FINDING THE RIGHT LOCATION FOR A NEW SETTLEMENT
Various locations were considered and it was finally decided to purchase five adjoining farms near the New Haven Railroad in the Town of Eastchester. The five farms purchased – some 367 acres – cost an average of $205.29 per acre. Four of the farms belonged to the Purdy family - John M. Purdy, 75 acres; Sylvanus Purdy, 69 acres; Andrew Oscar Purdy, 53 acres and Andrew Purdy, 21 acres. Another was owned by Jay Hayward consisting of 149 acres.
Except for a small piece on the north, all of this land lay south of the railroad. Not all of the land was good, some of it was swamp, and some of it was bog, but the idea generated interest. The land stretched on the east from what is today Union Avenue to 15th Avenue on the west, Sandford Boulevard on the South and Valentine Street on the north.
On July 2nd, 1851 when, as the pioneer resident, John Stevens closed the door of his 162 Christopher Street home and took up his abode in Mount Vernon, accompanied by his wife and three children. The home to which Mr. Stevens brought his family was the newly finished residence of Sylvanus Purdy that was purchased by him at the time of the sale of the buildings on the farm sites when the Association took possession.
Mr. Stevens having married in 1839 Miss Emeline Megie, a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Megie, the former a well-to-do merchant, doing business in New York. In the months of August, 1851 the 1,017 middle class members having by lot decided the order of choice, selected their respective lots with each owner getting a quarter of an acre of land. This important event took place in an old barn in the rear of John Stevens new home.
Each day for the three weeks or more that it took for the one thousand members to come in from the city to select their future home sites, there in the dim light of the Purdy barn, where maps had been placed for the convenience of the members, stood long tables filled with many substantial refreshments, the appetizing smell of fresh coffee filled the air, and a liberal cider barrel added to the joys of all concerned. To the youngsters of the Stevens household the business of picking lots seemed like a long drawn out picnic.
So eager were the members of the Association to realize their hopes of having a HOME OF THEIR OWN that some three or four, notwithstanding the lateness of the season (it being as late as October before deeds could be prepared and delivered) built before winter. By the following summer many more were going up as well as stores and other buildings.
