VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS In 1906 Lawrence joined forces with Frank Chambers to give Bronxville its first Village Hall which sat on the site of the old blacksmith shop at the junction of Pondfield Road and Kraft Avenue. An all-purpose municipal building, it housed the fire department (and their horses), the library, the post office, a swimming pool, bowling alley and government offices. It was demolished in the late 1930s. In the early years, Lawrence also founded another Village institution, which continues to thrive today – Lawrence Hospital. It had its genesis in the near-fatal appendicitis attack suffered in 1906 by Lawrence’s youngest son. His desperate ride to New York in the baggage car of a passing New York Central train easily persuaded William Lawrence that Bronxville needed better medical facilities. The original buildings opened in 1909. Over the years, they have been replaced and the replacements have been substantially remodeled and enlarged. Today Lawrence Hospital Center is a busy up-to-date community hospital affiliated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital. One institution that arrived in Bronxville in 1909 still thrives in the Village – Concordia College. A prep school junior college Lutheran boys seminary when it moved to its 23 acre site along White Plains Road, it has been transformed into a co-ed four-year liberal arts college with a student body of about 1,000. From its first three buildings, designed by Edward L. Tilton, architect of Ellis Island, the campus now counts numerous classroom buildings, along with dormitories, a library, gym and sports center, music center, auditorium and other facilities. Although nearby Sarah Lawrence College, founded in 1926 by William Lawrence to honor his wife, has a Bronxville postal address, it is actually located in Yonkers. <<Previous • Chapter List • Next>>