PORT

See also:

• CHESTER
• CHESTER, EARLS OF

CHESTER  , a village of Westchester county, New York, U.S.A., in the south-east part of the state, on Long Island Sound, and about 10 m . N.E. of New York City (26 m. from the Grand Central Station) . Pop . (I goo), 7440, of whom 2110 were foreign-born; (1910 census), 12,809 . It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and by daily steamers to and from New York City . The village is a summer resort as well as a suburban residential district for New York City . Among its public institutions are a library, a park and a hospital . The village has various manufactures, including bolts and nuts, motors for racing boats and automobiles; there are also large planing and wood-moulding mills . The earliest mention of Port Chester in any extant record is in the year 1732 . Until 1837 it was known as Saw Pit, on account of a portion of the village, it is said, being used as a place for building boats . During the War of Independence the village was frequently occupied by detachments of American troops . Port Chester was incorporated as a village in 1868 .