Anthony CzarneckiYonkers, N.Y.  — On Sunday, April 30, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. the Westchester County Historical Society and Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site are pleased to present “Nothing to Fear: FDR in Westchester” with author and historian Anthony Czarnecki.

Over his long career in public service, Franklin D. Roosevelt made 24 official visits to various communities in Westchester County. As Undersecretary of the Navy; candidate for the U.S. Senate, vice president, and president; Governor of New York; and President of the United States, he covered a great deal of territory here. One of his favorite places to deliver a speech was Philipse Manor Hall, in Yonkers. The speeches he delivered are well represented by the three events that took place at Philipse Manor Hall: a November 1, 1928 campaign address as a candidate for NY State Governor; an October 28, 1930 re-election campaign address as NY State Governor; and a June 14, 1931 Flag Day celebration with members of the Yonkers-based National Guard Unit. At this event he praised the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) for their efforts to maintain and preserve historic sites like Philipse Manor Hall.

In this compelling illustrated presentation, Mr. Czarnecki relates the extraordinary the story of FDR’s many connections to Westchester County, uncovered during Czarnecki’s recent and extensive research. The county was conveniently located midway between Roosevelt’s townhouse in Manhattan and the family estate in Hyde Park. In 1926, his daughter and son-in law moved to an estate in Pocantico Hills, providing FDR with a retreat following local engagements. In addition, Westchester was a prime location for reaching many of America’s “movers and shakers.”

Anthony Czarnecki is the retired Chief of Staff of the Westchester County Correction Department and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Westchester County Historical Society. He has authored a number of articles for the Society’s award-winning quarterly publication, The Westchester Historian, including the article on which this presentation is based.

This in-person program is sponsored by the Westchester County Historical Society and hosted by Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site in downtown Yonkers. “Nothing to Fear” is free to the general public. Seating is limited, reservations recommended. Call (914) 231-1437 or email bdavis@westchesterhistory.com to reserve your spot.

Established in 1874, the Westchester County Historical Society is one of the oldest county historical societies in America and the only organization that collects and promotes the county-wide history of Westchester. The Society’s comprehensive and accessible collection of books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, maps and atlases, and images pertaining to the history and genealogy of Westchester County is housed in the state-of-the art temperature-and humidity-controlled environment of the Westchester County Records Center located at 2199 Saw Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY, 10523. www.westchesterhistory.com.

Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, located at 29 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, NY, 10701, is open for tours Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Dating back to the 1680s, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site sits near the confluence of the Nepperhan (Saw Mill) and Hudson Rivers, the site of a Munsee Lunaape village. Used by four generations of the Philipse family and worked by the people they enslaved and European tenant farmers, the Philipse Manor was once over 200,000 acres and helped make the Philipse family the richest in New York. Loyalists during the American Revolution, they fled to England and the Hall was owned by several individuals before becoming the Yonkers Village Hall and later Yonkers City Hall. When a new City Hall was built in the early 20th century, the house was preserved through the generosity of Eva Smith Cochran and donated to New York State to serve as a historic site. Today, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site provides visitors with a balanced approach to interpreting the lives of Indigenous, European, and African people to understand the complex relationships that took place at the Manor from the earliest days of the Dutch Colony of New Netherland to the American Revolution and beyond. Learn more at Philipse Manor Hall's Virtual Wing at www.philipsemanorhall.com.

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual parks, historic sites, recreational trails, and boat launches, which were visited by a record 79.5 million people in 2022. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit parks.ny.gov, connect on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter

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Contact: Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Education & Programs Manager, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site | Sarah.Johnson@parks.ny.gov | (914) 965-4027