Mike Hays

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, Nyack faced a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions. A series of powerful storms struck the village in August 1875, leaving a trail of destruction. While floods are a recurring part of Nyack’s history, the Mega Flood of 1875 stands out as one of the most catastrophic, with water surging through the streets, damaging homes, buildings, bridges, and businesses.

A local story of slavery, labor, and life after emancipation

A century before shared city bikes, Nyack had its own version of a hometown ride, the “Nyack Bike.” These bicycles were not app-based or docked along sidewalks, but they were made here, marketed here, and ridden on village streets.

How a riverfront hotel rose with the steamboat era and became the center of village life.

A landform once stood in downtown Sparkill. Not a distant ridge or Hudson River bluff, but a steep, flat-topped rise beside the railroad tracks. It had a n

Desmond Quinn hoists an air conditioner to a window ledge at a residence in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood Wednesday, July 11, 2024, in Chicago.

Editor’s Note: Shadowcliff was demolished this month. This article is republished to remember the remarkable peace organization that called the estate home from 1957 to 2017. In 1957, eight years after the death of Shadowcliff’s owner, Eleanor Manville Ford, one of America’s most influential peace organizations made the mansion its national headquarters. For the next […]