On Dec. 7, 1815, a man with the unlikely name of Barzilla Dusenbury granted a sweep of land on a hillside west of the village of Yorktown to a farmer named George Ferris. Soon after, Farmer Ferris built his new home at the crest of a hill facing west over rolling farmlands and on to Peekskill and the Hudson. His house would have had a spectacular view. The original farmhouse was probably located ...

YORKTOWN, N.Y. – In the early days of the 20th century, and much as Amazon does today, the Sears Roebuck catalogue (minus the internet) provided a mail order source of everything for everyone—from groceries, shoes and clothing to hardware, building materials and eventually even to houses. (From 1908 to 1912, the company even produced its own line of automobiles.) In 1906, a glut of ...