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The museum is housed in two distinct buildings bearing Dutch sandstone features indicative of the area.

The historic Salyer House at 213 Blue Hill Road in Pearl River, New York is the Museum's first home and since 2003 has been listed on the register of Historic Places and
The DePew House
196 Blaisdell Road
Orangeburg, New York which houses the museum's administrative offices and a substantive portion of the archives

 

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Centuries before a Dutchman from New Jersey first settled here, the shoreline along today’s Village of Nyack was already well known to the Lenape for its limitless bounty of oysters and fish. By one definition, Nyack derives its name from the native word “nay-ack” — “the fishing place.”

Nyack was part of the van Purmerant Patents of the late 1600s. Van Purmerant, who lived in what is now Jersey City, sold some of his land to a neighbor, Herman Douwsen Tallman, who left to settle in Nyack in 1675, making it the oldest community in Orangetown, and Rockland County. Tallman farmed and built a mill and, in 1686, became the first appointed sheriff of Orange County.

Before the Revolution, Nyack was a small farming settlement. In 1813 Tunis and Peter Smith bought a large tract of land. Together they engineered Nyack’s rise as an important deep-water river port and a leader in shipbuilding, transportation, manufacturing, and business. The Smiths helped bring about the Nyack–Suffern Turnpike (today’s Route 59) and in 1826, helped form the Nyack Steamboat Association, which built the first engine-driven boat constructed here. Steam-powered passenger and freight transport to New York flourished until 1870 when the Northern Railroad of New Jersey soon replaced it.

Nyack, together with South Nyack, were incorporated as the Village of Nyack in September, 1872. In February of 1878, however, it was disincorporated after South Nyack voted to secede. Nyack didn’t reincorporate until 1883.

Railroads established Nyack as a commuter suburb, and vacation destination. For most of the 1800s Nyack was also a manufacturing town, producing shoes, pianos, sleighs, carriages and wagons. In the early 1900s Nyack became a center for business, and the shopping mecca of Rockland.

On the first day of the 20th century, Nyack Hospital opened, and as the 1900s progressed, theatre and the arts also became part of the villagescape. Today, despite the nearby presence of the Tappan Zee Bridge and the New York Thruway, Nyack remains a peaceful place of tree-lined streets, a vibrant business district, and a historic riverfront that still inspires all who see it.

Segar Manufacturer
John Walter, Segar Manufacturer, 1890  - For most of the 1800s, Nyack was known as a manufacturing town. At its peak 12 shoe factories were in business, the last of which closed in 1900. Other factories produced pianos, sulfur matches, woodenware, boilers, pipe organs, and sleighs, carriages, and wagons. At the same time, smaller businesses like the John Walter Segar Manufacturer, shown in 1890 at the corner of South Broadway and Burd Street, also flourished. (Courtesy Nyack Library)
Nyack_Hospital
Nyack Hospital, 1900  - Nyack Hospital opened on January 1, 1900 to provide medical care which, until then, often required a trip to New York City. The original two-story building had one operating room, nine beds, and a nurse’s parlor. Its first annex was a house built for President Grover Cleveland that was moved next to the hospital. By 2011, the hospital had over 350 beds, nine operating rooms, and over 650 staff physicians. (Courtesy Nyack Library)

 

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