About 200 million years ago our village was on the continent of Pangaea. The Ramapo Mountains were higher than the Himalayas. Over the millennia the mountains have settled to their present state. After the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, our Village was at the bottom of Lake Newark.
As the weather warmed, the waters receded. The American Indian moved right in. Food and water were plentiful, so they lived here in relative peace for thousands of years. But this was to change. By 1675 the Tallman family had settled on their farm in Nyack. They were the first of many to come. By the 1820’s people were getting tired of using the old Indian trails to get to the Hudson River. A new road was proposed and in 1828, Route 59 was opened. The farmers of Airmont could now ship by horse and wagon to the river, but a faster mode of transportation was needed. It came in 1841 with the opening of the Piermont branch railroad.
In 1850 Airmont had its first school subsidized by the Pierson family of Ramapo.In 1851 Airmont is visited by Daniel Webster who rode a railroad flat car through our village.In 1890 the wife of Reverend Bodine of the Lutheran Church first coins the name Airmont. By 1940 a police department was established in Ramapo, covering Airmont, with Chief Abe Stern and a small force of men.
The rate of growth is slow in the 1940’s and 1950’s, but with the opening of the Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and the Tappan Zee Bridge the population soared. Our agricultural era is coming to an end.
In 1985 formal proposals for the new village stretch over an area from the N.Y. Thruway in the north to the N.J. border in the south and from Saddle River Road in the east, westward to the Village of Suffern. Airmont residents voted, in 1989, by a three to one margin to form their own village. Airmont’s first mayor, Maureen Kendrick, was elected in 1991, followed by Ralph Bracco, Ray Kane, John Layne, Dennis Kay, Veronica Boesch and Philip Gigante.
Today the Village of Airmont occupies a five-square-mile area in Rockland County. The area, as depicted by its logo, occupies a geographically advantaged position in the Ramapo Mountains. It enjoys, by virtue of the ever-present dense greenery, a fresh air environment. Hence, the Village’s name is a combination of nature’s finest endowments: air, mountains (Airmont) and greenery. Its terrain is characterized by gently rolling topography and its governing body has a strong focus on conservation of the natural environment.
Incorporated in 1991, Airmont is a community of 9,000 people residing in 2,500 homes. Its culture is represented by people of all races and creeds. Numerous businesses and services are available to the Village residents and to its visitors, including several major banks and shopping centers.