[4][5] After the Dutch came to the area, the land was part of the Bisightick tract of the van der Donck grant purchased by Frederick Philipse in 1682, first lord of Philipsburg Manor.

In 1785 the state of New York confiscated the land from his Loyalist grandson, Frederick Philipse III, after he sided with the British in the American Revolution, and sold it to local farmers who had been tenants of the Phillipse family.

Three pickle factories were in operation by the Civil War, and in the 1880s the construction of the Putnam Railroad and New Croton Aqueduct led to a population boom which saw the installation of electric lighting and improved roads.

Due to the presence of an earlier Ashford Post Office in New York state, the town was forced to change its name in order to receive its own.

The story told at one time is that Field agreed to use his influence to get the post office established, and in return the village would be renamed Ardsley.

The town outgrew its original high school by the mid-1950s, resulting in the current facility being opened in 1957, and graduating its first class in 1958.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), all land.

The Army Corps of Engineers has completed several construction projects to help minimize potential damage from future floods in downtown Ardsley and surrounding areas.

[7] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

Lyceum Kennedy International School maintains its Ardsley campus, serving elementary grades.

In 2018 Brooke Lea Foster of The New York Times stated that it was one of several "Rivertowns" in New York State, even though physically Ardsley is not adjacent to a river; she described these "Rivertowns" as among the "least suburban of suburbs, each one celebrated by buyers there for its culture and hip factor, as much as the housing stock and sophisticated post-city life.

Lines running north–south along Route 9A and 100B like 1C, 5, and 6 provide connections with Elmsford, White Plains, and Getty Square, Yonkers.

Lines running east–west like 66 provide connections to commuter rail stations and the downtowns of Dobbs Ferry, Scarsdale, Larchmont, and New Rochelle.