Editing Chappaqua, New York (section)

==History==
In the early 1730s, a group of [[Quakers]] moved north from [[Purchase, New York]], to settle in present-day Chappaqua. They built their homes on Quaker Road (more recently, Quaker Street; Quaker Road still exists but is no longer in the town center) and held their meetings at the home of Abel Weeks. Their [[Friends meeting house|meeting house]] was built in 1753 and still holds weekly meetings each Sunday. The area around the meeting house, known as [[Old Chappaqua Historic District]], was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1974.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a|dateform=mdy}}</ref>  [[Horace Greeley]]'s home, known as [[Rehoboth (Chappaqua, New York)|Rehoboth]] and built by Greeley himself, still stands in Chappaqua.  It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with [[Chappaqua Railroad Depot and Depot Plaza]], [[Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove]], and the [[Greeley House (Chappaqua, New York)|Greeley House]].<ref name="nris"/>

Various spellings were used for the name they heard Native Americans use for their valley and hillside. It was an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] word, ''shah-pah-ka'', and it meant "the rustling land" or "the rattling land," or a place where nothing is heard but the rustling of the wind in the leaves. The Quakers spelled it Shapiqua, Shapaqua, Shapequa, Shappaqua, and, finally, Chappaqua. Their meeting was often referred to as the Shapequa Meeting as early as 1745.<ref>{{cite book| last = Warde| first = Robert| title = Chappaqua: Our Connections to Its Past| year = 1982| publisher = Chappaqua Central School District (CCSD) }}</ref>

On March 18, 1791, the government of New York decided to split the overly large town of North Castle (jokingly called "the two saddlebags") into two smaller towns, one of which was named [[New Castle, New York|New Castle]].  The border was drawn from the southwest corner of [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford]] to the northeast edge of [[Mount Pleasant, New York|Mount Pleasant]].  New Castle's borders have remained the same since 1791, except for a small piece of land received from [[Somers, New York|Somers]] in 1846 and the secession of [[Mount Kisco, New York|Mount Kisco]] in 1978.

Chappaqua had great streams such as the [[Saw Mill River]] and Roaring Brook. These bodies of water powered [[water mill|mill]]s to crush corn and press oil from beans. The eastern half of Chappaqua was very suitable for farming. The majority of the Quaker settlers of Chappaqua were farmers. The popular farming industry also helped give way to Chappaqua's high milk production. Other popular industries from Chappaqua included shoes, hardware, vinegar, pickles, eyeglasses, and furniture. Many early homes and businesses were demolished in the [[1904 Chappaqua tornado]].

In 1846 when the [[New York and Harlem Railroad]] extended through Chappaqua, business became centered on the [[Chappaqua (Metro-North station)|new train station]]. These businesses included a hotel, livery stables, a public library, and various stores and small factories. The railroad enabled [[commuter]]s to travel to [[New York City]] and back each day.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}