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Former Yorktown Heights, NY, railroad stationPhoto: Ewriter2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Yorktown Heights

19% of Yorktown Heights’ homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1892 on.

1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Yorktown Heights’ archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Yorktown Heights’ past

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

On the map since 18926 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1981. Watch Yorktown Heights change.Old housesHalf of Yorktown Heights’ homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · On the map

Yorktown Heights on the map, 1892 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yorktown Heights. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Yorktown Heights on the 1892 USGS mapYorktown Heights on the 1901 USGS mapYorktown Heights on the 1936 USGS mapYorktown Heights on the 1941 USGS mapYorktown Heights on the 1956 USGS mapYorktown Heights on the 1981 USGS map1892West Point sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Yorktown Heights.

The story

How Yorktown Heights came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Yorktown Heights.

Read it all →

Yorktown Heights is in the town of Yorktown, in northern Westchester County, 45 miles from New York City, with 40 square miles of rolling hills, farmland, residential areas, and light industry, including the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. First settled in 1683, Yorktown was of strategic importance during the American Revolution, with the Pine's Bridge crossing of the Croton River guarded by the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, an integrated unit that included African Americans and Native Americans. The commanding officers of the regiment, who died in the Battle of Pine's Bridge, are buried at the First Presbyterian Church cemetery in Yorktown Heights. Nearby, there is the Monument to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, and in the center of Yorktown Heights, the Pines Bridge Battle Monument.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Yorktown Heights, 1892 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1923In the archiveLocke Ledge
  5. 1949In the archiveKirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., Yorktown Heights, New York. LOC gsc.5a16…
  6. 1960Born herePaul W. Jones is born here
  7. 1964Born hereEdward Burger is born here
  8. 1973Born hereRebekah A. Mercer is born here
By decade

Yorktown Heights, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1940s6 items
Locke Ledge1923Locke LedgeYorktown NY Presby PHS8371923Yorktown NY Presby PHS837Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., Yorktown Heights, New York. LOC gsc.5a163011949Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., York…Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., Yorktown Heights, New York. LOC gsc.5a163011949Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., York…Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., Yorktown Heights, New York. LOC gsc.5a163021949Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., York…Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., Yorktown Heights, New York. LOC gsc.5a163021949Kirk Wilkinson, residence on Baptist Church Rd., York…
1950s–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
Every building

Yorktown Heights, building by building, 1921

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Yorktown Heights fire insurance map, 1921, sheet 11921Sheet 1 of 4
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Locke Ledge
Retake this viewLocke Ledge, 1923

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Yorktown Heights

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

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

Famous people

5 famous people were born in Yorktown Heights

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

See all →
R
Rebekah A. MercerAmerican political donor · b. 1973
E
Edward BurgerAmerican mathematician · b. 1964
Paul W. JonesAmerican diplomat · b. 1960
M
Maryanne VollersAmerican writer
J
Jonathan de MarteAmerican baseball player · b. 1993
Help out

Finish Yorktown Heights’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLocke Ledge: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Yorktown2 historic placesBSomers7 historic placesB+

Questions about Yorktown Heights’ history

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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.