Community: History

At about 1640 the Norwalk Indians sold land in the eastern part of Lewisboro to Daniel Patrick of Greenwich. In 1673 the Ponus and Onox Indians also sold land in the eastern part of Lewisboro to the people of Stamford. The first settlers of the eastern portion of the present Town of Lewisboro are believed to be William Truesdale and Solomon Tuttle, who brought their families to what is now the hamlet of South Salem sometime before 1728.

The western portion of the Town followed a different course of development. It belonged to Cortlandt Manor which was granted to Stephanus Van Cortlandt by William III of England. In 1732 the manor was divided among his heirs who gradually spread eastward from the Hudson River. Individual families rented the farmland and eventually land was sold in and around Cross River.

The first town meeting was held on April 8, 1747. Jacob Wales was Supervisor, Nathaniel Wiat was Clerk, David Webster was constable and James Wales was collector.

In 1747 the town was known as Salem. Present day Lewisboro and North Salem were included. A border dispute with the colony of Connecticut which was supposed to put our boundary 20 miles from and parallel to the Hudson River was settled in 1683. The difference of 1 3/4 miles of land along the western border of Connecticut all the way to the Massachusetts line is known as the Oblong.

Lewisboro Dog Leg Shape In 1788 the New York State Legislature divided the lands of the Cortlandt Manor among several towns, one of which was Salem. Officially the name was changed from Salem to South Salem in 1806. In 1790 Lewisboro took its present shape.

After the Revolutionary war almost everything necessary for living was made in the South Salem Community - carriage shop, a chair maker, a silversmith, a toolmaker, a hatter, a soap maker, a traveling tailor and a shoe factory.

The Presbyterian Church was founded in 1752 and St. John's Episcopal Church was built in 1855.

In 1840 John Lewis, a descendant of a South Salem family who made his fortune on Wall Street, requested the town change its name to honor him. He established the Lewis Fund which is used to purchase educational books for the South Salem Library and thus our Town of Lewisboro.

In 1899, enabled by the New York State legislature, Lewisboro officials were for the first time elected for two years. Lewisboro is erected and organized by state statute and derives its capacity and powers from the state legislature.

Lewisboro is governed by a Supervisor and four Councilpeople who comprise the Town Board. The Supervisor serves a two-year term and the Councilpeople each serve a four year term. The Town Clerk, Receiver of Taxes, Highway Superintendent and two Town Justices are also elected.

More detailed and additional information can be obtained from our history book: A History of the Town of Lewisboro, available at the South Salem Library, Main Street, South Salem, NY.

Buildings with a history in the Town of Lewisboro

Cyrus Russell Community House:

Cyrus Russell Community House The community house was built in 1868 and served as a schoolhouse until 1941 when Lewisboro Elementary School opened. The building is named for Cyrus Russell who was born in Cross River on January 14, 1897 in a house built by his great-grandfather Gideon Reynolds. Cyrus Russell was educated in the Cross River schoolhouse, and after service in World War I became Treasurer of the school district. He was elected Councilman in 1934, and went on to also serve the Town as Building Inspector, Town Clerk and Supervisor. When he retired in 1969, the Town Board voted to name the former schoolhouse in his honor.

Onatru (On-a-True) Farm:

Onatru Farmhouse and the 147 acres surrounding it was the generous gift of Alice Lane Poor to the people of the Town of Lewisboro.

The original farmhouse was enlarged by Mrs. Poor's father after he purchased the farm in 1904. Mr. Lane ran Onatru as a working farm, growing crops and maintaining dairy cattle, chicken, pigs, goats, etc.

Throughout the years Mrs. Poor and her family held a great love for the Town of Lewisboro, Mrs. Poor is remembered by many for her involvement in church, civic and Town of Lewisboro organizations.

In 1962 Mrs. Poor donated 27 acres of land on Elmwood Road opposite the farmhouse to be used by local scouts. The land is now known as the Onatru Reservation. In 1973 she donated 40 acres of land on the easterly boundary of the farm for wildlife preservation. The area is now known as the Alice Lane Poor Wildlife Preserve. The remainder of the farm and all buildings was donated to the Town in 1978.

Town House

Elisha Keeler, a son of the former owner of the Town House, passed away in December 2005. For a glimpse of his life and family go the family web site.

Alfred Ridgeway owned Echo Farm. The tenth year anniversary of his passing is Janaury 15, 2010. This is the article that appeared in the NY Times.

Though he was one of Westchester's last dairy farmers, Alfred Ridgeway will be remembered for his horse farm, not his cows. For more than 25 years, Mr. Ridgeway owned Echo Farm in South Salem, a property that became a second home to hundreds of young people -- particularly girls -- who learned to ride and care for horses there.

''Al Ridgeway never married and never raised a family, but he had hundreds of children,'' said Dean Travalino, a neighbor and friend. ''They were the generations of young girls who grew up riding horses at Echo Farm, their parents and all the others that found the old barns, the breathtakingly beautiful fields and the chickens and the old tractors just about the best place to be in the world.'' Known affectionately as ''barn rats,'' these children and teenagers knew they would find an open door at Mr. Ridgeway's home on the farm.

''Al had an uncanny ability to soothe any soul, whether hoofed, horned or hair,'' said Bethany Craighead, a former South Salem resident. ''In a day when the term 'horse whisperer' is the buzz phrase, I look back on thousands of hours shared with Al and realized that he spoke volumes, to horses and to humans, in whispers.''

Mr. Ridgeway was a familiar figure in South Salem, usually seen wearing his Stetson hat. As a young man, he worked on area dairy farms. He joined the Army in 1942 and received a Purple Heart for his fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

After the war, Mr. Ridgeway established several dairies in Westchester and Connecticut. In 1960, he bought the 30-acre property that would become Echo Farm. By the mid-1960's, dairy farming was becoming difficult in Westchester. Mr. Ridgeway, who had already been keeping some horses at the farm, moved into the horse-boarding business. His farm soon became a magnet for horse-loving youth.

Mr. Ridgeway slowed down a little after he turned 90, Mr. Travalino said. In his later years, the only things that would induce him to leave his farm were flea markets and horse auctions. He still prided himself on his ability to spot a good buy.

Alfred Ridgeway died Jan. 15 at the age of 90. He was buried at the Lewisboro town cemetery, which overlooks his farm.