mill. In connection with the mill he had a factory for manufacturing

axe and shovel handles. Between the years 1805 and 1825 New Milford was an exceedingly busy place. The original and only town at the time was where the post-office is at present.

There were six mills on the Doublekill, and four on the stream covered by the arch bridge, near the post-office, known as Green Mine Brook. On the Doublekill there were the grist mill, or axe handle factory, and tannery owned by S. W. Clason, now owned by E. M. Bahrmann; further down the stream a feed mill, a saw mill and a fulling or wool-carding mill. Then on the Green Mine stream there were a clover seed mill, plaster mill, cider mill with distillery, and about where William T. Vandervort's barn is located there was a large saw mill run by David Demarest. A very good schoolhouse was situated just west of the present Methodist church. A post-office was established in 1815--the first postmaster was Merritt Coleman. The turnpike running between New York and Port Jervis left the main road near the present home of Darius Fancher, crossed the E. L. Davis farm, continued northward over a bridge which was east of the present site of Borden's creamery, and up the hill to the road which now passes west of the house known as Peachblow. This was the main road to the northwest. Mr. E. L. Davis built a fulling and carding mill near the bridge and operated that as well as a saw mill.

Further down on Wawayanda Creek there were a saw mill, cider mill and distillery owned by John Ryerson. The "covered bridge" was built about 1830. In 1835, a boarding school for young ladies was opened in the house now occupied by John Lines. The principal, Charles G. Winfield, was a man of profound learning. Here the best people of Warwick and vicinity sent their daughters to be educated. It was a classical school of the highest order. The Methodist church was opened in 1838. In 1861, When there was a call for volunteers. New Milford, with a population of only 150 persons, responded with twenty-eight men.

With the growth of the dairy business in Orange County, less attention was paid to milling interests. In 1866, a factory for condensing milk was built where the Kiernan fulling and carding mill stood. This was abandoned after the railroad was built in 1879. In 1898 a fire swept away the business portion of New Milford, and it has not been entirely rebuilt.

At present the town is regaining some of the business prosperity it enjoyed one hundred years ago. There are two grist mills and a saw mill, and one of the largest creameries for bottling and condensing milk in the county, owned by Borden's Milk Company, where 4,500 gallons of milk are received and shipped daily. There are several old cemeteries scattered throughout New Milford, where one may read the names of those who lived when the "years were young."

_Pine Island._

Pine Island is a village lying two miles northwest of Amity at the terminus of the Goshen and Deckertown railroad, leased by the Erie. It has a public school, a hotel, a store and post-office.

_Greenwood Lake and Sterling._

The Chesekook's patent, confirmed by letters patent of Queen Anne, which embraced this district, was granted March 25, 1707, by Manngomack and other Indians, whose names are unpronounceable, and who signed by their marks, representatives of the sub-tribes of the Minsis, whose totem was the wolf, a branch of the Lenni-Lenapes, whose totem was the turkey, a branch of the great Algonkin or Algonquin tribe, or nation, which held sway over them.

This deed was dated December 30, 1702, and recorded in the Orange County clerk's office, June 1, 1736. The original patent, bearing Queen Anne's seal, is in the possession of the Sterling Iron and Railway Company. Sterling and Greenwood Lake are now embraced in the sixth election district of the town of Warwick.

Charles Clinton surveyed this patent for the owners in common, beginning April 1, 1735, and ending December 13, 1749. He mentions in his field book, as early as 1745, that iron works were in operation at Sterling, but to what extent is not stated. The old furnace at Sterling, now in ruins, is said to have been built in 1751, and from it was drawn the iron from which the great chain was made to cross the Hudson River in Revolutionary days from West Point to Constitution Island. This chain was built by Abel Noble & Co., Peter Townsend signing the contract for said firm for its construction February 2, 1778, to be finished by April 1, 1778. This chain was drawn across the river April 30, 1778. A bronze tablet commemorating the building of Sterling furnace was unveiled at the foot of the furnace on June 23, 1906. Iron mining is still in active operation, a shaft extending diagonally under Sterling Lake a distance of over 2,000 feet, but the ore is all shipped to other furnaces. The iron industry created a need for charcoal, and from Revolutionary times until about 1865 cutting wood and burning charcoal was an industry extending all over this section, and through the mountains of Greenwood Lake and Sterling is a network of wood roads and many foundations where formerly stood the dwellings of collieries. Sterling Mountain rises about 600 feet above the surface of Greenwood Lake, which is about nine miles long and 700 feet elevation above sea level.

The map of this section made by Robert Erskine for General Washington gives it the name of Long pond. About midway on the west side and about 300 feet from the shore of Greenwood Lake stands an old furnace on the furnace brook, which was built about seventy-five years ago by William Noble of Bellvale. The furnace was a failure from the start, as the stream of water furnished insufficient power for the blast. About 1845 Wanaque Creek, at the outlet of Greenwood Lake, was crossed by a dam, which raised the lake about eight feet, resulting in the overflow of about a mile of low land at both the north and south ends of the lake, forming a reservoir for the use of the Morris and Essex Canal, nine miles long and a mile wide. The New York and Greenwood Lake railroad reached here in 1876. The terminal station at the line between New York and New Jersey on the east shore, called then "State Line" (now Sterling Forest), was accessible by boats only, there being no public road until 1889, when one was built by the town of Warwick, the contract being taken by Conrad Diehl of Goshen. The steamboat _Montclair,_ capable of carrying 400 passengers or more, was built and launched in 1876, to accommodate travelers from the railroad. Smaller boats had been previously built, first the _Pioneer,_ a sail boat, then the _Sylph,_ then the _Montclair,_ and later the _Anita,_ and at present several small steamers and naphtha launches without number are in use.

Prior to the completion of the railroad visitors reached here by stage from Monks on the south or from Monroe on the north. Religious services were held in a log schoolhouse one mile north of Greenwood Lake prior to 1850, when under the pastorate of Rev. J. H. Haunhurst, the first Methodist church of Greenwood Lake was built, where services were regularly held until 1898, when the settlement concentrating about two miles farther south, it was deemed expedient to build a new Methodist Episcopal church on land donated for the purpose by M. V. Wilson, opposite the new schoolhouse, which for the same reason was built about two and one-quarter miles south of its former site, and now has an attendance of sixty-three pupils. The school at Sterling mines has about the same number of pupils, children of the miners, religious services being held in the schoolhouse under Methodist supervision.

The new Methodist Episcopal church of Greenwood Lake was built under the supervision of Pastor Cranston, and now in 1907 Rev. J. H. Calyer is pastor. For fifty-seven years the church has never been without a pastor in charge of regular services.

In about the year 1880 a summer school of Christian philosophy, under the supervision of William O. McDowell, was begun in a fine auditorium erected for the purpose at Warwick Woodlands on the west shore of the lake, and, for the accommodation of visitors, an encampment hotel in connection with the Greenwood Lake Association clubhouse was under the supervision of Lyndon Y. Jenness. Dr. Charles H. Deems, Dr. Lyman Abbott and many other speakers on religious, social and philosophical themes, spoke to the assembled multitudes. This club house for a time was Greenwood Lake's center of interest, but for lack of support financially it was finally abandoned to the uses and amusements of excursionists. In 1906 the dilapidated building was demolished.

About 1880 a movement took form to inaugurate a church on what was known as the lime rocks, and under the management of Rev. Mr. Bradford, of Montclair, assisted by local friends, a tent was erected here where services from time to time were held. Now a stone church occupying this most picturesque spot is under construction and the supervision of E. G. Lewis, of New York City, representing the Episcopal church.

Civilization's onward march is taking strong form here, and over the old Indian camping grounds, where numberless arrow heads, spear points, stone axes and beautifully ornamented fragments of pottery bear testimony to the race that has departed, leaving only here and there a name that claims relationship, stand to-day spacious hotels, towering churches, palatial homes, and the last society formed for their protection is the Pioneer Fire Company of Greenwood Lake, which was formed May 3, 1907.

_Little York._

The hamlet of Little York is about a mile east from Pine Island, in the town of Warwick. The first settler, Conrad Luft, came from Russia and settled there in 1886. About five years later Henry Lust, another Russian, came and located. Then followed in 1897 Peter Miller, Conrad Schmick, and August Youngmann. The next year eight more families came from Russia, buying land and building homes. Their industry is onion raising, for which the black meadow land which they cultivate is admirably adapted. They are Russians, but speak the German language and are Lutherans in religion. They are very industrious and thrifty, and nearly all have their homes and the land all paid for. In 1907 there were twenty-four houses, and one church, the Evangelical Lutheran, of which Rev. Gerhard Rademacher is the rector. There are about 200 in population, 100 communicant members of said church, and thirty-three voters.

A parochial school is maintained in connection with the church and has thirty-nine children in attendance. The church was built in 1898, finished in 1901, and incorporated in 1904. Rev. George Kaestner served the church until 1904. It was under his ministry that the church was begun and completed. He was followed by the present pastor, Rev. Gerhard Rademacher, during whose ministry the parsonage was built and the cemetery of three acres acquired.

Other Russians are expected the present year to come and settle here.

_Amity._

Amity is the western portion of the town of Warwick, extending about three miles in radius from the Presbyterian church, the only house of worship in the village.

The church was organized by a committee of the Presbytery of Hudson on September 15, 1809, but the first building had been erected and dedicated thirteen years previous, August 1, 1796. The building stands on a lovely eminence 500 feet above sea level and commands a splendid view in every direction.

The two conical mountains, Adam and Eve, some four miles distant, stand to the northeast and are about 800 feet above the level of the sea. These granite mountains are rough and rocky, and are covered with impenetrable brush and bramble.

The chief occupation of the people is extensive farming. Peach growing, however, became a popular and profitable industry about 1885, and continued for twenty years, during which time all the principal farmers turned their best land into orchards, from which they shipped thousands of baskets of delicious fruit to New York City and other towns, where there was great demand and high prices.

It was not uncommon for a successful orchardist to realize from $5,000 to $10,000 for his crop in a single season. The land soon became exhausted, however, the San Jose scale attacked and killed the trees, and the business declined as rapidly as it had sprung up. About the present date (1907) a new find in the land is receiving much attention--limestone in unlimited quantity in most of the farms. Prospectors are finding zinc and other valuable minerals, which indicate wealth for those who still possess the soil.

_Bellvale._

Bellvale village, known in Colonial times as Wawayanda, is situated on the lower rapids of Longhouse Creek, which here enters the meadows and flows a mile and one-half to Stone Bridge station, where it enters the Wawayanda, which has its source in Clark's Lake, and then loses its name when merged in the smaller stream. Longhouse Creek has its source in a swamp in New Jersey a short distance east from Wawayanda Lake. It has a large watershed at an elevation above tide water of about 1,100 feet, and in its descent of six or seven miles runs through several fine storage basins and down numerous rapids and falls. For a distance of 500 feet options were taken on some of the storage basins by the Ramapo Water Company during its active days, with a view to conducting the water into the headquarters of the Ramapo River.

This stream is well adapted for the generation of water power for electrical or manufacturing purposes, and we learn from colonial history, was utilized by Lawrence Scrauley in 1745 to operate a forge of tilt-hammer for a plating and slitting mill. This was the only mill of this kind in the State of New York, and in 1750 was not in operation. Under the Crown we were not allowed to advance the manufacturing stage of iron beyond the pig and bar iron stages. It seems Scrauley took his chances in this secluded portion of the valley to furnish more convenient sizes of iron to meet the wants of the blacksmiths and builders of that day, and thus avoid paying tribute to the manufacturers of the mother country. The ruins of the hearth where the ore was melted, the raceway, and the pit for the wheel that operated the tilt-hammer, are still visible, as well as the mudsill of the foundation of the dam.

During the War of 1812, a Mr. Peck had an establishment upon the stream, near the home of William M. Mann, where he manufactured bridle-bits, stirrups, buckles and saddle trees for our cavalry. As well as agricultural implements generally.

The old forge site and the lands along the rapids up to the line of the Chesekook patent were bought by Daniel Burt in 1760, and soon after he built a flouring mill and a saw mill, both of which were washed away by the breaking away of the dam during a very unusually heavy shower of rain. The present flouring mill is situated near the site of the earlier one. A saw mill was built in 1812, by John Bradner and Brower Robinson, and rebuilt by Thomas Burt, who operated it and a turning shop for about twenty years. The dam has been washed away and the mill is in ruins. A wool carding factory was built by Nathaniel Jones about 1810. and subsequently enlarged for the manufacture of broadcloths by Joseph Brooks, but is not now in operation. James, the son of Daniel Burt, about 1812 settled three of his sons at Bellvale in the milling and mercantile business. They established shops for a blacksmith, carpenter, wagon-maker, cooper, tailor, shoemaker and the manufacture of red earthen pottery. Benjamin Bradner had a tannery before 1812 where the ruins of the old saw mill are situated. The vats were located where is now the old raceway, and the bark was ground in a circular curb upon the flat rock back of the saw mill rolling a heavy mill-stone over the bark, as at one time apples were reduced to pumice by cider makers.

About 1808 the Bellvale and Monroe turnpike was built to make a shorter route to the markets along the Ramapo for the produce of the farmers of Warwick. It was nine miles long and shortened the distance previously traveled by about one-half.

The road was maintained above fifty years and the charter then surrendered to the State, and the road divided into districts--a fund on hand of about $500 was spent in putting the road in order before the charter was surrendered. The stockholders never received any money for their investment. The massive stone bridge over the channel at Bellvale was built in 1832, to take the place of the old wooden one then unsafe for travel. Recently the old bridge site, as well as nearly all the land along the Longhouse Creek for four or five miles, has passed into the hands of one owner, also all the mills and about 3,000 acres of land lying along the stream. The probable development of the water power for electrical purposes and an early completion of the State road from Pine Island to Tuxedo promises a brighter future. Tradition accounts for the name of the stream from the long house that stood on its bank near the residence of the late C. R. Cline. The Indians that settled there built their houses end to end and, as their families became more numerous, a long house was built instead of the isolated circular wigwams of many tribes. That there was an Indian settlement at this place is highly probable from the nearby streams for fishing, swamp and mountain for hunting, and the fertile prairie-like land for their crops of corn and tobacco. In the part where the land has been cultivated plenty of flint arrow heads and large chips of flint with sharp edges have been found. The flint chips were used by the squaws in cultivating corn and tobacco.

In 1841, in digging a cellar for an addition to the house, the skeleton of an Indian of immense size was found, if the writer mistakes not, in a sitting posture. This may have been only one of a great many buried there and might have been their chief.

Out of a population of only about 330, at the time of the Civil War, forty-two were enrolled from Bellvale and the immediate vicinity. In 1907 the population of the place is estimated at about 300.

_Edenville._

Edenville, known in the early annals of local history as Postville, in honor of Colonel Jacobus Post, one of its pioneer settlers, enjoys a picturesque location three miles west of Warwick, with which place it is closely connected in its postal facilities and commercial interests.

Doubtless its early progenitors, because of the establishment of this little hamlet within a radius of great agricultural fertility, predicted its growth to be vastly greater than its actual development proved, but as one by one the railroads on either side were established Edenville was left to its primitive means of transportation.

Nearly north of the village of about one hundred inhabitants are located the isolated peaks of Mts. Adam and Eve, interest in the mineral deposits of which has increased with time. In the decades past, specimens of granite, syenite, granular quartz, hornblende, arsenical iron, and white limestone were gathered by the seeker of mineralogical specimens. Later the quarrying of granite was undertaken by the Orange County Granite Company and the Empire State Granite Company. The quality of the granite found within the mountain confines is of a high order, but the difficulty of transportation forbids an extensive output.

The oldest home of Postville, known as the "Shingle House," was built in 1734, and remained an object of much interest to visitors of the village until destroyed by fire in the winter of 1907.

This was the home of Col. Jacobus Post and is said to have been a haven for travelers on their early tours across the Netherland country.

The Edenville Methodist Church was organized on September 11th, 1822.

The school district known as Purling Brook district was organized in 1813.

_Florida._

Probably no village of our county presents so great a contrast in its local interests of to-day as compared with the early incentives of its development, as does Florida, or Floridus, land of the red flowers, situated six miles south of Goshen, six miles north of Warwick, which points are connected by a recently constructed State road.

In records relating to the early settlement of the village in the latter part of the eighteenth century we find the names of Seward, Armstrong, Wisner, Carr, Poppino, Randall, Thompson and Roe as actively identified with its early interests.

Although in the heart of a prolific agricultural section, recently developed to its full extent, political and scholastic ambition actuated the impulses of many of its earlier settlers, still to the steadfast, sterling qualities of those engaged in agricultural pursuits must be attributed its constant development.

During the governorship of George Clinton, 1777-1795, Florida was represented in the Legislature, and was prominent in the Revolutionary struggle. Later, in the political arena, we recall the career of William H. Seward, elected as state senator in 1831, Governor in 1838, United States Senator in 1849, and appointed Secretary of State in 1861.

Florida to-day shows marked changes in its church history. The Methodist Church was established in 1868. As early as 1742 a Presbyterian Church was organized. In 1837 the church edifice was consumed by fire. The present structure was erected in June, 1838. In 1839 a second Presbyterian Church was founded, but in 1878, the two churches were united. Two flourishing church organizations of the Catholic faith exist, St. Edwards and the St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church.

Educational matters early claimed the attention of the settlers of Florida, Samuel S. Seward, De Witt C. Jayne, Robert Armstrong and Jonas Seely serving respectively as school commissioners from 1813 to 1843. Judge Samuel S. Seward founded the S. S. Seward Institute in 1848 as a classical school, endowing it with the sum of $20,000. This school was held in the old Randolph hotel. After Judge Seward's death, a young ladies' seminary was established, opposite the original school building, and for years Florida was noted for its superior boarding school.

With the improved common school advantages of later years came the desire of the citizens to widen the influence of the school as originally designed, and accordingly a new edifice was erected bearing the name of S. S. Seward Institute, receiving the benefit of the reserve fund, and also the State appropriation for high schools, thus fulfilling in a greater sense the beneficent plans of the original founder.

A prominent factor in agricultural development has been the influx of many Poles and Germans of thrifty type, whose business, at first confined to onion and celery growth, is gradually reaching out to other industries and professions. Under their management largely the value of the black dirt land during the past thirty years has increased from $10 to $200 per acre.

Within the last year brick making has been revived. In July, 1905, the Florida Civic Improvement Club was organized.

A sketch of Florida would hardly be complete, without mention of Glenmere, a beautiful sheet of water, furnishing the village water supply, located one mile east of the village.

From the date of its early christening as Thompson's Pond, its clear waters have furnished pleasure to the boatman and fisherman.

CHURCHES.

_The Reformed Church of Warwick_ was organized by a committee of the Classis of Paramus in 1804, and was duly incorporated on March 18, 1807, under the corporate name and title of "The Consistory of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and Congregation of Warwick." It was the successor of the Presbyterian Church and occupies the same site of the earlier society. In 1904 it celebrated its centennial.

During Mr. Crispell's ministry the present stone church was built and furnished at a cost of about $40,000. The new edifice was begun in 1889, and dedicated June 26, 1890.

_Union African Methodist Episcopal Church._--This organization was begun in the winter of 1906. The church was incorporated under the above name on March 12, 1906. Rev. Joseph Stiles was the first pastor. During the year that Rev. Stiles had charge a new church was built on McEwan street at a cost of something like $2,000.

_The Roman Catholic Church of St. Stephen._--In Shea's history we read, Father Steinmeyer, S. J., better known as Father Farmer, crossed over from his New Jersey missions into Orange County and baptized seven near Warwick. After his death, other priests may have visited the neighborhood, but there is no record of the fact.

In 1849, Father Ward was appointed resident pastor at Goshen, with, charge of all Orange County, except the strip along the Hudson. The building formerly occupied by the Methodist church in Church street was purchased by the denomination, but was not taken possession of until 1867.

In June, 1887, the Presbyterian church at Florida was purchased.

In May, 1887, the cemetery ground was purchased at Warwick for $350, about an acre and a half.

Father Minogue erected the present church on South street in the year 1903, at a cost of $16,000.

_The Calvary Baptist Church of Warwick._--This church was formed on the 4th of January, 1866. Very soon after its organization, measures were taken to erect a house of worship. A lot was purchased on West street, in the village of Warwick, in 1867, and the edifice was dedicated August 26, 1868. The parsonage was built the following year--1869. Total expenditure about $20,000. In 1902 the house of worship was remodeled and a large addition made to the eastern side for the use of the Sunday school. Total expenditure, including new seats and pipe organ, about $10,000. Society incorporated February, 1872.

_The Methodist Episcopal Church of Warwick._--The list of pastors since 1880 is as follows: William Colden, 1880-1882; Cyrus W. McPherson, 1883-1884; E. S. Bishop, 1885-1887; Philip M. Waters, 1888-1889; Arthur Thompson, 1800-1894; Frank Heale, 1895-1896; Edwin H. Carr, 1897-1899; Elmer E. Count, 1900-1902; David McCartney, 1903-1904; J. C. Codington, 1905-1906; E. Stirling Potter, 1907.

In 1891, $5,500 was expended on improving church and parsonage. In 1906, $7,250 additional was expended, increasing the value of the property to nearly $13,000. The present membership is 240, an increase of 102.

_The Old School Baptist Church in Warwick._--The principal historical events since 1880, when a history of the church was published in Ruttenber's history of the county, are as follows: Elder James Benedict resigned his charge on June 29, 1786, instead of 1777, as stated in the published history. A centennial celebration of the organization of the church was held on October 5, 1865. Elder Lebbeus Lathrop preached the first sermon in the meeting house still standing on May 19, 1811. The burying ground belonging to the church and still in use was started in 1795, and lies nearly opposite the former burying ground, on the road from Warwick to Bellvale.

_Christ Church (Episcopal)._--The first attempt to start an Episcopal church in Warwick was in 1804, but the plan was not consummated. In 1854 another effort was made, and services were held in the former Methodist Episcopal church until 1859, under the Rev. W. H. Carter, when again the project was abandoned.

In 1862 the Rev. George Zabriskie Gray, then in deacon's orders, held services in Warwick for about six months, when he was called to another charge.

In 1864 Rev. N. F. Ludlum was called, and a certificate of incorporation of the parish was executed under the name of Christ Church, Warwick, N. Y. In 1865 a building committee was appointed, composed of Grinnell Burt, John Cowdrey and J. Mason McJimsey. The building was opened for divine worship the ensuing year, 1866.

_The Y. M. C. A. of Warwick._--This organization was begun in 1879, incorporated in 1885, and in 1907 owns a building and lot on Main street, with a new gymnasium, costing about $6,000, entirely free of debt. It also owns a library of over 1,200 volumes, part donated and part purchased by the association. The library is registered at Albany, and is the only free public library in the village.

BURIAL PLACES.

For over a century the tract of land lying to the north of the Reformed church was used as a burying ground. The deeds of conveyance to the then trustees of the Presbyterian church, the predecessor of the Reformed church--Francis Baird, John Simson and George Nance, dated January 11, and April 23, 1793--recite that in still earlier conveyances from William Wickham and John Morin Scott, one of which was dated March 14, 1770, to William Wisner, of forty-five acres of land, "one acre thereof was excepted and reserved there-out for a burial ground for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church of Warwick." In 1889, at the time when the new stone church was built, there had been no interments here for perhaps twenty years, and accordingly a consent was obtained from at least three-fourths of the congregations of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch Churches for the removal of all the remains interred therein, as required by law. The Reformed Church purchased a lot in the Warwick Cemetery and received deed from the latter, dated June 15, 1889, to which lot the remains of all those interred in the church burying ground were removed, and also the headstones marking the graves. There are 116 of these stones; doubtless there were many buried there without any stones to mark them, and there were other burials there which were afterwards removed to family lots in the Warwick Cemetery when the latter was dedicated in 1867. The oldest stone is one erected to the memory of Anna, the wife of William Eagles, who departed this life July 8, 1771. There are interred there Revolutionary soldiers, members of consistory and many prominent citizens. To William Culver, a donor to the church, was erected by the church a monument, bearing this inscription: "Sacred to the memory of William Culver, who departed this life, at South Hampton, Long Island, October 27, 1822, aged 37 years, in hope of a blessed immortality."

The last interment of which there is a gravestone is that of Daniel Sinsabaugh, who died November 19, 1869, aged thirty-eight years. It is believed that there were later interments than this, but if so there are no stones marking the graves.

It is said that Jacob Gaul, a colored man, the sexton of the church for over twenty years, was one of the last burials in the old church graveyard.

The Old School Baptist burying ground, situated at the corner of Galloway road and Lake street, was first used for burial purposes in about 1774, when the meeting house was built there.

This plot of land was given to the Baptist Church by Elder James Benedict, by deed dated September 12, 1791. The trustees of the said church at that time were James Burt, John Morris Foght and John Sutton; consideration mentioned in deed, forty shillings current money; contains seventy-nine perches of land.

Elder James Benedict died September 9, 1792, aged seventy-two years, six months, eighteen days, and was buried in this plot of ground, but no stone marks the spot. This plot was used as a burial ground until 1795.

SCHOOLS.

The Warwick Institute continued as an academy until October 1, 1868, when the entire property was transferred to the board of education of Union Free School District No. 12. The district at that time consisted of the school districts Nos. 11 and 12. Since 1880 two other districts have been annexed, Nos. 10 and 23.

In 1893 the board of education built a new brick school house, in the place of the old wooden structure and upon the same site, at a total cost of $23,000. Again in 1901, another brick building was built, at a cost of about $16,000, to take care of the increased demands for more school facilities. The latter building was erected upon a new site and is called the High School.

According to the last census (1906) there are 512 children of school age in the district; the actual number enrolled is 450.

MISCELLANEOUS.

_Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company._--This company was first organized under the name of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company, April 20, 1859, for the purpose of building a road from the village of Warwick to the line of the New York & Erie Railroad, at or near the village of Chester.

May, 1879, steps were taken to extend this road to McAfee, Sussex County, and in December, 1880, the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company was formed for the purpose of extending it to Belvedere, N. J., on the Delaware River, and connecting with the Pennsylvania Railroad at that point. The line was built and the road opened for business through to Belvedere in August, 1882.

In 1889 an extension was built from a point near Greycourt, N. Y., to Maybrook, N. Y., connecting at that place with the Poughkeepsie Bridge Road. Arrangements were made to use the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad to Phillipsburgh, N. J. A bridge was built across the Delaware River at that point to Easton, making a continuous line from Easton. Pa., to Maybrook, N. Y.

_The First National Bank of Warwick._--This bank was organized at a meeting of citizens held in January, 1864, at the Warwick Valley House. After a canvass for subscriptions to its stock, which was to be $75,000, on January 21, 1864, its articles of association were adopted. On January 28, the first board of directors was chosen. On January 29, John L. Welling was chosen president, and on February 6, John Cowdrey was chosen vice-president. On March 11 it was voted to increase its capital stock by $25,000, making it $100,000 as it stands to-day. At the same date Grinnell Burt was sent to Washington to have this bank made a depository for the internal revenue of this Congressional District. The bank commenced business April 1, 1864.

_The Warwick Savings Bank_ was the first one incorporated under the general law of 1875. It commenced business January 3, 1876. James H. Holly has been president since January 7, 1879. Thomas Burt has served as secretary and treasurer from the organization to the present time, and has had the general care and management. There has been a steady increase in deposits year by year, and there is now (July 1, 1907) on deposit $1,264,636.24 belonging to 3,483 depositors, and a surplus of $40,683.97.

_The Warwick Cemetery Association_ was incorporated in 1865. The land purchased, graded, surveyed and plotted in 1866, was dedicated July 2, 1867, Leonard Cox delivering an appropriate poetical address, and Rev. Cyrus G. Van Derveer the oration on that occasion. The twenty-seven acres of ground have a pleasing elevated contour, which were plotted by Mr. B. F. Hatheway, of Stamford, Conn.

The lands cost about $7,000 and improvements about $5,000. The funds were provided by citizens' notes of $100 and $200, which were canceled by deeds for lots to the makers of notes. The purchase of a cottage, building a vault and entrance gates and bringing in the public water for fountains were accomplished in the few following years and the Association was free from debt, and in 1881 had $2,000 invested. In 1907 its investments in bonds and mortgages and Government bonds are over $30,000.

George W. Sanford was president from its organization until his death in 1900--for thirty-five years. He was succeeded by Sidney H. Sanford and the latter by Nicholas L. Furman.

Nearly all lot enclosures have been removed, graves leveled and a fine sward maintained and treated as a lawn, without expense to the lot owners. Its picturesque appearance, fine monuments and well kept grounds command the admiration of its visitors.

_Water-Works._--The village was first supplied with water in 1872. The brook running north through the Thomas Welling and P. E. Sanford farms to the Wawayanda creek furnishes the supply, and is called Mistucky. This name is an Indian one, from an Indian village located near the reservoirs, originally called Miskoutucky, signifying red hills or plains.

In 1871 preparations were made for the building of a dam of 131 feet across this brook, which when completed made a reservoir of 1 90/100 acres on the Welling farm and 1 50/100 acres on the Sanford farm, both of which pieces of land were acquired by the village. Upon the completion of the work and the introduction of water in the village, a celebration took place in honor of the event in January, 1872.

This reservoir is situated one and a half miles south from the center of the village and covers over three acres of land, with a capacity of eight million gallons of water. The works were constructed at a cost of $25,000.

In 1890 the village had outgrown the old supply and steps were taken to increase the same. Accordingly a second reservoir was constructed about a quarter of a mile to the south of the first dam, with a capacity of thirty million gallons.

In 1903 the sum of $23,000 was appropriated for the enlargement of water mains and the construction of new ones.

_Fire Department._--The fire department consists of two hose companies--Excelsior No. 1 and Raymond Hose Company, and the Goodwill Hook and Ladder Company. The fire council consists of the chief engineer and two warders elected from each of the companies. Inspection day is held each year in the month of September, at which time the rooms and apparatus of the various companies are inspected by the president and trustees of the village, and a parade of the whole department takes place.

_Grand Army of the Republic._--A post of the Grand Army of the Republic was organized at Warwick on November 16, 1885, with thirty-three charter members. James W. Mullery was commander, and the post was named for Michael Mullery, a brother of the commander, who served in a New Jersey regiment. The number of the post is 575.

Some years after its organization the name was changed to John J. Wheeler Post, in honor of Colonel John J. Wheeler, a native of the town of Warwick, who served with honor and distinction in the 56th New York Regiment.