New Rochelle, NY may have claim as the first Queen City.
17th century
New Rochelle's history begins with the purchase by Thomas Pell of the Pelham Manor tract, of which the city would become part, from the Siwanoy Indians in 1654.
In 1687 a purchase agreement was made between John Pell, nephew of Thomas Pell, and [[Jacob
In 1689, thousands of Huguenots - French Protestants who left France following the revocation by Louis XIV of the Edict of Nantes, which had protected them from religious persecution - began settling the area. Their new home was named after La Rochelle, the port from which they had departed France. There is a monument in Hudson Park which commemorates all the names of these Huguenot settlers.
Also in 1689, John Pell officially deeded the 6,100 acres (25 km²) of New Rochelle to Jacob Leisler. The Deed requires "as an Acknowledgment to the Lord of the said Manor one Fatt Calfe on every fouer and twentieth day of June yearly and every Year Forever (if demanded)."