Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Peekskill Peekskill, NY

Peekskill is a small city in northwestern Westchester County, set on a bay along the east bank of the Hudson River about 35 miles north of New York City.

Its name comes from 'Peeck's Kil,' Dutch for Peeck's Creek, after Jan Peeck, a New Netherland trader who set up a trading post here in the 17th century.

Henry Hudson anchored off Peekskill in September 1609 during his voyage up the river that now bears his name.

During the Revolutionary War, Peekskill served on and off from 1776 to 1782 as the Hudson Valley headquarters of the Continental Army, and George Washington briefly made his quarters here in June 1781.

Peekskill was incorporated as a village in 1816 and became a city on July 29, 1940.

Peekskill had a population of 25,431 at the 2020 census, up from 23,583 in 2010, with about 10,777 households and a 59.4% owner-occupancy rate in recent Census Bureau figures.

The city was an early American industrial center famous for its iron plows and stoves.

The Binney & Smith Company — today Crayola, maker of Crayola crayons — traces its start to the Peekskill Chemical Company, founded at Annsville in Peekskill in 1864.

Peekskill's Paramount Center for the Arts is a restored 1930 movie palace that anchors the city's downtown arts scene with concerts, comedy and independent film.

In 1984 Peekskill became the first city in New York State to elect an African American mayor, Richard E. Jackson, and in 1994 it elected its first woman mayor, Frances Gibbs.