Bill Sharman, Memories of Briarcliff Manor. Notebook 2024-2

(In) 1930, my mother, father and I arrived in town to stay with friends until we "got back on our feet," my father having lost his job when the banks closed during the Great Depression. The Village population at that time was about 1,400. It is over 8,600 today. We stayed with friends for a year or so, rented an apartment in a four-family dwelling near the Pocantico River off Pleasantville Road, and finally bought a house, which stood where the current post office is.

The new station after the old one had been moved to Millwood

(By the 1900s) there were five ways to reach Briarcliff from New York City - four by road and one by rail: Albany Post Road (now Route 9), South State Road (still the same), the Briarcliff-Peekskill Parkway (now Route 9A), the Bronx River Parkway Extension (now the Taconic State Parkway) and the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. The trip from Grand Central Terminal took about an hour. The tracks ran through town on what is now the North County Trailway Bike Trail. The passengers had to change at Highbridge in the Bronx to get a Hudson Division train into Grand Central. Steam locomotives were not allowed in the tunnel under Park Avenue.

The original station was moved to Millwood when Mr. Law built a fancy new station in 1906, which is now the original part of the expanded public library. Passenger service ended in 1958 when more people commuted by car and fewer by rail. Freight service stopped in 1962. As kids we used to peer down the locomotive smokestacks as the trains passed under the Pleasantville Road bridge getting a face-full of smoke. And you thought cigarette smoke was hazardous to your health! There were far fewer automobiles in those days and the only traffic jams occurred on Sunday nights when city-bound traffic was backed up on the Taconic from the Hawthorne Circle to Briarcliff.

Two notable sightings on the Parkway: One was in 1939 when the King and Queen of England were driving up to visit President Roosevelt at Hyde Park. They were supposed to stop to be greeted by some of their loyal subjects from the Victoria Home in Ossining. The motorcade barely slowed down leaving the disappointed Brits and the Boy Scout Troop very disappointed. In 1959 another famous person was spotted heading north -- Nikita Khrushchev -­ who didn't wave. In the 1940's, Briarcliff was a notorious speed trap. Our cops gave out more than their share of speeding tickets. On one occasion, Chief Johnson and Lieutenant Addis were chasing a car up 9A when they were passed by an even faster car. When they pulled this driver over to everyone's embarrassment, it turned out to be our Mayor, Fritz Kossow. I don't know if they gave him a ticket or not.

My earliest memories are of my school days. I spent all of my school years from kindergarten through high school in one building located where the Atria now stands. Some grade school memories: my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Duncomb, taught long enough to have had both of my daughters in her class. My stage debut was in first grade when I sang, 'I’m a Jack-in-the-Box " and popped out of said box in a show we put on for some of the older classes. In fourth grade, my parents arranged for me to take violin lessons.   (I would rather  have  played  trumpet.) I played through high school - even played "Pomp and Circumstance" in the orchestra for my graduation. Sixth grade brought my first dancing class. We boys had to dance with girls, which I only appreciated later.

The Alamo

In high school, along   with   the   usual   English, history, math, languages, science, etc., there were many extracurricular activities available. Sports for the boys only included football, basketball and baseball; and for the girls, field hockey, basketball and softball. Bill Bowers was the only coach for the boys' teams from 1928 until the 1970's. (He did have assistants in his later years.)  He let anyone join a team and have some playing time so that even those of us with limited ability got to come off the bench and into the game. At 123 pounds I was a little light for football when players played both sides of the ball, but I did make two tackles in one game when the outcome of the score was no longer in doubt.

When school was over for the summer, we left home in the morning and made our own activities. Much time was spent at the pool. The Briarcliff pool was the first municipal pool in Westchester (courtesy of Mr. Law) built in 1926. We all learned to swim there. The tennis courts were in their present location. There were pick-up neighborhood baseball games and basketball and football on the high school field (still there). On most Sundays a baseball game between local men and teams of neighboring towns was played on this field. We watched from the park on the hill above the field. The kids chased the foul balls and received ten cents for each one they returned. In the evenings after supper there were games of kick-the-can, redlight, hide­ and-seek until dark. There was an abandoned quarry off Carlton Avenue with a dilapidated building where we played at times. For a couple of years there was a donkey baseball game on a farm where Hemlock and Spruce Roads are today. It was fun to see the local guys try to control the donkeys.

A soap-box  derby  was  run  down  Todd  Lane.  One year the wheels of my little red wagon went missing and turned up on a car built by one of the older boys in the neighborhood. My father made sure they were returned.

The sale of fireworks was not permitted in Briarcliff so I got on my bike, rode to Millwood  and  bought some at a roadside stand. The police informed me that throwing cherry bombs against the wall of the post office or blowing up tin cans on Horsechestnut Road was frowned on. One year my father was shooting skyrockets when a hot spark landed on my head. His quick hands prevented all but a little scorching.

A steam train belching copious amounts of smoke passes the new station.

In the winter there was   ice   skating   and   hockey   on the pond in Law Park (it was much larger then) and on Gooseneck Pond at the corner  of  Birch  and  Pine  Roads  on the Briar  Hills  Golf  course.  We went sledding wherever there was a good hill. One took us from the top  of the  hill on Valentine Road, across the road, behind the houses on Simpson Road, across Larch Road and  into the field  next  to  the Taconic.

There was also skiing in the Village. The best run down the hill from the Briarcliff Lodge to Dalmeny Road. There was even a small jump built there.

We traveled everywhere on foot or by bike. There was so much open land that places to play were everywhere. Tuttle Road had only two houses - one at each end. On the west side was Titlar's Farm, with large haystacks near the road. They were great to climb in, relax and slide down until Mr. Titlar objected. There were apple orchards and grape arbors for a quick snack and a well with pump on Long Hill Road for an ice-cold drink.

The Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troops were active. The boy's troop predated 1919 and the girl's organized in 1929. Weekly meetings, hikes, early morning bird watching, and overnight campouts kept us busy.  Horseshoe pitching was also a popular sport. I had a court in the empty field beside our house and we played next to the railroad tracks on South State Road behind a friend's house. When our horseshoes bounced on rocks, we threw the rocks across the tracks. One day a train was coming, and I tried to throw one over the train and it was short hitting the train. I finally convinced the police who came to investigate that it was my weak arm not my intent to hit the train that caused the cracked window.

Some early businesses included the Briarcliff Laundry on Woodside Avenue. Its fleet of trucks picked up the dirty laundry and delivered the clean throughout Westchester, Connecticut and New York City. Whitson's Garage, built by two of the brothers, became Creighton's and, most recently, Birritella's. Davies Drug Store was at the end of the stores on Pleasantville Road. It became Kennard's - then Cadman's and Jules.  The Christopher Brothers Deli became Weldon's. The Manor Valet has been in the same location for many years. One of my first jobs was to drive their delivery truck and to remove fancy buttons and sew them back when the clothes were cleaned. Weldon's Stationary Store was Wittenberg's. Mrs. Black's Variety Store became the Briar Rose and now it is Wondrous Things. Schuman's Pyrofax Gas and Kitchen Ranges and Oil Burners was next to the municipal building with a driveway between and with open lots on the other side. Another of my summer jobs was to deliver bottled gas throughout Westchester and nearby Connecticut and I got quite familiar with the country roads. At one time there were both an A & P and a Gristede's in the row of stores. On the west side of Pleasantville Road were two gas stations and the rest was open space. The Fire Department held an annual bazaar for many years there.

Aerial view of Town

Prior to 1952 there were no street numbers in the Village. Village Engineer Max Vogel (and later the first Village Manager) and I  drove  around  and  gave  address  numbers – one number for each 25 feet of frontage. He would not assign the number 13 unless the owner at that time didn't object. The numbering became necessary as the village had grown and was to identify locations in case of fire.

The Briarcliff Manor Fire Department was organized in 190 1, a year before the Village was incorporated. It began with horse-drawn wagons and now has some very fine equipment. It has always been totally volunteer. Even the chiefs are unpaid. Our trucks have always been white. Mr. Law believed that white was more visible at night than the standard red. The department is comprised of the Fire Company, the Hook & Ladder & Rescue, the Scarborough Company and the Ambulance Corps. Many communities have a separate corps - not so Briarcliff. In 1943 during World War II when most able-bodied young men were away in the military service, the Village Board decided to lower the age for membership to 16 (with parental consent). In February of that year, eight Briarcliff High School students, including yours truly, were sworn into the Department and given on-the-job training, unlike the many courses required today. I am still a proud member after 70 years. My first fire was a porch roof at a house on Maple and Valentine Roads. I was sent up a ladder to see if I could spot more flames. With no breathing apparatus, I saw only smoke and the fire was contained.

Many roads (in the village) were unpaved  when I first moved here:  Jackson  Road  and  Washburn  Road east of the Parkway, for example . I rode my bike to Camp Edith Macy one summer on the dirt roads to my job as the salad boy at the camp. Other local jobs I had were mowing lawns, cleaning houses. At one house I split wood in the cellar for the fireplace as the owner was giving singing lessons. Sounded like someone was beating his wife.

The Thalle Building on Old Route 100 was once the site of a riding stable where I first learned to ride. During my high school years there being little to do in the evening, we went to the movies at the Rome Theatre in Pleasantville (now the Burns Center), or to the Victoria and Strand theatres on Church Street in Ossining. Since very few students had cars then, we took the bus or walked.  I was dating a girl in Ossining and walked or rode my bike to her house. We walked down and back to the movies and back to Briarcliff. She found a guy with a car, dumped me and later married him.

A lot more places in the Village fill my memories - the churches, the schools and colleges and many friends. It was a great place for kids to grow up in and still is. 

Bill Sharman was a long-time resident of Briarcliff Manor, having arrived in the village in 1930 when his mother and father moved here.