 more than 200 proposed lots along three already-existing streets, Anna (now Hudson), Olive (now Spring) and Liberty, and two proposed streets that were never built, William and Mary. Sparta prospered because of the dock at White Point, where sloops could load farm products bound for New York City, and unload manufactured goods ordered from the city. Local deposits of marble and silver would later provide jobs in quarries, a mine and a lime kiln.|
|1813||The Village of Sing Sing, now Ossining, became the first incorporated village in Westchester County. The name reflects the original residents of the Sint Sinck tribe.|
|1820||The gradual economic decline of Sparta began with competition from the cheaper docking fees charged at the Sing Sing dock, and the rerouting of the Albany Post Road from Revolutionary Road to its present location along Route 9, which made Sing Sing's dock more convenient to reach than Sparta Dock.|
|1845||The Town of "Ossinsing" was created from the section of the Town of Mount Pleasant that contained Sing Sing, Sparta, and Scarborough. For ease of pronunciation, the third "s" was dropped the following year. The name was a variation of Sing Sing.|
|1849||The Hudson River Rail Road extended its service to Sing Sing and Peekskill, and replaced sloops as the primary means of trade with New York City.|
|1901||The Village of Sing Sing changed its name to Ossining, taking the same name as the Town, in order to distinguish goods manufactured in the village (such as shoes and stoves) from those made by convicts at Sing Sing Prison.|
|1906||The residents of Sparta agreed to have their hamlet absorbed by the Village of Ossining because of the services and other benefits that they would receive from the village.|
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|1919||Frank A. Vanderlip, president of National City Bank in New York, and his wife Narcissa Coxe, who lived in Beechwood (near Scarborough), personally undertook the redevelopment of Sparta by purchasing many of the decaying houses between Revolutionary Road and Hudson Street. Sparta had become the reputed center of drug and liquor smuggling into Sing Sing Prison. Prostitution and murder occurred. The Vanderlips formed a corporation and hired architects and contractors to redesign and restore the houses that were worth saving. Some houses were torn down, others moved to relieve the crowding. The renovated houses were rented to teachers and others of modest income. The Vanderlip corporation retained title to some houses for more than 50 years, as the houses were gradually sold to private owners over the period from the 1930s to the 1970s.|
|1974||The Jug Tavern was purchased jointly by the Town of Ossining and the Ossining Restoration Committee.|
|1975||Part of Sparta was designated by the Village of Ossining as the Sparta Historic Architectural and Design District.|
|1976||The Jug Tavern was entered onto the National Register of Historic Places.|
|1986||Title to the Jug Tavern was passed to Jug Tavern of Sparta, Inc., a tax exempt not-for-profit corporation, whose sole purpose is to preserve the historic building.|
Copyright 1997 Sparta Association. References: A Walking Tour of Sparta, Ossining Restoration Committee (ORC): 1976; A Land of Peace, Philip Field Horne, ORC, 1976; Ossining, N.Y., Carl Oechsner, North River: 1976; Retrospectives, Ossining Historical Society: 1981.
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Last Updated: 4/18/2007