Editing New City, New York (section)

==History==
Before the Revolutionary War, the land that would later become known as New City was inhabited mostly by [[Lenape|Lenni Lenape]] American Indians. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area. [[Orange County, New York|Orange County]] was established in 1683 as one of the first 12 counties in [[Province of New York]], which included present day [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]]. In 1780, Major [[John André]] and [[Josh Hett Smith]] stopped at Coe's Tavern, located on what is now the corner of New Hempstead Road and Route 45.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.lakelucille.com/times/archive.htm| title=Back to History| access-date=November 13, 2014| archive-date=July 25, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725165432/http://www.lakelucille.com/times/archive.htm| url-status=dead}}</ref>

New City was formed in 1798, when Rockland County was incorporated as a separate county from the south-easternmost portion of Orange County. With the formation of a new county, there were needs for a new [[county seat]]. The central location of New City was a convenient location for a county seat, since travel in 1798 was difficult, and the existing main towns in the county were not centrally located. At the time, the Squadron Cavalry of [[New York City]] had a summer encampment of what is now the busy streets of Squadron Boulevard and Cavalry Drive, hence how these streets were named. The community got its name because the founding fathers envisioned a "new" city when forming the new county seat.<ref name="rockfordgroup.com">{{cite web| url=http://www.rockfordgroup.com/nc/history.html| title=A Brief History of New City| publisher=The Rockford Group, Inc.| access-date=November 19, 2015| archive-date=March 4, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201258/http://www.rockfordgroup.com/nc/history.html| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Other than county and town government, the early downtown area consisted mainly of small retail shops in what was mainly an agricultural area. There was also a county fairgrounds and racetrack located on the Route 304 and Congers Road intersection.<ref name="rockfordgroup.com"/>

In 1918, [[Paramount Pictures]] founder [[Adolph Zukor]] moved to New City where he bought 300 acres of land from [[Lawrence Abraham]] which already had a large house, a swimming pool, and a 9-hole golf course on the property. Two years later, in 1920, Zukor bought 500 more acres from Abraham and built multiple additions including a night house, guest house, greenhouses, garages, and more. He also hired [[A.W. Tillinghast]] to build an 18-hole championship golf course on the property. The land is now currently known as [[Paramount Country Club]].<ref>Club History - A Man, a Need and a Vision., Paramount Country Club.</ref> Zukor Park, located just south of the country club, is also named after the producer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trager|first=James|title=The people's chronology: a year-by-year record of human events from prehistory to the present|year=1979|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|location=Austin, Texas, United States|pages=823}}</ref> Zukor's property attracted a large number of artistic people to the area; including [[Maxwell Anderson]], [[Henry Varnum Poor (designer)|Henry Varnum Poor]], [[Norman Lloyd]], [[Kurt Weill]], [[Martha MacGuffie]], [[Lotte Lenya]], [[John Houseman]] and more who all lived on [[South Mountain Road]] and formed an [[artist colony]] there.

[[Rockland County Courthouse and Dutch Gardens|Dutch Gardens]], the oldest remaining park in the county, was built in 1934 by Italian artisans, known for its unique patterned brickwork. It was designed by [[West Nyack, New York|West Nyack]] native Mary Mowbray-Clark. It was honored as the 1934 Garden of the Year by ''Better Homes and Gardens'' Magazine. It was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1991. Located just south of the courthouse in the downtown area, it is still one of the most commonly visited parks in Rockland County today.<ref name="rockfordgroup.com"/>

New City remained rural in character until the 1950s, when the idea of post-World War II suburbia, as well as the opening of the [[Tappan Zee Bridge (1955–2017)|Tappan Zee Bridge]] and [[Palisades Interstate Parkway]], made traveling between New York City and Rockland County faster, and easier. Many former New York City residents migrated to Rockland, which transformed New City from a quiet rural community to a busy populated suburb of New York City. Along with residential development, business development increased rapidly as well. The downtown area became home to many banks, retail, and real-estate companies; as well as restaurants, shops, a movie theater, bars, and many other forms of entertainment. Certain parts of the town, such as South Mountain Road and Lake Lucille, have been preserved, and remain quiet, wooded, historic old-wealth neighborhoods.