Why Rockland has so many villages
68 sec · Rockland Secrets
Why does Rockland have so many little villages? 🏘️
In the 1840s, Rockland was all farms. Then the Erie Railroad came through Suffern, and New York City was suddenly a train ride away.
Wherever the train stopped, life showed up. Suffern became a village in 1896, Spring Valley in 1902.
Then in 1967, Pomona neighbors said "not here" to apartments on land meant for one-acre homes, and formed their own village to make their own rules.
Wesley Hills, Chestnut Ridge, Montebello and Kaser followed. New City and Monsey never did. They're still hamlets.
Credits
"Americana" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Public domain: "American Farm Scenes No. 1" (Fanny Palmer for N. Currier, 1853) & "The Express Train" (Currier & Ives, 1870), Library of Congress; Suffern station (James E. Bailey, c.1910); Spring Valley Erie station postcard (1910). Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors