Saw Pit to Port Chester: Village History Online

Recently, I got curious about Port Chester's history, so I decided to visit the village's website and look into it.

Would it be a gripping yarn? Or something wildly-anticipated, which then turned out to be slow and meandering, with a weak ending? Didn't we all go through enough of that with "Cowboys and Aliens"?

As it turns out, how the village came to be is pretty riveting stuff, as well-told and involving as a play by Chekhov. And how that guy was able to turn out plays while running the Starship Enterprise is beyond me. I'm going to look his story up next!

Apparently, wandering tribes of Mohegan Indians were the earliest inhabitants of what's known today as Port Chester. Following on their heels were white settlers from Connecticut, who soon bought some of the land from these Native Americans. It was a good deal: 200 bags of wampum, plus a settler to be named later.

Not long after, a man named Peter Disbrow came into the picture. He set himself up as the purchasing agent for the settlers, which made them nervous. Especially since all he had in the way of education was a GED.

Disbrow, however, proved them all wrong. He ultimately purchased "Manussing Island," for the grand sum of "eight cotes and 7 shirts." The Mohegan's agent okayed the deal and the Indians reluctantly accepted it. But they fired him the next day and went with someone from William Morris.

It wasn't until 1788 that the local government finally established some boundaries for The Town of Rye. If for no other reason than that people kept getting a little too friendly with us. And soon we were able to say, Hey, boundaries!' After the boundaries, we then were able to set limits. Then things really started falling into place.

Not too much later, a group of settlers moved outward toward Manursing Island and developed "Poningo Neck" and the "Saw Pit," as Port Chester was often called back then. It's not the most beautiful name, of course. But as a settler wrote in his diary back then, "You should see what they wanted to call it."

I have. And we got lucky.

"Saw Pit" by the way, was named for the "saw mill" near the mouth of the Byram River. Considering that the only other business nearby was Joe's Slaughterhouse, we really dodged a bullet with that one, too.

Port Chester was not much more than a hamlet during the Revolutionary War. But we soon began to grow in numbers, even attracting numerous British soldiers to defect. Partly it was our slogan, "Port Chester, Come For The War, Stay For The Scones." You can't believe how effective this was.

During that war, Port Chester was an important outpost, with soldiers from both sides vying to take possession of it. The colonists finally grabbed it by using the oldest trick in the world. They simply said, ''Ello love, what's that over there?' When the British turned, the Americans said, "Made you look, made you look!" And the Brits were just too humilated to continue.

By the 19th century, we had changed from an agricultural area to a manufacturing center. Port Chester tried to compromise by manufacturing wax fruit, but it was desperate attempt that went nowhere. 

Ultimately, by the 1950s, we found our feet once again. Although, it was embarrassing that others had to point this out. And worse, by explaining that they were those strange looking things at the end of our legs.

Still, it was the British who told us where to look. So it made up for a lot of injustices of the past. And from that point on, our relations have been very cordial. We also plan to have them over for tea, any day now. Except the excuse is wearing thin. I mean, how long can you keep saying, 'As soon as we're settled?'

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