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is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 31,318 at the 2000 census. The town includes the villages of Bronxville and Tuckahoe.
The town that is now called Eastchester began settlement in 1664 when ten families migrated from Fairfield, Connecticut. Thomas Pell, who at that time also owned the territory that is now New Rochelle and Pelham, granted a deed to the group to "settle down at Hutchinsons'," where the home of Anne Hutchinson had stood some twenty years before. The ten original families were shortly joined by another 26.
Laws for the region were established the following year, in 1665, under an agreement called the "Eastchester Covenant." The covenant was a rare document for this period. It contained 26 provisions, such items as: education of children, disposition and upkeep of property, and support of a minister.
Confirmation of their 1664 patent was granted by Governor Richard Nicolls in 1666 after the occupation of the area by the English. A controversy arose in 1700 when the settlers signed a deed with the Native Americans. The tract of land involved was known as "Long Reach" because of its odd geographical makeup. The sites included are the present Bronxville, Tuckahoe, and a section of Northwest Mt. Vernon. The dispute over the ownership of the land involved the towns of New Rochelle, Westchester and the Pell Family. When a decision was reached in favor of Eastchester, England's Queen Anne granted a second patent in 1708.
Eastchester was a farming community at the outbreak of the Revolution. Although no major battles were fought here, as the heart of the Neutral Ground it saw constant fighting for over 13 years. being harassed by both sides as well as by the cowboys and skinners (the guerrillas of the day). Eastchester's rural makeup began to change with the coming of the railroad in the 1840s. An area of of land was incorporated at the village of Mt. Vernon in 1853 by a group of New York businessmen; the village of Bronxville was incorporated in 1898; and the village of Tuckahoe in 1903. Today, Eastchester is bound by Scarsdale on the north, New Rochelle on the east, Yonkers on the west, and Mt. Vernon on the south, The town covers approximately five square miles, including Bronxville and Tuckahoe.