The Park Gates 
COMMUNITY LIFE IN TUXEDO 
By Samuel Swift 
(AMERICAN SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES—V.) 
TTAVING its origin a score of years ago, 
in the brain of a far-seeing man en¬ 
dowed with the needful money and courage, 
there has grown up in Orange County, New 
York, just across the northern boundary of 
New jersey, a community embodying the last 
word in intelligent and exclusive organization. 
If Pierre Lorillard had left no other mark in 
men’s minds, when he died in 1901, Tuxedo 
Park would have sufficed as his monument. 
Mr. Lorillard lived to see the carrying out, 
upon a prodigious scale, of a notable idea; he 
pushed the project to success by sheer energy 
and enthusiasm, and he rejoiced in the unique 
results attained. 
The Park represents an investment by Mr. 
Lorillard, apart from the value of the land, of 
about $1,500,000, most of which had to be dis¬ 
bursed before any return could be expected. 
I he scheme, on account of this feature, was 
called visionary by many of Mr. Lorillard’s 
associates. Nevertheless, he set an army of 
men at work in the autumn of 1885, to trans¬ 
form a wild mountain region, 7000 acres in 
extent, into a place habitable and convenient; 
within a decade, dividends representing a 
moderate return on the outlay were being 
paid, while the value of the property had 
risen enormously, and the Park had gained 
fame as a place of residence for those pos¬ 
sessing proper qualifications. 
The story of Tuxedo (the name is said to 
be of Indian origin) begins with the construc¬ 
tion across the tract of the Continental Road, 
upon which Washington’s army marched on 
its way from Valley Forge to White Plains. 
Of this road, a fragment still remains in the 
Tuxedo property, under its old name, the rest 
having been taken up when the Park was laid 
out. The original property, once known as 
the Augusta tract, contained 13,000 acres, and 
came into the Lorillard family in 1814. It 
was a region of rocky ridges and stunted tim¬ 
ber, of swamps and waste land. For many 
years it remained unproductive, but after the 
Erie Railroad was built, bringing it within 
forty miles of New York City, the tract yielded 
supplies of wood for railway ties and locomo¬ 
tive fuel. Next, mining operations, for iron 
and silver, were carried on with some success, 
but afterward it sank back almost to a pri¬ 
meval forest. In 1885, Pierre Lorillard, who 
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