A cornerstone of downtown Chappaqua, the Horace Greeley House is the epitome of 19th-century American architecture. Built between 1852 and 1854, the house was bought by Greeley in 1864 as a family summer home. The home’s namesake — who had stood virtually alone atop the list of notable Chappaqua residents until a certain First Family took up residence there in 1999 — was the founder of the New-York Tribune, considered one of the greatest newspapers of its time, and the man credited with popularizing the phrase “Go West, young man.” Greeley reconstructed and enlarged the house, installing a farm on the 78-acre tract.
Following Greeley’s and his wife’s deaths in 1872, daughter Gabrielle took possession of the farm and the house in the village. She gave part of the farm to the Episcopal Church, as a site for the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. She gave the town land next to the railroad, for a new station and an adjacent park. Another large section became the site of the Horace Greeley School (now the Robert E. Bell Middle School). The Chappaqua Library, the New Castle Town Hall, Temple Beth El, and the New Castle Community Center are also on former Greeley land. In 1979, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and today serves as the headquarters of the New Castle Historical Society.
