Madam C.J. Walker and Villa Lewaro
Making a Statement That Still Speaks Today
Speaker: Chet Kerr, Board Member of the Irvington Historic Society
Program Location: Keeper’s House Visitor Center, 15 Walnut St, Dobbs Ferry, NY. Parking on street.
If you walk along the Old Croton Aqueduct between Irvington and Lyndhurst, you will find the stunning estate called Villa Lewaro. It is on the trail, just north of Main Street in Irvington. It was originally the home of Madam C.J. Walker. She was a beauty mogul, entrepreneur, and civil rights activist, and widely known as America’s first female, self-made millionaire. An orphan by the age of seven and a mother and widow by the age of twenty, she developed a hair-care product for Black women that she built into a nation-wide business, employing over thousands of agents to distribute her products. In 1918, she built a magnificent 34-room Italianate mansion in Irvington, New York, which still stands today on the east side of the Old Croton Aqueduct. Irvington Historical Society Board Member Chet Kerr will lead a talk about Madam Walker’s remarkable life and her “Villa Lewaro” mansion that she hoped to be a statement about the possibilities for the African American community. This program was organized by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Space is limited.
