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Seven Thousand Years in Croton
A timeline of major events from the earliest human settlement to the present, sourced from the archive's primary documents.
Deep Dives
Multi-year events explored in detail
Kieft's War (1626–1645)
From a roadside robbery to a two-year war that shattered the Wappinger Confederacy
Daniel Nimham & the Wappinger Land Fight (1693–1778)
A century of dispossession, from the Philipse fraud to the Battle of Kingsbridge
The Croton Water System (1837–1890)
Two aqueducts and a celebration that brought fresh water to New York City
New Croton Dam Construction (1892–1906)
Immigrant labor, the padrone system, a strike, and an engineering marvel
Prohibition in Croton (1921–1933)
Rum planes, submarines, speakeasies, and undercover fiddlers
Pre-Contact (before 1609)
~7000 BC
Post-glacial peoples begin occupying the peninsula. The earliest undated artifacts suggest habitation roughly contemporaneous with the retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet.
~5000 BC
Virginia oyster shell deposits at Croton Point — the oldest on the North Atlantic coast. Radiocarbon dating established these as among the earliest evidence of sustained habitation in the Northeast.
~3000 BC
The earliest ceramic tradition in the Northeast, found in stratigraphic position in the middens — a key discovery for the regional chronological sequence.
~1600
The Kitchawank, a band of the Wappinger Confederacy, maintain a fortified stockade at the neck of Croton Point, guarding oyster beds in Haverstraw Bay. Territory extends from the Croton River north to Anthony's Nose.
European Contact & Dutch Era (1609–1664)
1609
Officer Robert Juet documents encounters with indigenous peoples who traded tobacco for knives and beads, wearing deer skins and displaying copper items.
1624
Permanent Dutch settlement begins. The Wappinger Confederacy — 18 bands including the Kitchawank — controls the east bank of the Hudson from Manhattan to Poughkeepsie.
1626
Three laborers rob and kill a man carrying furs to trade. His young nephew escapes and vows revenge — a vow he will fulfill fifteen years later.
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1641
The boy, now a man, enters the wheelwright's shop near Turtle Bay with beaver skins and murders him with an axe. Director Kieft demands the Weckquaesgeek surrender the killer.
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Aug 1641
The first popularly elected body in New Netherland urges Kieft to demand the killer 'once, twice, yea for a third time' in a 'friendly manner.' Kieft refuses and dissolves the council.
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Late 1643
The famous religious dissident, living in exile in the Bronx, is killed by Siwanoy warriors as the war engulfs the entire region. ~1,500 indigenous warriors attack across New Netherland.
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Feb 25, 1643
Dutch soldiers kill ~120 sleeping Wappinger refugees at Pavonia (Jersey City), including women and children. 40 more killed at Corlears Hook that same night. Unified Algonquian resistance follows.
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Mar 1644
Captain John Underhill's forces attack a Weckquaesgeek village. Many burned alive in their dwellings. One of the deadliest single events in the colonial Indian wars.
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Aug 1645
After two years of war costing over 1,500 indigenous lives, the Kitchawank and 68 other tribes sign peace with the Dutch. A plaque at Croton Point Park marks the site.
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1655
A second Dutch-indigenous conflict results in ~100 settler and 60 Wappinger deaths. Surviving bands begin relocating to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
1664
Peter Stuyvesant surrenders to the English fleet. Dutch colonial rule ends. The Wappinger bands continue to lose territory under the new administration.
Colonial Westchester (1664–1775)
1677–1683
Van Cortlandt acquires territory between Croton and Peekskill from indigenous peoples, building toward the largest manor in the region.
Jun 3, 1682
The Kitchawank sell the peninsula. The deed preserves four indigenous place-names: Navish, Senasqua, Tanracken, and Sepperack.
1693
Original grant covers ~15,000 acres. Philipse reportedly 'cut down the tree marking the eastern border, rode all day and remarked a tree near the CT border' — expanding the claim to 205,000 acres.
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1697
King William III grants Stephanus Van Cortlandt a royal charter for 200 square miles. The manor encompasses much of present-day northern Westchester.
1705
Elizabeth Legget of Westchester deeds her daughter 'my two negro children, born of the body of Hannah, my negro woman, of the issue of the body of Robin, my Indian slave.'
The American Revolution (1765–1783)
~1746
Daniel Nimham's band — Mahican and Munsee speakers — survives across five colonies through basket weaving, broom crafting, and seasonal farm labor. He maintains annual pilgrimages to Mount Nimham in Putnam County.
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1755
Around 200 Wappinger relocate to the Stockbridge Mission in Massachusetts to protect their families while men serve in colonial forces.
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1765
The last Wappinger sachem challenges the fraudulently expanded patent in court. He loses; his attorney Samuel Munroe is arrested.
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1766
Nimham and three Mohican chiefs sail to England. The Lords of Trade acknowledge 'frauds and abuses' but restore nothing. The deed is snatched from Munroe's hands before he can prove fraud.
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~1776
According to local tradition, women led by Madam Orser ride to John Arthur's home to seize tea stocks. The incident may have given Teatown its name.
1776–1783
The county is contested territory between American and British lines. 'Skinners' and 'Cowboys' plunder civilians. 'Neither of them stopped to ask the politics of horse or cow which they drove into their lines.'
1775–1778
Abraham Nimham becomes captain of the Stockbridge Militia — Mohicans, Wappingers, Munsee. Both father and son serve under Washington and later with Lafayette.
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Aug 31, 1778
The last Wappinger sachem and ~40 warriors die fighting for the Continental Army. 'He called out to his people to fly, that he himself was old, and would die there.'
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Sep 21–23, 1780
Croton militia fire on HMS Vulture, forcing it downstream and stranding Major Andre behind enemy lines. Andre is captured at Tarrytown with plans of West Point in his stockings.
Jan 1782
A military engagement at the Orser family property near Croton, recorded in Shonnard's index of wartime events.
The Aqueduct Era (1827–1890s)
1827
Dr. Richard T. Underhill begins cultivating 75 acres of grapevines at Croton Point. He will breed the 'Senasqua' variety, named after the Kitchawank meadow.
1835
After decades of epidemics and fires fueled by contaminated wells, the city creates a commission to find a clean water source. The Croton River is chosen.
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1836
The West Point-trained engineer designs a 41-mile gravity-fed system from the Croton Dam to Manhattan — one of the greatest engineering projects of the era.
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1837
Water Commissioners begin purchasing land along the aqueduct route. The New York Sun warns that 'landholders are seldom diffident in taking advantage of public improvements, to enhance the price of property.'
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Apr 1838
Laborers demand wages of 87.5 to 100 cents per day and march from the dam site to Sing Sing. Engineer Edmund French reports 'the affair that resulted in the death of one of the overseers on Section 10.'
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1839–1841
Workers build the High Bridge across the Harlem River (the oldest standing bridge in NYC), ventilator towers, weirs at Ossining and Yonkers, and the Murray Hill Reservoir.
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Jun 22, 1842
Croton River water reaches the receiving reservoir at what is now Central Park. The 41-mile journey by gravity takes roughly 22 hours.
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Oct 14, 1842
'The greatest jubilee New York has ever boasted.' A parade, fountains, and a commemorative medal by engraver Robert Lovett Sr. mark the arrival of clean water. John Quincy Adams was invited but sent his regrets.
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1857
The Central Park Commission holds a competition for the reservoir design. Thirty-three entries are submitted.
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1884–1890
A second, larger aqueduct with three times the capacity, tapping lakes across a watershed of several hundred square miles. The old aqueduct continues to operate.
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1865
Two new varieties: the Croton (Delaware x Chasselas) and the Senasqua (Concord x Black Prince). The Senasqua grape carries a 7,000-year-old Kitchawank name.
1880s
The same family pivots from winemaking to brickmaking as the vineyards decline. Underhill bricks are shipped by barge to build New York City.
1884–1890
A second, larger aqueduct with three times the capacity of the original, tapping numerous lakes across a watershed of several hundred square miles.
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Modern Croton (1892–present)
May 1892
The contract drawing for the Cornell Site reveals 'buildings, bridges and roads behind the dam which were destroyed when the valley was flooded.' Construction begins.
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1892–1895
Workers dig 131 feet below the riverbed. Italian immigrants controlled by padrones who 'managed up to 150 workers' and kept them in permanent debt. 'A man lost his life for every stone set on the dam.'
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1895–1896
Skilled blacksmiths run forges constantly. An October 1896 Scientific American engraving documents the excavation with 'noteworthy accuracy.'
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~1897
Dormitories for 60 workers each, saloons, a chapel, a schoolhouse. 'It was a rough area. Fellas would get a few drinks, you couldn't tell what the dickens they would do.'
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Apr 1900
After NY mandates an 8-hour day, workers demand higher wages. Contractors refuse. Roosevelt establishes 'Camp Roosevelt.' The strike ends after three weeks without improvements.
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Jan 10, 1906
A 3,200-pound stone is lowered by steam machinery. Comptroller Metz places an Irish shamrock beneath it. The reservoir begins filling.
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Jan 1, 1907
1,168 feet across, 297 feet high, 206 feet at the base. The reservoir extends 20 miles upstream. Acclaimed internationally as the 'Croton Profile.' Little Italy vanishes.
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1907
Clifford Harmon builds 'the most important and extensive suburban development in the history of New York.' The Japanese-themed Nikko Inn opens as a tea house.
1921
The Mikado Inn proprietor is acquitted in 'the first case to be tried in Westchester County for alleged violation of the New York State liquor law.'
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May 15, 1922
A Curtis biplane carrying 250 quarts of Scotch and Irish whiskey from Montreal crashes near the Tumble Inn. A route map reveals an aerial smuggling corridor.
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Jun 17, 1922
'McKay fiddled, Reager sang and Gallante danced' — then arrested the proprietor for serving $1.50 highballs.
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May 1925
Federal Judge John C. Knox padlocks Roy Kojima's Nikko Inn for two months — described as 'the first place run by Japanese to be closed in padlock proceedings.'
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1924
An aerial photograph shows two 250-foot objects in the Hudson. The Navy confirms none of its vessels are in the area. The photo is filed with Coast Guard Intelligence.
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1922
The future concert pianist and television personality sleeps in the cellar with 'twenty or thirty Japanese waiters' while performing at the speakeasy.
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1927
Westchester County begins dumping waste on the peninsula that holds 7,000-year-old shell middens. The landfill will operate for 59 years.
1928
William E. Harmon's foundation — funded by the same real estate fortune that built Croton-Harmon — becomes 'one of the first major supporters of African American creativity.'
Apr 1, 1948
The village officially adds hyphens to its name, becoming Croton-on-Hudson.
1960–1963
Louis Brennan discovers Vinette I pottery in stratigraphic position and establishes the middens as among the oldest on the Atlantic coast. Founds the Lower Hudson Chapter of the NYSAA.
1986
After 59 years of operation, the dump is closed. Environmental remediation and capping begins — a process that will take decades.
2022
An eight-foot bronze statue by sculptor Michael Keropian is unveiled, honoring the last Wappinger sachem who traveled to London and died at Kingsbridge.