Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor was historically known for its wealthy estate-owning families, including the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Rockefellers. It still remains primarily residential and its population is still considered affluent by U.S. standards. It has about of recreational facilities and parks, all accessible to the public. The village has seven Christian churches for various denominations and two synagogues. The oldest church is Saint Mary's Episcopal Church, built in 1851. Briarcliff Manor has an elected local government, with departments including police, fire, recreation, and public works. It has a low crime rate: a 2012 study found it had the second-lowest in the state. In the New York State Legislature it is split between the New York State Assembly's 95th and 92nd districts, and the New York Senate's 38th and 40th districts. In Congress the village is in New York's 17th District.
History of Briarcliff Manor
Approximately 30 people from Briarcliff Manor served in the Korean War. John Kelvin Koelsch, who lived in Scarborough and attended the Scarborough School, died in a Korean prison camp after three months in captivity. Briarcliff Manor celebrated its semicentennial celebration from October 10–12, 1952, publishing a book about the village and its history; that year, the Crossroads neighborhood of 84 houses was completed. In 1953, Todd Elementary School opened to free space at the Law Park grade school for middle- and high-school students. The Putnam Division was discontinued in 1958, and the following year the village library reopened in the former train station. The village's first corporate facility (part of Philips Laboratory) opened in 1960. In 1964 the new Village Hall opened, replacing the Municipal Building. The present high school opened in 1971 to ease the large enrollment at the grade-school building, and the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society was founded from the village's 75th anniversary committee, in 1974. Pace University bought Briarcliff College in 1977 as a satellite of the school's Pleasantville campus. Also in 1977, the village celebrated its 75th anniversary. Events included a motorcade of fifteen old racing cars participating in a loop around the route of Briarcliff Manor's 1934 road race.