Pearl River, New York

Pearl River, New York
—  CDP  —
Nickname(s): The Town of Friendly People
Pearl River, New York Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 41°3′50″N 74°0′37″W
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Rockland
Area
• Total	7.2 sq mi (18.6 km2)
• Land	6.8 sq mi (17.7 km2)
• Water	0.4 sq mi (0.9 km2)
Elevation	240 ft (73 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	15,876
• Density	2,200/sq mi (900/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	10965
Area code(s)	845
FIPS code	36-56902
GNIS feature ID	0960056

Pearl River is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located east of Nauraushaun, south of Nanuet, and west of Blauvelt, New York, and north of Montvale and Old Tappan, New Jersey. The population was 15,876 at the 2010 census.

Pearl River is 20 miles (32 km) north of midtown Manhattan and lies just north of the New Jersey border. It is the first (traveling north) of three New York stops on New Jersey Transit's Pascack Valley Line.

Pearl River is the site of One Blue Hill Plaza, Rockland County's first commercial skyscraper, with 21 stories of office space.

In 1906, Ernest Lederle, the former commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, founded Lederle Laboratories (which became Wyeth and is now Pfizer) on a 99-acre (400,000 m²) farm which now encompasses 550 acres (2.2 km²), 40 buildings, and until recently employed around 3,200 workers. The number of employees here has dwindled to the hundreds since the Pfizer takeover.

In 2011, CNNMoney.com ranked Pearl River 78th on its annual "100 Best Places to Live" list.

History

Pearl River (Metro-North station), present

Pearl River was originally called Muddy Brook. In the early 1870s, the town was divided into five different parts: Naurashaun, post 1900, Middletown till 1821, Sickletown, Pascack and Muddy Brook till 1872.

According to historians, a resident of the town by the name of Dr. Ves Bogert found pearls in mussels in Muddy Brook, which runs through the town. Hearing this, Mrs John Demarest, the wife of the president of the New Jersey and New York Railroad, suggested the name "Pearl River" to her husband.

Pearl River was a deserted area, low and swampy, in the flood plain of Muddy Brook. It was purchased by Julius E. Braunsdorf in 1870. It is said that Braunsdorf was the "Father of Pearl River" and designed it to be a company town.

His first act was to donate a long strip of land right through the center of his property to the New Jersey and New York Railroad to enable them to bring an extension of the line from Hillsdale, New Jersey north to Nanuet.

When Braunsdorf designed the street layout, the only existing streets were Pearl Street and Washington Avenue. He drew a wide main street through the middle of town and called it Central Avenue. Parallel to Central Avenue he drew Franklin, after his hero, Benjamin Franklin. To connect Washington, Central, and Franklin he drew three streets and named them William, John and Henry after his three sons.

Braunsdorf built:

• 1872 – The Aetna Sewing Machine Company – the largest factory in Pearl River – and ceded land to the railroad company so workers from New York City could get to his factory.
• 1872 – The Pearl River Post Office – and became the first Postmaster.
• 1873 – Two brick train stations (Passenger/Freight) that are still in use today.
• The Pearl River Hotel
• Low-cost housing for the factory employees that he attracted from Germany and Scandinavia.

Pearl River may have remained a small hamlet had it not been for the railroad. The number of daily passenger trains totaled 30 each way in the early 20th century, about 50% more than today.

Geography

Pearl River is located at 41°3′50″N 74°0′37″W (41.063996, −74.010298). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.2 square miles (19 km²), of which 6.8 square miles (18 km²) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km²), or 4.87%, is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 21,042 people, 5,539 households, and 4,209 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,273.2 per square mile (877.9/km²). There were 5,636 housing units at an average density of 823.8/sq mi (318.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 72.37% White, 6.39% African American, 0.05% Native American, 7.16% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.57% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.44% of the population.

There were 5,539 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.0% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $76,692, and the median income for a family was $91,618. Males had a median income of $58,966 versus $39,452 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $31,417. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.

Pearl River has a large Irish community and hosts under the auspices of the Ancient Order of Hibernians the second-largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in New York state, typically on the Sunday following St. Patrick's Day. This large Irish-American population also supports the largest youth Gaelic Athletic Football team in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Blue Ribbon

The community is served by the Pearl River School District. Pearl River High School is located at 275 East Central Avenue and serves students in grades 8 through 12. It currently has 1055 students enrolled. The school's principal is William Furdon, and assistant principals are Cindy Mantas and Kevin McCahill. 96% of the class of 2009 continued on to college, university, or technical school.

The Pearl River School District won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in 2001. In 2008, Franklin Avenue Elementary School was a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winner. This was the second consecutive year that a school in Rockland County won this award. In 2011, Pearl River Middle School was a Blue Ribbon School.

Saint Margaret School is a Catholic school serving grades Pre-K through 8.

Sports

On June 4, 2011, the Pearl River softball team won their fourth straight Section 1 title, defeating Eastchester 2-1.

Tourism

Historical markers

• Cuyper-Van Houten House, 66 Sickletown Road
• Johannes Perry House, 49 Elizabeth St
• Scherer House, 599 Orangeburg Road

Landmarks and places of Interest

Edward Salyer House

Jacob P Perry House

Pearl River Post Office

• Braunsdorf Park Pearl River, Central Avenue & South Main Street – Named after Julius Braunsdorf, first industrial developer of Pearl River and inventor of various models of sewing machines, newspaper printing presses, carbon arc light bulbs, and electric generators. His sewing machine factory is now the Dexter industrial complex. Braunsdorf installed first indoor lighting in the world in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
• Edward Salyer House. (NRHP)
• Jacob P. Perry House, 15 Sickletown Road – Built in 1801, it is one of Rockland County's oldest Dutch Colonial Style houses located in the historic Nauraushaun area. (NRHP)
• Maria's Rock, front lawn of Lederle Laboratories, North Middletown Road – An 18th- century legend tells of a little girl named Maria who wandered from her home in nearby Tappan and died of hunger and exposure. Tradition says that villagers found her bones near the massive boulder.
• Orangetown Museum & Archives – 213 Blue Hill Road
• Pearl River United States Post Office (NRHP)
• Van Houten Farms, 68 Sickletown Road – Located on the eastern edge of Pearl River. Adjacent is the Van Houten/Kuyper Dutch Sandstone House, the main section having been built in 1732 and purchased by Van Houten circa 1812.
• Louie's on the Avenue, 160 East Central Ave – popular restaurant in Rockland County

Achievements

• Pearl River High School is the home of the Pearl River Lady Pirates Softball team that reached State Finals in 2008 and 2009.
• Sport stacking New York record holder Mike McCoy is from Pearl River.
• Actors Robert Clohessy, Chris Carley, and Sean T. McGrath are graduates of Pearl River High School.
• Dan Masterson, a resident of Pearl River, was named Rockland County's first poet laureate on February 24, 2009. He has taught English at Rockland Community College for the past 45 years. He is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, along with the Bullis, Borestone, and Fels national poetry prizes, as well as, the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is the author of four published books, On Earth as It Is, Those Who Trespass, All Things, Seen and Unseen and World Without End and his work has appeared in various publications including Esquire, The New Yorker and The London Magazine.

References

• Knight, Robert P. Centennial history of Pearl River, New York. Pearl River Centennial Committee, 1973
• McDonald, Brian. My Father's Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD

External links

• Pearl River history
• The Railroad in Pearl River
• Pearl River Yahoo! Group
• Living in Pearl River – slideshow by The New York Times