Ground Broken for Memorial Garden at Ardsley High School

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May 11, 2026

By Rick Pezzullo

The Ardsley Historical Society hosted a formal groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month for the Lewisohn Memorial Garden at Ardsley High School.

The event marked the official start of construction for a landmark dedicated to local history and remembrance. A subsequent dedication ceremony will be held on Memorial Day, May 25, at 2:30 p.m.

Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States, the project honors two enduring legacies: the 14 Ardsley students who gave their lives in World War II and the contributions of philanthropist and civic leader Adolph Lewisohn.

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At the heart of the Memorial Garden will be the restoration of a 1954 bronze plaque bearing the names of the students who made the ultimate sacrifice. The monument sat in storage for decades after the high school moved, and it was only discovered in 2022.

“There is a profound meaning to the gold-painted shovel we will use to break this ground. It is the color of the stars that 14 local families pinned to their windows during World War II — stars that signaled a loved one would not be coming home,” said Gary S. Rappaport, President of the Ardsley Historical Society. “What we are doing today is not just breaking earth. We are unearthing a legacy.”

The selection of May 1 for the groundbreaking carried special significance. International Labor Day recognizes the dignity of work—a tribute given Lewisohn’s lifelong opposition to child labor and his documented generosity toward his employees. The date also marks the beginning of National Military Appreciation Month and is observed as Loyalty Day, a federally designated occasion for reaffirming the nation’s heritage of freedom.

The Memorial Garden is located on the historic grounds of the former Heatherdell Farm, Lewisohn’s approximately 400-acre estate. The site also holds Revolutionary War significance as the location of the July 1781 Philipsburg Encampment, where Generals Washington and Rochambeau planned the strategy that led to American victory over the British at Yorktown, Virginia, two months later.

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