The first name of the place was Clarkstown, a name it retained until 1856 when, at the suggestion of James De Clark, the present name was given by Munsee Chief (Nannawitt). Chief Nannawitt sold lands in North Jersey, signed the Wawayanda Patent and witnessed the Cheesecock Patent.
The Erie Railroad arrived in Rockland County in 1841 along its original main line to Piermont. The New Jersey and New York Railroad, the predecessor of the Pascack Valley Line, reached Nanuet in 1869.
A special church meeting was held by the “ Nanuet Baptist Church ” at Nanuet, on the 19th of February 1867, “ to consider the application of I. Remsen Blauvelt, for said church, to buy the Old Dutch Church Meeting House (see history of Reformed Church, Spring Valley), in the village of Spring Valley, for an Outpost or Preaching Station of the Nanuet church, as an aggressive movement of the denomination in Rockland county.”
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About four and a half miles southwest of New City is the village of Nanuet, pleasantly situated on the summit and western slope of one of the ridges extending through the town from north to south. This village dates back only to the building of what is generally spoken of as the “Northern Railroad,” in 1839. Prior to that time there were but six houses between where the turnpike is located and the school house. Soon after the railroad was begun,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2006