Rye Brook Village

Westchester County, New York

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Rye Brook Village Hall is located at 938 King Street, Rye Brook, NY 10573.
Phone: 914‑939‑1121.

The Village of Rye Brook [‡] is Westchester's newest municipality, incorporated on July 7, 1982, from the last remaining unincorporated area in the Town of Rye. The Town's history began in 1640 when land was purchased from Native American inhabitants. The first colonists to move into the area were settlers from nearby Greenwich, who in 1660 negotiated a treaty with Mohican chief Shenarockwell for all the land along Long Island Sound between the Mamaroneck and Byram Rivers. The Town apparently took its name from the town of Rye, in Sussex England, the former home of some of the settlers. Over time, this land became established into three individual municipalities: the Village of Port Chester (1868); the eastern section of Mamaroneck Village (1895); and Rye Village (1904), which later seceded from the Town and became a city in 1942.

In 1940, the unincorporated area of the Town of Rye (now the Village of Rye Brook) had fewer than 2,000 residents, and was characterized by large estates, farmland and open space. The area experienced significant population growth through the 1960s, and had grown to 8,000 residents by 1980.

A 1981 Pace University study, commissioned by the Village of Port Chester to assess alternative forms of government for that village, initiated the concept of self-governance for Rye Brook. A group of residents of the unincorporated area of the Town, known as the Independent Civic Association (ICA), concluded that the only certain way of achieving independence, self-determination and protection of the residents' tax base was to form an independent village separate from the Town of Rye. The ICA led a petition and referendum process that resulted in the 1982 incorporation of the Village of Rye Brook. This process also established the principle of non-partisan and non-compensated public officials that remain an important part of the Village's government today.

‡ Village of Rye Brook Comprehensive Plan, Plan Rye Brook, 2014, www.ryebook.org, accessed May, 2017.Nearby Towns: Greenwich Town • North Castle Town • Port Chester Vlg • White Plains City •


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