The name originated in Ireland as that of the family home of John David Ogilby, a professor of ecclesiastical history at the General Theological Seminary.

The area now known as Briarcliff Manor had seen human occupation since at least the Archaic period, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the village did not occur until the Industrial Revolution.

It was surrounded by Walter Law's dairy barns and greenhouses, and hosted numerous distinguished guests, including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

[7]: 116–7  Directly across from Holly Hill is the site used for the U.S. headquarters of Philips Research from 1965 to 2015, built on part of Waldheim, the former 130-acre (53 ha) estate of James Speyer.

When he began marketing the area, he renovated or demolished existing homes to lend an air of development and built a private 8.3-acre (3.4 ha) country club for use by Chilmark residents.

The first major development of the area occurred around 1902,[5]: 13  though many houses in the neighborhood were constructed during a 1930s building boom, circling Jackson Road Park and near Todd Elementary School.

[7]: 195  On March 21, 2010, the BMSHS was given a permanent location at the Eileen O'Connor Weber Historical Center, established as part of the expanded Briarcliff Manor Public Library.

[6]: 28  The granite church was built by local stonemasons and paid for by Creighton's wealthy neighbors, including Commodore Matthew Perry, James Watson Webb, William Aspinwall, and Ambrose Kingsland.

Irving, author of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", brought the ivy surrounding the church from Abbotsford (home of Walter Scott).

The Gothic Revival church, built on Ogilby's summer estate,[74] was designed by Richard Upjohn and modeled on Saint Andrew's in Bemerton, England.

[4]: 75 Briarcliff Congregational Church, built in 1896, has windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, William Willet, J&R Lamb Studios, Hardman & Co., and Woodhaven.

During the 38 years that Pace University operated its Briarcliff campus, it maintained fourteen intercollegiate varsity sports teams which played at the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division II level.

In addition to its customary general election, held at the same day in every municipality in New York, the village has a nonpartisan caucus, a town meeting-style forum to determine officeholders.

[2] The crime rate was low during both world wars, and village police work primarily involved rounding up animals (as the constabulary had done since before the Revolution).

In 1989, when the police force considered replacing its .38 six-shot revolvers with semiautomatic 9mm pistols, opinion was divided; village officials could not remember when an officer last fired a gun on duty.

[134] The first institute for higher education in the village was the School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture, which Walter Law helped establish on his Briarcliff Farms in 1900.

Among its trustees were Howard Deering Johnson, Norman Cousins, Carl Carmer, Thomas K. Finletter, William Zorach, Eduard C. Lindeman, and Lyman Bryson.

[142][143] In February and March 2013, the final three episodes of the first season of television show The Following were filmed in and around the former town of Ossining police station in Briarcliff Manor.

[147][148] Films shot in the village include The Seven Sisters, House of Dark Shadows, Savages, Bed of Roses, Super Troopers, Analyze That, First Born, American Gangster, and The Bourne Legacy.

[142] The 2013 dark comedy Inside Llewyn Davis was partially filmed at Pace University's Briarcliff campus, adapting its dining hall into a 1960s Fred Harvey restaurant in an Illinois Tollway oasis.

[170] The department, primarily rooted in the 1941 sale of Walter Law's Briarcliff Table Water Company, began with a state-mandated street commissioner.

[174] The Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line's Scarborough station offers direct service to New York's Grand Central Terminal, and is the primary public transport to the city.

[6]: 68  Businessman William Henry Aspinwall lived in Scarborough, and was sent to England during the American Civil War to prevent the construction of Confederate ironclad warships.

John Lorimer Worden, a U.S. Navy rear admiral who commanded the USS Monitor against the CSS Virginia during the Battle of Hampton Roads, was born at Rosemont in Scarborough.

[183][184] Christian Archibald Herter, a physician and pathologist, lived with his wife at the Edgehill estate; he worked at a separate laboratory building on the property.

[186] Frank A. Vanderlip was president of the National City Bank of New York, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and a founder of the Federal Reserve System.

[187] Harry L. Twaddle, a United States Army major general who commanded the 95th Infantry Division in World War II, was raised in Briarcliff Manor.

[69] His father (Ely Jacques Kahn, a New York skyscraper architect) designed two houses in Briarcliff Manor, including one for sports commentator Red Barber.

[206][210] John Chervokas was an advertising writer and executive and Ossining town supervisor and school board member, and a longtime resident of Briarcliff Manor.

[236] Doris Downes, a botanical artist and widow of art critic Robert Hughes, owns a farmhouse in the village (where they lived for many years).