Scarsdale dates to 1701, and 48% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #153 of 758 in New York. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1850.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Scarsdale’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Scarsdale is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #153 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Scarsdale’s overall grade.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Scarsdale’s 5.6 sits near the middle of its state (37% of New York towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1701.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Scarsdale’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Scarsdale derives from "scars", the old Saxon word for rocky crags, and "dale", the common name for valley. The name originated from Heathcote's ancestral home in Derbyshire known as Sutton Scarsdale.
The region was once inhabited by several Native American tribes, the most prominent being the Wappinger people. Westchester Native Americans formed the Wappinger Confederacy as protection against the Iroquois people.
Passages that mention Scarsdale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Westchester county, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York city1886 · page 684Read the page →
Read the text
In the year 1882 an innovation occurred in the extension to Scarsdale of the lines of the Westchester Telephone Company from White Plains as centre. Up to 1885 the subscribers in the town numbered but five, but a new central oflSce for Hartsdale, Scarsdale and Tuckahoe has been started at the Hartsdale Station, with over twenty-five sub" scribers, most of them within the town of Scarsdale.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Westchester county, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York city1886 · page 657Read the page →
Read the text
Thb town of Scarsdale is in its general outline rbomboidal, the long diameter running nearly due north and south and extending from a point about a mile south of the county court-house in White Plains in a southerly direction for two miles. The shorter diameter runs nearly due west from Scarsdale Station, 62 on the New York and Harlem Railroad, for about a
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.
On the map
Scarsdale on the map, 1932 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Scarsdale. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1932White Plains sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Scarsdale.
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.
Retake this viewPlate 39- Towns of White Plains and Scarsdale, Westchester, N.Y, 1868
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Scarsdale’s page.
In 1701, according to Wikidata. Scarsdale’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1920 counted 3,506 people here.
How does Scarsdale rank for history?
Scarsdale is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #153 of 758 in New York. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Scarsdale?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Caleb Hyatt House (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Quaker Ridge Golf Club, with 2 contributing buildings. 10 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Scarsdale?
48% of Scarsdale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1943.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
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