White Plains, NY news and local guide

When the Dutch settled Manhattan, the Weckquaeskeck, a Wappinger people, farmed this area and called it Quarropas. Early traders knew it as the White Plains, either for the white balsam said to cover it or, by local tradition, for the heavy mist that hung over the swamps near the Bronx River. In November 1683 a party of Connecticut Puritans moved west from Rye and bought about 4,400 acres, presumably from the Weckquaeskeck, but John Richbell of Mamaroneck claimed earlier title to much of the land, and the dispute was not settled until King George II granted a royal patent for White Plains in 1721. In 1758 White Plains became the seat of Westchester County, replacing West Chester, in what is now the Bronx. It remained part of the Town of Rye until the town of White Plains was created in 1788.

More about White Plains

On July 9, 1776, a copy of the Declaration of Independence reached the New York Provincial Congress, then meeting in the county courthouse at White Plains. The delegates approved it, declaring both independence and the formation of the State of New York, and the Declaration was first read publicly from the courthouse steps on July 11. In September and October 1776 George Washington's troops took up positions in the hills around the village, pursued by the British under General Sir William Howe, who attacked on October 28. The Battle of White Plains was fought mainly on Chatterton Hill, later called Battle Hill, west of what was then a swamp and is now downtown, and along the Bronx River. Sources Wikipedia: White Plains, New York