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🏘️ Croton Local History
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Click the image to enlarge it. First published by Winsor McCay in October 1905 in The New York Herald , Little Nemo in Slumberland featured a small boy who traveled in his dreams each night to Slumberland, where he had fabulous adventures. The strip
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was notable for its delicate drawings, innovative layouts, fantastic architecture, and brilliant use of color. McKay’s work influenced many artists, most notably Maurice Sendak—whose book In the Night Kitchen was an homage to his favorite comic
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strip. The images shown here are from the original pen-and-ink drawings by McKay. If you want to see what Little Nemo looked like in color check out the Comic Strip Library . Click the image to enlarge it. Share this: Print (Opens in new window)
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LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Little Nemo in Slumberland Winsor McCay Published June 20, 2014
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Postcard of Quaker Bridge. Click the image to enlarge it. Postcard of Quaker Bridge, circa 1914, published by Frank L. Simone, who issued postcards of many scenes of the Croton area. This card is postmarked Oscawana, July 28, 1914. Here are two other
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Simone cards: View from North Highland Avenue Croton Point Beach Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X
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Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Frank L. Simone Post card Quaker Bridge Published June 27, 2014 June 27,
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Cornell Dam, Croton Lake, N.Y. Click the image to enlarge it. Here’s a nice view of the nearly-completed New Croton Dam (also known as the Cornell Dam) circa 1907. We can roughly date the image from the state of construction and the card itself
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because it’s an “undivided back” postcard, issued during the period from 1901 to 1907. Until 1907 only the mailing address could be written on the back of the card. This card was published by William Terhune in “Ossining on Hudson” and printed in
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Germany. Here are some other Terhune postcards: New Croton Dam, circa 1906 Croton Point and Ossining, circa 1905 Double Arches Promenade View from Quaker Bridge Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new
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window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like
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Loading... Related Tagged Cornell Dam New Croton Dam Post card William Terhune Published June 28, 2014
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The house built by Frederick Purdy in 1895. One of the treats of this Sunday’s 18th Annual Croton Arboretum Garden Tour will be a chance to see the Purdy homestead on Quaker Ridge Road and a group of 100-year-old family photographs, lovingly
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preserved and made available by local restaurateur Craig Purdy. Today, the property is a magnificent 23-acre estate—no longer in the family—but it was originally part of the much larger land-holdings of the Purdy family, who settled in Cortlandt in
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1735. The Purdy’s have deep roots in Westchester. Jacob Purdy is perhaps the most famous—he joined the Westchester Militia in 1775 and served until the end of the Revolution. His house in White Plains was used as General George Washington’s
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headquarters in 1778 (and possibly in 1776, during the Battle of White Plains). In Cortlandt, Quaker preacher William Purdy bought land on the south side of the Croton River from the Van Cortlandt’s in 1800, though according to family lore the
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single-story red farmhouse on Cliffdale Farm was built by a Purdy relative as early as 1735. William Purdy’s lasting contribution was the covered wooden bridge over the Croton River he rebuilt at his own expense in 1830, to a give Friends access to
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the Quaker meeting house in Croton. That bridge is long gone, but the Quaker Bridge we cross today—one of the oldest bridges in Westchester—is a lasting tribute to his civic virtue. The home on the Arboretum garden tour was built in 1895 by Frederick
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Purdy, who purchased the land from Craig Purdy’s Great Grandfather, Charles Miciah Purdy. The family photographs on display (see a selection below) come from the estate of Craig’s mother, Jean Thompson Purdy, who passed away in December 2013 at the
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age of ninety. Tickets for the tour are still available at $20 each (or $35 for two, if reserved in advance). Call 914-487-3830. Click the photos to enlarge them. The New Croton Dam, spring 1910. The New Croton Dam spillway, spring 1910. Rare photo
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of the schoolhouse, built along Quaker Ridge Road near the intersection with Quaker Bridge Road. Another view of the schoolhouse, along Quaker Ridge Road. Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
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Related Tagged Cliffdale Farm Frederick Purdy Jacob Purdy Quaker Bridge Quaker Meeting House William Purdy Published July 12, 2014 July 12, 2014
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Mikado Inn, Harmon-on-Hudson, N.Y. [No publisher, but likely the Mikado Inn]. Circa 1920. Click the image to enlarge it. Come take a stroll in the beautiful Japanese gardens of the Mikado Inn, in Harmon-on-Hudson. Enjoy a dinner of exotic oriental
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dishes (or, if you prefer something more familiar, try the $5.00 Porterhouse Steak for two). After dinner you can listen to that clever young man, Oscar Levant, play “Yes, We Have No Bananas” on the upright piano. The Mikado Inn was built around 1920
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by “Admiral” George T. Moto (a.k.a. “Data Moto” and “Toshiyuki Moto”), a disgruntled employee of Clifford Harmon. Moto had managed the Nikko Inn and after a disagreement bought land across the street and built the Mikado. Both establishments, along
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with the Tumble Inn on the other side of town, were speakeasys during Prohibition—though in 1921 the Admiral was acquitted in what newspaper accounts at the time called the first case to be tried in Westchester County for alleged violation of the New
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York State liquor law. 1 This postcard is what’s called a “real photo postcard” because the image is an actual photograph made from a negative, not a halftone reproduction. The process was invented in 1903 by Kodak with the introduction of the No. 3A