Archville, New York

Archville, New York
Hamlet
Union Street, the northernmost of Archville's streets
Location of Archville in New York
Coordinates: 41°07′15.1″N 73°51′37.4″W / 41.120861°N 73.860389°WCoordinates: 41°07′15.1″N 73°51′37.4″W / 41.120861°N 73.860389°W
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Westchester
Town	Mount Pleasant
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	10510
Area code(s)	914
GNIS feature ID	942540

Archville is a hamlet in Mount Pleasant, New York. The hamlet consists of residences, businesses, and a fire station on Union Street, Arch Hill, and Requa Street, all abutting U.S. Route 9. Directly across Route 9 lies Rockwood Hall, part of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. The volunteer Archville Fire Department serves the hamlet and surrounding area, from the Hudson River to Pocantico Lake and from the edge of Briarcliff Manor to the edge of Sleepy Hollow.

History

The original arched bridge over US Route 9 near the eponymous hamlet (July 1920)

Current Route 9 bridge

The only commercial operation in the hamlet. In the background is the replacement bridge.

Archville was named after an arched bridge over what is now U.S. Route 9. It carried the Old Croton Aqueduct over the highway. In 1924, the bridge was deemed to be a traffic hazard and it was demolished. In November 1998, long after the aqueduct was shut down, the bridge was replaced as a crossing for aqueduct walkers, bikers, and equestrians over the particularly dangerous section of the highway. The new bridge connects the Rockefeller State Park Preserve with Rockwood Hall, and was built to resemble the two bridges over Route 117 which the Rockefellers had built.^[1]

In 1839, when St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Briarcliff was founded, many of the first parishioners lived in Archville, which was at the time a community of laborers building the Croton Aqueduct.^[2]

Fire department

Archville Fire Department has three chief's cars, two fire engines, and a horse drawn hand pumper from 1890, which serves as a department antique.

The Archville Fire Company was formed in the first decade of the 1900s, and the department was chartered in 1909 with Hubert W. Mannerly as the first chief. Its first headquarters was a shed on the corner of Union Street and Albany Post Road (current Route 9). Its initial equipment consisted of thirty 3½ gallon galvanized buckets, and later a 50-gallon horse-drawn pumper purchased from the Valhalla Fire Department. In 1930, after Briarcliff Manor requested that Archville provide fire protection for Briarcliff's hamlet of Scarborough, the Archville department merged with the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department and was called the Scarborough Fire Company.^[3] In 1966, the current firehouse was built at Union St. and Rt. 9 by local architect Don Reiman.^[2]

In 1971, Briarcliff's government tried to charge Archville $200 a year for the four existing hydrants and water supply in the hamlet, which Archville objected to. Briarcliff Manor contacted the State Controller, who instructed the village that Briarcliff Manor’s existing arrangement was not in accordance with any state law. Archville’s fire protection district refused to lease the station and equipment from Briarcliff, and thus in 1972 the Briarcliff Board of Trustees terminated the Scarborough Fire Company’s membership in the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department, severed its protection responsibility over Archville, and formed the Scarborough Engine Company with a new truck and firehouse. The Archville Fire Department was reestablished in 1972.^[3]

Gallery

• 

  Early firehouse

• 

  Current firehouse

• 

  Engine 236, a 2010 Pierce Velocity PUC 1500/1000

• 

  The department antique, from around 1890

References

1. Middlebrooks, John (Winter 2008–2009). "A Memoir of the Archville Bridge". Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
2. Cheever, Mary (1990). The Changing Landscape: A History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough. West Kennebunk, Maine: Phoenix Publishing. p. 216. ISBN 0-914659-49-9. OCLC 22274920.
3. A Century of Volunteer Service: Briarcliff Manor Fire Department 1901–2001. Briarcliff Manor Fire Department. 2001. LCCN 00093475. OCLC 48049424.

External links

• Archville Fire Department website
• Geographic data related to Archville, New York at OpenStreetMap