Buildings and reputations can change over time. The oldest building in Westchester County, New York, (immediately north of the city, abutting the Bronx) is Philipse Manor Hall in the city of Yonkers.
The original house was constructed in 1682 and enlarged twice in the following 90 years. The Philipse family were loyalists during the Revolutionary War who abandoned the house in 1776 to move to England. From 1868 to 1908 the house served as the Yonkers Village Hall and later City Hall; it’s been a museum and historic monument since 1912.
Given that we are a week away from Juneteenth, Philipse Manor gives a good entry point to discuss a difficult topic: slavery in the northern colonies (later states). The Philipses had, among other businesses, a large investment in trans-Atlantic slave trading. They also kept a large number of slaves at their working farm and mill complex further north, near Sleepy Hollow. The short version is that every colony had some form of slavery prior to the Revolutionary War, but some abolished it after. Massachusetts abolished slavery completely in 1783, at the end of the war; several states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, abolished it gradually starting in the late 1700s. There is, from our perspective, no excuse for the “gradual” part of that sentence. The New York state legislature outlawed slavery in 1799, but it took until 1827 for the last slaves in the state to be freed. A small measure of justice applied to the Philipse’s slaves: in 1786, New York freed immediately all slaves of people whose property had been confiscated during the Revolution for treason, and this applied to the Philipse family and their slaves.
So the house was built on immoral wealth, served the public good in the city of Yonkers, and is now a museum. That’s a path in the right direction.
Part 1, Fraunces Tavern: here.
Part 2, St. Paul’s Chapel: here.
Part 3, Fort Ticonderoga: here.
Like this? Then read the “Witnessing the Revolution” series by Cirrus Structural Engineering
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