The Rye Historical Society is sponsoring its annual daylong walking tours of local history on Sunday.
(Photo: Purchase Street in Rye, circa 1907/Rye Historical Society)
As Bill Cary wrote in The Journal News:
This year’s annual walking tour of historic Rye will focus on the 100-year period — 1850 to 1950 — when the city went from an agrarian community to the modern suburb we know today.
Sponsored by the Rye Historical Society and once again organized and researched by former society president Gene McGuire, “Evolution of a Suburb” will be held Oct. 14, rain or shine. It will begin near the location of the original train station and end near Christ’s Church.
With the arrival of the railroad in 1849, this century was the period of greatest change in Rye’s history, McGuire says. Rye had remained relatively unchanged during the 200 years between its settlement by the English in 1660 and the arrival of the trains that first brought wealthy New Yorkers seeking summer homes in Rye and later middle-class commuters.
This year’s walking tour will be a rich addition to the 22 new “Walk Rye History” signs that offer a permanent guide to Rye’s history. It will make use of four of those signs to illustrate how what we now know as downtown Rye developed over the years.
Two houses are included on the tour: a private home that has remained largely unchained since it was built in 1913 and the 1878 rectory at Christ’s Church, which was designed by McKim, Mead & Bigelow (before Stanford White joined the firm).
Other stops will discuss the impact of the Great Depression and two world wars and the evolution of various educational, religious and civic institutions.
What: “Rye 1850-1950: Evolution of a Suburb,” annual fall walking tour sponsored by the Rye Historical Society
When: Oct. 14, rain or shine. Tours take about two hours, with the first one beginning at 9:40 a.m. and the last at 2:40 p.m.
Where: Tours start at the corner of Purchase Street and Theodore Fremd Avenue in Rye.
Cost: $30 ($25 for members), $10 for students
Reservations/Information: 914-967-7588, www.rye history.org
