Links to select Irvington Historical Society videos

 * The Old Croton Aqueduct: A presentation by Tom Tarnowski, Jan. 24, 2021

Description: The Croton Aqueduct allowed New York City to grow far beyond the limits of its own meager water resources by tapping the Croton River north of the City to supply 330,000 people with pure and wholesome water.  A deadly cholera epidemic in 1832 convinced suffering citizens of the need for the prohibitively expensive solution of building a 41-mile long brick tunnel from northern Westchester to the center of Manhattan.

* The Stearns Property and the race to save the Irvington Woods. Presented by Chet Kerr, July 19, 2020

Description: For over 130 years, the Stearns Property – the 99-acre estate of open lawns, pastures, and woodlands – extended from North Broadway to Mountain Road through the very middle of Irvington.  Expanded growth in the Village in the 1970s and 1980s, however, put this property at serious risk of development.  In response, a group of dedicated Village residents worked tirelessly to protect and preserve the eastern sections of this property as part of the Irvington Woods, and today it is the home of the O’Hara Nature Center, one of the most beautiful spots in Irvington.

* The Tiffany/Matthiessen Estate: Gifts to the village that keep giving. Presented by Chet Kerr, June 14, 2020

Description: Between 1863 and 1945, the 62-acre estate just to the north of Historic Downtown Irvington was largely owned by three families, each of which left an indelible imprint on our Village.  These remarkable families – the Tiffanys, the Dunhams and the Matthiessens – lived widely celebrated lives.  Their ties to Irvington were strong, however, and each contributed remarkable gifts to the local community that continue to enrich our Village today. This talk will highlight those individuals, and the legacies they left.

* The Founding of Irvington: Creating a thriving village from farmland. Presented by Chet Kerr, May 17, 2020

Description: In 1849 Justus Dearman and his family made the decision to sell their farm with the hope of creating a completely new Village.  Building on the arrival of the Hudson River Rail Road, in ten short years the rolling pastures of the Dearman Farm became a thriving community of homes, small businesses and industry. This talk highlights the individuals who made this possible and the steps they took to create the foundations of the Village of Irvington as we know it today.

* Stories of Cyrus W. Field, Amzi L. Barber and the creation of Ardsley Park. Presented by Chet Kerr, March 28, 2021

Description: In the late 19th century, the wealthy elite of New York looked to the lower Hudson Valley as a country refuge from the city. Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic, created a country estate – “Ardsley” – that eventually extended over 600-acres from the Hudson River to the Saw Mill River along the border of Irvington and Dobbs Ferry.  After suffering losses in the stock market, Field was forced to sell, and his Ardsley estate was ultimately purchased by the “Asphalt King,” Amzi L. Barber.  Barber, a founding member of the Ardsley Casino (built in 1896), used the land he purchased to develop Ardsley Park. 

* The 'Weird Wendels': The story of the New York and Irvington family. Presented by Claire Prentice, June 12, 2023

Description: For seven decades the Wendels locked up their Fifth Avenue mansion to spend their summers in Irvington where they kept cows and chickens and a kitchen garden. The family had made a fortune in New York real estate but as the Gilded Age came to an end this once fabulous, famous family turned against each other and became mired in gossip and intrigue. One sibling spent most of her adult life in an asylum, another was imprisoned in the Irvington house by her brother and had to fight in court to prove that she was sane and seven of the eight siblings never married. Who was the family the New York press dubbed the Weird Wendels? Join Claire Prentice, the author of Curse of Riches, to learn the story of this fascinating family.