300 Years of Rich History
Do you know anyone in the pictures below? Do you have any other information about these groups? If so, you can help the library build its collection of local history and save this information for future generations.
Please send any information you may have to us using our contact form, or mail to Piermont Public Library, Local History, 25 Flywheel Park West, Piermont, NY 10968. In your message, please refer to the photo id information in the picture caption.
This photo has been identified:
Thanks to former Piermont resident John Stevenson, we now know the identity of every person in the above photo. It shows the Piermont 6th grade class of 1930. Thank you!
Fort Comfort Inn
During the latter part of the 19th century, the development of the steamboat and railroad had made possible a growing tourist business in the Hudson Valley. People streamed out of the hot and dirty city to find healthful air, water and tranquility along the banks of the river, and an enterprising Fort Comfort Inn and Realty Company, under its president George DeGroat, converted an old mansion on the west side of Piermont Avenue into a hotel called the Fort Comfort Inn. Subsequently a recreational facility variously called “Fort Comfort”, “Fort Comfort Resort” or “Old Fort Comfort Park” was started on the other side of the avenue southeast of the hotel.
What is That Piece of Junk in Flywheel Park?
That is the actual flywheel, really a piece of machinery, which helped provide power for the first factory in Piermont more than 100 years ago. It was installed in 1902, as part of a steam-driven generator, for the Piermont Paper Company. In 1924, the Robert Gair Company absorbed the older outfit, and was later itself taken over by Continental Can. The paper industry here kept chugging along until the mid-1980s when the facility, then owned by Federal Paper Board/Clevepak, was closed forever and the land sold for development.
A History of Your Library – 1896 to Today
In the second half of the 19th century, a movement for public libraries began in the U.S. There is some evidence that starting in the 1870’s there were groups interested in creating a library in Piermont. But it wasn’t until 1896 that today’s library became an official entity.
A Very Brief History of Piermont
Piermont – Early History
The history of Piermont began many millions of years ago with geological events that left a break in the solid rock wall of the Palisades dominant along the west shore of the Hudson River above Manhattan. This break, and the creek that ran through it into the Hudson, created a passageway to the interior, making it an ideal place for commerce and trade. Tappan Indians, part of the Delaware Nation, inhabited the region and traded with the predominantly Dutch settlers when they began arriving in the 17th century. From that point on, this developed into an increasingly busy location that was variously called Tappan Slote, Tappan Landing, The Slote, or The Landing – but not Piermont.