Hawthorne

History

The village was originally known as Hammond's Mills, and was part of Frederick Philipse's estate Philipsburgh. On September 23, 1780, Major John André stopped here on his way to New York to ask directions after meeting with Benedict Arnold. After the Revolutionary War, the name of the village changed to Unionville. The hamlet's population consisted mostly of farmers. The Reformed Church of Unionville (Hawthorne Reformed Church) was built here in 1818. In 1832, a one-room school house was built. In 1847, a railroad station was established on New York Central's Harlem Division, with the name Unionville. A post office was established on February 10, 1851, and was designated Neperan after the Indian name for the Saw Mill River. In the early 1890s, real-estate developer Louis Smadbeck began buying up the area farms to subdivide into parcels, which were sold to working- and middle-class people looking to live outside the city. In 1901, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, also known as Mother Mary Alphonsa, O.P., a convert to Catholicism and daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, founded Rosary Hill Home in Sherman Park (now Thornwood) for those suffering from incurable cancer. Mother Mary Alphonsa also founded a Dominican Order now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. Shortly after the opening of the cancer home, the hamlet was renamed Hawthorne in Mother Mary Alphonsa's honor. Rosary Hill Home is still operated by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and is located on a hilltop on Linda Avenue. Hawthorne is the final resting place of Babe Ruth, James Cagney, Billy Martin, Malachi Martin, Dorothy Kilgallen, Ernesto Lecuona and many other notables interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. The Hammond House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. On July 12, 2006,…

Geography

Hawthorne is located at (41.103664, -73.795807). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land. Bounded by Route 9A to the west, the Taconic State Parkway to the east, and split in the middle by the Sprain Brook Parkway, Hawthorne lies near the geographic center of Westchester County. Corporate parks and nurseries line Hawthorne's Route 9A corridor. Commerce Street (Route 141), the main commercial thoroughfare serving both Hawthorne and Thornwood, runs north to south, parallel to Metro-North's Harlem Line tracks. It is a 40-minute train ride from the Hawthorne station to Grand Central Terminal.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• WHITE PLAINS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  High · WHITE PLAINS · 2,220 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• PORT CHESTER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  High · PORT CHESTER · 1,555 students · 14.1:1 ratio
• OSSINING HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OSSINING · 1,552 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• WHITE PLAINS MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · WHITE PLAINS · 1,517 students · 9.7:1 ratio
• SCARSDALE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  High · SCARSDALE · 1,458 students · 10.3:1 ratio
• FOX LANE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · BEDFORD · 1,241 students · 10.2:1 ratio
• HORACE GREELEY HIGH SCHOOL
  High · CHAPPAQUA · 1,152 students · 10.3:1 ratio
• SCARSDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · SCARSDALE · 1,131 students · 11.5:1 ratio