Editing Briarcliff Manor, New York (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Briarcliff Manor|Timeline of Briarcliff Manor}}

=== Names ===
[[File:JohnDavidOgilby.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|alt=Portrait of clean-shaven man with light shirt and dark formal jacket|John David Ogilby]]
Part of modern-day Briarcliff Manor was once known as Whitson's Corners for brothers John H., Richard, and Reuben Whitson, who owned adjoining farms in the area totaling {{convert|400|acre|ha}}.<ref name="1939history"/><ref name="OssHist"/> Whitson's Corners was named after the corner of Pleasantville and South State roads, where John H. Whitson's house, the Crossways, stood from 1820 until the 1940s.{{refn|group=nb|John H. Whitson was the first village [[postmaster]], and his house was the village post office's third location.<ref name="1939history"/>}} The Briarcliff Congregational Church's parish house currently stands at its former location.<ref name="1977history"/>{{rp|page=17}} The neighboring community of Scarborough was known as Weskora until it was renamed in 1864,<ref name="1977history"/>{{rp|page=11}} after resident William Kemey's ancestral [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|hometown]] in Yorkshire.<ref name="FamilyAlbum"/>{{rp|page=4}} After the community was incorporated into Briarcliff Manor in 1906, the [[New York Central and Hudson River Railroad]] put up a sign reading "Briarcliff West" at the village's [[Scarborough (Metro-North station)|Scarborough station]]. Soon afterward, attributed to the neighborhood's pride over their name,<ref name="1952history"/>{{rp|page=54}} that sign was thrown into the Hudson River and replaced with the original Scarborough sign.<ref name="1977history"/>{{rp|page=15}}<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=101}}

Briarcliff Manor derives from "Brier Cliff", a compound of the English words "brier"{{refn|group=nb|"Brier" is a variant spelling of "briar", used for a number of unrelated thicket-forming thorny plants.}} and "cliff". The name originated in Ireland as that of the family home of John David Ogilby, a professor of ecclesiastical history at the [[General Theological Seminary]]. Ogilby had named his New York summer home ''Brier Cliff'' after his family home in Ireland. In 1890, [[Walter W. Law|Walter Law]] bought James Stillman's {{convert|236|acre|ha|adj=on}} [[Briarcliff Farm]] and further developed it, later using the name ''Briarcliff'' for all his property. Law's friend, [[Andrew Carnegie]], called him "The Laird of Briarcliff Manor"; since the title appealed to all concerned, the village was named "Briarcliff Manor".<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=43}}<ref name="NYTBriarcliff"/> By 1897, the village post office and railroad station bore the name Briarcliff Manor.<ref name="1939history"/> The village (and its name) were approved by its residents in a September 12, 1902 referendum; the name prevailed over other suggestions, including "Sing Sing East".{{refn|group=nb|''Sing Sing'' was the name of the neighboring village [[Ossining (village), New York|Ossining, New York]] until 1901.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=18}}}}<ref name="FamilyAlbum"/>{{rp|page=5}} On November 21, 1902, the village of Briarcliff Manor was established.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=43}}

The village is also known by several other names. It is conversationally called "Briarcliff", and often erroneously written as "Briar Cliff Manor" (although historically there has been little distinction).<ref name="RealtyTransfer"/><ref name="BriarCliff"/><ref name="FireFighter"/> The village has been called "Briarcliff on the Hudson" by [[Mark Twain]] and [[Aileen Riggin]];<ref name="Twain"/><ref name="AileenRiggin"/> it is also known as "the Village of Briarcliff Manor".<ref name="1977history"/> The name Briarcliff has also been applied to other municipalities, including the 470-person town of [[Briarcliffe Acres]] in South Carolina; in naming it, the town's founder had drawn inspiration from Briarcliff Manor's name.<ref name="BriarcliffeAcres"/> One of the village's mottos, "A village between two rivers", can also refer to the municipality;<ref name="2007Plan"/> another official motto is a Walter Law quote, "Only the best is good enough".<ref name="OTBest">{{cite news|title=Manor Briefs|newspaper=Ossining Citizen Register|date=June 17, 1978}}</ref>

=== Precolonial and colonial eras ===
[[File:BriarcliffFarms-World'sWork 07.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A valley with a barn and pastures|A portion of the village in 1901, with [[Briarcliff Farms]]' Barn A in the foreground and the [[School of Practical Agriculture]] in the background]]
The history of Briarcliff Manor 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 in North America|Archaic period]], but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the village did not occur until the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=5}}

In the [[Pre-Columbian era|precolonial era]], the area of present-day Briarcliff Manor was inhabited by a band of the [[Wappinger]] tribes of Native Americans, known as ''Sint Sincks'' (or "Sing Sings"). They owned territory as far north as the [[Croton River]].<ref name="pamphlet"/><ref name="Ossining"/><ref name="Hudsonnatives"/> In the 1680s, [[Frederick Philipse]] purchased about {{convert|156000|acre|km2|0}} from the Sint Sincks, and named it [[Philipsburg Manor]].<ref name="1939history"/> The Philipses lost their claim to the land because of the [[American Revolutionary War]]; the family, which was [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]], had its property confiscated in 1779.<ref name="FamilyAlbum"/>{{rp|page=4}}<ref name="1952history"/>{{rp|pages=2–3}} The area remained largely unsettled by colonists until after the war; in 1693, fewer than twenty families lived in the {{convert|50000|acre|km2|adj=on|0}} area of Westchester which included Briarcliff Manor.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=11}}

=== Progressive era to present day ===
[[File:WalterWLaw1910.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=An old man with white hair and sideburns wearing a suit|[[Walter William Law]]]]
After retiring as vice president of [[W. & J. Sloane]], Walter Law moved with his family to the present Briarcliff Manor. He bought his first {{convert|236|acre|ha}} in 1890,<ref name="1939history"/> and then quickly expanded his property, buying about forty parcels in less than ten years; by 1900, he owned more than {{convert|5000|acre|sqmi}} of Westchester County.<ref name="glassglory"/><ref name="society"/> Law developed the village, establishing schools, churches, parks, and the [[Briarcliff Lodge]]. His employees at Briarcliff Farms moved into the village, and the population grew enough to encourage Law to establish the area as a village. A proposition was presented to the supervisors of Mount Pleasant and Ossining on October 8, 1902, that the area of {{convert|640|acre|ha}} with a population of 331 be incorporated as the Village of Briarcliff Manor,<ref name="1952history"/>{{rp|page=14}} and the village was incorporated on November 21.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=43}}<ref name="pamphlet"/>

The [[Tudor Revival]]-style Briarcliff Lodge was opened in 1902 as a premier resort hotel. It was surrounded by Walter Law's dairy barns and greenhouses, and hosted numerous distinguished guests, including [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin]] and [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]. The lodge held the Edgewood Park School (1936–1954) and [[The King's College (New York)|The King's College]] (1955–1994)<ref name="Segal"/> before it burned to the ground on September 20, 2003.<ref name="LodgeBook"/>

The [[Briarcliff Manor Fire Department]] was founded on February 10, 1903, from Briarcliff Manor's first fire company, the 1901 Briarcliff Steamer Company No. 1.<ref name="1939history"/> Scarborough was incorporated into Briarcliff Manor in 1906, and the Police Department was organized two years later. The Village Municipal Building was built in 1913 and was opened on July 4, 1914. The high school opened in 1928, and in 1946, the People's Caucus party, an organization which calls out interested residents for candidacy, was created.<ref name="1977history"/>{{rp|page=88}}<ref name="Centennial"/> Briarcliff Manor celebrated its semicentennial celebration from October 10–12, 1952, publishing a book about the village and its history; that year, the Crossroads neighborhood of 84 houses was completed.<ref name="1952history"/>{{rp|page=i}}

In 1953, [[Todd Elementary School]] opened to free space at the Law Park grade school.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|page=153}} The [[New York and Putnam Railroad#History|Putnam Division]] of the [[New York Central Railroad]] was discontinued in 1958,<ref name="Putnam1958"/> and the following year the [[Briarcliff Manor Public Library]] opened in the former Briarcliff Manor train station. The village's first corporate facility (part of [[Philips Research]]) opened in 1960. In 1964 the new Village Hall opened, replacing the Municipal Building. The present high school opened in 1971 to ease the large enrollment at the grade-school building.<ref name="Changing Landscape"/>{{rp|pages=153–4}} In 1980, [[Pace University]] began leasing the middle-school building, and the middle school was moved to a portion of the new high-school building. The grade-school building was demolished in 1996, and a [[retirement home]] was built on its site the following year. The village celebrated its centennial in 2002, which involved celebratory events.<ref name="Centennial"/> A two-story addition to the village library was built in 2009, and the original portion was renovated to become the village's community center in 2016.<ref name="LibraryHistory"/><ref name="WVCC"/>