The Harlem Valley takes its name from the New York and Harlem Railroad, which was chartered in 1831 and opened in lower Manhattan in 1832 with horse drawn cars. The line crossed the Harlem River in 1842, extended north to the Village of Chatham by 1852, and in all stretched 131 miles of track. In 1873 it joined the New York Central Railroad and became known as the Harlem Division loop. For many years thousands of paying passengers saw the countryside of Columbia and Dutchess Counties along this route, until Penn Central discontinued passenger service between Dover Plains and Chatham in 1972.