William Beekman emigrated from the Netherlands to the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam, together with Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1647 and became active in real estate in Manhattan as well as Upstate.
The Beekman Estate is a stock corporation incorporated by descendants of William in the year 1905 (before “Inc.” came into use). Its real estate consists primarily of properties in Manhattan held for long periods of time by the Beekmans. It is called The Beekman Estate because its basis is properties which Senator James William Beekman (1815-1877), owner of Beekman Place, had owned and developed.
His descendants continue to control a majority of the stock of the corporation and in recent years have diversified by investing in Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey.
