Archive Port Chester Information History

History

Wandering tribes of Mohegan Indians were the earliest inhabitants of the area known today as Rye Town and the Port Chester. The first white settlers were a group of enterprising young me and women who came from the English colony of Connecticut in 1660. After the land purchases from the Indians, negotiated mostly by Peter Disbrow, they settled on the island of "Masussing." Although the land was part of the territory claimed by the Dutch, the defiant colonists drew up a proclamation in 1662 declaring allegiance to Charles of England. Through further treaties with the Indians, their combined holdings soon comprised all of what is now the City of Rye, Town of Rye, Harrision, White Plains and parts of Greenwich, North Castle and Mamaroneck. In 1665 the General Court of Connecticut merged the settlement under the name of Rye, in honor of the prominent family among the early colonists who had come from Rye, England. For nearly one hundred years, Rye was disputed territory between New York and Connecticut, until finally, in 1788, the New York State legislature officially established the Town of Rye boundaries. The group of settlers moved outward from Manursing Island and eventually developed Pening Neck (the present business section of the City of Rye) and the "Saw Pit" as Port Chester was commonly called then. The name Port Chester was adopted in 1837. On May 4, 1868, Port Chester was incorporated as a village with specified limits within the Town of Rye.