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History · Chappaqua

Chappaqua’s post office opened in 1850, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1817 on.

1850first post office
4on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
10famous people
From Chappaqua’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chappaqua began

When was Chappaqua founded?

1850

The Chappaqua post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 2,598176 years
Founding year: the first Chappaqua post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chappaqua’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chappaqua’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chappaqua’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story

How Chappaqua came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chappaqua.

Read it all →

In the early 1730s, a group of Quakers moved north from Purchase, New York, to settle in present-day Chappaqua. They built their homes on Quaker Road (more recently, Greeley Avenue; Quaker Road still exists but becomes North and South Greeley Avenue in the town center) and held their meetings at the home of Abel Weeks. Their meeting house was built in 1753 and still holds weekly meetings each Sunday. The area around the meeting house, known as Old Chappaqua Historic District, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Horace Greeley's home, known as Rehoboth and built by Greeley himself, still stands in Chappaqua. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with Chappaqua Railroad Depot and Depot Plaza, Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove, and the Greeley House.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the National Register

4 historic places in Chappaqua

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Timeline

Chappaqua, 1817 to 1966

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1817In the archiveChappaqua Springs four or five miles from Sing Sing
  3. 1872In the archiveThe Chappaqua farmer - Kuriger ; lith by D. Chalmers, Springfield, Mass. ; from a paintin…
  4. 20th century
  5. 1925Born hereFrank Pierson is born here
  6. 1954In the archivePhilip W. Haberman, residence on King St., Chappaqua, New York. LOC gsc.5a23141
  7. 1958Born hereMarc Randolph is born here
  8. 1963Born hereAndy Rubin is born here
  9. 1966Born hereBill Ackman is born here
By decade

Chappaqua, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1810s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Chappaqua Springs four or five miles from Sing Sing
Retake this viewChappaqua Springs four or five miles from Sing Sing, 1817

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chappaqua’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

10 famous people were born in Chappaqua

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Chappaqua’s history

What year was Chappaqua founded?

The Chappaqua post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.