1850's TRANSFORMATION The 1850's was a time of drastic change in the Village. Underhill’s Crossing changed its name to Bronxville, as the Underhills sold off most of their remaining land. In 1850 Benjamin Horton established a grocery store next to the train tracks and Lancaster Underhill, grandson of the original colonial settler, was ensconced as the first station master and postmaster. His house, which stood beside the railroad, also doubled as the train station and, from 1852, as the community’s first post office. The first commuters arrived in the 1850's, including the DeWitt brothers, several of whom practiced law in the Wall Street area. While the DeWitt’s primary seat was in Yonkers, by 1855 one brother had built a house on Elm Rock Road, and the DeWitts owned more than 100 acres of the land eventually incorporated as Bronxville Village. The road to Tuckahoe, now Sagamore Road, was laid out by the DeWitts in 1860. The growth of the 1850's was not sustained, however, in part because of “malarial vapours” rising from stagnant water along the Bronx River. <<Previous • Chapter List • Next>>