Ossining, New York

, Welcome to Historic Ossining , The Village of Ossining can trace its beginnings to 1685, when the Sint Sinck Indians sold their land along the east side of the Hudson River to Frederick Philipse, who established a large manor. After the Revolution, the lands were confiscated from his grandson, a British loyalist, and sold to patriotic tenant farmers who had worked the land for years., The community prospered as a port, with most of its settlement on the riverfront. On April 2, 1813, Sing Sing became the first incorporated village in Westchester County. In 1825, the village was chosen as the site of the Mount Pleasant State Prison, due to its proximity to the city (prisoners were sent "up the river") and large quantity of white limestone. This stone became known as Sing Sing marble, and was used for buildings, walls and other products. In 1851, the State gave the prison the same name as the village: Sing Sing., Sing Sing sat at the confluence of progress. In the 1830s, Benjamin Brandreth established his world-famous Brandreth Pill Works in Sing Sing, making it one of the first industries on the Hudson River. In 1842, the Croton Aqueduct was completed, this engineering marvel carried water from the Croton Dam to New York City and ran through the center of the village. The unique Double Arch bridge crossing the Sing Sing Kill remains a notable landmark., By the mid-nineteenth century, the Village's central business district had moved from the waterfront to Main Street and Highland Avenue. A series of fires in the 1870s destroyed large areas along Main Street; brick commercial buildings replaced those lost. The Village had a flourishing manufacturing base and a bustling economy, but the arrival of the electric chair to the prison in 1892 brought unwanted attention. In 1901, the Village changed its name to Ossining, to separate itself from the penitentiary. In 1907, the village boundaries were expanded to include the hamlet of Sparta. Many of the late 19th and 20th century buildings in the central business district were designed by well-known architects of the era. Today some of them comprise the Village's major landmarks, three bank buildings, four churches, Village and Town Hall, the academy library, and the high school., The 1960s brought great change to Ossining. Under the banner of urban renewal, a large portion of its downtown business center was declared "blighted" and targeted for demolition. The buildings on the south side of Main Street and northern portion of Spring Street came down in the 1970s in order to make way for new and more modern ones, few of which were actually built. Vestiges of Ossining's historic village center remain along the north side of Main Street and the intersection of Main Street and Croton Avenue, where our historic buildings stand as a testament to the Village's vibrant past.,