1983

• Margo Stever launches the Sleepy Hollow Poetry Series at the Warner Library in Tarrytown, New York.

• Margo Stever decides to broaden programmatic scope of the Sleepy Hollow Poetry Series, and with the assistance of her husband, a lawyer, incorporates The Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Inc. Her programmatic vision includes acquisition and restoration of Philipse Manor Railroad Station as the Center's home, founding a new small press to publish the work of talented, unpublished, poets, and providing outreach to the community.
• Certificate of Incorporation signed by Margo Stever, Donald Stever, and Patricia Farewell on June 28, 1988. Margo Stever becomes Chairperson of the Board of Directors and unpaid Director of the HVWC. The original Board of Directors consisted of Margo Stever, Donald Stever, Nicholas Robinson and Patricia Farewell.

• First outreach workshops taught by a group of volunteers at retirement communities and special schools. First writing workshops held at various locations.
• First chapbook is published by Slapering Hol Press, the small imprint of the HVWC - Voices from the River - a selection of poems by poets who had read in the Sleepy Hollow Poetry Series. It is edited by Patricia Farewell and Margo Stever.
• First program committee director, Anneliese Wagner, takes over as Artistic Director of the reading series.

• First newsletter is edited by Diane Tasca and Jean Scandlyn. A name-the-newsletter contest is held.
• Publication of first chapbook by poet who has not published a book or chapbook. Dina Ben-Lev's Note for a Missing Friend chosen by an editorial committee consisting of Brooks Haxton, Anneliese Wagner, and Margo Stever.
• First outreach programs begin at the Coachman Hotel (now the Coachman Family Center). Program conceived by Rose Reitter, who became terminally ill before she could actually teach, and Margo Stever, who secured grant funding for it. Marylou DiPietro teaches first Coachman workshops.
• As a result of a study commisioned by the HVWC board of directors under the guidance of board member Nicholas Robinson, the Philipse Manor Railroad Station is placed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.

• HVWC's legal counsel, Donald Stever, secures agreement of the successor of Penn Central Corporation, to transfer fee title of Philipse Manor Railroad Station to The Hudson Valley Writers' Center. Roof on station replaced after Metro-North Commuter Railroad issues temporary entry permit.
• Following lengthy negotiations with the faculty by Margo Stever and Rose Reitter, HVWC poet and teacher, Joan Halperin, launches an outreach program at the Clear View School, a school for severely emotionally disabled children.

• Staci Swedeen becomes first paid director of the HVWC, a half-time position.
• Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which refused to surrender it long-term lease of the building, grants long-term sublease from Metro-North to HVWC. Deed to residual air rights fee is delivered by subsidiary of Penn Central Corporation. The New York State Department of Transportation announces that the Writers' Center, with the local government sponsorship of the Village of North Tarrytown, has received a $306,700 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act Grant to provide partial funding for the restoration of the station for its adaptive re-use.
• Award-winning poet, Stephanie Strickland, replaces Patricia Farewell as co-editor of Slapering Hol Press and works as co-editor with Margo Stever.
• HVWC (along with Texaco, Inc. and Emily Grant, president of Emelin Theater) receives Westchester Arts Council Arts Award for Best Arts Organization.

• Leslie Shipman appointed director and first full-time paid staff person.

• Reconstruction of the Philipse Manor Railroad Station begins.
• Margo Stever establishes a comprehensive literacy project at the Coachman Family Center homeless shelter, funded by various community foundation grants.

• Novelist Ben Cheever and Hon. Winthrop Aldrich, Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, deliver keynote remarks at ribbon cutting for Philipse Manor Railroad Station.
• Grand opening of the HVWC's new home in the Philipse Manor Railroad Station. Billy Collins reads from his poetry.

Since 1996, the Center has continued to manage three core programs: readings, classes & workshops, and Slapering Hol Press. HVWC representatives have also worked in the wider community to reach those in need and those who would never otherwise encounter literary workshops and readings.

• After several part-time and full-time directors, Dare Thompson becomes Executive Director.

• Maureen Hatch is hired as Associate Director and puts the Center on the web at www.writerscenter.org.

• Founder Margo Stever steps down as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. Board member Donna Lynch assumes leadership. Ms. Stever continues to be an active board member and, with Stephanie Strickland, continues as co-editor of Slapering Hol Press.

• HVWC undergoes some welcome aesthetic improvements to its interior, thanks to a generous gift from poet Linda Ashear, in memory of her mother, Sylvia Dweck.

• HVWC is awarded the prestigious Excellence in Historic Preservation Award by the Preservation League of New York State for the restoration of the Philipse Manor Railroad Station.