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 (2000)
• Total	15,553
• Density	2,273.2/sq mi (877.7/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 located east of Nauraushaun; north of the state of New Jersey; south of Nanuet and west of Blauvelt. The population was 15,553 at the 2000 census.

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

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

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, CNN Money 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 in 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 the Muddy Brook, which runs through the town. Hearing this the wife of the New Jersey and New York railroad, Mrs John Demarest, suggested the name Pearl River to her husband, president of the railroad, thus naming the town Pearl River.

Pearl River was a deserted area, low and swampy, in the flood plain of the 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) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km²) of it (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 is well-known for its 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 and Irish American population also supports the largest youth Gaelic Athletic Football team in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Blue Ribbon

• Blue Ribbon Award
  • In 2008, Franklin Avenue Elementary School became a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winner by the U.S. Department of Education.
    This is the second consecutive year a school in Rockland County wins this award.
  • In 2011, Pearl River Middle School became a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winner by the U.S. Department of Education.

• St.Margaret's School, Catholic School, 2009 Middle States Accredited for four years in a row.
• Pearl River School District won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in 2001.
• Pearl River High School, is located on 275 East Central Ave. in Pearl River 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.

Sports

On June 4, 2011, Pearl River softball team won their fourth – (four-peat) – straight Section 1 title defeating Eastchester 2-1 in eight innings in the Section 1 Class A championship girl’s softball game at North Rockland High School in Thiells.

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 U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
• Edward Salyer House. (NRHP)
• Jacob P. Perry House – 15 Sickletown Road – The Jacob Perry House was built in 1801 and is one of Rockland'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.
• 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 – located on 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 two years in a row, both the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
• Pearl River is the home of the 2nd largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York.
• 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’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.

Books on Pearl River

Knight, Robert P Centennial history of Pearl River, New York Pearl River Centennial Committee 1973 NCL 974.728 KNI

My Father's Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD by Brian McDonald

External links

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