The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

30 M. OSSINING, Pop. 10,739.

(Train 51 passes 9:15; No. 3, 9:34; No. 41, 1:48; No. 25, 3:30; No. 19, 6:21. Eastbound: No. 6, passes 8:34; No. 26, 8:54; No. 16, 3:11; No. 22, 4:36.)

Ossining was first settled in 1700, when it was part of Philipse Manor. It was originally called Sing Sing, taking its name from the Sin Sinck Indians, but in 1901 the name was changed to Ossining, on account of its association with the Sing Sing prison, which can be seen to the left near the water's edge. The prison is a low white-marble building, built in 1826. Ossining has a public library, several private schools, the Roman Catholic Foreign Missionary Seminary of America, and a soldiers' monument.

Passing the Croton aqueduct (on the right), which is carried over a stone arch with an 80-foot span, the train crosses the mouth of the Croton River and intersects Croton Point. It was at the extremity of this peninsula that the British sloop-of-war "Vulture" anchored when she brought André to visit Benedict Arnold at West Point. Six miles up the Croton River is the Croton Reservoir, which supplies a large share of N.Y. City's water. Across the river is Haverstraw Bay.

At the north end of Haverstraw Bay, on the west bank, is Stony Point Lighthouse, the site of a fort which was the scene of one of the most daring exploits of the Revolutionary War. Gen. Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) had been forced, through political necessity, to relinquish his regular command, and on the recommendation of Washington, he organized a new Light Infantry Corps, with which on the night of July 15, 1779, he stormed the fort and recaptured it from the British at the point of the bayonet. This well-planned enterprise aroused the greatest enthusiasm through the country, and won for him the popular name of "Mad Anthony." Later, in war with the Indians on the frontier, Gen. Wayne further distinguished himself.

At this point is the greatest width (4 M.) in the river's course. Shortly before reaching Peekskill we pass Verplanck's Point (on the left), near which the "Half Moon" dropped anchor, Sept. 14, 1609.