Number One Grove Street is an Italianate-style historic building located in Tarrytown, NY, that was once a private residence and is presently the headquarters of the Historical Society, Inc., Serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Built in 1848 for Jacob Odell, a successful merchant who served as supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh and was also the first mayor of Tarrytown in 1871, the building retains many of its original features, particularly on the exterior, including a projecting central tower. Visitors are welcomed to the headquarters of the Historical Society, founded in 1889, for tours and educational programs. Number One Grove Street is located in the North Grove Street Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The two-story, three-bay Italianate-style house at One Grove Street was constructed by Jacob Odell in 1848, the year before the Hudson River Railroad started its train operations in the area. Already prosperous, the community, along with many of its merchants, continued to experience economic growth for a number of decades. Odell participated in Tarrytown’s boom of the mid- to late-1800s, dealing in the coal, wood, lime, brick, cement, and plaster industries. He constructed his own private residence not far from Tarrytown’s Main Street overlooking the shores of the nearby Hudson River. 

Jacob Odell was also active in local politics, serving as supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh and as Tarrytown’s first mayor in 1871, the year the village was incorporated. He also helped to organize the Tarrytown Cemetery, later renamed the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, in 1849 and was one of its first nine charter trustees.

The red brick home Odell constructed for himself and his wife at One Grove Street retains many of its original exterior features. It possesses single and double one-over-one windows with stone lintels and sills. A central three story tower interrupts the flat roof line at the east or front elevation. The main entrance is located at the tower's first floor. Decorative wooden hoods supported by large brackets appear above both the entrance and tower's second story window. The tower attic, with its steeply sloping slate roof and dormers, is a later Gilded Age addition. 

Odell also built Number Fifteen Grove Street, next to his own home, in 1860 for his daughter as a wedding gift.The brick house, which remains a private residence, has a veranda in the front and a tower at the rear. Number Fifteen Grove Street is also included in the North Grove Street Historic District.

After the Odells, former superintendent of Tarrytown schools, Leslie V. Case, lived at One Grove Street for thirty years from 1918 onward. It was then purchased by the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns in 1950, thanks to a donation from John D. Rockefeller II. In 2014, the Historical Society celebrated its 125th anniversary, and between 2013-2018, a restoration project was funded by a Conditions Assessment Grant.

1. Canning, Jeff and Wally Buxton. History of the Tarrytowns, Westchester County, New York, from Ancient Times to the Present. NY, NY: Harbor Hill Books, 1993. 
2. Marshall, Mary Ann, and Sara Mascia. Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow: The Historical Society, Inc., Serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1997.
3. “North Grove Street Historic District #79001650.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1979. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323135 
4. The Historical Society, Inc., Serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown website. https://www.thehistoricalsociety.net 
5. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Elmsford, NY: Westchester County Historical Society, 2003.