in Rockland County, after New City. Spring Valley spans the border of two towns, occupying an eastern portion of the town of Ramapo and a small western portion of the town of Clarkstown. The village is next  to the New York State Thruway (Interstate 87) and is served by a New Jersey Transit train station at the terminus of the Pascack Valley Line. Spring Valley is north of Manhattan and north of the New Jersey border. History. Before the opening of the railroad, there were no homes in Spring Valley. In 1842, the New York & Erie Railroad called this part of the territory "Pascack", after a stream by the same name. The residents of the area decided to call the place Spring Valley – one certain large spring in the Valley Pond being responsible for the name. Prior  to naming the territory Spring Valley, it was called Scotland, named after their homeland, by Scotsmen who had settled in the area. In 1885, E. P. Lespenasse, of Spring Valley, walked from Haverstraw, New York to Washington, D.C. to settle an election bet. He carried a live pig and a rooster on his month-long journey. Lespenasse sold over 600 copies of picture post cards of himself and the animals he carried before the start of his walk and along the way as souvenirs and to support his journey. In 1914, President Theodore Roosevelt, visited Spring Valley to discuss the  political issues of the day, speaking at Lyceum. On July 21, 1919, the Valley Theatre was first opened. In 1923, the Edwin Gould Foundation was incorporated. The Lakeside School for Girls and the Kingsland Industrial Schools for Boys opened on South Main street. In 1929, Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the principal speaker at the Fourth of July celebration in Spring Valley. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman stopped at Spring Valley while touring the country in the last whistle-stop campaign by train. Around World War II, Spring Valley had summer resorts that had many New York City Jewish  people as customers. After World War II large resorts in the Catskill Mountains and other areas began to attract Jews instead leaving the Spring Valley hotels empty. William Casey, Rockland County historian, said that many Hasidic groups began to settle during this period. The final steam locomotives on the Erie Railroad were commuter engines that ran between Jersey City and Spring Valley. Steam last operated on the Erie on March 17, 1954, when the fires were dropped on K-1 class Pacific locomotive No. 2530. In 2007, Spring Valley Mayor George Darden was elected vice president of the World Conference of  Mayors during the organization's 23rd annual mayors' conference held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The organization includes mayors from the National Conference of Black Mayors and the Union of African Villages, whose goal is to foster constructive relationships among mayors around the world. Revitalization measures are currently underway in the downtown area of the village, including a mass demolition of abandoned buildings on Main Street and the construction of new mixed-use commercial/residential buildings in its place. For over 50 years, Spring Valley was the site of a military parts distributor, Sarafan Auto Supply, which supplied military parts  all around the world. This third-generation business became part of the community; as business expanded, it grew to take up a large portion of the industrial section of the downtown area. Recently the business moved out of Spring Valley, but the lot which it occupied still has many of the original buildings built by Jacob Sarafan in the early 1900s. Geography. Spring Valley is located at (41.114445, −74.047771). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which , or 0.10%, is water. The village is approximately north of the New Jersey border. Demographics . As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 31,347 people living in the village. The racial makeup of the village was 39.4% white, 36.8% black, 0.6% American Indian, 3.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 15.6% from some other race and 3.7% from two or more races. 30.6% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of the census of 2000, there were 25,464 people, 7,566 households, and 5,523 families living in the village. The population density was 12,122.7 people per square mile (4,681.8/km). There were 7,812 housing units at an average density of 3,719.1 per square mile (1,436.3/km ). The racial makeup of the village was 32.23% White, 59.98% African American, 0.40% Native American, 5.56% Asian, 0.25% Pacific Islander, 5.33% from other races, and 6.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.40% of the population. There were 7,566 households, out of which 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.4% were married couples living together, 21.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of  age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.79. In the village, the population was spread out, with 32.1% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $41,311, and the median income for a  family was $42,097. Males had a median income of $31,182 versus $26,350 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,861. 18.7% of the population and 15.2% of families were below the poverty line, 24.2% of those under the age of 18 and 16.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Spring Valley has the highest African American and Caribbean population in Rockland County. Spring Valley has a large Haitian and Jamaican population, along with a large and growing Hispanic population. Education. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates  Catholic schools in Rockland County. St. Joseph Parish School in Spring Valley closed in 2005.