Montebello ( Italian: "beautiful mountain") is an incorporated village in Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Suffern, east of Hillburn, south of Wesley Hills, and west of Airmont. The population was 4,507 at the 2020 census.
Geography Montebello is located at (41.127595, -74.119196).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.
The road system within the village totals . Of this, are state roads, are county roads and are village roads. The major arteries include U.S. Route 202, the New York State Thruway (Exit 14B is within the village), and county roads including Airmont, Hemion, Montebello (portion), Spook Rock, and Viola roads, and Grandview Avenue and Dunnigan Drive.
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Montebello had a population of 4,507. The median age was 46.0 years. 22.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.0 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,498 households in Montebello, of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 68.9% were married-couple households, 9.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 19.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 1,587 housing units, of which 5.6% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 3,526 78.2% Black or African American 269 6.0% American Indian and Alaska Native 1 0.0% Asian 339 7.5% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 1 0.0% Some other race 124 2.8% Two or more races 247 5.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 336 7.5%
2000 census As of the census of 2000, there were 3,688 people, 1,163 households, and 1,023 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,182 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 92.79% white, 2.74% African American, 0.11% Native American, 2.68% Asian, 0.81% from other races, and 0.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.96% of the population.
There were 1,163 households, out of which 49.9% had children under 18, 81.7% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.0% were non-families. 9.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.36.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 32.1% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $116,600, and the median income for a family was $114,890. Males had a median income of $87,058 versus $41,250 for females. The per capita income for the village was $44,098. About 2.4% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. History Early history
Montebello far exceeds the formal boundaries of the incorporated village today. The rolling hills and fertile soil in the Ramapo Valley provided a quiet, unassuming way of life for the early pioneering families. A small collection of farms and mills dotted the countryside and were connected by dirt paths and rugged roadways. That was all about to change with the coming of the iron rails and the trains that would ride them. In neighboring Suffern, the Erie Railroad began operating in 1841, and with it, exposed the area to sights and sounds never imagined.
Erie Railroad Suffern became an important and busy station on the mainline of the Erie Railroad. New Yorkers, in search of a cool, quiet retreat to relieve the stress of their urban lifestyles, filled the passenger trains bound in summer for the surrounding rural regions. Relatively isolated before the 1860s, Suffern served as a welcome mat for the upstate Erie traveler. Twenty trains a day, loaded with seasonal tourists, stopped at the impressive Victorian depot. Word soon spread among the travelers that "romantic scenery, fascinating beauty and rich land" could be found at the "pleasant summer resort". Suffern played host to the traveling public, whether accepting the hospitality offered by the resort hotels and boarding houses or just switching trains. The list of guests, visitors, and part-time residents who were attracted to Suffern's rural charm included the names of many families from New York's affluent "upper crust". Some came as seasonal vacationers, closing to rent an estate, while others bought the property from the abundant amount of undeveloped land. Picturesque rolling hills and vast wooded lands guarded by the Ramapo Mountains provided a rustic setting for the development of elegant country estates.
Montebello Estate
One such estate was that of wealthy New York financier Thomas Fortune Ryan. In August 1887, the Ryans purchased the former Groesbeck mansion, which was built in the 1860s. From the hilltop, the estate had a commanding view of the Ramapo Mountains. The Ryans called their estate "Montebello". Within three years, they had the elegant frame dwelling torn down and replaced with a large brick and stone mansion at the cost of $600,000. The new summer home contained such amenities as a two-lane bowling alley, an electric elevator, a private chapel, greenhouse, 13 fireplaces, and in all, over 44 rooms. The estate comprises and has a working farm, not including the 5 smaller "mansions" the Ryans built for their sons in the area, some of which are still standing today.
Aside from a fashionable home on Fifth Avenue, the Ryans maintained homes in Washington, D.C., and Lovingston, Virginia, all reflecting the wealth of one of America's most prosperous and devoutly religious Irish Catholic families. Thomas Fortune Ryan's riches were in vast contrast with his humble beginnings in rural Nelson County, Virginia. Orphaned at age nine, Ryan would eventually become the tenth wealthiest man in the nation. After leaving his native state in 1868, he traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, and found a job in the dry goods business of John S. Barry, a highly successful entrepreneur. It was at this time that Ryan met Ida M. Barry, the boss's daughter, whom he later married. Using his wife's wealth as a foundation on which to build his own, Ryan launched his business career. After moving to New York, at age 23 became the youngest man ever to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. From there Ryan amassed millions in urban transit, railroads, tobacco, insurance, banking, rubber, diamonds, and even the Thompson submachine gun.
The Ryans were as generous to philanthropies as they were rich. It has been estimated that Mrs. Ryan gave $20 million to various charities and endowments across the country. Most of these were affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church; however, there were sizable donations to nonsectarian institutions as well. By 1905 it was reported that Mrs. Ryan's munificence covered the building of "at least one hundred new chapels, schools, churches, hospitals, homes for Sisters of Charity and homes for the aged and infirmed". Mrs. Ryan displayed a special fondness for her new neighbors by contributing equipment to the newly formed Suffern Fire Department. She also built a new church and established a girls' school and a seminary in Suffern, among other things. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, she turned her attention to the health needs of the community and started Good Samaritan Hospital.
After Mrs. Ryan died in 1917, Ryan divided up the estate and in 1921 sold the main mansion to Edward Swann, New York City District Attorney. Several months later, Swann sold the property to the Archdiocese of New York, which used the mansion as a retreat site for St. Joseph's College and Seminary. In 1944, Suffern resident Gustav Mayer purchased the mansion. However, his plans to develop the property, including possibly as a country club, never materialized, and the vacant mansion fell victim to vandals. Copper mining giant Phelps Dodge Corporation bought the dilapidated mansion in 1951 and used it as their corporate records headquarters for the next 31 years. After Phelps Dodge relocated, it sold the mansion for $1.6 million to Gary M. Goldberg, CEO of the investment/financial planning firm which bears his name. After a year of extensive renovation, Montebello became that financial firm's headquarters as well as an office park.
Education The village of Montebello is located within the Suffern Central School District. Montebello Elementary School is located within village limits, and serves much of the village. Students in grades 6-8 and zoned to Suffern Middle School, and all high school students are zoned to Suffern High School.
Rockland Community College, part of the SUNY system, is located just outside village limits.
Historical markers Bayard Lane "Turning off the Haverstraw Rd, almost opposite the house of Senator Royal S. Copeland, into a dirt avenue, one is faced by a waste-land of scrub oak and sassafras with a lonely shack near the entrance." This is how a visitor described the Bayard Lane community, a small "Utopia" homestead project, made up of a group of self-sufficient, self-sustaining colonists in 1936.
Beyond the initial appearance lay the successful homestead project, the brainchild of Ralph Borsodi, nationally known author, economist and philosopher. It was his vision to develop a domestic lifestyle that was productive, independent and economically practical for the New York City commuter. Borsodi, a wiry, shock-haired little man who wore horn-rimmed glasses and paid "little attention to his clothes", began his new style of country living, later labeled as "agrarianism for commuters", in 1919. He, along with his wife and two sons, moved from New York City and rented a small unimproved farmhouse near Suffern. While Borsodi commuted to work in the city, they began their initial family experiments. Within a 15-year period, he and his family, tested their theories and dreams of self-subsistence and economic freedom while enjoying the beauty of nature.
Authoring several books on economics, Borsodi's work, This Ugly Civilization, published in 1929, brought him national attention. Four years later, his bestselling book, Flight from the City, appeared as the country was mired in the depths of the Great Depression. Firing the imagination of struggling families, many with low-paying inner city jobs and an aimless future, the book described a way to seek out a good agrarian lifestyle and graphically detailed his own family's experiences and accomplishments at homesteading in Suffern. In 1935, Borsodi launched Bayard Lane, a small experimental cooperative community on a rolling unimproved tract of at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains.