Inventory of Menagerie Animals,
Nov. 21, 1834
The Elephant Hotel,
Painting as it was in 1839
and Photograph ca. 1885
Farmers and Drovers Bank $2 Note,
1846
Part of the original Cortlandt Manor, Somers and Yorktown together were known as the Middle Ward, or Hanover. When Westchester’s towns were established in 1788, present-day Somers was named Stephen Town after Stephen Van Cortlandt. Because of confusion with an upstate community bearing the same name, the town was renamed Somers in 1808 for Captain Richard Somers, a naval hero of the new republic.
Visit the Town of Somers online
Contract for Use of an Elephant,
Aug. 13, 1808
Zoological Institute
Articles of Association,
1835
Circus Advertisement, 1840