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V. Everit Macy History Date Acquired: 1926 Acres: 172 Background: Originally called Woodlands Park, it was renamed for V. Event Macy, the first Commissioner of Public Welfare. In fact, he was the first Westchester County Commissioner of any kind. A scion of the wealthy Macy family, he first ran successfully on the Democratic ticket for Superintendent of the Poor for Westchester in 1914. Influenced by the infamous Republican William ‘Boss Ward, Macy was reelected on the Republican slate in 1920 and 1923. His title was then changed to Commissioner of Public Welfare, the first such post in New York State. He later served as chairman of the County Parks Commission. In his private life, V.E. Macy assembled a chain of newspapers in Westchester that ultimately numbered eight dailies and five weeklies (the predecessors of today’s Reporter Dispatch and the like). Under Macy’s care, the Grasslands complex grew from simply a poorhouse to a hospital (the first county hospital in the state), a psychiatric hospital, a children’s hospital and the penitentiary. The park is actually divided into three distinct areas with slightly different atmospheres. One part functions as a local park with ballfields, a playground, comfort station and picnic pavilion. Another includes Woodlands Lake, fishing, ice skating, a recently-closed restaurant, access to the South County Trailway, and 500 feet of the former Putnam Division Railroad. The final area is largely undeveloped.
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