[4] The name comes from the Dutch word Haverstroo meaning "oats straw",[5] referring to the grasslands along the river.

Haverstraw village is the original seat of government for the town, hosting the area's historic central downtown business district and the densest population in northern Rockland County.

During the American Revolution, it served (under the command of Col. Ann Hawkes Hay) as an important lookout for British activities on the Hudson.

A blue-marked trail, the Long Path, may be taken 2 miles (3 km) eastward from Central Highway along the crest of South Mountain to High Tor.

In 1826 the town was the site of a short-lived effort to establish an Owenite colony called the Franklin Community.

[6] Underfinanced and wracked by internal dissent, the model Owenite community folded after a mere five months of operation.

Haverstraw has one of largest Dominican communities in the United States with Dominicans making up 32.4% of the population[11] There were 11,255 households, out of which 37.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.4% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.0% were non-families.

The town supervisor is Howard T. Phillips Jr., and council members are Vincent Gamboli, John J. Gould, Hector L. Soto and Isidro "Papo" Cancel.

Short Line, part of Coach USA, provides daily service along U.S. Route 9W heading to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan and West Point Military Academy or Newburgh.

It is now part of the CSX River Subdivision which runs between North Bergen Yard in New Jersey and Selkirk, New York.