Editing Pleasantville, New York (section)

==History==
[[File:Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, New York).jpg|thumb|The [[Jacob Burns Film Center]] in Pleasantville]]

The settlement of Pleasantville dates back to the Rechgawawank and Sinsink tribes, belonging to the [[Munsee language|Munsee]] dialect of the [[Lenape|Lenni Lenape]]. This region of the Hudson Valley has been inhabited since just after the last ice age.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The First People of the River|url=https://www.riverkeeper.org/hudson-river/hudson-river-journey/the-first-people-of-the-river/|access-date=November 27, 2020|website=Riverkeeper|language=en-US}}</ref> Lenape communities practiced ecosystem management, small-scale agriculture, hunting and gathering, democratic politics, and matrilineal governance.<ref name="Caffrey 2000 44–63">{{Cite journal|last=Caffrey|first=Margaret M.|date=2000|title=Complementary Power: Men and Women of the Lenni Lenape|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1185990|journal=American Indian Quarterly|volume=24|issue=1|pages=44–63|jstor=1185990 |issn=0095-182X}}</ref> Called the "Grandfathers" by neighboring tribes, the Lenape were peaceful and skilled at conflict resolution between tribes<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Tribal History...|url=https://nanticoke-lenape.info/history.htm|access-date=November 27, 2020|website=nanticoke-lenape.info}}</ref> and established trading routes crossing through the present-day village before the arrival of Europeans. By the end of the 17th century, most if not all of the New York Lenape people had been killed by disease or conflict or had been displaced westward; Lenape in the 21st century reside in Ontario, Oklahoma, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.<ref name="Caffrey 2000 44–63"/> French [[Huguenot]] Isaac See{{refn|group=nb|Sometimes spelled "Sie".}} settled here as an agent for Dutch landowner [[Frederick Philipse]] in 1695, beginning the modern settler-colonial history of Pleasantville.<ref name="Corcoranpp1,2,3" /><ref name="Crandallp1" />

By the time of the [[American Revolution]], the population of the growing settlement comprised English, Dutch, and [[Quakers]], most of whom were [[tenant farmer]]s. During the Revolution, this area was part of the [[Westchester County, New York#The colonial era and the Revolutionary War|Neutral Ground]], where there were conflicting loyalties among the settlers. British spy Major [[John André]] passed through present-day Pleasantville carrying information from [[Benedict Arnold]] at [[Fort Clinton (West Point)]] to the British in New York City. André lost his bearings near the present-day corner of Bedford Road and Choate Lane and was captured in [[Tarrytown, New York]]. The capture of André is often cited as a key factor in the ultimate victory of the American forces.<ref name="Crandallp1" /><ref name="Corcoranpp11-13"/><ref name="Hornepp17,18"/>

As the area's population grew in the early 19th century, the settlement was called Clark's Corners, referring to property owned by Henry Clark at the intersection of Broadway and Bedford Road. This area was the village's original commercial center. In the 1820s, the newly appointed postmaster, Henry Romer, was directed by the [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]]'s office in Washington, D.C., to give a name to the post office planned here. Romer's proposed name, Clarksville, was rejected because another New York post office already had the name. His second choice, Pleasantville, was accepted, and the Pleasantville Post Office opened on February 29, 1828.<ref name="Corcoranpp20-21,26"/><ref name="Crandallp4"/>

A significant change in the development of Pleasantville came with the arrival of the [[New York Central Railroad]] and [[New York and Harlem Railroad]] in 1846. In the following year, a train station was built near the present corner of Bedford Road and Wheeler Avenue, and as a result the commercial center of Pleasantville shifted to its current location. The older business district at Bedford Road and Broadway is today called the Old Village. The railroad offered a speedier and more frequent connection with [[New York City]]—only 70 minutes away by rail, compared with a five-hour overland journey by stagecoach or a two-hour steamboat trip down the [[Hudson River]]. The present-day train station, which currently houses a restaurant, was built in 1905 and was moved to its present location in the 1950s to accommodate the lowering of the tracks below grade. Before the addition of the now heavily trafficked station, commuters working in [[New York City]] and lower [[Westchester County]] were forced to rely on rides from Marc Damon, now famous in Pleasantville for being "The Friendly Coachman".<ref name="Corcoranpp11-13"/><ref name="Crandallp5"/><ref name="Hornepp29"/><ref name="Waterburyp47"/>

According to several sources,<ref name="Village of Pleasantville, New York government website"/> Pleasantville was a stop on the [[Underground Railroad]], a network of safe houses for escaped slaves from the South on their way to freedom in the north.<ref name="Crandallp7"/>

The latter half of the 19th century was a time of rapid growth in Pleasantville. By the 1870s, there were four shoemaking businesses, a shirtmaking business, and a pickle factory. The first newspaper to serve the village, ''The Pleasantville Pioneer'', was launched in about 1886. The village's numerous small farms and orchards began to be subdivided for a wave of solid foursquare and Victorian houses built for a growing middle class. The 1890s saw the establishment of a police department, volunteer fire department, and a library system. Pleasantville was incorporated as a village on March 16, 1897.<ref name="Corcoranp28"/><ref name="Crandallp6,7,11"/>

In the following years, Pleasantville quickly developed into a modern suburb of New York, with a large number of workers commuting between the village and the metropolis on what is now the [[Metro-North Railroad]]'s [[Harlem Line]]. During the first two decades of the 20th century, roads were paved for the first time, water mains were installed, and electrical wires brought power to the village's houses. Other improvements during the first half of the 20th century include the construction of Soldiers and Sailors Field in 1909, the [[Saw Mill River Parkway]] in 1924, the Rome Theater in 1925, Memorial Plaza in 1930, Parkway Field in 1930, and Nannahagen Park in 1937 (the adjacent village pool was completed two years later). By the time of [[World War II]], the village had taken on the appearance that it bears today.<ref name="Corcoranpp42-48"/><ref name="Crandallpp10,11"/><ref name="Hornep50"/>

Pleasantville merits interest for its literary history. Playwright [[Lillian Hellman]] (''[[The Children's Hour (play)|The Children's Hour]],'' ''[[The Little Foxes]]'') bought Hardscrabble Farm on the western outskirts of Pleasantville and lived there in the 1940s and 1950s. For many years author [[Dashiell Hammett]] (''[[The Thin Man]],'' ''[[The Maltese Falcon (novel)|The Maltese Falcon]]''), with whom Hellman was romantically involved, lived and worked at Hardscrabble Farm.<ref name="Martinsonpp156,157"/> [[DeWitt Wallace]] and [[Lila Bell Wallace]], co-founders of ''[[Reader's Digest]]'', made Pleasantville their headquarters in 1922, using a converted garage and pony shed on Eastview Avenue as their office and later building a home and larger office space on adjacent property. Subsequently, the ''Digest'' held office space in several buildings throughout Pleasantville, including the present-day [[Village Hall]] at Bedford Road and Wheeler Avenue and, diagonally opposite, the bank building currently occupied by Chase. ''Reader's Digest'' moved its headquarters to nearby [[Chappaqua, New York|Chappaqua]] in 1939, but retained its Pleasantville post office box, thus making the name of the village familiar to millions of ''Reader's Digest'' subscribers around the world. Pleasantville is also the home of Joseph Wallace, writer of the novel ''Diamond Ruby''. Today Pleasantville is home to many novelists, editors, and writers, who find its easygoing charm and proximity to New York an attractive combination.<ref name="Corcoranp42"/><ref name="Crandallpp15,16"/><ref name="Waterburyp118"/>
[[File:PleasantvilleFD3.jpg|thumb|right|Pleasantville Firefighters' Parade, 2014]]

Pleasantville's reputation as a cultural center was enhanced in 2001 with the opening of the nonprofit [[Jacob Burns Film Center]] in the landmark Rome Theater, a [[Mission Revival Style architecture|Spanish mission-style]] building and one of the first movie theaters in Westchester County. The Burns Center is dedicated to presenting independent, documentary, and world cinema. Guest speakers at the Burns Center have included [[Jerry Lewis]], [[Woody Allen]], [[Jonathan Demme]], [[Robert Klein]], [[Oliver Stone]], [[Stephen King]], [[Rob Lowe]] and numerous other notable filmmakers and actors.

[[Usonia Homes]], a neighborhood of 50 houses spread among {{convert|100|acre|km2}} of wooded hillside, was started in 1948.  Three houses were designed by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]].<ref name="Reisley"/>

Pleasantville is home to the Westchester Table Tennis Center, where over 250 members compete, practice and train for various tournaments, and now, many are even training to become olympic athletes. The Captain Lawrence Brewing Company's first brewing location was in Pleasantville.

Another addition to Pleasantville's cultural scene is the [[Pleasantville Music Festival]], made possible by the village, over 150 volunteers and [[WXPK]], an all-day outdoor event stage at Parkway Field on the second Saturday in July. Main stage acts have included [[Roger McGuinn]], [[The Bacon Brothers]], [[Rusted Root]], [[Jakob Dylan]], [[Dar Williams]], Carney, [[Back Door Slam]], [[Marc Cohn]], [[Augustana (band)|Augustana]],  Z.Z Ward, and [[Joan Osborne]].

Pleasantville is also home to the [http://pleasantvillefarmersmarket.org/ Pleasantville Farmers Market]. Started in 1998 as one of the first markets in Westchester with a goal of breathing life into a struggling downtown, the Saturday morning market is now the largest year-round farmers market in Westchester County, attracting upwards of 3,500 people a week to shop from about 60 vendors of locally grown and produced food. The market is run by volunteers in the community as a non-profit, and it has won the readers' choice "Best of Westchester" award from Westchester Magazine for eight consecutive years, since 2014.

From 1975 to 1987, Pleasantville was home to the [[New York Giants]] Training Camp. Each summer the Giants would hold their off-season workouts and Training Camp at the Pace University Pleasantville Campus. During their time at Pleasantville, thousands would flock to camp. During their stay in Pleasantville many businesses benefited from the influx of people and many of the players would be seen at many of the restaurants and delicatessens in town.<ref name="AutoI3-2"/>

Pleasantville is also the only place in America to have hosted a royal wedding, between [[Estelle Bernadotte]] and [[Folke Bernadotte|Count Folke Bernadotte]], a duke of Sweden who rejected his claim to the crown.

The [[Marmaduke Forster House]] was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2011.<ref name="nps"/>