20 M. DOBBS FERRY, Pop. 4,401. (Train 51 passes 8:58a; No. 3, 9:23a; No. 41, 1:37p; No. 25, 3:18p; No. 19, 6:07p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:45a; No. 26, 9:05a; No. 16, 3:23p; No. 22, 4:48p.) About the time of the Revolutionary War, a Swede named Jeremiah Dobbs, established a ferry here connecting with the northern end of the Palisades (visible on the left across the river). Originally only a dugout or skiff, it was the first ferry north of Manhattan, and was kept up by the Dobbs family for a century. In times past the residents have often tried to change the name of the town to something more "distinguished," but the old name could not be displaced. The story goes that 50 years ago a mass meeting was held in the village at which it was proposed to name the town after one of the captors of Maj. Andr['e]--either Paulding or Van Wart. The meeting came to nothing when an old resident suggested Wart-on-Hudson. The strategic position of Dobbs Ferry gave it importance during the War of Independence. It was the rendezvous of the British after the battle of White Plains in Nov. 1775 and a continental division under Gen. Lincoln was stationed here in Jan. 1777. The American army under Washington encamped near Dobbs Ferry on the 4th of July, 1781, and started in the following month for Yorktown, Va., where the final story of the war took place. Two years later (May 6, 1783) Washington and Sir Guy Carleton met at Dobbs Ferry to negotiate for the evacuation of all British troops, and to make terms for the final settlement recognizing American Independence. Their meeting place was the old Van Brugh Livingston house. Peter Van Brugh Livingston (1710-1792), prominent merchant and Whig political leader in N.Y., was one of the founders of the College of N.J. (now Princeton), and was president of the first Provincial Congress of N.Y. (1775). His brother, William, was the first governor of N.J. [Illustration: Reception of President Washington at New York, April 23rd, 1789 After the ratifying of the federal constitution, Washington, in 1788, was unanimously elected president. On April 23, 1789, he arrived from Virginia at New York, where he was received with a frenzy of gratitude and praise, and was inaugurated at the Senate hall which stood on the site of the present U.S. Sub-Treasury building. The stone whereon Washington stood when he came out of the house is preserved in the south wall of this building. He is described as wearing suit of homespun so finely woven that "it was universally mistaken for a foreign manufactured superfine cloth." This, of course, was a high tribute to domestic industry.] 22 M. IRVINGTON, Pop. 2,701. (Train 51 passes 9:06a; No. 3, 9:25a; No. 41, 1:39p; No. 25, 3:21p; No. 19, 6:11p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:43a; No. 26, 9:03a; No. 16, 3:21p; No. 22, 4:46p.)