History of New Rochelle, New York facts for kids
New Rochelle (French: Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, in the southeastern part of the state. It was founded in 1688 by Huguenots, who were French Protestants seeking safety from religious troubles in France. Many of these settlers came from the city of La Rochelle, France, which is why they named their new home "New Rochelle."
In 2007, New Rochelle had about 73,260 people, making it the seventh largest city in New York State at the time.
Contents
Early History of New Rochelle
French Protestants Seek New Homes
In 1689, King Louis XIV of France, a Catholic ruler, took away the Edict of Nantes. This important rule had protected Protestants in France from being treated badly for their beliefs. Even though Protestants were a very hardworking group in France, King Louis XIV wanted them to leave.
To avoid another religious war, Protestant countries in Europe welcomed these French Protestants, also known as Huguenots. John Pell, who was the Lord of Pelham Manor, offered land to many Huguenot families. Most of these families came from a region in France called Aunis and the city of La Rochelle.
Founding the Community
About 33 families started the community of New Rochelle. There's a monument in Hudson Park today that lists the names of these first settlers. This park was where the Huguenots first landed in 1688.
Years before, the Siwanoy Native Americans had sold their land to Thomas Pell. His nephew, John Pell, later became the lord of Pelham Manor. This was a large estate where he had power over local laws.
Jacob Leisler, who was helping a group of Huguenots in New York, bought land from John Pell for 1,675 pounds. In 1689, Pell officially gave 6,100 acres (about 25 square kilometers) to Leisler for the Huguenot community. As part of the deal, Leisler and those who came after him had to give John Pell one 'Fat Calf' every year. This was a sign of their connection to Pelham Manor.
Jacob Leisler was a key person in the early days of New Rochelle and the nation. He came to America as a soldier and became a successful merchant in New York. He even served as mayor of New York City for a while. Later, he became acting governor of the province, and that's when he helped the Huguenots.
Other important Huguenots also helped create New Rochelle. These included Jacques Flandreau, Gabriel Minvielle, Broussard Des Champs, Jean Bouteillier, and Ambroise Sicard, who is said to have named the town.
A French Town in America
New Rochelle was one of the few Huguenot settlements in America that truly felt like a French colony. French refugees continued to move there until about 1760. The name "New Rochelle" showed how important the city of La Rochelle was to Huguenot history.
French was commonly spoken in New Rochelle. People from nearby areas would even send their children there to learn the language. Famous people like Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay and author Washington Irving went to a private boarding school at Trinity Church in New Rochelle.
New Rochelle in the 1700s
Becoming Part of the English Colony
The French Huguenots were Protestants, just like many English settlers. Because of this, they quickly fit into the English colony. For the first two generations, most Huguenots married other Huguenots. However, they started using English more and shared similar customs with the larger English population. This helped them blend into society. By 1738, the town records were no longer written in French.
The Revolutionary War Era
In 1775, General George Washington passed through New Rochelle on his way to lead the American army. He noted that the land was strong and covered with grass and corn. The British Army briefly took over parts of New Rochelle in 1776. After the British won the Battle of White Plains, New Rochelle became a "neutral ground" where General Washington could gather his troops.
After the American Revolutionary War ended in 1784, the patriot Thomas Paine was given a farm in New Rochelle. This was a reward for his help in the fight for independence. The farm, about 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers), had been taken from its previous owners because they supported the British. Today, the Thomas Paine Cottage is a small museum where many Revolutionary War events are re-enacted.
The first national census in 1790 showed that New Rochelle had 692 residents. Of these, 136 were African Americans.
New Rochelle in the 1800s
Growth and New Arrivals
Long Island Sound, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, helped New Rochelle become a trade route. It also turned the farming community into a popular vacation spot. Smart business people and new steamboat travel made it successful. People loved the wide-open views, clean country air, and water activities, all just a boat ride from busy Manhattan.
The first passenger train arrived in New Rochelle on New Year’s Day, 1849. Within a few decades, train service was good enough for daily travel. This meant many vacationers started living in New Rochelle. Wealthy people built summer estates, and middle-class families bought homes in new neighborhoods. The train also brought new immigrants to town. New Rochelle was the first stop on the New Haven line, a quick trip from the ferry dock at Ellis Island. By 1865, 30% of the town's population was born in other countries. Out of 3,968 residents, 800 were Irish and 200 were German.
The train station helped create a busy downtown area with shops, banks, and other businesses. This area became the Village of New Rochelle in 1857.
Early Economy and Industries
Through the 1700s, New Rochelle was a small village with lots of farmland. But in the 1800s, as New York City grew quickly with immigrants, more American families moved from New York City to New Rochelle. Even though the original Huguenot population became smaller, they still had a strong influence on the town's politics and social life because they owned land, businesses, and banks.
A toll-house was built in 1802 on the Westchester County Turnpike (now Main Street). It cost four cents for a horse and rider and ten cents for a horse-drawn cart. The tolls stopped in 1867.
The Mott family built Premium Mill in 1801. It was said to be the country's largest flour mill, with four stories. Most of the flour was sent to Europe. However, the mill's business slowed down during the War of 1812 and after the Erie Canal opened.
In 1820, the census showed 150 African Americans living in New Rochelle, with six of them being enslaved. Lucretia Mott, whose family owned the mill, started an anti-slavery group in 1833. She also supported the women's right to vote movement. The Mott family home in New Rochelle might have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom.
In 1849, the ice business started on nearby Crystal Lake. The lake and surrounding properties were bought to expand this business. Large ice houses were built, and the ice from Crystal Lake was known for its purity. It became a major supplier for New York City and Brooklyn.
Washington Irving's publisher, G.P. Putnam, built a printing plant on Webster Avenue in 1890. For 40 years, books by Irving, Herman Melville, and Charles Dickens were printed there.
In 1892, Rose Hill Gardens, a large botanical garden, grew the first orchid in the United States. The gardens had many greenhouses filled with beautiful flowers that were sent to florists and estates in Manhattan.
New Rochelle During the Civil War
When President Lincoln asked for soldiers in 1861, people from New Rochelle joined the fight. Even though New Rochelle had just over 3,000 people, the first group of volunteers formed the New Rochelle Cadets. They became part of Company G, 17th Regiment, New York National Guard. This group served at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, and all returned safely in 1863.
The city also helped the Union cause in other ways. It's believed that the old Burtis Mill made gun carriages for the Union army. Davids Island was also important. The DeCamp General Hospital there treated thousands of wounded Union soldiers. New Rochelle residents made clothes and children gave sweets to the soldiers on the island. In July 1863, 2500 Confederate soldiers were held as prisoners on Davids Island.
The assassination of President Lincoln in April 1865 saddened many in New Rochelle. Reverend John Fowler, Jr. gave a speech honoring the late President. John Dyott, a main actor in the play "Our American Cousin" on the night Lincoln was shot, lived in New Rochelle.
In 1896, citizens of New Rochelle raised $2500 to build a Civil War memorial. It stands where Huguenot and West Main Streets meet.
Grand Country Estates
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In the mid-1800s, New Rochelle was a perfect place for wealthy people from Manhattan to have summer homes. Large farmlands on the waterfront were easy and cheap to buy. Davenport Neck became a popular spot for many large summer homes. The Davenport family had famous architect Alexander Jackson Davis design their homes, including "Overlook" and "Sans Souci." Other large homes were built inland, like "Winyah Park." In 1892, artist Frederic Remington bought one of these homes.
Industrialist Adrian G Iselin bought land on Davenport Neck in 1858. The Iselin family built many homes, some designed by famous architects like Stanford White and Frederick Law Olmsted. The family also started the New Rochelle Water Company and the city's first savings bank. Adrian Iselin's children gave a lot of money to local causes, like The College of New Rochelle and the Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital.
Wealthy hotel owner Simeon Leland bought 40 acres of farmland and built his 60-room summer home, "Castle View," in 1855. It took four years to build and even had a moat! Famous guests like the Prince of Wales and Charles Dickens visited "Castle View."
John Stephenson, who invented the horse-drawn streetcar, often vacationed in New Rochelle. In 1862, he bought a large piece of land by the shore and built a huge mansion called 'Clifford' overlooking Echo Bay.
The Rise of Tourism
New Rochelle's location on Long Island Sound helped it become a popular resort town. Smart business people and new steamboat travel made it a success. Developers and visitors were drawn to the beautiful countryside and many water activities offered by hotels and resorts, all just a boat ride from busy Manhattan.
The Neptune House summer resort hotel was built on Neptune Island in 1837. Its wooded location overlooking Long Island Sound made it a favorite spot for New Yorkers wanting to get away. Steamboats took people between New York City and the Neptune House dock.
John H. Starin, a former United States Congressman, bought five islands off Davenport Neck in 1879. He turned them into one of the country's first and most amazing amusement parks, Starin's Glen Island Resort. Starin owned the largest fleet of steamboats in Manhattan and used them to bring thousands of New Yorkers to the park each year. The park had beaches, gardens, a German beer garden, a Grand Cafe, a Chinese pagoda, horse riding paths, a miniature steam train, a natural history museum, an aviary, and a zoo with exotic animals like lions and elephants. What was amazing was that all the attractions and rides were free!
Glen Island became famous around the world as "one of the most beautiful spots in America." It was even called "the first summer resort in the United States, if not the world," and was like the first "theme park" long before Disneyland. By 1882, half a million people visited, and within six years, it reached over a million. The popularity of Glen Island led to a building boom in New Rochelle in the early 1900s, as it quickly became a summer resort community.
City Government and Politics
In 1857, the Village of New Rochelle was created. In 1861, volunteers started the first fire service. A law creating the New Rochelle City Charter was signed by Governor Theodore Roosevelt in 1889. This law combined the Village and Town of New Rochelle into one city.
Davids Island became Fort Slocum in 1896, named after General Henry Warner Slocum, a Civil War officer. Fort Slocum became one of the country's largest recruiting stations, especially during World War I and World War II. In 1899, Michael J. Dillon became New Rochelle's first mayor. The new city charter divided the city into four areas, with two aldermen from each area and 10 elected from the city as a whole.
New Rochelle in the 1900s
Suburban Life Grows
After New Rochelle became a city in 1899, it grew very quickly. New areas like the Wykagyl business district and residential parks were developed, partly thanks to the New York-Westchester-Boston Railway. Beautiful neighborhoods, nine miles of waterfront, good train services, strong schools, and easy car travel (after the Hutchinson River Parkway was built) made New Rochelle a top suburban community in America.
Rochelle Park, laid out in 1885, was one of the first planned residential communities in the country. A pioneering landscape architect, Nathan Franklin Barrett, designed it with winding roads, large yards, and public green spaces. Because Rochelle Park was so successful, many other residential parks followed in New Rochelle, including Residence Park, Beechmont, Sutton Manor, and Rochelle Heights.
By 1900, New Rochelle had 14,720 people. As more immigrants came to the northeastern United States, especially New York, the original French Huguenot influence in the town changed. In 1930, New Rochelle's population reached 54,000, a big jump from 36,213 just ten years earlier. During the 1930s, New Rochelle was the wealthiest city per person in New York state and the third wealthiest in the country.
Two of the nation's first suburban branch department stores, Arnold Constable and Bloomingdales, opened in New Rochelle in the 1940s. The Glen Island Casino was a very famous place for big bands to perform in the 1930s and 1940s.
After World War II, New Rochelle's population grew again. New houses were built on former farmlands, and apartment buildings went up along the Shore Road. The building of the New England Thruway (I-95) in the mid-1950s changed neighborhoods and separated the business district. This led to urban renewal projects, including the building of The Mall, and the start of a long decline for the city's once busy downtown.
Cultural Contributions
In the early 1900s, the famous Glen Island Casino on Long Island Sound was built on the site of the old Grand Cafe. The building had balconies overlooking the Sound, making it a great place for dining and entertainment. At that time, "casino" meant a public place for fun, not gambling. However, it soon gained a reputation as a speakeasy during Prohibition.
Despite this, the Casino also started booking popular musicians for weekend dances. Oswald George Nelson, known as "Ozzie," and his singer Harriet Hilliard became famous there in 1932. The next summer, the Casa Loma Orchestra played there, starting the Big Band era for the Casino. Performances at Glen Island Casino were heard across the country because its large ballroom was perfect for clear radio broadcasts. Many artists became famous there, including Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, and Doris Day.
Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, a musical comedy about New Rochelle, opened in 1906. In 1909, Edwin Thanhouser started Thanhouser Film Corporation. His Million Dollar Mystery was one of the first movie series. Artist Norman Rockwell moved to New Rochelle in 1915 and shared a studio with cartoonist Clyde Forsythe. Rockwell often drew people from the community for his illustrations. In 1941, New Rochelle's Terrytoons Studio created the famous Mighty Mouse cartoon character. In 1976, New Rochelle resident E. L. Doctorow wrote the novel Ragtime, which later became a big Broadway musical.
Over its history, New Rochelle has attracted many famous people, including authors, artists, sports stars, and business leaders. Frederic Remington, Joseph Leyendecker, and Norman Rockwell were among many great American artists, illustrators, and cartoonists who lived and worked in New Rochelle. Silent movies from the Thanhouser Company, Mighty Mouse cartoons from Terrytoons, the Howdy Doody show, and stories for The Dick Van Dyke Show all came from New Rochelle. Lou Gehrig played baseball with kids in his New Rochelle neighborhood. Famous people like dancer Irene Castle, director Elia Kazan, and philosopher Joseph Campbell shared important memories of their time in New Rochelle.
School Desegregation and Civil Rights
New Rochelle was the site of the first court-ordered school desegregation case in the northern United States. In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision that the Lincoln School boundaries had been drawn on purpose to create separate elementary school districts. Lincoln School was closed and torn down in 1965. Students from that district were allowed to attend other city elementary schools.
The school system successfully reorganized after this case in 1961 and again 20 years later. The school district is known for its diversity. The high school honors civil rights leader Whitney Young with its auditorium and civil rights activist Michael Schwerner with its library. In May 1968, New Rochelle High School was damaged by a fire. Students went to local junior high schools in shifts while the high school was rebuilt.
Community and Government
New Rochelle resident Anna Jones became the first African American woman to be allowed to practice law in New York State in 1923. In 1928, women's rights advocate Carrie Chapman Catt moved to New Rochelle. Catt, who was President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, was very important in the fight for the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
The city adopted a city manager form of government in 1929. In this system, the city council makes the laws, and the city manager carries out the council's decisions. On June 18, 1938, the City celebrated its 250th anniversary with a huge parade of over 6,000 marchers. Important guests included Governor Herbert H. Lehman and visitors from La Rochelle, France. The U.S. Government even made special New Rochelle half-dollar commemorative coins for the anniversary.
In 1987, New Rochelle won the U.S. Conference of Mayors City Livability Award for its quality of life.
New Rochelle Today
At the start of the 2000s, New Rochelle began a big project to improve its downtown area. A $190 million entertainment complex, called New Roc City, was built near the Metro North train station. It has a 19-screen movie theater, Westchester's first IMAX theater, an indoor ice-hockey rink, mini-golf, go-karts, an arcade, a health club, restaurants, a hotel, apartments, and a large supermarket. This complex was built where the old Macy's and Mall used to be.
More improvements have come with two new luxury apartment buildings. Avalon On The Sound East opened in 2007. Trump Plaza, a 40-story luxury building, is the second tallest in Westchester County. Buildings on 'Main Street' that had been empty, like the former Bloomingdales department store, have been turned into apartments.
Railroad History
After the American Civil War, many new railroad ideas came up. As New York City grew, people wanted to connect The Bronx with Westchester County to take advantage of rising land values. The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company built new lines to serve the growing number of people moving to the suburbs. Two main lines were built: the Port Chester line and the White Plains line. The Port Chester Line followed the same path as today's New York Railroads New Haven line. The White Plains Line went north through New Rochelle's undeveloped upper areas.
Even by 1912, much of Upper New Rochelle was not very populated. The Wykagyl and Quaker Ridge stations were on dirt roads and had no public transportation. Many wealthy residents who moved there owned cars and used them instead of public transport. While some communities served by the railway did grow between 1912 and 1937, it wasn't enough to keep the railroad in business. Service stopped on December 31, 1937. The only signs of the railway left are a few old station houses, like the Quaker Ridge station (now a private home) and the former Wykagyl station (now part of a shopping center).
Main Street's Story
In the 1700s and 1800s, New Rochelle's busy farming community depended on "Main Street." It had shops for animal feed, blacksmiths, coach makers, and dry goods. When New Rochelle became a major resort because of steamboat travel along its Long Island Sound shoreline, more hotels and businesses opened on Main Street. Once train travel improved, New Rochelle's downtown train station helped put the city on the map.
In the 1800s, shopping in New Rochelle was centered around "Main Street," with stores close together and easy to walk to. By the 1920s, New Rochelle was a very popular place for people to buy homes in the suburbs. Main Street quickly changed to fit the tastes of the growing community. Newer, more modern buildings replaced the old wooden ones. These new buildings were designed in the glamorous Art Deco style of the day, using the best materials and showing great attention to detail. Downtown New Rochelle was ready for the city's best years in the 1930s, when its population grew to 54,000 in just three decades. At that time, New Rochelle was considered the wealthiest city per person in New York State and the third wealthiest in the country.
With the rise of cars in the following decades, the downtown area began to change. Gas stations and shopping areas with lots of parking started appearing outside the city center. Downtown areas became more crowded with traffic. To solve this, large shopping centers were built away from the city center. This decline of Main Street didn't happen overnight; it was gradual, over 50 years. The first commercial strips on the edge of town appeared in the late 1920s, but the biggest change came after World War II, with the spread of shopping centers in the 1950s.
Main Street and Downtown are still the main business and shopping areas of New Rochelle. This is mostly because of its location along the Boston Post Road/New England Thruway/Metro-North/Amtrak transportation routes that cross the southern part of the city. More young professionals, families, and older adults looking for communities near public transport now call the downtown area home.
Main Street's Architecture
Much of the beautiful building details along Main Street have lasted through the years. The section of Main Street between North Avenue and Huguenot Street strongly reminds people of the 1920s and 30s, with many buildings in the Art Deco architectural style. New Rochelle's downtown has the largest continuous group of commercial buildings from this time. Important buildings include the Bank of New Rochelle Building, the Lambden Building, Talner Jewelers, two historic former theater buildings (RKO and Lowe's), the first suburban branch department stores of both Bloomingdales and Arnold Constable, and several major Art Deco commercial buildings like the Kaufman Building, which was home to the nation's first cartoon studio, Terrytoons, and a building connected to one of the nation's first movie companies, Thanhouser Company.
Images for kids
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Statue of Jacob Leisler
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Bicentennial half-dollar
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