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.
Briarcliff Manor Fire Department
1951 was the 50th anniversary of the fire department, and so the village held a week-long celebration beginning on July 1, 1950 with a morning service at the Briarcliff Congregational Church, a band concert at Law Park, and a Fourth of July parade with 5,500 spectators, with a march led by Fred Messinger, followed by eight ex-chiefs. The parade included Scarborough's first fire engine (the red hand-pumped 1901 truck), many bands, and twelve fire departments from Westchester County municipalities. The ex-chief's dinner that evening drew 85 guests. In that year, it was noted that there were not yet any resident deaths from fires within village boundaries. In the late 1950s, Edna O'Brien was the first; trapped in her house and surrounded by intense flames. In 1955, the department purchased a new pumper and a Mack hook-and-ladder truck with a 75 ft. ladder for $40,000 ($ in ). Also in the mid 1950s, a new firehouse was decidedly needed, and more urgently when the weight of the then-new pumper and ladder trucks ruptured the municipal building's floor. For five years, the equipment was housed in Briarcliff and Ossining garages until late 1963, when the new firehouse and municipal offices building was completed. Also in the 1950s, additional sirens were installed for firemen outside of the central siren's range, both on Schrade and at the intersection of Long Hill and Scarborough roads, replacing a siren at Scarborough Presbyterian. During the 1960s the old municipal building's cupola bell, which the department used as a fire bell and which had tolled at the end of the World Wars, was moved to the front of the new firehouse.