1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mount Vernon (New York)

MOUNT VERNON, a city of Westchester county, in south-eastern New York, U.S.A., on the Bronx river and Eastchester Creek, 13 m. from the Grand Central station, New York City. Pop. (1890), 10,830; (1900), 20,340, of whom 5265 were foreign born (many being Italians) and 516 negroes; (1910, census), 30,919. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River and the New York, New Haven & Hartford railways, and by electric lines to New York City, Yonkers, New Rochelle, &c. The city has various manufactures, but in the main is a residential suburb of New York; the finest residences are in the eastern, central and north-eastern sections, the last being known as Chester Hill; the foreign-born element is largely concentrated in the western part. Mount Vernon is in the township of Eastchester, which was settled from Connecticut in 1664, possibly in the hope of pushing Connecticut’s boundary nearer the Hudson. It was called “Ten Farms” or East Chester. A parish of the same name was established in 1693, but was disallowed in England. About 1682 the “Ten Farmers” established a free school. In 1764 the foundations were laid of the present St Paul’s (Protestant Episcopal), which was used through a part of the American War of Independence as a British military hospital. St Paul’s churchyard dates back to the close of the 17th century. Along the White Plains road (now Lincoln Avenue) Washington retreated, pursued by General Henry Clinton, before the battle of White Plains in 1776. The city of Mount Vernon was founded in 1851 by several realty companies. The postal authorities objected to the name Monticello, originally used, and Mount Vernon was adopted instead. Mount Vernon was incorporated as a village in 1853 and was first chartered as a city in 1892. West Mount Vernon was founded by the Teutonic Homestead Association and was annexed to Mount Vernon in 1869.

See William S. Coffey, “East Chester,” pp. 720–764 of vol. ii. of J. T. Scharf’s History of Westchester County, N.Y. (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1886).