In August 1956, the site committee chose to locate the campus on the Ridge Road Park property in Hartsdale, then the estate of Henry J. Gaisman, an executive with The Gillette Company. The committee rejected more rural sites because of their distance from populated areas. The chosen property was within walking distance to the Hartsdale train station and to bus stops on Central Park Avenue. Hopkins and the committee asked the county to buy the property immediately, but Gaisman "cooled to the idea" and eventually prevented officials from entering the property. John H. Downing, a member of the board of supervisors, argued to have a northern Westchester site chosen instead of the Gaisman estate. The board argued that the 136 acre Gaisman property was best because of its central location in the county, and that 85% of the college's students lived in southern Westchester and New York City. Gaisman continued to refuse to sell his property, and on October 1, 1956, the County Board of Supervisors voted 25 to 15 to acquire the land by means of condemnation. Before the county could legally act, Gaisman gifted the estate to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, forcing the site committee to look elsewhere.