Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States census. In 2021, its population rose to an estimated 11,456. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a part of, the town of Greenburgh. The village ZIP Code is 10522. Most of the village falls within the boundaries of the Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District.
Dobbs Ferry was ranked seventh in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York State for 2014, according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto. Dobbs Ferry is also the first village in New York State certified as a Climate Smart Community and was granted in 2014 the highest level given out in the state.
History
Multiple groups of Native Americans lived around what is now known as Dobbs Ferry since at least 4500 BC. The most recent tribe who claimed territory of the area are the Wecquaesgeek, maintaining villages until the 1600s. There is a conflicting version of this history that is widely disseminated, which gives a prominent role to one Jeremiah Dobbs, but this has been debunked by recent careful research. There was a Jeremiah Dobbs among John's descendants, but there is no evidence he played any important role in the ferry.
Dobbs Ferry played a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. The position of the village opposite the northernmost end of the Palisades gave it importance during the war. The region was repeatedly raided by camp followers of each army; the British army made Dobbs Ferry a rendezvous, after the Battle of White Plains in November 1776, and the continental division under General Benjamin Lincoln was here at the end of January 1777.
Mary Sneden and all but one of her sons were Tories (Robert Sneden Senior died before the war). Patriots on the west bank ordered the Tory Snedens to cease their involvement with the ferry because they were aiding the British cause. One son, Robert Sneden, sided with the rebels and so operation and eventually ownership of the ferry fell to him.
left|George Washington's 19 August 1781 order to dismantle fortifications at Dobbs Ferry|thumb|220x220px
In July and August 1781, Continental Army troops commanded by General George Washington were encamped in Dobbs Ferry and neighboring localities, alongside allied French forces under the command of the Comte de Rochambeau. The extensive campsite that stretched for miles became known as Philipsburg Encampment as the land belonged to the massive colonial landholding, Philipsburg Manor. Earthworks and a fort, commanding the Hudson ferry, were built by the American side. A large British army controlled Manhattan at the time, and Washington chose the Dobbs Ferry area for encampment because he hoped to probe for weaknesses in the British defenses, just to the south. But on August 14, 1781, a communication was received from French Admiral Comte de Grasse in the West Indies, which caused Washington to change his strategy. De Grasse's communication, which advocated a joint land and sea attack against the British in Virginia, convinced Washington to risk a march of more than to the Chesapeake region of Virginia. Washington's new strategy, adopted and designed in mid-August 1781, at the encampment of the allied armies, would win the war. The allied armies were ordered to break camp on August 19, 1781: on that date the Americans took the first steps of their march to Virginia along present-day Ashford Avenue and Broadway, en route to victory over General Cornwallis at the Siege of Yorktown and to victory in the Revolutionary War.
The village was originally incorporated in 1873 as Greenburgh, but the name was changed to Dobbs Ferry in 1882.
The current local government of Dobbs Ferry is headed by Mayor Vincent Rossillo, a Democrat, who was elected in November 2019.
The Estherwood and Carriage House, Hyatt-Livingston House, South Presbyterian Church, and United States Post Office are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.