page_title: History of Briarcliff Manor
section_title: Progressive Era
hierarchical_section_title: History of Briarcliff Manor / Progressive Era
caption_attribution_description: English: The Briarcliff Lodge c. 1905, by James A. Hart of Ossining, New York. Published in 1952 without a copyright notice, see File:Images from Our Village, Briarcliff Manor 11.JPG
context_page_description: The history of Briarcliff Manor, a village in the county of Westchester, New York, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement between the Hudson and Pocantico Rivers in the 19th century. The area now known as Briarcliff Manor had seen human occupation since at least the Archaic period, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the village did not occur until the Industrial Revolution. The village, which was incorporated with one square mile in 1902, has expanded primarily through annexation: of Scarborough in 1906 and from the town of Mount Pleasant in 1927.
  Early leaders of village government include President William de Nyse Nichols from 1902 to 1905, President Walter W. Law, Jr. from 1905 to 1918, President-Mayor Henry H. Law from 1918 until his death in 1936, and Mayor J. Henry Ingham from 1936 to 1941.
context_section_description: After retiring as vice president of W. & J. Sloane, Walter Law moved with his family to the present Briarcliff Manor. He bought his first 236 acres (0.4 sq mi) with the James Stillman farm for $35,000 ($995,900 in 2019) in 1890. Law rapidly added to his property, buying about forty parcels in less than ten years; by 1900, he owned more than 5,000 acres (7.8 sq mi) of Westchester County, and became the largest individual landholder in the county. In 1892, Elliott Fitch Shepard began construction of Woodlea, a mansion in Scarborough. He ordered the construction of Scarborough's first dock (at the present Scarborough Park) to allow construction materials to be shipped to his property. The village later purchased the dock (along with about 8 acres of under-water land), and used it as a public dock, and for receiving stone, coal, and building materials.
  In the 1890s, Walter Law established Briarcliff Farms, a large holding of Jersey dairy cattle. At its zenith, Law had 500 workers caring for more than 1,000 cattle, 500 pigs, 4,000 chickens, Thoroughbred horses, pheasants, peacocks and sheep. Around the same time, he established the Briarcliff Table Water Company and the Briarcliff Greenhouses. The water company sold its products in five cities and had 250-foot (76 m) wells. Briarcliff Farms was one of the first producers of certified milk in the U.S., and Law's Jerseys produced about 4,500 US quarts (4,300 litres) of milk daily. As many as 8,000 roses were shipped from Briarcliff Greenhouses daily, most to New York City.
  Law developed the village, establishing schools, churches, parks and the Briarcliff Lodge. He established the School of Practical Agriculture in 1900 on Pleasantville Road on 66 acres (0.1 sq mi), and had invested $2.5 million ($73.9 million in 2019) in the village by 1902. His employees at Briarcliff Farms moved into the village, and Law held some of their mortgages. At the time, New York State required a population density of at least 300 per square mile as the first step towards incorporation as a village. A proposition was presented to the supervisors of Mount Pleasant and Ossining on October 8, 1902 that the area of 640 acres (1 sq mi) with a population of 331 be incorporated as the Village of Briarcliff Manor, and the village was incorporated on November 21. At the time, Law owned all but two small parcels of the square mile village, and employed 100 of its residents.
  At its 1902 opening, the Briarcliff Lodge was a premier resort hotel. The Tudor Revival-style building was surrounded by dairy barns and greenhouses (built by Law), and hosted numerous distinguished guests, including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The hotel declined during the 1930s but the lodge remained in use, housing the Edgewood Park School (1936–1954) and The King's College (1955–1994). The original 1902 Briarcliff Lodge building burned to the ground on September 20, 2003, and contemporary portions of the lodge and other campus buildings were later demolished.
  In 1903, Mrs. Dow's School for Girls was founded at the Briarcliff Lodge; two years later, Walter Law gave Mary Elizabeth Dow 35 acres (0.05 sq mi) and built the Châteauesque Dow Hall; the school later became known as Briarcliff College. Also established in 1903, the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department was founded on February 10 by Frederick C. Messinger from Briarcliff Manor's first fire company, the 1901 Briarcliff Steamer Company No. 1. The department's first fire engine was white, which Messinger thought more visible than the conventional red in a village without street lights, and the village's engines remain white. The first twenty-nine street lights, all electric, were installed in 1904, and Scarborough was incorporated into Briarcliff Manor in 1906. Law largely developed his land as a business corporation until 1907, when Briarcliff Farms moved to Pine Plains, New York, and Law began developing Briarcliff Manor as a municipal corporation instead.
  In 1908, Briarcliff Manor sponsored the First American International Road Race; the event centered around the village, and more
caption: The Briarcliff Lodge, a Tudor Revival resort (c. 1904)
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