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
During World War I, 91 Briarcliff Manor residents served in the United States Armed Forces. Briarcliff Manor was directly involved in the First World War in a number of ways: the New York Guard's First Provisional Regiment (1,500 men operating under Colonel John B. Rose) was ordered to guard the Croton Aqueduct; Briarcliff Manor resident V. Everit Macy granted free use of Briarcliff Manor's former Holbrook Military Academy campus and buildings for the troops, initially arranged between him and the regiment's chaplain Captain Charles W. Baldwin (rector of Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Scarborough). The regiment was headquartered at the site from late 1918 to mid 1919, and the school's academic building was used as Field Hospital No. 2 of the Atlantic Division of the American Red Cross. During that time, Scarborough resident James Speyer led the Aqueduct Guard Citizens' Committee to assist the regiment; among those in the committee were Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough residents Frank and Narcissa Vanderlip and V. Everit Macy, and the founder of Briarcliff Manor and his wife, Walter and Georgianna Law. On Michaelmas in 1918, the regiment attended a service at Saint Mary's; in May of that year, the regiment participated in a "Fete de Mai" hosted by Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough for the American Red Cross' benefit. The Scarborough School participated in an unknown assistance for the troops and James Speyer's Scarborough home Waldheim was one of the primary meeting locations for his committee.