Peekskill, is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, approximately 50 miles from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point in Rockland County. The population was 23,583 during the 2010 census.
The area was an early American industrial center, primarily for iron plow and stove products. The Binney & Smith Company, now as Crayola LLC and makers of Crayola products, linked to the Peekskill Chemical Company founded by Joesph Binney at Annsville in 1864 and succeeded by a partnership by his son Edwin and nephew Harold Smith in 1885.
The well-publicized "Peekskill" Riots of 1949 involved attacks and a lynching-in-effigy occasioned by Paul Robeson's benefit concerts for the Civil Rights Congress, although the main assault following the September concert properly occurred in nearby Van Cortlandtville.