The park is in the
Ramapo Mountains. In the colonial era, it acquired a reputation for undeveloped iron deposits. In consequence, a company formed in England and headed by
William Alexander, Lord Stirling, acquired a large tract in the neighborhood. The company built furnaces near Ringwood and opened mines on the Ramapo River near Sterling Lake.
Pierre Lorillard II acquired the company and its land holdings in 1790. Once the iron deposits were depleted, the land was used for lumbering. What is now the village and the areas immediately surrounding it were first developed as a private hunting-and-fishing reserve by
Pierre Lorillard IV in 1885. At that time, it became known as "Tuxedo Park". Lorillard IV initially built small cottages, renting or selling them to his friends and family. The project grew so popular that he organized the
Tuxedo Club and the Tuxedo Park Association, and he surrounded the property with a high game fence. This fence fairly accurately marked the present boundaries of the area restricted to the use of the residents of Tuxedo Park. In 1924, the Tuxedo Securities Corporation acquired from the Estate of Peter Lorillard, deceased, all of the stock of the Tuxedo Park Association. The original clubhouse, designed by
Bruce Price, was built in 1886 and replaced by a second clubhouse in 1928, which was designed by
John Russell Pope. This building was destroyed by fire in 1943, and it was partially rebuilt soon after. The
shingle style cottages that Price built at Tuxedo – with their compact massing and axial plans – influenced
Modernist architects, including
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Queen Anne style architecture with Tudor elements became popular for residences. Tuxedo Park enjoyed many prosperous years from 1885 until the 1920s.
The Blue Book of Etiquette was written by
Emily Post, who was the daughter of
Bruce Price. She wrote the book based on what she observed inside the great stone gates of Tuxedo Park. Other notable residents from that era included: • Grenville Kane – banker, heir, and longtime resident •
Dorothy Draper – interior designer • Adele Colgate – heir to the
Colgate/Palmolive fortune • Fernando Yznaga – banker; brother of
Consuelo Yznaga, Duchess of Manchester •
Louis Ogden – Lawyer who took photos of the rescue operation on board the •
George Fisher Baker – banker •
J. P. Morgan – banker •
Alfred Lee Loomis – investment banker, scientist •
William Waldorf Astor •
Herbert C. Pell •
Augustus Juilliard •
Millicent Rogers •
James Whitmore (1888),
William Appleton Potter, architect During the 1920s, a new hospital and a high school were built through the generosity of a few Tuxedo Park residents, including
John Insley Blair. In the years following the
Great Depression, however, Tuxedo Park lost many of its
socialites and wealthy inhabitants, but it attracted some new ones as well. One of the new residences was built by
Angier Biddle Duke (cousin to
Doris Duke), whose father-in-law, George Baker St. George, was an original resident of Tuxedo. St. George purchased and built for Duke and his wife, Priscilla St. George, a new estate named "Duck Hollow". Duck Hollow was the last estate built in Tuxedo Park by the old "
blue blood elite". While Duke and his wife were traveling abroad, as most elites did at that time, St. George had landscape architect
Arthur P. Kroll landscape the property. By the time the Dukes returned from Europe, the property had been transformed and appeared to have been there for over 100 years. The area known as Tuxedo Park separated from the Town of Tuxedo and became incorporated in 1952, adopting the village form of government. Today, it includes , of which includes three lakes, and about 330 housing units in 340 structures. Other newer housing developments outside of the gated Village of Tuxedo Park but in the Town of Tuxedo include the Tuxedo Heights Condominiums in Southfields, built in 1971 on the site of a former bed factory, the Mountain View Apartments near the Sloatsburg line, and The Woodlands at Tuxedo (townhomes HOA) in the Eagle Valley section. The former mansion of
Alfred Lee Loomis is sometimes referred to as the Loomis Laboratory, and it is now private rental apartments inside the Village of Tuxedo Park. Outside of the gated Village of Tuxedo Park, in the Town of Tuxedo, were the former
Red Apple Rest and the Sterling Forest Ski Center, aka Tuxedo Ridge Ski Resort. This former ski property is home to the
New York Renaissance Festival and various sporting events, including Spartan Races. Also in the Town of Tuxedo is a former
International Paper Research Center, today owned and occupied by Watchtower Organization. Just outside the gates of Tuxedo Park is the Hamlet of The Town of Tuxedo, which consists of numerous historic structures built around the time of the original Tuxedo Park development. Historic buildings include the Tuxedo Train station (Metro-North stop Tuxedo), the Tuxedo Park Library (designed by Bruce Price), the Tuxedo Park Post Office and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church. In recognition of its
historical and architectural significance, the historic district was listed as "Tuxedo Park" on the
National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 1980. File:Wm Kent Cottage Tuxedo Park NY 1886 Bruce Price.jpg|William Kent cottage (1885–86; demolished),
Bruce Price, architect File:W. Chanler Cottage Tuxedo Park NY 1886 Bruce Price.jpg|W. Chanler cottage (1885–86), Bruce Price, architect File:Henry W Poor house.jpg|Mansion of Henry W. Poor (of
Standard & Poor's), 1903 File:Clemens at Tuxedo NY.jpg|
Mark Twain at the Voss cottage, 1907 ==Geography==