TARRYTOWN: Local Music Hall Named to State Historic Business Preservation Registry

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- A historic business preservation registry is now in place thanks to a new initiative to celebrate and honor some of New York's oldest businesses.

New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. nominated the venue, which lies in her Senate district, for the inaugural year of the registry, which was created by the state Legislature in 2020.

The Tarrytown Music Hall has been welcoming patrons since 1885, the gilded age when captains of industry built mansions in this Hudson River town.

The hall survived the 1918 Spanish Flu, as well as the 460-day mandated shutdown during the COVID pandemic, thanks to love and support from the community. 

Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson have spoken here. 

The Mu­sic Hall has also hosted vaude­ville shows, pi­ano recitals, horse shows, and even Sat­ur­day af­ter­noon roller skat­ing.

Irv­ing Berlin, Mae West, Dave Brubeck, Louis Arm­strong, Pete Seeger, B.B. King and Miles Davis are just some of the leg­endary per­form­ers to grace its stage.

The hall became a not-for-profit cultural organization in the 1980s.

Businesses added to the registry must be more than 50 years old and have contributed to the community's history.

Placement on the registry brings marketing and promotion assistance from the state to keep patrons in the seats for years to come.

The Tarrytown Music Hall is already on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just six percent of performing arts venues in the U.S. opened before 1900, putting Tarrytown Music Hall in elite company.