Town of Pound Ridge Claimed

The Town of Pound Ridge, located in northern Westchester County, is 19 miles northeast of White Plains and 43 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The Town is approximately 23.2 square miles. or 14,833 acres in area.

Europeans settled Pound Ridge in the early 1700s, although Native Americans were residing in the area for quite some time before the 1700s. Pound Ridge was incorporated as a Town in 1788. In the early days, the Town’s economy was based on agriculture and cottage industry, including basket and shoe making. At the end of the nineteenth century, industrial development and the establishment of transportation routes changed nearby communities, but bypassed Pound Ridge.

Pound Ridge has always been relatively remote and isolated compared to other communities in the region. The lack of direct railroad access and major regional highways has insulated Pound Ridge from many of the development pressures of more urbanized communities. Pound Ridge is also isolated physically by the Mianus River and Gorge along the western border, the Ward-Pound Ridge Reservation and escarpment to the north, and by the streams, reservoirs and watershed lands along and near the eastern border. These topographic, environmental and geographic characteristics have influenced the rate and type of development in Pound Ridge over the years.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Town and the entire region grew considerably. The baby boom, increasing prosperity, the expansion of the suburbs, improved access and transportation, and more employment opportunities in Westchester County made Pound Ridge and other formerly remote communities more desirable places in which to live.

The Town of Pound Ridge anticipated this population growth and in 1959 rezoned a large area of the Town (11,600 acres) from 2 acres to a minimum of 3 acres per lot. This rezoning and later preparation of environmental regulations (Pound Ridge adopted New York’s first local wetlands protection law in 1969) had a profound effect on the growth and development of Pound Ridge as we know it today.

Pound Ridge provides a variety of community services and facilities, including fire and police protection, school facilities, the library, highway services, recreation facilities and services, senior services and recycling.

Text source Town of Pound Ridge