Former Bank Building

The commercial heart of the old Peekskill village was the “Westchester Bank,” organized in 1833 as the first such financial institution in Westchester County, with Pierre Van Cortlandt as its first president. It became the Westchester County National Bank in 1865, authorized to issue its own paper money as currency. Cornelius Pugsley, its president during the 1930s, saved the bank from monetary collapse by turning in his family stock. The branch became the National Bank of Westchester until the mid-1980s. Today, it is home to a private business.