Wykagyl | |
---|---|
Populated Place | |
Coordinates: 40°56′29″N 73°47′58″W / 40.94139°N 73.79944°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New York |
County | Westchester |
Government | |
• Type | Council-Manager |
• Mayor | Noam Bramson |
Area | |
• Total | 6.00 sq mi (15.5 km2) |
• Land | 5.00 sq mi (12.9 km2) |
• Water | 1.00 sq mi (2.6 km2) |
Elevation | 120 feet ft (36.57 meters m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 14,146 |
• Density | 2,357.67/sq mi (910.30/km2) |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
ZIP code | 10804 |
Area code(s) | 914 |
FIPS code | 83327 |
GNIS feature ID | 71774 / 71775 |
Wykagyl is a suburban community in New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York. It is conterminous with ZIP code 10804, encompassing much of the city's 'North End'. According to Forbes, in 2010 Wykagyl's 10804 ZIP code, with a median home price of $806,264, ranked 333rd on its list of the 500 most expensive ZIP codes in the U.S. The Washington Post ranks Wykagyl among the nation's 650 Super Zips, or those with the highest percentile rankings for median household income and the share of adults with college degrees or higher.
Wykagyl consists primarily of sprawling, residential parks and planned communities built in the early to mid twentieth century, featuring large period-style homes and large well landscaped lots. Architectural styles include Elizabethan and Cotswold Tudors, Mediterranean-style villas, and classic colonials. Colonial, ranch and split level homes typical of the 1950s and 60's dominate the northernmost end of the community. At the center of the community is an 18-hole golf course and country club as well as a small business district of retail stores and offices, garden apartment complexes and condominium developments, public and private educational institutions, and assorted houses of worship.
The area's unusual name (pronounced WIHK'-uh-gihl or WICK-uh-gill) is commonly believed to have originated through the combination of two Native American words: wigwos, meaning birch bark, and keag, meaning country. The name most likely resulted from the shortening the name of an Algonquian-speaking band of Lenape who originally inhabited the area.
Around the end of the 19th century, this area of "Upper Rochelle" was still primarily farm land with the exception of the adjoining Wykagyl Country Club, which relocated to its current site in 1905. By 1912, New Rochelle's home development was rapidly extending northward, with North Avenue serving as the central thoroughfare. A syndicate of bankers and investors began amassing expansive tracts of forest and farm land surrounding the club, eventually incorporating under the name Wykagyl Reservation. The reservation was ideally located to take advantage of the new transportation facilities afforded by the recently completed New York, Westchester and Boston Railway commuter line through the area. Alfred Feltheimer, the architect who designed and named the railroad's stations, chose "Wykagyl" in association with the its location adjacent to the golf club. The new rail line spurred new construction and commercial activity, prompting a population boom.