Beacon is situated on the east bank of the Hudson River at the foot of Mount Beacon. It is located 59 miles north of New York City and approximately 90 miles south of Albany.

Incorporated on May 15,1913, by combining the old villages of Fishkill Landing and Matteawan, the City of Beacon was so named to commemorate the historic Beacon fires which blazed forth from the summit of the Fishkill Mountains warning the Revolutionary Armies of the movement of the British Troops.

Beacon has the distinction of being the First-Commission-Government City in the State of New York as well as one of the first in the United States.