Is emergency flood cleanup available now in North Bellport through SERVPRO?
When it comes to emergencies like floods, time is of the essence (or so they say). Can SERVPRO handle urgent flood cleanup near Bayport businesses? . For those residing in North Bellport, the question on everyones mind is: "Is emergency flood cleanup available right now through SERVPRO?" Well, lets dive into that.
First off, SERVPRO isnt a stranger to the chaos caused by unexpected flooding. Theyre known for their swift and efficient services when homes and businesses get hit by water damage. But, hey, we cant assume theyre always available on the spot, right? Its not like they have a magical teleportation device to pop up at your doorstep instantly (if only!).
Now, if youre sitting there wondering whether SERVPRO can rush to North Bellport right this moment, the answer isnt straightforward. Usually, theyd be on top of things, ready to tackle water damage with their specialized equipment and trained professionals. However, there might be instances when they cant.
Is emergency flood cleanup available now in North Bellport through SERVPRO? -
* Basement moisture remediation
Maybe theyre swamped with calls from other locations (pun intended), or perhaps theres a logistical hiccup. Who knows?
Its crucial not to rely solely on assumptions when it comes to emergency services.
Is emergency flood cleanup available now in North Bellport through SERVPRO? -
A quick call to SERVPROs local branch would clear things up faster than you can say "flood cleanup." Theyd let you know if they can swing by North Bellport right away (or if there might be a bit of a wait). After all, its better to have that information straight from the horses mouth!
In conclusion, while SERVPROs reputation suggests they would offer emergency flood cleanup services in North Bellport, its not guaranteed that theyd be available at the exact moment you need them. So, dont just sit there hoping and wishing – reach out to them directly and get the lowdown! And remember, its always good to have a backup plan, just in case.
Brookhaven Public Schools is a School District Agency in the U.S State of New York mostly in Brookhaven. As of the 2020-2021 school year, It had over 63,500 students. BPS maintains 14 High Schools, which is by far more than any in New York after NYCPS and Buffalo Public Schools.
The area of Lake Grove was settled in the early 18th century along Middle Country Road, which was then part of the Old Kings Highway, originally a Native American footpath. The community's first church building, built in 1818, was the First Congregational Church of New Village. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, the building has been preserved and is depicted on the village seal. In 1870, Lake Grove established its first post office, which carried the mail to and from Lakeland station (discontinued in 1883) by horse and wagon. The area was variously called Lakeland, Lakeville, New Village, Ronkonkoma or West Middle Island until it settled on the name Lake Grove in mid-19th century, after the groves of trees near Lake Ronkonkoma.
During the early 20th century Lake Ronkonkoma became a popular area for recreation, which prompted many small summer houses built on private roads of Lake Grove. In 1921, a new post office was erected in the eastern part of the area and given the name of Centereach. The next significant housing development built in Lake Grove was called Brook Lawn and was located on Stony Brook Road, which later grew into Stony Brook. More developments followed and the population of Lake Grove increased rapidly. In 1954, the newly built Nesconset Highway created a major commercial crossroad in Lake Grove, which prompted the construction of the Smith Haven Mall in 1968, which in turn made the local residents become concerned about the impact of new businesses and increased traffic in their community.[3][4]
In order to gain local control of the zoning and planning, Lake Grove was incorporated by a vote of 552 to 332 on September 9, 1968.[3][4]
As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 10,250 people, 3,419 households, and 2,742 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,436.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,327.0/km2). There were 3,509 housing units at an average density of 1,176.6 per square mile (454.3/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 91.31% White, 1.44% African American, 0.09% Native American, 4.93% Asian, 1.00% from other races, and 1.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.84% of the population.
There were 3,419 households, out of which 38.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.8% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.8% were non-families. 14.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.31.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 26.3% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $67,174, and the median income for a family was $73,065. Males had a median income of $53,113 versus $33,253 for females. The per capita income for the village was $26,321. About 2.5% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty threshold, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.[5]
As of December 2021, the Mayor of Lake Grove is Robert J. Scottaline, the Deputy Mayor is Richard J. Cohen, and the Village Trustees are Richard J. Cohen, Richard Kick, John G. Peterson, and Felix Wienclaw.[7]
Stony Brook was first settled in the late 17th century. It was originally known by the native name Wopowog and then as Stony Brook, with both names likely referring to the interconnected bodies of water at the hamlet's western edge. It began as a satellite community of adjacent Setauket, New York, the Town of Brookhaven's first settlement, and its land was included in the initial 1655 purchase from the native Setalcott tribe.
The Three Village Inn, housed in the c. 1751 Richard Hallock home
A gristmill was built in 1699 on the water body now known as the Mill Pond, currently drained after severe rain breached it in the early hours of August 19, 2024. The current structure, which replaced the original in 1751, ground grain into the 1940s and has since been repurposed for public tours. For religious services and education, the hamlet's original residents had to attend institutions in the neighboring communities of Setauket and St. James. In the latter half of the 18th century, activity began to shift from the mill area north toward the harbor as new residences, a number of which still stand, were constructed.[3]
Stony Brook was a remote area through the 18th century aside for a modest amount of commerce near the mill at the intersection of Main Street and Harbor Road. The community's development was stalled by its poorly accessible harbor relative to nearby Setauket and Port Jefferson. In the 1840s, local painter William Sidney Mount led a call for the harbor's dredging. This was completed twice, but after the harbor filled in both times the effort was abandoned. Lacking the resources of its neighboring harbor settlements, Stony Brook based its economy on agriculture and the cordwood industry.[3]
The Long Island Rail Road reached Stony Brook in the 1870s, creating an easy link between New York City and the citizens of Stony Brook. Stony Brook quickly became a popular summer resort for city dwellers attempting to escape the hazards and stress of urban life. The establishment of the Stony Brook Assembly in 1909 also helped to draw more residents to the local area. A number of these newcomers constructed houses and cottages, many of which were either originally made for year-round use or have since been converted to such.
Nevertheless, the majority of residences were local farmers and businessmen who depended on all necessities being in easy reach. Most businesses were then on the compact plot that would become the contemporary village green. Unlike today, the shops in this area were utilitarian and haphazardly arranged.
The history of the unincorporated "village" is closely linked to that of Ward Melville, a local businessman who owned what would become the CVS Corporation. At one point owned much of what his family coined as the Three Village area (consisting of Stony Brook, the hamlet of Setauket, and the incorporated village of Old Field).
Beginning in 1939 with the creation of his Stony Brook Community Fund, Melville used his wealth to begin the transformation of part of the hamlet into his idea of an idyllic New England village, the Stony Brook Village Center, with white clapboard buildings and quaint stores. The focus had been in the previous center of the village's commerce, which now consists of a village green and a crescent of stores embellished with stone walkways and seasonal gardening. To accomplish this, Melville moved many of the existing shops in the plot into the crescent and modified their details for consistency, a design model similar to that of Colonial Williamsburg. As a centerpiece to the crescent, Melville built the Stony Brook Post Office, decorated by a large eagle that flaps its wings to mark each hour.
Melville donated the land and funds to New York for establishing a branch of the State University of New York in the area. This led what was then called the State University College on Long Island, at the time in constrictive Oyster Bay quarters, to relocate and change its name to Stony Brook University. Melville also donated land and funds for the local school district. The Three Village Central School District today serves several communities in the vicinity and has named its flagship Ward Melville High School after the philanthropist.
Stony Brook is on the North Shore of Long Island, approximately 55 miles (89 km) east of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The census-designated place occupies an irregular shape measuring roughly 5 miles (8 km) north to south and 1 mile (1.6 km) east to west.
The historic core of Stony Brook was developed from the 17th century onward at the mouth of Stony Brook Harbor, a narrow inlet of the Long Island Sound. This section of town includes the Stony Brook Village Center, a planned commercial center in the style of New England clapboard architecture that opened in 1941. Nearby are the Long Island Museum, the Three Village Inn, and William Sidney Mount House. A peninsula in this vicinity known as the West Meadow includes a beach and wetlands reserve.
Stony Brook University is within and adjacent to the census-designated place, with its main campus less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from Stony Brook's historic center. It is primarily on the eastern side of the census-designated place, with a pedestrian entrance on Route 25a at the Stony Brook station of the Long Island Rail Road and a vehicular entrance on Nicolls Road. The local stretch of Route 25A contains shops and other commercial properties that cater to the university's student body.
The southern (inland) portion of Stony Brook primarily consists of post-war residential development. The Stony Brook University Research and Development Park (in Stony Brook and adjacent St. James) occupies a buffer between this section and the university's central campus. Forming Stony Brook's official southern boundary is Route 347, a corridor with commercial development including an AMC Loews cinema within the CDP boundaries and the Smith Haven Mall nearby.
The hamlet is primarily located within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Three Village Central School District.[4] However, a small section of the hamlet's southwestern extreme is located within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Middle Country Central School District.[4] As such, children who reside within the hamlet and attend public schools go to school in one of these two districts, depending on where they reside within the hamlet.[4]
As of the census[8] of 2010, there were 13,727 people, 4,758 households, and 3,787 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,390.5 inhabitants per square mile (923.0/km2). There were 4,970 housing units at an average density of 865.5 per square mile (334.2/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 88.6% White, 14.4% from two or more races, 7.5% Asian, 4.4% Hispanic or Latin of any race, 1.7% African American, 0.25% from other races, 0.1% Native American, and 0.01% Pacific Islander.
There were 4,758 households, out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.4% were non-families. 16.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.23.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 26.9% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $90,009, and the median income for a family was $95,567. Males had a median income of $68,400 versus $41,770 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $35,247. About 1.9% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.
In 1947, coffee importer Eugene Diaz, owner of New York Galicia, bought the Brookhattan team, withdrew Galicia from the National Soccer League of New York and transferred its players to Brookhattan.[10][11][12] The merged team, renamed Brookhattan–Galicia, reached the final of the 1948 National Challenge Cup.[3]
During the 1948–49 season, Brookhattan's Pito Villanon led the ASL in scoring.[13] In the 1949–50 season, Joe Gaetjens was the top scorer in the ASL.[14] Pito Villanon led the ASL in scoring in 1952–53 and was also the ASL MVP.[13] Brookhattan finished runner-up in the ASL in 1954.[15]
In 1961 Galicia merged with Honduras, a non-ASL team, to form Galicia–Honduras.[16]
^"Brookhattan". SoccerStats.us. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
^Dave Litterer (March 31, 2005). "The American Soccer League". The Year in American Soccer - 1945. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.9 square miles (15.3 km2), of which 5.8 square miles (14.9 km2) is land and 0.15 square miles (0.4 km2), or 2.47%, is water.[2]
As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 3,570 people, 1,101 households, and 833 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 590.3 inhabitants per square mile (227.9/km2). There were 1,167 housing units at an average density of 193.0 per square mile (74.5/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 84.99% White, 10.11% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.64% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.34% from other races, and 2.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.39% of the population.
There were 1,101 households, out of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.0% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 17.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $70,357, and the median income for a family was $80,863. Males had a median income of $49,886 versus $33,611 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $27,044. About 5.8% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the poverty threshold, including 14.2% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.
Brookhaven is located in what was formerly territory of the Choctaw. The city was founded in 1818 by Samuel Jayne from New York, who named it after the town of Brookhaven on Long Island.[6] Most of the Choctaw were forced out of Mississippi in the 1830s under Indian Removal, and were given lesser land in Indian Territory.
The railroad was constructed through Brookhaven in 1858.[6] It connected Brookhaven with New Orleans to the south and Memphis to the north.
During the Civil War, Brookhaven was briefly occupied at noon on April 29, 1863, by a raiding party of Union cavalry under the command of Colonel Benjamin Grierson. The Union force burned public buildings and destroyed the railroad.[7] This was rebuilt after the war.
In 1908, a mob of 2,000 White people assaulted a military guard and kidnapped a Black man, Eli Pigot, and murdered him in broad daylight.[8]
In 1936 Brookhaven was chosen as the site of the Stahl-Urban garment plant.[9]
In 1955, Lamar Smith, a black farmer and World War I veteran, was shot to death by whites mid-day on the lawn of the county courthouse in Brookhaven.[10] He had been working to organize voter registration among blacks, who had been largely disenfranchised in the state since 1890 by barriers created by whites. After World War II, Smith was among the many veterans who became activists for civil rights, determined to regain their constitutional rights. Nobody was prosecuted for his murder.[10]
In 2022, D'Monterrio Gibson, a black FedEx driver was chased down and shot at by two white men after Gibson had delivered a package to an incorrect address and then retrieved it.[11][12] He was driving an unmarked FedEx truck.
Brookhaven is in central Lincoln County. I-55 passes through the west side of the city, with access from Exits 38, 40, and 42. I-55 leads north 55 miles (89 km) to Jackson, the state capital, and south 79 miles (127 km) to Hammond, Louisiana. US 51 runs parallel to I-55, passing through the west side of Brookhaven closer to the city center. US-51 leads north 20 miles (32 km) to Hazlehurst and south 25 miles (40 km) to McComb. US 84 passes through the south side of Brookhaven, leading east 36 miles (58 km) to Prentiss and west 61 miles (98 km) to Natchez.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.7 square miles (56.3 km2), of which 21.7 square miles (56.1 km2) are land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km2), or 0.41%, are water.[13] The city expanded in late 2007 to almost triple its previous area, through a vote of annexation, to bring in suburban developments surrounding the older town and equalize taxing and services provided to the new metropolitan area.[14][15]
As of the 2010 census,[19] there were 12,513 people, 4,768 households, and 3,146 families residing in the city of Brookhaven. The population density was 1,714.1 inhabitants per square mile (661.8/km2). There were 5,519 housing units at an average density of 756.0 per square mile (291.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was fairly evenly split with 43.8% White, 54.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population.
There were 4,768 households, out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.7% were married couples living together, 24.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 20 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.6 years.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,036, and the median income for a family was $40,018. About 25.2% of families and 31.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.6% of those under age 18 and 16.0% of those age 65 or over.
The city is served by the Brookhaven School District of public schools. Up until 1970, separate systems were maintained for black students and white schools. When Brown v. Board required integration of schools in 1954, white citizens refused. In 1970, when the state finally capitulated and desegregated public schools, a private school, Brookhaven Academy, was created to allow white parents to keep their children from attending schools with black children.
In 1988, Brookhaven High School hired a football coach, Hollis Rutter, from Brookhaven Academy. This so upset the black population, who felt that this was a racially-insensitive move, that a school boycott ensued, ultimately resulting in the rescission of Rutter's hiring. This school again came into the spotlight in 2018 when it became known that Cindy Hyde-Smith, a candidate for U.S. Senate known for making racially-incendiary statements, sent her daughter to this school.[21][22]
The statewide magnet high school, the Mississippi School of the Arts is also located in the city. Four Lincoln County public schools are also located in Brookhaven's rural areas: Bogue Chitto Attendance Center, Enterprise Attendance Center, Loyd Star Attendance Center and West Lincoln Attendance Center. The former institution of higher learning Whitworth Female College, founded in 1858, was located in Brookhaven. The all-women's college closed its doors in 1984.[23]
In 2019, it was reported that the school district still "has largely segregated classrooms – some all-black, some majority white."[24]
Brookhaven is a part of the Jackson, Mississippi television market, including news stations WLBT, WJTV, WAPT, and WDBD. The city is served by a daily newspaper called The Daily Leader.
^Grabau, Warren (2000). Ninety-Eight Days: A Geographer's View of the Vicksburg Campaign. Knoxville: University of Tennessee. p. 116. ISBN1-57233-068-6.
^"Two thousand citizens hang woman's assailant". Daily Times. Chattanooga, Tennessee. p. 3.
^Pittman, Ashton (November 23, 2018). "Hyde-Smith Attended All-White 'Seg Academy' to Avoid Integration". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved November 24, 2018. U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that were set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals.
^Campbell, Donna (May 9, 2017). "Governor to speak at BA graduation". The Daily Leader. Retrieved November 24, 2018. Anna-Michael Smith is one of 34 graduates who will be receiving diplomas in John R. Gray Gymnasium at BA Friday. The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. and it is open to the public. mith is the daughter of Mike Smith and Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven. Her mom is the commissioner of agriculture and commerce for the state. The Smiths also raise cattle, which makes Anna-Michael a fifth generation farmer.
Stony Brook Village Center is a colonial-style campus of businesses located in downtown Stony Brook, New York. Some 60 miles from Manhattan, the village center was the creation of philanthropist and businessman Ward Melville. The center blends shopping, restaurants, history, music, art and nature. Now consisting of 35 shops, it includes small locally owned businesses and national stores like Chico's and LOFT, as well as seven eateries.
Surrounded by history and National and State landmarks, Stony Brook Village Center exists as the window to the past, and a door to the future of lifestyle communities. The Stony Brook Grist Mill (c. 1751), and the Hercules Pavilion, which houses the U.S.S Ohio's Hercules figurehead and the Polaris Whaleboat (the only surviving artifact of the 1870 Charles Hall expedition to the arctic) are a two-minute walk from the center. Immediately across from the center is Avalon Park and Preserve, a 140-acre park with multiple trails for the public year-round.
Other environs of Stony Brook Village Center include the Three Village Inn, the Jazz Loft and the Long Island Museum. The Three Village Inn is a historic establishment that offers lodging both at the main house and in cottages, as well as 250 seat restaurant. The Mirabelle Restaurant and Tavern is located inside the inn, with Executive Chef Guy Reuge providing “fresh-meets-French cuisine”. The Jazz Loft is a museum and music venue that resides directly across from the Three Village Inn on one side, and Stony Brook Village Center on the other. The Long Island Museum, which holds exhibits of American art, history and carriages and the historic Country House Restaurant (c. 1710) are moments away at the entrance to the village.[1]
Looking to escape the stresses of city life at the dawn of the twentieth century, Brooklyn residents Frank and Jennie Melville planned a Long Island summer retreat with their son, Ward. Intending to reach the popular Hamptons on the East End of Long Island, they accidentally boarded the wrong train and instead traveled to the hamlet of Stony Brook.
Ultimately falling in love with the quaint village, Frank and Jennie immersed themselves in local life. Jennie urged civic cooperation among the three neighboring communities of Stony Brook, Old Field, and Setauket and tagged them the “Three Villages,” while Frank served on civic boards and the Chamber of Commerce.
In 1922, Ward Melville succeeded his father as Chief Executive Officer of the Melville Corporation - the third largest retailer in the United States at the time (with chains that would later include CVS Drugs, Marshalls, KB Toys, etc.) - and purchased the land surrounding the location of where Stony Brook Village Center would be built. Ward joined in his parents’ passion for conservation and economic development. He actively worked to formulate a plan to fulfill Jennie Melville’s dream of a beautiful, planned business community with the help of his wife, Dorothy.
Starting in 1939, Ward extensively renovated the Old Hallock Homestead he had inherited from his mother, and renamed it the Three Village Inn. At a meeting at the Three Village Inn in January 1939, only six years after the Great Depression, Melville invited the existing businesses and presented his plan - a living Williamsburg, complete with colonial-styled shops, cast iron lampposts and bluestone walkways. He sought the community’s approval – and received it. He would pay for everything with his own funds.
Once construction was completed in 1941, Stony Brook Village Center became the first planned business community in the United States. A business community was an important way to promote entrepreneurship and interaction. Melville used $500,000 of his own funds - the equivalent of nine million dollars today - into rehabilitating and reinventing Stony Brook Village. The enormous undertaking also included the moving or razing 35 buildings, rerouting roads, relocating large trees, and moving one million cubic yards of dirt. A two-acre Village Green was created opening the vista to the harbor. The new Stony Brook Village Center, which now housed many of the existing businesses of old Stony Brook, was completed in the summer of 1941, and the least merchant opened December 7, 1941. It has long been recognized as the first planned shopping center in the country. In fact, it is where the American Institute of Architects held their annual meeting for many years.
After completion, he deeded everything to the Stony Brook Community Fund, a not for profit organization, so that he could not be accused of personal gain. Stony Brook Community Fund would later be renamed the Ward Melville Heritage Organization in 1996.[2]
Today, the center is considered a lifestyle center and has a combination of convenience stores and specialty stores. It still retains its small town flavor being home to a cleaners, optician, post office, deli, flower shop, wine store, beauty salon, barber, dentist and gas station. In addition to these convenience stores, the center has specialty shops such as several dress shops, a children’s clothing shop, and olive oil store, a coffee store, a jewelry store, a furniture store and seven restaurants, as well as a concert hall and museum.
Stony Brook Village Center is open seven days a week.[3][4]
Colonists settled in what is now known as Brookfield in 1710, led by John Muirwood and other colonial founders including Hawley, Peck and Merwin. They bartered for the land from the Wyantenuck and the Potatuck Nations who were ruled under the Sachems Waramaug and Pocono. Sachem Pocono's village was in an enormous palisade along the Still River. Colonists first established the area as the Parish of Newbury, incorporating parts of neighboring Newtown and Danbury. The parish later was renamed and incorporated as the town of Brookfield in 1788, named for Rev. Thomas Brooks, the first minister of the parish's Congregational church.
Early people who lived in Brookfield were subsistence farmers, gatherers, and hunters. The main food sources were corn, beans, squash and wild foods found in the rocky, heavily forested foothills of the Berkshire Mountains of Brookfield and New Milford. Such wild foods that were harvested were white oak acorns, American chestnuts, shag bark hickory nuts, may apples, beach nuts and Solomon's seal. The hunted animals that were taken[5] from the forest and rivers were deer, passenger pigeon, turkey, bass, trout, crawfish, squirrel, rabbit and others.[6] In the 18th century the community was called "Newbury", a name that came from the three towns from which its land was taken—New Milford, Newtown, and Danbury.[5]
As traveling to surrounding churches was difficult in winter, in 1752 the General Assembly granted the community the right to worship in area homes from September through March. In 1754, the General Assembly granted permission for the Parish of Newbury to build its own meeting house and recruit its own minister. On September 28, 1757, the first Congregational Church building was dedicated. The Reverend Thomas Brooks was ordained as the first settled minister. When incorporated in 1778, the town's name was changed to Brookfield in honor of Brooks, who was still the minister.[5]
Along the Still River, mills were in operation as early as 1732 in an area that became known as the Iron Works District. Brookfield was a thriving town with iron furnaces, grist mills, sawmills, comb shops, carding and cotton mills, a paper mill, a knife factory, hat factories, stage-coach shops, lime kilns, harness shops and other plants in operation. The grist mill still stands, as the Brookfield Craft Center. The Iron Works Aqueduct Company, formed in 1837 to supply water from mountain springs to the Iron Works District, still supplies water as the Brookfield Water Company.[5][6]
Before 1912, the town had two train stations: one in the Iron Works District near the present Brookfield Market and a second, Junction Station, near the corner of Junction Road and Stony Hill Road.[5]
The Danbury & Bethel Gas and Electric Company brought electricity to Brookfield in 1915.[5] The .475 Wildey Magnum gun, later made famous in the 1985 Charles Bronson movie Death Wish 3, was developed by Wildey J. Moore in Brookfield in the early 1970s (the factory has since moved to Warren, Connecticut).
In the early 1970s, the town was home to the headquarters of Lego USA.[7]
Throughout the 1970s and late 20th century, Brookfield saw a massive influx in its population. This is attributed to New Yorkers who began relocating from the city to the suburbs. This created rapid real estate development in Brookfield, and turned Brookfield into a popular commuter town for those who work in and around New York City.[8] The top professions of residents today are in the fields of professional, scientific, and technical services, health care, and finance and insurance.[9] As of 2022, 88.7% of residents in the workforce hold white-collar jobs, and about 20% work remotely full-time.[10]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 20.4 square miles (53 km2), of which 19.8 square miles (51 km2) is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2), or 2.94%, is water. It borders Bethel to the south, Newtown to the southeast, Danbury to the southwest, New Fairfield to the west, New Milford to the northwest, and Bridgewater to the northeast.
Brookfield is located between the two largest lakes in Connecticut. Candlewood Lake (the largest) spans the west side of the town, while Lake Lillinonah spans the entire east side. The Still River also runs directly through the town, flowing directionally from south to north.
Brookfield Town Center (known to locals as "Four Corners") is the downtown shopping district of Brookfield. The area is experiencing heavy growth and revitalization in recent years with new apartment and shopping buildings, bringing over 150 new apartments and dozens of new stores. It is also a potential site for a future railway station.[11]
Brookfield Center is the original town center and a historic district, added NRHP, September 15, 1991). The original town hall, original general store, historic society, several churches, and an elementary school are located here.
Other named minor neighborhoods and geographic locations in the town are:
Brookfield has a humid continental climate, similar to that of New York City, with mild to warm humid summers and cold to very cold winters. The highest recorded temperature was 103 °F (39 °C) in July 1966, while the lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) in 1968.[12]Snowfall is generally frequent in winter while average precipitation is most common in September.
Bridgewater Chocolate, a premium chocolate manufacturer, is headquartered in Brookfield.
Cerulean Studios, an instant messaging software company, is headquartered in Brookfield.
Lego USA was formerly headquartered in Brookfield.
McMullin Manufacturing Corporation, a contract manufacturing company of precision metal stampings, fabricated metal parts and assemblies, is headquartered in Brookfield.[14]
Millbrook Press, an international book publisher, was formerly headquartered in Brookfield.
Nordex Inc, a manufacturer of medical and robotics components, is headquartered in Brookfield.
The 2020 US Census counted a total population of 17,528. The total number of households in Brookfield was recorded at 6,209 with an average of 2.73 persons per household.[15] The population density was recorded at 861.9 persons per square mile (332.8 persons/km2).
According to the 2020 Census, the population of Brookfield was 86.4% White, 4.2% Asian, 3.1% Black or African American, and 0.2% Pacific Islander. Individuals from two or more races made up 4.5%.[16] In addition, Latinos of any race made up 6.5% of Brookfield's population. About 28.5% of Brookfield residents were younger than age 18 as of 2020; higher than the U.S. average of 24%. 15.1% of Brookfield residents were born outside of the United States.
As of the census[17] of 2000, there were 15,664 people, 5,572 households, and 4,368 families residing in the town. The population density was 791.1 inhabitants per square mile (305.4/km2). There were 5,781 housing units at an average density of 292.0 per square mile (112.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 95.29% White, 0.76% Black or African American, 0.07% Native American, 2.48% Asian, 0.61% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. 2.37% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 5,573 households, out of which 39.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.1% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.6% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.18.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males, slightly under the US average. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 males.
In 2022, the median income for a household in the town was $132,950, and the median income for a family was $172,383. The per capita income for the town was $63,411. About 1.2% of families and 2.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.
The Board of Finance approves financial measures, including the town budget; the Board of Education controls the town's public schools; the Representative Town Meeting is the main legislative body of the town. The three selectmen are elected on a town-wide basis, although each person can only vote for two members. This assures that there will almost always be one Democrat and two Republicans or two Democrats and one Republican. Many of the town committees have equal representation between Democrats and Republicans, regardless of the vote breakdown, since each individual can only vote for half as many seats as are available.[18]
In the 2020 Presidential Election, Joe Biden (D) received the majority of votes cast by Brookfield residents. This was the first majority vote in Brookfield for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson's win in 1964. There are more registered Republicans than Democrats in the town, though a plurality of registered voters are unaffiliated with either party.
Candlewood Lake Elementary School (Grades Pre-K–5)
In 2021, construction began on the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School at a construction cost of $78.1 million. The school is located on the grounds of the former Huckleberry Hill School, and replaced both Huckleberry and Center School (Pre-K–5).[25] The school opened in September 2023, in time for the 2023–24 school year.[26]
Curtis School for Boys (All-boys boarding school open from 1883 to 1943. Starting in the 1920s, girls were allowed to enroll as day-students. The school has since become the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts.)[27]
The Western Connecticut Academy of International Studies is a magnet school in Danbury, Connecticut, that students (Grades K–5) from Brookfield are accepted into. Students to this school are also accepted from Bethel, Redding, Ridgefield, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, and other regional communities. Henry Abbott Technical High School is a public technical high school for students grades 9–12, being located in Danbury but also accepting students from other regional communities.
The Brookfield Craft Center is a specialized, non-degree school which teaches the skills of craftsmanship and offers courses and workshops to the general public. It is largely housed in an old historic mill house, on the Still River.
The newly completed streetscape of Brookfield's Town Center District, also known as Four Corners, which includes sidewalks, parallel parking and new storefronts.The Town Center District is decorated with lights, garland and winter banners during the Christmas and holiday season
For years, despite being a major economic center for retail in Fairfield County, Brookfield had lacked a walkable downtown area. Most of the large economic activity was centered on the southern portion of Federal Road near Danbury.[28] In 2016, construction began on a project known as "Brookfield Village", which will create a downtown district consisting of sidewalks, a pocket park, street lamps, and parallel parking.[29] Dozens of retail storefronts and residential apartment buildings (more than 150 units) are also being developed in this area, which has gained attention from retailers and will promote further development in the area.[30] In conjunction with other retail developments on Federal Road and with the completion of Phase I of the newly revitalized district, many new restaurants, stores and boutiques have recently opened in the Town Center District.[31]
Sculptures depicting a family of horses; (left to right) mare, foal and stallion. Located at the entrance to the Brookfield Municipal Center and Town ParkThe Brookfield Library, as seen from the entrance to Williams ParkBrookfield Craft Center campus at night
Brookfield Arts Commission – A commission established in 1990 by the town consisting of 15 board members; the commission was created to engage in activities which are intended to promote understanding and appreciation of the arts to residents of the Town of Brookfield, encourage community participation in arts activities, coordinate information concerning artists and the arts within town, act as a liaison between artists, schools and the community, engage in activities designed to encourage local artists in demonstrating their talents, and promote activities that both entertain and enlighten. Each year, the commission awards university scholarships to town residents who are aspiring artists, or plan to pursue a career in the arts after high school.[32]
Brookfield Craft Center – a fine art gallery and educational center that brings arts and craftsmanship to people of all ages. Located in the former Brookfield Train Station and Brookfield Mills mill house.[33]
Brookfield Museum and Historical Society – founded in 1968, a museum and archive pertaining to the history of Brookfield and the New York and New England Region as a whole.[34]
Brookfield Public Library – located within the Brookfield Center Historic District. It is part of Bibliomation, a state-wide library consortium utilizing Evergreen in Connecticut which allows all involved libraries to share their resources, vastly increasing their collection sizes. The library was established in 1951 as the Joyce Memorial Library in the old Town Hall building on Whisconier Road using a $7,000 bequest left by Brookfield resident Daniel Clarke Joyce in 1929 to establish a library in Brookfield.[35][36] The current library was constructed in 1975, and is 9,600 square feet. At this time, the former "Joyce Memorial Library" was renamed "The Brookfield Library".[37] Several proposals have been made to construct a new library in Brookfield, due to the significant increase in population since 1975 when the current facility was constructed.[38] In 2002, the Library Board of Trustees began the planning stage for a new library, and in 2009, a one million dollar state grant was awarded for the construction of a new library.[39] A referendum was held in February 2018 over whether or not to begin construction on a 36,000 square foot library at a cost of 14.7 million dollars, although the motion did not pass.[40] The Library Committee is now revising the plan, with hopes to bring a revised plan to referendum.[41]
Brookfield Theatre for the Arts – a theatre where community productions of various plays are held. The theatre building is part of the former Curtis School for Boys, an all-boys boarding school which closed in 1943.[42]
Concerts in the Park – free, public outdoor concerts at the Brookfield Bandstand (located at the town park on Pocono Rd.) are held every Friday between the months of June and August. The concerts consist of a variety of local and regional artists and music groups.
Cotton Candy Fabrics – a fabric school with classes taught by experienced fashion designers, located at 450 Federal Rd.[43]
DiGrazia Vineyards – founded in 1978, a vineyard and winery located at 131 Tower Road that offers tours and wine tasting. DiGrazia is one of the three wineries in Fairfield County that are part of the Connecticut Wine Trail.[44]
Friends of The Arts of Brookfield – a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established to enhance participation in the arts throughout the community. The organization also sponsors various art exhibitions, cinematic, and theatrical productions throughout Fairfield County.
The Pottery Factory – located at 265 Federal Rd., classes and workshops are offered for pottery, glass fusing, candle making and soap making.[45]
Entrance to Williams ParkBrookfield Town Beach (Candlewood Lake)
Arthur A. Harris Linear Park – a trail located alongside the Brookfield Municipal Center, connecting the property to the Still River Greenway.[48]
Birch Rocks Trails Preserve – located at 40A Obtuse Rd. N, the park consists of 2.5 miles of hiking trails through 175 protected acres of wooded land.[49]
Brookfield Municipal Center – located on Pocono Rd., location of local government offices such as the Town Hall and Police Headquarters. Also home to the Brookfield Town Park, which is Brookfield's flagship park consisting of a large playground, baseball diamond, pickleball courts and soccer fields. Also the location of the Brookfield Bandstand, an outdoor music pavilion where concerts and shows are held in the summer.[50]
Brookfield Nature Center – consists of 16 acres owned by the Town of Brookfield and is managed by the Brookfield Conservation Commission. The land has a striking mix of old fields, upland woods with strands of Spruce mixed with large specimen trees of Tulip and White Oak. Merwin Brook cuts across the northwest corner of the property. The brook flows through a wooded wetland with White Ash, Elm, and Red Maple trees around it. The grassland fields are a nesting site of Bobolinks and other ground nesting birds. A careful mowing schedule is used to protect the eggs and chicks.[51]
Brookfield Town Beach – located on 460 Candlewood Lake Road, the facilities include swimming, basketball, sand volleyball courts, restrooms, changing facilities, BBQ grills and picnic tables. The beach also features a Lakeside Community Room which is available for reservations to host events up to 50 people. The beach is only open to residents of the Town of Brookfield and their guests for daily admission, although residents of the Town of Bethel are eligible to purchase season passes.[52]
Burr Farm Protected Open Space – a town-owned parcel of protected open space located at 23 Dingle Brook Road, comprising 116 acres divided into East and West parcels, along the now unused eastern end of Lake George Road.[53]
Cadigan Park – a park located on Candlewood Lake Rd., containing turf football and lacrosse fields, lighted basketball and tennis courts, as well as walking/biking trails. Directly across the street from the Brookfield Town Beach.[54]
Eriksen Farm Open Space – a town-owned parcel of protected open space located at 8 Nabby Road, comprising 20 acres of protected open fields for walking and biking.[55]
Gurski Farm Protected Open Space – a town-owned parcel of protected open space that connects into Williams Park via trail.[56]
Happy Landings Protected Open Space – a town-owned parcel of 55 protected acres of open fields and approximately 19 acres of woodland open space located along Whisconier Road (Route 25), consists of containing historic barns, wells and windmills.[57]
Lillinonah Woods – located at 54 Obutse Rocks Rd., the park is situated on 68 acres of land and connects to Lake Lillinonah. This park offers fishing (by permit), hiking trails, picnic tables and parking. A small beach is also located on-site.[58]
Old Bridge Sanctuary – located at 57 Old Bridge Rd., a park situated on 25 acres that offers hiking trails and parking.[59]
Still River Greenway – a paved trail through the woods used for walking and biking that connects the Brookfield Municipal Center to Brookfield Town Center.[60] The greenway is part of a planned network that will eventually connect New Milford to Norwalk via pedestrian trails.[61]
Whalen Pond – located on 3 Broadview Road, a pond that is accessible for ice skating during the wintertime.[62]
Williams Park – a trail for walking and biking through the woods, also containing public clay tennis courts. Entrance is across the street from the Brookfield Library.[63]
Brookfield Bay Marina – marina and yacht club located on Candlewood Lake Road, north of the Candlewood Shores neighborhood.[64]
Candlewood East Marina – marina and yacht club with a member clubhouse located on Candlewood Lake Road, south of the Candlewood Shores neighborhood. The property across the street from the docks formerly belonged to the Brookfield Tennis Club, an indoor, members-only tennis and athletic center.[65]
Candlewood Lake Club – a private community on Candlewood Lake that encompasses land and properties in both Brookfield and adjoining New Milford. It includes a country club with an 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools and a clubhouse. Real estate ownership within the community requires residents to pay membership fees to the club and homeowner association.[66]
Candlewood Shores Clubhouse – a facility open to members of the Candlewood Shores Homeowner's Association, which includes private beaches and recreation centers.[67]
Echo Bay Marina – a private marina located north of the Candlewood Shores neighborhood, adjacent to the Brookfield Town Beach.[68]
Knollcrest Marina – a private community and marina located near the northern end of Candlewood Lake.[69]
All Star Indoor Batting Range – indoor batting range and softball training facility, located at 1120 Federal Road.[71]
Aquatic Club of Brookfield – located at 94 Old State Road, the Aquatic Club has an indoor pool and recreation center offering swimming lessons and aquatic activities for all ages.[72]
Brookfield Parks & Recreation – the Brookfield Parks & Recreation Department organizes various summer camps and popular cultural, educational, and recreational activities for town residents.[73]
Brookfield Senior Center – a community center for Brookfield area residents over 60, located at 100 Pocono Road. The Senior Center offers social, educational, physical, creative and intergenerational programs, with the goal of promoting successful aging.[74]
Brookfield Indoor Golf – indoor PGA golf simulators and event lounge with food and alcoholic beverages for guests, located at 195 Federal Road.[75]
The Dive Shop Aquatic Center – an aquatic center with an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool and whirlpool, located at 439 Federal Road. The facility also has a café and fitness center for members, and offers swimming lessons and PADI-certified scuba instructions.[76]
Escape 101 – an escape room center with five unique rooms for groups of varying sizes, located at 132 Federal Road.[77]
The Garden Club of Brookfield – founded in 1962 and organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Garden Club of Brookfield consists of members who maintain Brookfield's many community-owned gardens. The Garden Club is part of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut.[78]
Golf Ranch – located at 1 Sand Cut Road, Golf Ranch (formerly Golf Quest) is a modern driving range with digital performance tracking. The facility also has a mini golf course, indoor golf simulator and a casual restaurant & bar.[79][80][81]
Greenknoll YMCA – located at 2 Huckleberry Hill Road, the Greenknoll Branch Regional YMCA of Western CT offers a wide variety of programs for all age groups. The facility has an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, an indoor therapeutic pool, a seasonally-enclosed outdoor Olympic-size pool, indoor racquetball courts, indoor/outdoor basketball courts, an indoor track, playground, and a wellness center.[82] The wellness center includes a sauna, indoor whirlpool, cardiovascular room, functional fitness room, and a multi-purpose gymnasium for activities such as yoga and taekwondo. The Y also offers multiple youth and teen summer camps, which include Camp Greenknoll, Race for Chase, and Summer Club at Grassy Plain, as well as a nursery school.[83]
Lakeside Watersports – boat and water sports lessons on Candlewood Lake, located at Echo Bay Marina 227 Candlewood Lake Road.[84]
Strikers of Brookfield – 32-lane bowling alley with cosmic bowling nights, a café & an old-school lounge with pool table, located at 140 Federal Road.[85]
Brookfield has a long history with Scouting and maintains several active scout units, including three Scouts BSA troops, Girl Scouts and a Cub Scout pack. These are as follows:
Troop 5 – Founded in February 1942, Troop 5 is sponsored by St Paul's Church and meeting on Tuesday nights. The Troop camps every month and hasn't missed a month since 1964 (over 700 consecutive months, including modified campouts during the COVID Pandemic.) As the troop starts its 82nd year, the Troop currently has 32 Scouts registered with several soon to join the 79 names of Eagle Scouts from Troop 5 proudly displayed on a plaque in the Parish Hall. The troop holds several Community Service projects within Brookfield every year and run a popular Christmas Tree Pickup fundraiser in early January and a Mulch Sales & Delivery fundraiser the 1st weekend in May.[86]
Troop 135 – Founded in 1993, Troop 135 is open to boys ages 11–18 and currently meets on Thursday nights at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School. The troop recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and has over 40 Eagle Scouts. The troop runs a Wreath Sales fundraiser each holiday season.[87]
Troop 235 – Founded in 2019, Troop 235 is the town's first Scouts BSA Girl Troop open to girls ages 11–18. The troop currently meets on Thursday nights at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School.
Pack 135 – Brookfield currently has a single pack which has over 60 boys ages 7–11. Dens for each grade have meetings one or two times each month with a full pack meeting once a month.
Girl Scouts – There are several Girl Scout troops in town with girls from kindergarten thru to seniors in Brookfield High School. Each grade-appropriate troop of typically 6-12 girls stays together throughout their Scouting year.
Brookfield Town Center Block Party – held the first Sunday of June, the Block Party is an annual street fair held in the heart of Brookfield's Town Center District, bringing together residents and visitors alike for a day of festive fun and entertainment. With a vibrant mix of local vendors, live music performances, and engaging activities for all ages, this street fair celebrates the spirit and diversity of the neighborhood, creating lasting memories and fostering a sense of unity. The event is organized by the Brookfield Town Center 4 Business, a consortium of local businesses in the district.[88]
Easter Egg Hunt – the Parks and Recreation Department holds an Egg Hunt every year in the Municipal Center on the Sunday that Easter falls on.[89]
Farmers Market – held on Fridays from 3PM to 6PM at the Brookfield Municipal Center throughout the Summer months. Vendors include farmers offering organic non-GMO fruits and vegetables, and local artisans from the tri-state area and New England.
Halloween Run – held every year the weekend before Halloween; begins at the Municipal Center.
Holiday Tree Lighting – held the first weekend of December, 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. The town lights its Holiday Tree in the Brookfield Municipal Center this time every year. Kids can also sit on Santa's lap, and free hot chocolate and cookies are provided in the Town Hall.
Indie Film Festival – every year in March, the Brookfield Arts Commission holds a festival lasting three days, consisting of short and foreign films.[90]
Fire Dept. Kid's Day – held the first weekend of June, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fire company offers fire prevention and safety for the whole community. The membership provides demonstrations and practice for getting out alive through the use of a fire safety trailer, stop, drop and roll, and dialing 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency. They also team with outside agencies including the Brookfield Police Department to speak with residents about car seat safety and the importance of seat belts as well as the local Rotary Club to photograph children for the Amber Alert program. Kids and adults get to "dress up" in firefighter's gear–feeling the actual weight that firefighter's must carry.[91] This also includes rides on two restored 1930's fire trucks owned by the department.[92]
Memorial Day Parade – takes place on Memorial Day Weekend, running through the Brookfield Center Historic District. The parade consists of vintage and modern emergency vehicles, classic cars and supercars, and floats from various local and regional organizations.[93][94]
Mother's Day 5k – The Parks & Rec Department holds an annual 5K on Mother's Day starting at Brookfield High School. Hundreds of runners and walkers from the region attend.[95]
Relay For Life 5k – held each year in June at Brookfield High School.[96]
Known as an affluent Fairfield County suburb, Brookfield has regularly placed high in various rankings.[98] Brookfield was selected as the best small town in Connecticut by Money magazine in 2013.[99] It was selected as the 26th best town to live in nationwide by Money.com in 2013.[100] In 2017, MarketWatch ranked the Greater Danbury area as the 10th most expensive place to raise a family in the United States.[101]Brookfield Public Schools are frequently ranked as one of the best school districts in Connecticut.[102][103] Brookfield is also frequently ranked as one of the safest towns in Connecticut, due to its extremely low crime rates.[104] In 2015, Connecticut Magazine rated Brookfield as one of the best among towns in Connecticut with median home values over $325,000.[105] The rating considers education, crime, economy, community engagement, and culture/leisure.
Partially due to Brookfield's close proximity to New York City, Brookfield has seen many notable residents ranging from famous golfer Gene Sarazen to Connecticut's 87th governor Jodi Rell. Many finance and business executives also reside in Brookfield, due to the centralization of investment firms and hedge funds in Fairfield County, as well as many Fortune 500 companies.[106]
Scenes from the 1968 movie Rachel, Rachel were filmed in Brookfield.
The 1988–1989 TV seriesMichaels' Movie Madness was shot in Brookfield.[109]
The short filmInnocence was mostly filmed in Brookfield.[110]
In the 1941 film The Lady Eve, starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, Fonda's character hosts lavish parties in a fictional town called Bridgefield, Connecticut, right outside of New York. This fictional town is based on either the town of Brookfield, Ridgefield or Bridgewater, as they have similar sounding names and fit this demographic at the time.[111]
Arcadia Publishing created an Images of America book detailing the History of Brookfield, composed by Marilyn S. Whittlesey.[112]
Annals of Brookfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut was written by Emily C. Hawley, and published in 1929.[113]
Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 7 are the main highways in Brookfield. From the South, US 7 and US 202 jointly exit Interstate 84 at Exit 7 near Danbury. To the South, US 7 connects to the Merritt Parkway and Interstate 95 in Norwalk. US 202 then splits from US 7 at Exit 11, and runs parallel north through town before reconnecting with US 7 near the New Milford border. For many years, US 7 and US 202 ran concurrently through Brookfield but, after decades of discussion and planning, the US 7 Bypass officially opened in November 2009.[114] The Governor of Connecticut at the time was Jodi Rell (R), a Brookfield resident.
Connecticut Route 133 connects Brookfield to its eastern neighbor Bridgewater over the iconic Southville Bridge, which spans the Housatonic River. Connecticut Route 25 also connects Brookfield with Newtown and its Hawleyville neighborhood to the southeast, passing by Interstate 84 and terminating at US 6.[115] Interstate 84 passes through the southern tip of Brookfield, but is most directly accessible through Exit 9 in Hawleyville.
The town is part of the "4 Route", "7 Route" and "New Milford Loop", which are operated by Housatonic Area Regional Transit (HART).[116] A park and ride is located at 67 White Turkey Road Ext., and offers connections to nearby bus and train stations as well as nearby airports.[117] HART operates a direct shuttle for commuters between the park and ride and Brewster station from 5 AM to 10 PM on weekdays.[118]
The town of Brookfield has two volunteer fire companies in town staffing three stations, with the headquarters for the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Company being at 92 Pocono Rd, the Center Company at 6 Obtuse Hill Rd and the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department Candlewood Company at 18 Bayview Dr.[120] The department was founded in 1934, and is composed entirely of volunteers.
The Brookfield Police Department Headquarters is located at 63 Silvermine Rd, adjacent to the Brookfield Municipal Center. The department was established on July 1, 1977, and as of 2017, consists of 34 full-time officers, 6 special officers and 12 full and part-time civilian personnel. The Department Command Staff consists of the chief of police, a major and a captain. There is a Patrol Division, a Detective Division, including a youth officer and two school resource officers, and part-time SCUBA Team, Accident Investigation Team, tactical response technicians with the Danbury Police Department, and part-time evidence technicians.[121][122] Brookfield has plans to expand the current police headquarters, citing a growth in the population served, as well as the size of the police force.[123]
WRKI-FM 95.1; 50,000 watts; the station has a "mainstream rock" format and covers Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven counties in Connecticut and Putnam, Dutchess, Westchester counties in New York
News 12 Connecticut is the local cable news station serving Fairfield County, and covers local news in Brookfield.[126] The town is part of the New York City media market for news and entertainment, and most networks for the Hartford-New Haven market are provided alongside New York TV stations.
The town consists of 70 square miles (180 km2) and stretches nearly 25 miles (40 km), from Wainscott in the west to Montauk Point in the east. It is approximately six miles (10 km) wide at its widest point and less than one mile at its narrowest. The town has jurisdiction over Gardiners Island, which is one of the largest privately owned islands in the United States. The town has 70 miles (110 km) of shoreline.[4]
Long Island Native American settlements, and their neighbors
This area had been inhabited for thousands of years by wandering tribes of indigenous peoples. At the time of European contact, East Hampton was home to the Pequot people, part of the culture that also occupied territory on the northern side of Long Island Sound, in what is now Connecticut of southern New England. They belong to the large Algonquian-speaking language family. Bands on Long Island were identified by their geographic locations. The historical people known to the colonists as the Montaukett, who were Pequot, controlled most of the territory at the east end of Long Island.[5]
Indians inhabiting the western part of Long Island were part of the Lenape nation, whose language is also in the Algonquian family. Their territory extended to lower New York, western Connecticut and the mid-Atlantic coastal areas into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their bands were also known by the names of their geographic locations but did not constitute distinct peoples.[5]
In the late-17th century Chief Wyandanch of the Montaukett negotiated with English colonists for the land in the East Hampton area. The differing concepts held by the Montaukett and English about land and its use contributed to the Montaukett losing most of their lands over the ensuing centuries. Wyandanch's elder brother, the grand sachem Poggaticut, sold an island to English colonist Lion Gardiner for "a large black dog, some powder and shot, and a few Dutch blankets."[6] The next trade involved the land extending from present-day Southampton to the foot of the bluffs, at what is now Hither Hills State Park, for 24 hatchets, 24 coats, 20 looking glasses and 100 muxes.[6]
In 1660, Chief Wyandanch's widow signed away the rest of the land from present-day Hither Hills to the tip of Montauk Point for 100 pounds, to be paid in 10 equal installments of "Indian corn or good wampum at six to a penny".[7] The sales provided that the Montaukett were permitted to stay on the land, to hunt and fish at will, and to harvest the tails and fins of whales that beached on the East Hampton shores. Town officials who bought the land filed for reimbursement from the colony for the rum with which they had plied the tribe during negotiations. Gradually, however, colonists stopped the Montaukett using the land by preventing them from hunting and fishing. They were said to interfere with the crops on their farms, in a conflict similar to the later farmer-rancher arguments of the Old West.[6]
Many of the Montaukett died during the 17th and 18th centuries from epidemics of smallpox, a Eurasian disease carried by some English and Dutch colonists and endemic in their communities, to which the Indians had no immunity. After the American Revolution, some Montaukett relocated with Shinnecock to Oneida County in western upstate New York, led by the MoheganmissionarySamson Occom, to try to escape the settlers' civilization. They formed the Brothertown Indians with other Indians from New England, and gave up some of their traditions. In 1831-1836, the Brothertown Indians migrated to Wisconsin, where they founded the settlement of Brothertown.[8]
Stephen Talkhouse, Montaukett, c. 1860s
Some Montaukett continued to live on Long Island. In the mid to late nineteenth century, their most well-known member was Stephen Talkhouse. Their area on Lake Montauk was called Indian Fields until 1879. With their population reduced, over the years the Montaukett intermarried with other peoples of the area, but brought up many of their descendants as Montaukett in their culture. When Arthur W. Benson brought a government auction of Montauk, New York, in which he bought nearly the entire east end of the town, he evicted the Montaukett. They relocated to Freetown, a community established by free people of color on the northern edge of East Hampton Village. The tribe made several attempts to get the courts to declare the evictions illegal, but the court ruled in favor of the evictions. Since the 1990s, the Montaukett have pressed for formal recognition as a tribe. The Shinnecock Indian Nation, many of whom had continued to occupy a portion of land on the South Shore and claimed it as their reservation, received federal recognition in 2010 as a tribe and also have state recognition. Historically both groups were part of the larger Pequot people.
East Hampton was the first English settlement in the state of New York. In 1639 Lion Gardiner purchased land, what became known as Gardiner's Island, from the Montaukett people. In 1648 a royal British charter recognized the island as a wholly contained colony, independent of both New York and Connecticut. It kept that status until after the American Revolution, when it came under New York State and the Town of East Hampton authority.
On June 12, 1640, nine Puritan families from Lynn, Massachusetts landed at what is now known as Conscience Point, in Southampton; some later migrated to present-day East Hampton. Among the first English settlers in East Hampton were John Hand, Thomas Talmage, Daniel Howe, Thomas Thomson, John Mulford, William Hedges, Ralph Dayton, Thomas Chatfield and Thomas Osborn.[9]
The Mulford Farmhouse, on James Lane, is the best-preserved 17th-century English colonial house in East Hampton. The barn dates to 1721, and the complex is operated as a living museum. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[10] The house was built in 1680 for Josiah Hobart, a prominent early settler, named in the first formal deed of conveyance of East Hampton. This was known as the East-Hampton Pattent[11] or Dongan Patent. The 1686 instrument granting the Town of East Hampton to its new proprietors was signed by Thomas Dongan, then Governor of New York.[12] The patent named Capt. Hobart one of "Trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the town of East-Hampton". Sons of Rev. Peter Hobart, founding minister of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, Josiah Hobart and his brother Joshua both migrated to Long Island with their families. Josiah Hobart settled in East Hampton, where he served as High Sheriff of Suffolk County. His brother Joshua, a minister, went to Southold, where he served the town for 45 years.
Isaac Van Scoy from Amagansett wed Mercy Edwards in February 1757, and during the spring of that year, the couple relocated to the region referred to as Northwest or Alewife Brook Neck, located approximately six miles north of East Hampton Village. This Northwest "Ghost town" settlement during the mid 1800s saw development due to Northwest Harbor, later it was deemed too shallow for deep draft ships and the harbor moved to Sag Harbor, leading to the settlements demise.
Mulford House, East Hampton
East Hampton was the third Connecticut settlement on the East end of Long Island. East Hampton formally united with Connecticut in 1657. Long Island was formally declared to be part of New York (and also subject to English law) by Charles II of England after four British frigates captured what is today New York City, releasing East Hampton from its Connecticut governance.
East Hampton was first called Maidstone, after Maidstone, Kent, England. The name was later changed to "Easthampton", reflecting the geographic names of its neighbors, Southampton and Westhampton.[13] In 1885 the name was split into two words, after the local newspaper the East Hampton Star began using the two-word name. "Maidstone" is frequently used in place names throughout the town, including the Maidstone Golf Club.
Deep Hollow Ranch, established in 1658 in Montauk, is the oldest continuously operating cattle ranch in the United States.
Dolphins at East Hampton's first port- Northwest Landing, 2007
While East Hampton was developed originally for agriculture, the settlers soon discovered that whales frequently beached along the South shore of the town. The whales could be carved up for food and oil. Town laws were written to regulate the proper handling of such carcasses. As the demand for whale products grew, residents became more aggressive in their harvesting techniques. No longer content to settle for harvesting beached whales, they began harvesting live whales that were coming near shore.
Northwest Harbor, located at Northwest Landing on Gardiner's Bay, was the town's first harbor. The harbor turned out to be too shallow for large ships, so a larger port was developed two miles (3 km) West, at Sag Harbor. Some accounts say that it was named because of its relation to the settlement of Sagaponack, New York in the Town of Southampton.[citation needed]
At the peak of the whaling industry, in 1847, some 60 whale ships were based in Sag Harbor, employing 800 men in related businesses. Herman Melville made numerous references to this village in his novel, Moby-Dick. The port rivaled that of New York.[citation needed] After 1847 the whaling industry dropped off dramatically because of the rise of alternative fuel products.
Among the sea captains of Sag Harbor were ancestors of politician Howard Dean, who was born in East Hampton.[14]
The most famous voyages out of Sag Harbor were those by Mercator Cooper. In 1845 he was on an American ship that picked up shipwrecked Japanese sailors in the Bonin Islands and returned them to Tokyo. In 1853 Cooper traveled with an expedition to the far South, where he broke through the ice shelf to become the first person to touch East Antarctica.[citation needed]
East Hampton is still highly influenced by maritime businesses, including tourism. It attracts large summer crowds of residents and tourists. Montauk is New York state's largest fishing port.[15] The Town is famed for its commercial sports fishing, made particularly famous by Frank Mundus. One of the largest buildings in the town is the Promised Land fish meal factory at Napeague.
Julia Gardiner was born on Gardiners Island and her father had a house in East Hampton village. On February 28, 1844, she and her father, David Gardiner, were part of the Presidential party aboard the USS Princeton when a malfunctioning cannon exploded. Her father and two Cabinet officers were killed. According to legend Julia fainted into the arms of President John Tyler (who had earlier lost his first wife). They married four months later, creating a national scandal, since there was a 30-year difference in their ages.
Although Tyler was a member of the wealthy Gardiner family and a former First Lady of the United States, she had economic problems after the American Civil War. She and her husband had supported the Confederate States of America. She is buried with the President in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital during the war and the capital of Virginia. Her father and one of her sons are buried in the South End Burial Ground in East Hampton.
Her parents had been married at St. Philomena's Catholic Church in East Hampton on July 7, 1928. The reception was held at the East Hampton village home of her maternal grandparents, James T. Lee and Margaret Lee, located on Lily Pond.
Her family were members of the Maidstone Club. She and her younger sister, Lee Bouvier, spent their summers at the house in East Hampton until she was 10, when her parents divorced. Her connection to East Hampton received renewed national attention in the 1970s. It was covered in news reports following the release of the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, which explored the lives of her aunt, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, and cousin, Edith Bouvier Beale. They were revealed to be living in poverty in a mansion of that name. Jacqueline and her husband Aristotle Onassis donated money to improve the lives of her relatives. (The documentary was adapted as a Broadway musical of the same name. A documentary on the estate was released in 2006.)
Jacqueline's aunt and uncle, Winifred Lee and Franklin d'Olier, continued to own the Lily Pond Lane home of her maternal grandparents until 2002. The Bouvier family cemetery plot is at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery on Cedar Street. Jackie's father, maternal grandmother, paternal grandparents, and paternal great-grandparents, as well as various relatives, including Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, are buried in the cemetery.
In 1998 and 1999 as talk surfaced that Hillary Clinton was considering a Senate run from New York, they began summering in East Hampton, where they stayed at the Georgica Pond home of Steven Spielberg. Clinton gave a Saturday radio chat from the Amagansett fire station.
In June 2008, at the conclusion of Hillary Clinton's Presidential bid, she stayed at the Wiborg Beach home of Thomas H. Lee in East Hampton Village.[17]
East Hampton has played an important role in African-American history. After the American Revolutionary War, New York passed a gradual abolition law, making children free who were born to slave mothers. But the last slaves were not freed until 1827. During the War of 1812, the Gardiners used slaves to transport supplies back and forth to Gardiner's Island. According to the Gardiners, slaves were easier to pass through British blockades since it was "obvious" that they were "owned."
During this period Sag Harbor rose to a port status, rivaling New York, due to its whale oil trade.[18][citation needed] Many slaves worked on the docks in connection with shipping and the whale trade. After slavery had ended, Gardiner's former slaves developed small houses in Freetown (East Hampton), just north of East Hampton village. Sag Harbor's freedmen developed the Eastville community in Sag Harbor.
St David AME Zion Cemetery
In 1808 the United States and Great Britain cooperated in ending the African slave trade, but Spain continued to transport slaves to its Caribbean and Latin American colonies. On August 26, 1839, crew from La Amistad, an illegal slave ship that had been commandeered by its captives off Cuba, dropped anchor at Culloden Point and came ashore at Montauk to get supplies. The slaves, who were inexperienced navigators, thought they were on course to Africa. Members of the U.S. Navy ship USS Washington, seeing the slaves on shore, arrested them and took them to Connecticut.
This was an international case, with Spain arguing for the return of the ship and slaves (or compensation). The United States had its own laws to interpret. The Mende people who had been illegally taken argued for their freedom. Amistad case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841. John Quincy Adamsargued for the Africans. The court decided in their favor, opining that the initial capture of the Mende by the Spanish was illegal, so they were classified as free men defending their freedom and were not charged under slave law with mutiny or revolt. East Hampton film director Steven Spielberg popularized the slave revolt and Supreme Court case in the 1997 filmAmistad.
One of the Amistad former slaves stayed in the United States after the trial. He worked as a valet for President John Tyler. He was killed aboard USS Princeton along with David Gardiner and two Cabinet officers, when one of the cannons exploded during a demonstration.
In 1845 African-American sailor Pyrrhus Concer of Sag Harbor was aboard the Manhattan, a ship captained by Mercator Cooper, which picked up shipwrecked Japanese sailors in the Bonin Islands. The ship was allowed to enter Tokyo Bay under escort to return the sailors. As Japan had been closed to foreign shipping, it was the first American ship to visit Tokyo. Concer was the first African American the Japanese had seen. He is depicted in their drawings of the event.[citation needed]
East Hampton from its earliest days with the settlement of Gardiners Island has had a reputation as being a home for the wealthy especially after the Gardiners married into almost all the wealthy New York City families.
More than one hundred miles from Manhattan, East Hampton remained largely undeveloped until 1880 when Austin Corbin extended the Long Island Rail Road from Bridgehampton to Montauk. As part of the development, Arthur W. Benson forced an auction and paid US$151,000 for 10,000 acres (40 km2) around Montauk. He forced the eviction of the Montaukket Native Americans there.
Benson brought in architect Stanford White to design six "cottages", mansions near Ditch Plains in Montauk. They formed the Montauk Association to govern their exclusive neighborhood. With new access to the village of East Hampton from New York, wealthy families ventured east from Southampton and built mansions in East Hampton. The Maidstone Golf Club opened in 1891. Among the early "cottages" was Tick Hall, later owned in the late 20th century by TV figure Dick Cavett. It burned in 1993, but Cavett had it restored. He had the process filmed for a television documentary.
Corbin had industrial ambitions associated with extending the train to Montauk. He thought a new port city would develop around the train station on Fort Pond Bay, and that oceangoing ships from Europe would dock there. Passengers could take the train into New York City–thus saving a day in transit.
The grand plans for Montauk did not pan out. The land was sold to the United States Army. Theodore Roosevelt made a much publicized visit to Camp Wyckoff there at the end of the Spanish–American War.
In 1926, Carl G. Fisher intended to revive the dream of an urban Montauk, with plans to develop it as a destination, the Miami Beach of the north. He bought the former Benson property for $2.5 million (it was sold as surplus government property following the end of World War I). He built the six-story Montauk Improvement Building in downtown Montauk (which is still the town's tallest occupied structure—as subsequent zoning has forbidden highrise structures), the Montauk Manor (which was a luxury hotel), dredged Lake Montauk and opened it to Block Island Sound to support his Montauk Yacht Club and the associated Star Island Casino, as well as the Montauk Downs golf club.[19]
Fisher lost his fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The land was sold back to the military in World War II. During World War II, the Army developed its land for Army, Navy and Air Force bases.
Through the years, East Hampton's wealth has evolved. The village has grown, and former farmland dominated by potato fields has been developed for residential housing. The village of East Hampton is considered to have the most dazzling row of mansions, located along Further Lane and Lily Pond Lane parallel to the ocean.
While ostentatious displays of wealth occurred near the ocean ("south of the Montauk Highway"), much simpler houses and bungalows have been built in such areas as Springs and Montauk. In the 1950s and 1960s, following the Kitchen Debate between Nikita Khrushchev and Richard Nixon, more cheap affordable prefabricated homes called Leisurama were built as second homes in Montauk at Culloden Point.
In November 2006, the median price of a house in the Town was US $895,000 [20] compared with a national median for the U.S. of $225,000.[21] Several houses in East Hampton now sell for prices in the tens of millions of dollars. Living in East Hampton is relatively expensive, in 2007 the cost of living was 168% of the national average.[22]
The entertainer and businessman Sean Combs held many of his White Parties at his house on Hedges Banks Drive in East Hampton.[23][24] The New York Times wrote that in the 2000s "few events held the cultural cachet" that the White Parties did.[25] The parties saw a broad range of social and cultural elites socialising together as "veteran celebrities mixed with of-the-moment stars and the high-society set at gatherings that often had civic-minded causes" according to the New York Times.[25] The writer Steven Gaines said that initially the residents of The Hamptons thought "the first party was the end of the world ... They were afraid of a noisy showbiz crowd and thought it was going to be an invasion, and it turned out not to be". Combs's neighbors in the Hamptons were pacified with limousine rides and complimentary meals at expensive restaurants to abate noise complaints.[25]
A portion of the community consists of working people who provide services to the wealthy community. The service community within the town of East Hampton is centered in Springs which contains the more modest housing available.[26]
East Hampton's reputation as an artists' colony began with painter Jackson Pollock, who resided in Springs, New York in the 1940s and 1950s, with Lee Krasner, at what is now known as the Pollock-Krasner House and Studio. Many of his most famous paintings were painted in the barn, which he had converted into a studio. The property is now open to the public for tours, by appointment. It is now owned by Stony Brook University with scheduled appointments to view his studio, which was left unchanged after his death.
Pollock died in 1956 while driving with his mistress, Ruth Kligman, and a friend of hers, on Springs Fireplace Road, after picking them up at the Long Island Railroad station in East Hampton.[27]
Pollock and Krasner are buried in Green River Cemetery, in Springs, along with many of the artists of their generation. Pollock's influence continues to be felt in the community.
An ongoing debate rages over whether 24 paintings and drawings found in a Wainscott locker in 2003 are Pollock originals. Physicists have argued over whether fractals can be used to authenticate the paintings. The debate is still inconclusive.[28]
In 1993, the Andy Warhol Foundation donated 15.6 acres (63,000 m2) of the estate to the Nature Conservancy for the Andy Warhol Visual Arts Preserve, which is run in conjunction with Art Barge in nearby Napeague.[30]
Two major natural disasters that affected East Hampton include the Hurricane of 1938 and Hurricane Carol, in 1954, both of which found the Atlantic Ocean splitting the town in two at Napeague. The 1938 storm also washed up so much sand that the Cedar Point Lighthouse, which had been on an island, became connected to the mainland. The 1954 storm also toppled the MacKay Radio towers at Napeague.
East Hampton does not have the barrier beaches that run almost the entire length of the south shore of Long Island from Coney Island to Southampton. East Hampton's ocean beaches are connected to the mainland, which prevents them from being washed over in storms.
Due to storms on Fort Pond Bay, the hamlet of Montauk was actually moved by the Navy at the end of World War II. The hamlet was originally located at the train station, but was constantly being flooded.
East Hampton is regularly hit by hurricanes and Nor'easters. Given the town's generally flat topography, water often accumulates on town roads stranding motorists in heavy rains.
The town's most serious environmental problem is beach erosion. The town has severely restricted development on ocean front property, thus limiting impact. The Montauk Lighthouse, which used to be almost 300 feet (91 m) from the cliffs is now 56 feet (17 m) from the cliffs. The most threatened areas now are in the hamlet of Montauk, which is the only community in the town with its business district next to the ocean, as are the oceanfront estates of East Hampton. At Georgica Pond the United States Corps of Engineers built Groynes to protect the mansions. The construction is a source of friction with Southampton, which says the jetties interrupt the longshore drift, greatly increasing beach erosion there.
The lack of beach front development, including the fact there are no boardwalk promenades, which are features of many developed beach communities, has contributed to East Hampton beaches being listed among the best beaches in the country.[31]
Montaukett grave in Montauk. The only recognizable grave is that of Stephen Talkhouse
The biggest recorded loss of life in the various skirmishes and conflicts in East Hampton was "Massacre Valley" in 1653 in Montauk when 30 members of the Montaukett tribe were killed by members of the Narragansett tribe at the foot of what is now Montauk Manor.[32]
The Montauketts had a thriving wampum (made from whelk shells on the East Hampton beaches) trade Connecticut tribes. The arrangements were disrupted in 1637 by the Pequot War which was to solidify English domination of New England and change the balance of power among Native American tribes.
The Pequot War was to contribute to the Montauketts selling Gardiners Island, East Hampton and Southampton to the English with the understanding the English would protect the Montauketts from attacks from Connecticut. However a war broke out between the Montauketts and the Narragansett, the nominal Native American victors in Pequot War.
In 1653 the Narragansetts under Ninigret attacked and burned the Montaukett village, killed 30 and captured one of Wyandanch's daughters. The daughter was ransomed with the aid of Lion Gardiner (who in turn was to get large portion of Smithtown, New York in appreciation). The Montauketts temporarily moved closer to East Hampton village and the English ordered ships in Long Island Sound to sink Narragansett canoes.[33] The skirmishes were to end in 1657.
East Hampton had pirates on its waterways in the 17th century and early 18th century, the most notable of which was Captain Kidd who was hanged after his booty on Gardiners Island was introduced at his trial.
Kidd is said to have buried treasure all over Long Island. He parted ways after his east indian adventures with his quartermaster, Hendrick van der Heul, at Little Northwest Creek, near Sag Harbor in 1699 after dividing up the booty from the voyage. Money Ponds at the Montauk Lighthouse are named because of treasure reported to have been left there.
In June 1699 Kidd was stopped on the island while sailing to Boston to try to clear his name. With the permission of the proprietor, Mrs. Gardiner, he buried $30,000 in treasure in a ravine between Bostwick's Point and the Manor House. For her troubles he gave her a piece of gold cloth (a piece of which is now at the East Hampton library) that was captured from a Moorish ship off Madagascar, as well as a bag of sugar. Kidd warned that if it was not there when he returned he would kill Gardiner. Kidd was tried in Boston and Gardiner was ordered to deliver the treasure as evidence. The booty included gold dust, bars of silver, Spanish dollars, rubies, diamonds, candlesticks and porringers. Gardiner kept one of the diamonds, which he gave his daughter. A plaque on the island marks the spot, but it's on private property.[34]
In 1775 the British first ventured toward Long Island at Fort Pond Bay at Montauk during the Siege of Boston. John Dayton, who had limited troops at his disposal, feigned that he had more by walking them back and forth across a hill turning their coats inside out to make it look like there more of them (a tactic referred to as Dayton's Ruse).[35] The British would not formally attack Long Island until 1776.
After the fall of Long Island during the Battle of Long Island, the East Hampton ports of Northwest and Sag Harbor were blockaded by the British and the British used Gardiner's Island for a hunting preserve.
The first American victory in New York after the Battle of Long Island was Meigs Raid on Sag Harbor (sometimes called the Battle of Sag Harbor) when continentals from Connecticut raided the British earth works in the village and burned the ships and wharfs on the East Hampton side of the village. The Americans killed six and transported 90 British prisoners back to Connecticut without losing a single soldier.
A story often circulated is the story of Isaac Van Scoy who had a farm in Northwest. According to the tales the British raided his farmhouse and he killed one soldier with a pitchfork. Van Scoy was reported to have eventually been captured and taken to a prison ship in Sag Harbor where he escaped.[36] The earthen remains of Van Scoy's house are still visible in the Northwest Preserve where he is buried (American flags mark his grave on holidays). His name is applied to various placenames in the area including Van Scoy Pond.
The manor house on Gardiners Island had just been built in 1774 and members of the British forces were to use it throughout the war – with or without permission. Among the British guests were Henry Clinton and John André. At one point Major Andre and Gardiner son Nathaniel Gardiner, who was a surgeon for the New Hampshire Continental Infantry, exchanged toasts on the island. Gardiner would later be the American surgeon who attended to Andre when he was executed after being caught spying with Benedict Arnold.[37]
The British fleet used East Hampton waters for blockading Connecticut and planning for a new offense to retake New England (that never took place). One of the ships, HMS Culloden, ran aground at what is now called Culloden Point in Montauk during a winter storm on January 24, 1781. The ship was scuttled and burned. In the 1970s remains of the ship were discovered and is now Long Island's only underwater park. Remains of the ship can be seen at the East Hampton Marine Museum in Amagansett.
After the war, Gardiners Island which had been considered an independent colony was officially added to New York and East Hampton.
Gardiners Island from Springs, New York showing the white windmill (r) and family home (upper left)Umbrella House, oldest house in Sag Harbor. It housed British troops in the American Revolution and was hit by cannon fire during the War of 1812 (where light colored bricks are in lower left corner)
During the War of 1812 British frigates once again controlled the northern bays of East Hampton with frigates headquartered in Gardiners Bay particularly harassing ships going into Sag Harbor.[38]
Sag Harbor had a fort manned by 3,000 troops on Turkey Hill. July 11, 1813, One hundred British Marines raided the wharf but were driven back after setting fire to one sloop by Americans led by Capt. David Hand.[39]
During the War of 1812 a British fleet of seven ships of the line and several smaller frigates anchored in Cherry Harbor and conducted raids on American shipping Long Island Sound. Crews would come ashore for provisions which were purchased at market prices. During one of the British excursions, Americans captured some of the crew. The British came to arrest then Lord of the Manor John Lyon Gardiner. Gardiner, who was a delicate man, adopted the "green room defense" where he stayed in a bed with green curtains surrounded by medicine to make him look feeble. The British, not wanting a sick man on board, let him be.[37]
The British were to bury several personnel on the island. Some of the British fleet that burned Washington assembled in the harbor in 1814.[40]
Gardiner's supply boats were manned by slaves during the war and this made it easier for them to pass through British lines. Many of the Gardiner slaves were to live in the Freetown (East Hampton), just north of East Hampton (village), New York.[37]
A more important fort was the massive Camp Wickoff (also called Wyckoff) which stretched from the current Montauk Long Island Railroad station to the Montauk Point Lighthouse.
The area was used to quarantine soldiers coming from the conflict. The most prominent group among the 20,000 soldiers who passed through the base were Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. The tented camp became a national scandal over the poor treatment of troops (256 died there) and President William McKinley visited to emphasize improvements.[42] Exhibits and artifacts from the camp are at Theodore Roosevelt County Park.
During World War I, the E.W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York tested torpedoes in the harbor, a half mile north of Sag Harbor. As part of the process, Long Wharf in Sag Harbor was reinforced with concrete and rail spurs built along the wharf as the torpedoes were loaded onto ships for testing. They were shipped via the Long Island Road, along the Sag Harbor to the wharf which was owned by the railroad at the time. Among those observing the tests was Thomas Alva Edison. Most of the today's buildings on the wharf, including the Bay Street Theatre, were built during this time. The torpedoes, which did not have exploding warheads, are occasionally found by divers on the bay floor.[43]
Observation bunker rising above the shadbush at Shadmoor State ParkCoast Guard station at Amagansett where Germans came ashore
During World War II, coastal fortifications were set up along the eastern tip of Long Island at Montauk. A concrete observation tower as built next to the Montauk Lighthouse. 16 inch naval guns were placed in adjacent bunkers at Camp Hero. The observation tower is still next to the lighthouse and the additional bunkers are visible at Camp Hero State Park as well as Shadmoor State Park.
On June 13, 1942, as part of Operation Pastorius four German agents led by George John Dasch were landed by U202 [44] at what is now Atlantic Avenue Beach (sometimes called Coast Guard Beach) in Amagansett. Confronted by Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen, they said they were Southampton fishermen. When one of the four said something in a foreign tongue, they offered him $300 to keep quiet.[45] The agents disappeared into the night after he sought out his supervisor. When reinforcements arrived they discovered German cigarettes on the beach along with four heavy, waterproof oaken boxes buried in the sand filled with brick-sized blocks of high explosives, bombs disguised as lumps of coal, bomb-timing mechanisms of German make, and innocent-looking “pen-and-pencil sets” that were actually incendiary weapons.
The agents rode the Long Island Railroad into New York City and were ultimately captured along with four others who had come ashore at Jacksonville, Florida. Six of the agents were to be executed.[46]
In May 2007 the original Coast Guard station was moved to the property at the Town Marine Museum in Amagansett across the dunes from its original Atlantic Avenue beach location. The station was moved in 1966 to private property to save it from demolition by Joel Carmichael [47] The Marine Museum itself was the former barracks for the Coast Guard.
The Navy appropriated almost all of Montauk during the war for facilities including Montauk Manor which was used as a dormitory. Torpedoes were tested in Lake Montauk. Ships and dirigibles docked on Navy Road on Fort Pond Bay. The Navy was to find Fort Pond inhospitable since it was shallow. Dredging was to contribute to problems with flooding. After the war the Navy moved the residential section of Montauk which had been on the bay by the Long Island Rail station a mile to the south to get away from the flooding. One of the biggest legacies of the Navy presence was to be the dredging of Lake Montauk so that it replaced Fort Pond as Montauk's dock. The Coast Guard is now headquartered there on Star Island.
After the war, most of the military property was disposed of as surplus, except for gun emplacements at Camp Hero next to the Montauk Point Lighthouse. The camp was designated as an Air Force Base supporting a 135-foot (41 m)-wide radar (AN/FPS-35) in the early 1960s to detect potential bombers headed for New York City. The massive radar and supporting state-of-the-art computers quickly became obsolete. While the other radars in this category were torn down, the one on Montauk, was saved largely because it served as a better landmark than did the lighthouse for sailors and ships on Long Island Sound. The base was officially decommissioned in the 1980s. The support buildings now form a ghost town. The radar structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1992, Long Island residents Preston B. Nichols and Peter Moon published a science fiction book, The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time. They suggested that the radar was used by the government to conduct time travel experiments. Some readers believe their sci-fi account is true. The base has become of cult interest among conspiracy buffs. It was featured in a segment of The X-Files.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 386.6 square miles (1,001 km2), of which 74.4 square miles (193 km2) is land and 312.2 square miles (809 km2) (80.76%) is water.[48]
East Hampton has an Oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb).[49] East Hampton has chilly, wet winters and very warm, dry summers due to the moderating influence of the ocean, which suppresses thunderstorm development and moderates summer temperatures. Summers have very warm, sunny, and stable weather, whereas the winters are often stormy due to coastal storms which bring rain but little snow. The region averages only about 10 inches or 0.25 metres of snow annually.
The town has two governments, which sometimes are in conflict. The most visible town government is the elected Town Board, which consists of five people, including its head, the Town Supervisor. They are responsible for managing the taxes, roads, police, parks, zoning and general governance of the town. The Town Board was stablished by the State of New York in 1788. The government operates from a 13-acre (53,000 m2) campus on Pantigo Road.[51]
The historic, original Town government is known as the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton. Today it is formally responsible for day-to-day decisions related to common property in the town. The Trustees derive their power from the Dongan Patent of December 9, 1686, which set up self-governance for the town. The patent (a land grant) establishing the trustees was an act by Thomas Dongan, the Royal Governor of New York.[52] Among the common properties which the trustees operate is Georgica Pond; they decide when the tidal pond is to be drained and filled. These actions often make headlines as they sometimes cause the flooding of basements of neighboring properties owned by celebrities. In 1998, the pond was drained a few days before President Bill Clinton was to spend his summer vacation at the home of Steven Spielberg.
Since the late 20th century, the Town has often approved progressive social initiatives, including domestic partnership registration. In 1999, it imposed a 2 percent tax on residential real estate sales in excess of $250,000 for the purpose of buying open space for preservation.[53] The money has been used in part to the Town's establishing more than 200 miles (320 km) of trails,[54] including the Paumanok Path. Between 2002 and 2005, the tax raised $71 million.[55] In 2006, the Town adopted a dark skies ordinance, which is now being considered as a model for wider use in New York State to cut down on light pollution at night.[56]
Despite East Hampton's great wealth, its fire department and ambulance are both volunteer services, dependent on local full-time residents. In August 1998, President Bill Clinton was to give his weekend radio address from the Amagansett Volunteer Fire Station during his vacation.
The East Hampton town government campus with its house trailers on the left and the 19th- and 18th-century houses moved to the 10 acre campus for a "new" town hall in April 2007.
Although residences in the town are often featured in architectural magazines, the town offices have been housed for years in several double wide trailers on a lot, hidden from the street by a nondescript flat-roofed building. In 2006, the Town announced plans to convert its campus by adapting a collection of historic East Hampton buildings that had been moved over the course of 30 years to the 40-acre (160,000 m2) Further Lane home[57] of Adelaide de Menil, heiress to the Schlumberger oil fortune. In 2006 it was announced that the new Town complex was to be designed by internationally known architect Robert A.M. Stern (who designed the East Hampton Library in 1997).
The transfer of the historic houses to the Town government site was part of the sale of the de Menil to financier Ron Baron for $103 million; in 2007 this was reported as the highest price ever paid for a single residence in United States history.[58]
The township has aggressively pursued zoning ordinances to protect its residential and rural character. It has no chain fast food restaurants and or big box stores (unlike Southampton, which has numerous fast food chains and stores). The village of East Hampton formerly also exercised a "no chain" rule.
The East Hampton Town Police Department, commonly referred to as EHTPD, is a professional police organization responsible for primary jurisdictional law enforcement for the town. The headquarters are located at 131 Wainscott Northwest Road, Wainscott, NY 11975 (631) 537-7575. The East Hampton Town Police Department is headed by Chief Michael Sarlo[60]
Demographics in East Hampton were skewed by the fact that more than half the houses were owned as second homes (among the owners were some of the wealthiest people in the country).[62] The East Hampton economy was based on retail and services to support the residential community.
As of the census[63] of 2010, there were 21,457 people and 21,038 households residing in East Hampton. The population density was 290.0 inhabitants per square mile (112.0/km2). There were 2,251 housing units at an average density of 403.6 per square mile (155.8/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 67.10% White (not Hispanic or Latino), 26.10% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 2.10% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 1.50% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.35% from other races, and 18.90% from two or more races.
As of the census[63] of 2000, there were 1,445 households, out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.2% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.0% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.
As of the census[63] of 2010, in the town the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 2.2% from 18 to 20, 5.1% from 20 to 24, 11.3% from 25 to 34, 21.5% from 35 to 49, 22.5% from 50 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 101.5 males.
As of the census[63] of 2000, the median income for a household in the town was $52,201, and the median income for a family was $55,357. Males had a median income of $38,566 versus $29,750 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $25,725. 12.2% of the population and 10.3% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.5% of those under the age of 18 and 4.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
One of the highlights of the summer is East Hampton Fire Department fireworks display at Main Beach, usually held the Saturday night closest to July 4. The fireworks displays have generated controversy since 2005, when they were postponed because they were considered disruptive to the nearby nesting of the endangered piping plover. In 2005, 2007, and 2008 the fireworks were postponed until Labor Day weekend to protect the birds' nesting season. The village administration has since postponed the fireworks display to Labor Day weekend indefinitely.
A big draw in the summer had also been the shark fishing tournaments in Montauk. Since 2007, the Humane Society and other animal welfare groups have protested that the tournaments are cruel to the sharks, as they are not being caught for food.[64]
Every October the town hosts the Hamptons International Film Festival, an event screening independent films in several local theaters. It has a fairly large draw from the New York City crowd.
Barefoot Contessa, a Food Network original show, is shot in East Hampton.
East Hampton does not have any colleges. The now disbanded Clinton Academy on Main Street was the first chartered Academy authorized by the New York State Board of Regents in 1784.[65] Three high schools are in the Town:
Pierson Middle-High School, part of the Sag Harbor Union Free School District, is physically in East Hampton and serves Sag Harbor (which is partially within the town of Southampton). There were 535 enrolled students in grades 6-12 for the 2019–2020 school year.[67] Its mascot is the Whalers.
Ross School – The largest private school on the East End, the Ross School educates students from pre-school through 12th grade.[68]
WVVH-CD Hamptons TV, UHF Channel 50, the largest FCC licensed TV station in Suffolk County. It broadcasts from the East Hampton Airport industrial park in Wainscott.
Local-access television broadcasts the two public access channels in East Hampton town, Ch 20 public access, and Ch 22 government and education. They are located at the LTV Studios in Wainscott.
The Town of East Hampton is served primarily by Suffolk County Transit bus routes, although Hampton Jitney buses are available for trips to New York City.
^ abJohn A. Strong, The Montaukett Indians of Eastern Long Island (Iroquois and Their Neighbors), New York: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, June 1998. (ISBN0-8156-2883-8)
About Timeline of town creation in Downstate New York
The towns and cities of Downstate New York were created by the U.S. state of New York as municipalities in order to give residents more direct say over local government.[1] Present-day Westchester, Bronx, New York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties were part of York Shire from 1664-August 1673 and again from February 1674 until 1683 at which point the Province of New York was divided into counties. From August 1673 to February 1674 New York was under Dutch control and English political units were suspended, then restored under English rule.[2] York Shire was divided into three divisions called ridings, the East, West, and North ridings. In 1683 the colony of New York eliminated shires and ridings in favor of counties,[2] the East Riding becoming Suffolk County, West Riding the counties of Richmond and Kings, while the North Riding became the counties of Westchester (including present-day Bronx), New York, and Queens (including present-day Nassau).[2]
New York experimented with different types of municipalities before settling upon the current format of towns and cities occupying all the land in a county,[3] and all previous forms were transformed into towns (or divided into multiple towns) in 1788 when all of the state of New York was divided into towns.[1] Some early forms of government in earlier years included land patents with some municipal rights, districts,[4] precincts,[5] and boroughs.[6] Though originally intended to be mere “…involuntary subdivisions of the state, constituted for the purpose of the more convenient exercise of governmental functions by the state for the benefit of all its citizens” as defined by the courts in 1916 (Short v. Town of Orange), towns gained home rule powers from the state in 1964, at which time towns became "a municipal corporation comprising the inhabitants within its boundaries, and formed with the purpose of exercising such powers and discharging such duties of local government and administration of public affairs as have been, or, maybe [sic] conferred or imposed upon it by law.”[7]
The following time-line shows the creation of the current towns from their predecessors stretching back to the earliest municipal entity over the area. It represents from which old town (s) a particular new town was created, but does not represent annexations of territory to and from towns that already existed. All municipalities are towns unless otherwise noted as patent, township, borough, district, or city.
[C] = A part of Westchester County during existence, until annexed and dissolved by their inclusion in
the city of New York and New York County.[13][15] The area of these four towns would become the borough
of the Bronx in 1898, though still part of New York County until the formation of Bronx County in 1914.
[A] = A part of Richmond County. In 1898 all five towns were dissolved and annexed to
the city of New York as the borough of Richmond (renamed Staten Island in 1975).
[B] = A part of West Riding of York Shire until 1683, thereafter Kings County.
[C] = A part of Kings County.
All towns and cities in Kings County were annexed to the City of Brooklyn starting in 1854 with Bushwick and Williamsburgh and ending with the last remaining town- Flatlands in 1896. At that point the city of Brooklyn and Kings County were coterminous.[21] In 1898 the city and county would be annexed to the city of New York as the borough of Brooklyn and remain Kings County.[19]
^"Local Government Handbook"(PDF) (5th ed.). New York State Department of State. 2008. pp. 60 (PDF 64). Archived from the original(PDF) on December 25, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
The Village of East Hampton is a village in Suffolk County, New York. It is located in the town of East Hampton on the South Fork of eastern Long Island. The population was 1,083 at the time of the 2010 census, 251 less than in the year 2000.[6] It is a center of the upscale residential and summer resort area at the East End of Long Island known as The Hamptons. The Mayor of East Hampton Village is Jerry Larsen, elected on September 15, 2020.
The village of Easthampton was founded in 1648 by Puritan farmers who worshipped as Presbyterians. The community was based on farming, with some fishing and whaling. Whales that washed up on the beach were butchered, and whales were hunted offshore with rowboats sometimes manned by Montauk Indians. The lack of a good harbor in East Hampton, however, resulted in Sag Harbor becoming a whaling center which sent ships to the Pacific.[7]
The land had been purchased in 1648 by the governors of Connecticut Colony and New Haven Colony from the Montauk Indians, in large part for small drills to make wampum, their traditional industry; hunting and fishing rights were retained. It was then sold for about £30 to settlers, some from Lynn and Salem, Massachusetts, who had not found room for their herds in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The original name for the village was Maidstone, from a village in Kent where some of the settlers may have originated. Each original settler was allotted a village lot of several acres and rights in common to surrounding lands which were regulated by the town government. The area was transferred to the jurisdiction of New York in 1664.[8]
In large part, early settlers in East Hampton were unacquainted with one another. A great deal of jockeying for position resulted, which took the form of legal proceedings conducted by the town government. Summaries of these proceedings were recorded by the town clerk and form the major resource for historians studying East Hampton during the 17th Century; there are few other written records such as diaries.[8]
In the late 19th century, after extension of the railway to Bridgehampton in 1870 by predecessors of the Long Island Rail Road, visitors began to summer, at first in boarding houses[11][12] on Main Street, then in "cottages," which sometimes were substantial estates, built on former farms and pastures in the village. Shingle style architecture was popular from the 1880s. By the early 1890s the prices being commanded for cottage sites, as high as $10 thousand an acre, were the object of comment by the editors of The New York Times.[13] The Montauk Branch of the railroad was extended through East Hampton to Montauk in 1895.[7]
It was during the 1910s and 20s[14] that most luxury estates were built by the very wealthy, mostly in the Eastern Plain, a previously undeveloped agricultural area.[7] The privately circulated Blue Book of the Hamptons informed, and continues to inform,[15] fashionable residents as to who is who.[16]The Great Depression and World War II resulted in a lull, but full-scale building of cottages resumed in the 1950s and some of the large estates began to be broken up. By 1968 the exclusive character of the "Summer Colony" had become so diluted by the merely rich that the column of that name in The East Hampton Star was discontinued.[17]
The quaint windmills and other sights were favored by artists and art students from the 1890s.[13] It became an artists' colony in the mid-20th century, popularized by the Abstract Expressionists.
As of the 21st century the Hamptons are a fashionable,[18] if crowded[19] and expensive,[20] weekend destination during the summer season. According to Sotheby's International Realty:
Widely regarded as one of the country's most beautiful areas, with miles of white sandy beach, East Hampton is a world-famous ocean-side resort just 100 miles from New York City. The town offers a wide range of fine restaurants, boutiques, art galleries and theater. Sporting activities are enjoyed with world class country clubs, beautiful beaches, excellent sailing, fishing and riding stables.[21]
History and surviving historic sites are detailed in "Village of East Hampton Multiple Area", a New York State study.[14]
On September 15, 2020 the retired Chief of Police Jerry Larsen was elected Mayor in a landslide victory under the Newtown Party political platform to revitalize the downtown and rebuild the village's infrastructure. His running mates Chris Minardi and Sandra Melendez Esq. became Trustees of the Village of East Hampton.
On June 21, 2022 the NewTown Party captured two more seats on the Village Board of Trustees for a 5-0 majority easily defeating the incumbent Arthur "Tiger" Graham.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.9 square miles (12.7 km2), of which 4.7 square miles (12.3 km2) are land, while 0.15 square miles (0.4 km2), or 2.82% of the total area, is water.[22]
The village gained some territory and lost some territory between the 1990 census and the 2000 census.[23] The neighborhood near Georgica Pond, a tidal pond on the west side of the village is notable for its fashionable residences and high-profile residents.[24]
As of the census[26] of 2000, there were 1,334 people, 635 households, and 337 families residing in the village. The population density was 280.3 inhabitants per square mile (108.2/km2). There were 1,745 housing units at an average density of 366.7 per square mile (141.6/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 93.10% White, 1.42% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 1.87% Asian, 1.87% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.92% of the population.
There were 635 households, out of which 16.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.9% were non-families. 36.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.68.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 14.4% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 31.3% from 45 to 64, and 27.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $56,607, and the median income for a family was $62,500. Males had a median income of $41,181 versus $37,083 for females. The per capita income for the village was $51,316. About 5.5% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.2% of those under age 18 and 5.8% of those age 65 or older.
Parking access to the Atlantic Ocean beaches within the village of East Hampton is severely restricted from May 1 to September 30. In 2006 there were only 2,600 permits available for non-residents with a charge of $250. Residents can always get parking permits.
East Hampton's beaches are highly regarded because of their clean white sands, the fact they're relatively accessible and because there is minimal development along the beach, which is strictly residential. Parking space at the village beaches is limited, which prevents crowding. Parking is prohibited on neighboring streets. There is no law that restricts people from accessing the beaches via bike, foot or being dropped off.
The beaches of East Hampton Village (from west to east):
Georgica – This beach adjoining Georgica Pond is popular with surfers because of currents around its controversial groynes. The beach has bathroom facilities.
Main Beach – The beach is the only one with a pavilion where one can get food; it also has a limited number of lockers available to residents.
Wiborg Beach – Has a parking lot, and is right next to Maidstone Club. It does not have a lifeguard.
Egypt Lane Beach – This beach is sometimes incorrectly called Maidstone Beach because of its close proximity to the headquarters of the Maidstone Golf Club. The true Maidstone Beach is on the bay outside the village in the town of East Hampton. Main, Wiborg and Egypt Lane are immediately next to the Maidstone Golf Club.
Two Mile Hollow – This beach has the second-largest parking lot of the village beaches.
The size of homes that can be built in East Hampton is regulated. The point is to ensure that new construction is more or less compatible with size of the lot it is constructed on and the neighborhood it is located in.[27]
Seal of the Village of East Hampton Police Department
Law enforcement in East Hampton is the responsibility of the East Hampton Village Police Department, chosen in 2009 for New York State accredited status. The department is located within the town of East Hampton, in Suffolk County. It is headed by Chief of Police Mike Tracey, and staffed by 24 full-time officers, three part -time officers, 17 public safety dispatchers, two full time and 17 part – time paramedics.[28] The department has both a uniformed and detective division.
The police department building is part of the Municipal Emergency Building, located at One Cedar Street in East Hampton.
^ abcBob Hefner. "The History of East Hampton"(PDF). easthamptonvillage.org. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2015. The small groupings of summer cottages that developed from the 1880s to the 1910s in Montauk, Amagansett and Wainscott paralleled the growth of the much larger summer colony in the Inc. Village of East Hampton.
^ abPages 77–97 of Imagining the Past: East Hampton Histories by T.H. Breen, Addison-Wesley (1989), hardcover, 306 pages ISBN0201067498
^"Where to Go A-Summering". The New York Times. July 2, 1859. Retrieved August 9, 2015. In any of the Hamptons…there is board to be found among farmers, out of the reach of snobs….
^Finn-Olaf Jones (June 29, 2012). "Unraveling the Mystery of 'The Blue Book'". Hamptons Magazine. Retrieved August 8, 2015. The Blue Book contains some 265 pages of socially prominent names. I'm not sure how one gets into the book; I don't even know who is behind it
^John Ortved (August 4, 2015). "Summer Peacocking in the Hamptons". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2015. ...a standout event on the Hamptons social calendar.
The first settlement in what is now Brookhaven was known as Setauket. Founded as a group of agricultural hamlets in the mid-17th century, Brookhaven first expanded as a major center of shipbuilding in the 19th century. Its proximity to New York City facilitated the establishment of resort communities, followed by a post-war population boom. In the 2020 census record, Brookhaven contained 485,773 people.[4]
The primary known inhabitants were Algonquian-speaking Native Americans, of the Setauket and Unkechaug tribes. The first English settlers arrived around 1640, and in 1655, several purchased Brookhaven's land from its tribal inhabitants. The latter founding year was recognized in 1976, when the Brookhaven Town Bicentennial Commission proposed setting the date on the seal to 1655 in line with this first deed of settlement of the town of Brookhaven at Setauket on April 14, 1655. Considering this founding year of 1655, Brookhaven is the fifth English township on Long Island following Southampton, Southold, Huntington, and East Hampton.
The c. 1665 Brewster House is the oldest extant structure in the town of Brookhaven and is within the town's first settlement, Setauket.The Caroline Church in Setauket, was built in 1729 and is the oldest extant church in Brookhaven
The first English settlement was named "Setauket" after the Native American tribe. The names "Brookhaven" and "Setauket" were initially used interchangeably to describe the village or the town. The verbal division between the smaller hamlet of Setauket and township of Brookhaven was not set until well into the 19th century. A point of confusion is the existence of the hamlet named Brookhaven, which was in fact named for the township in 1879. Other names used in the settlement's first decades were "Ashford", after Ashford, Kent, in England, and "Cromwell Bay", for English Protestant leader Oliver Cromwell.
The original purchase from the native Setalcott tribe that took place in 1655 encompassed the land making up present-day Setauket, Stony Brook, and Port Jefferson. A second purchase was made by Richard Woodhull in 1664 expanded this tract eastward along the North Shore to additionally include all lands from the Old Mans area (Mount Sinai and Miller Place) to Wading River. Richard Woodhull was the direct heir of Eustace de Vesci, a British noble who was a signator of the Magna Charta.[5] Another land purchase in the same year expanded Brookhaven to the South Shore of Long Island.
Brookhaven was integrated into the Province of New York following that colony's establishment in 1664, and in 1666 Governor Richard Nicolls granted a patent for the town which confirmed title to the lands purchased. Governor Thomas Dongan issued a patent in 1686 which granted powers to the town and established a representative form of government.[6] The town seal was authorized at this time. The central element of the town seal, the letter “D”, was designated to the Town of Brookhaven as its official cattle earmark by the Duke's Laws of 1665. Although no records exist dating to the town seal's original design plan, it is generally thought that the seal's olive branch signified peace and the whaling tools signified the most lucrative business in the Town of Brookhaven at the time. The current seal is a redesign, retaining the original elements, but adding the Town of Brookhaven and its 1655 date of settlement.
Early English settlers farmed, fished, and hunted whales. Brookhaven was largely agrarian, with each hamlet being limited to a handful of families yet containing miles of land. This economy was supplemented in coastal sections with fishing. A major commercial center did not exist in Brookhaven until the early 19th century.
Brookhaven was founded primarily by English colonists that partook in the settlement of Southold, and was likewise under the jurisdiction of the theocratic New Haven Colony in the modern state of Connecticut. Brookhaven was transferred to the more secular Hartford-led Connecticut Colony in 1662. Following the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the new English colony of New York laid claim to Long Island and brought Brookhaven into its jurisdiction.
During the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Brookhaven and the rest of Long Island were captured by British forces, and many residents sided with the British as loyalists to the English crown. Nevertheless, Brookhaven had multiple episodes of celebrated American activity during the war. This included the actions of the Culper Spy Ring, a spy network working for George Washington that largely consisted of Brookhaveners working in occupied territory. Another episode was Benjamin Tallmadge's successful raid from across Long Island to the British stronghold at the Manor St. George, wherein his raiding party rowed from Connecticut to Cedar Beach and marched across Long Island, culminating in the Battle of Fort St. George and burning of the defensive structure. A more minor skirmish occurred within the settlement of Setauket, where the British had repurposed the local Protestant church as a fortress. Gunshots were fired and some bullet holes remain within the walls of the adjacent Caroline Church.
Sketch of early PatchogueMather Shipyard in Port Jefferson, 1884
In the mid-19th century, several communities in Brookhaven prospered as shipbuilding ports. The most successful of those were the villages of Port Jefferson and Patchogue, which remain the township's most bustling traditional downtowns. Whaling and cordwood industries also developed in Brookhaven.
Railroads reached Brookhaven in the mid-19th century, beginning in 1843 with trains reaching inland to Ronkonkoma. The earliest equivalent to the North Shore's present-day Port Jefferson Branch began operation in 1873. The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry has been operating between Port Jefferson and Bridgeport, Connecticut, since 1888 and was partly founded by legendary circus-master P.T. Barnum.
From the end of the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th, many communities along the North Shore and South Shore became successful resort towns. These hosted many urban residents from nearby New York City, including numerous celebrities of the era, during the summer months. Meanwhile, many rural sections across Brookhaven served as campgrounds for youth clubs.
During the Gilded Age, Brookhaven underwent some of the same changes that affected Long Island's Gold Coast. Waterfront areas along the North Shore, including Belle Terre and Old Field, transformed from small fishing communities into fashionable and exclusive enclaves of the moneyed elite.
During the mid-century, a number of major transformations were conducted by philanthropist Ward Melville in the "Three Village" area (The Setaukets, Stony Brook, and Old Field). Melville, an Old Field resident and owner of what later became CVS Corporation, used his fortune to transform Northwestern Brookhaven to his vision of an idealized New England–style region. To this end, he ordered the construction in 1939 of the Stony Brook Village Center, a picturesque commercial center set on village green in Stony Brook, with clapboard buildings designed to look as if they had colonial origins. In 1962, Ward Melville donated 400 acres of land for the relocation of now-named Stony Brook University from Oyster Bay.
Brookhaven is located centrally on the geographic Long Island and extends from the North Shore to the South Shore. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 532.0 square miles (1,378 km2), of which 259.6 square miles (672 km2) is land and 272.4 square miles (706 km2) (51.20%) is water.[7] It is the largest town in New York in terms of total area, excluding water. However, there are four towns in the state with more land area: Arietta in Hamilton County, Long Lake in Hamilton County, Ohio in Herkimer County and Webb in Herkimer County.
A large part of Fire Island (accessible by a bridge at Smith Point) and the Great South Bay are in the town.
Bald Hill, a large hill in the hamlet of Farmingville, marks where the glacier which formed Long Island stopped. At the top of Bald Hill is a Vietnam veterans memorial. Telescope Hill, to the west of Bald Hill Cultural Park, is slightly taller at 334 feet (102 m) above sea level and the highest point in the town.
Patchogue was the town seat of Brookhaven until 1986 when it moved to Medford and then its current location near Bald Hill in Farmingville.
Brookhaven is led by a town supervisor and a six-member town council, which are all four-year term elected positions.[10] Council members have been elected by district since a referendum in 2002.[11]
Before 2002, the local Republican Party for the Town of Brookhaven nearly controlled the entirety of the town board for several decades, except for four years in the mid-1970s when Democrats held a majority under Supervisor John Randolph.[12]
This one-party domination, and a series of scandals, led to a tarnished reputation of local politics and accorded the nickname "Crookhaven".[13][14]
After the referendum was passed In 2002,[15] Steve Fiore-Rosenfield became the first Democrat elected since the 1970s in 2003.[16]
In 2005, Brian X. Foley, a Democratic county legislator, won the town supervisor race.[17] Constance Kepert and Carol Bissonette were also elected to the town board. With Fiore-Rosenfield's re-election, the Democrats gained control of the Brookhaven town board for the first time since the 1970s.[18]
In 2007, councilwoman Carol Bissonette chose not to pursue re-election but to instead run for the open receiver of taxes seat. Her district (the 6th) was won by Republican Keith Romaine, returning the town to a 4-3 majority on the town board. The new majority opted to elect Councilman Tim Mazzei as the majority leader.[19]
In 2008, Brian X. Foley was elected to the New York State Senate. As per New York state law, his seat was declared vacant, and a special election was held on March 31, 2009, to replace him. Democrat Mark Lesko[20] defeated Majority Leader Mazzei to become supervisor. In August 2012, Lesko chose to step down and join a tech company on Long Island. A special election was held on November 6, 2012, which was won by Republican county legislator Edward P. Romaine, who had previously served as county clerk. With Romaine's victory and the subsequent victories of Daniel Losquadro in 2013 for the special election of highway superintendent and Independence Party of New York member Donna Lent to town clerk, the Republican party and its endorsed allies won all townwide seats for the first time since former supervisor John Jay LaValle.
From Fire Island itself, communities have ferries from Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove, both of which are popular vacation spots for LGBT tourists as well as the Sailors Haven Visitor Center,[21] which is located within the Sunken Forest Visitor Center.[22] All three ferries lead to Sayville in the Town of Islip. Ocean Bay Park is the westernmost community in the Town of Brookhaven, and ferries from there lead to Bay Shore.
The Town of Brookhaven contains no Commercial Airports. The adjacent Town of Islip contains Long Island MacArthur Airport which serves Brookhaven Residents, three Minor Reliever Airports are within Brookhaven, all of which are in the southern shore communities. The first one is the Brookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley. East of this is the Spadaro Airport and Lufker Airport both of which are in East Moriches, and both of which share a taxiway. Coram Airport was operational until 1984.[23]
This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Mount Vernon has two major sections. South-side Mount Vernon is more urban, while north-side Mount Vernon is more residential. Mount Vernon's downtown business district is on the city's south side, which includes City Hall, Mount Vernon's main post office, Mount Vernon Public Library, office buildings, and other municipal establishments.[4]
South Fourth Avenue in the 1890sFormer trolley company building, Southside
The Mount Vernon area was first settled in 1664 by families from Connecticut as part of the Town of Eastchester.[1] Mount Vernon became a village in 1853, and a city in 1892.[1] Early development was driven by the New York Industrial Home Association No. 1, a home building cooperative organized to build homes for "tradesmen, employees, and other persons of small means".[5]
In 1894, the voters of Mount Vernon participated in a referendum on whether to consolidate into a new "City of Greater New York". The cities of Brooklyn (coterminous with Kings County) and Long Island City, the western towns and villages of Queens County, and all of Richmond County (present day Staten Island) all voted to join with the existing city (present day Manhattan and The Bronx). However, the returns were so negative in Mount Vernon and the adjacent city of Yonkers that those two areas were not included in the consolidated city and remain independent to this day.[6]
The Mount Vernon Public Library, a gift to the city from Andrew Carnegie, opened in 1904 and is now part of the Westchester Library System, providing educational, cultural and computer services to county residents of all ages. The Mount Vernon Trust Company opened in 1903. It was the largest bank in Westchester County, with branches in the east and west sections of the city.[7][8]
During the 1960s, Mount Vernon was a divided city on the brink of a "northern style" segregation. Many African Americans from the southern United States migrated north and settled in the city of Mount Vernon for better job opportunities and educational advancements. At the same time, many white Americans from the Bronx and Manhattan looked to Mount Vernon as a new "bedroom community" because of rising crime in New York City (a "white flight" factor contributed as well). As a result, Mount Vernon became divided by the New Haven Line (today part of Metro-North Railroad) into North Side and South Side. The population south of the tracks became predominantly African-American, while that north of the tracks was largely white.
At the height of this segregation in the 1970s, August Petrillo was mayor. When he died, Thomas E. Sharpe was elected mayor. Upon Sharpe's death in 1984, Carmella Iaboni took office as acting mayor until Ronald Blackwood was elected; Blackwood was the first Afro-Caribbean mayor of the city (as well as of any city in New York State). In 1996, Ernest D. Davis was elected the mayor of Mount Vernon; he served until 2007. Clinton I. Young, Jr. became the city's mayor on January 1, 2008. Four years later, on January 1, 2012, Ernest D. Davis became the 21st mayor of Mount Vernon. In 2013, Davis was investigated for failure to report rental income.[9] In 2015, Richard Thomas defeated Davis in an upset victory in the September primary. in the November general election, Thomas received 71% of the votes to become the mayor of Mount Vernon.[10][11]
In the subsequent 2019 election, Shawyn Patterson-Howard unseated the incumbent Mayor Thomas in a hotly contested June primary to become the new Democratic nominee and went on to capture 81% of the vote to defeat André Wallace (who had since been named Acting Mayor and ran as a Republican) in the general election in November to become the first black woman mayor of Mount Vernon (and of any city in Westchester County).[12][13]
Mount Vernon has in recent years undergone a transition from a city of homes and small businesses to a city of regional commerce. Between 2000 and 2006, Mount Vernon's economy grew 20.5%, making it one of the fastest-growing cities in the New York metropolitan area.[14]
In January 2019, Moody's withdrew its credit rating for Mount Vernon because of the city's failure to provide audited financial statements.[15] The failure to prepare and deliver audited financial statements stemmed from a disagreement as to which entity would pay for the audit of the Urban Renewal Agency (URA), one of the city's agencies, and which auditing firm would perform the audit.[16][17][18] Further clouding the city's financial condition is the prospect that it might have a repayment obligation to HUD in connection with grants previously awarded to the city [19]
On July 9, 2019, mayor Richard Thomas pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds and lying to the State Board of Elections.[20] Thomas was ordered to resign from office by September 30, 2019. The city council then appointed council president Andre Wallace as acting mayor.[21] Thomas refused to resign from his post. Wallace then appointed Shawn Harris as new police commissioner. After arriving for work, Thomas ordered the Mount Vernon Police to arrest Harris for trespassing.[22] Harris was released after an order from the Westchester County District Attorney. Both Thomas and Wallace occupied offices in the city hall, with Thomas in the mayor's office, under the guard of the Mount Vernon Police.[21] Finally, before a packed courtroom in White Plains, Judge Ecker made a decisive ruling that Thomas had actually vacated the office of mayor on July 8, that Wallace had automatically assumed the office at that time, and that Wallace would be the acting mayor of Mount Vernon until January 1, 2020.
In March 2019, Mayor Richard Thomas called for the formation of the Mount Vernon Charter Revision Commission, suggesting the charter was antiquated, dating to the late 19th century.[23] In August 2019, the Commission presented its final report [24] which included four key proposed changes to the City's Charter:
A new requirement for annual financial audits.
Quarterly financial reports showing the city's fiscal condition.
An updated comprehensive plan for economic growth.
Mount Vernon's elevation at City Hall is about 235 feet (72 m)[citation needed], reflecting its location between the Bronx River to the west and the Hutchinson River to the east. On a clear day, the Throgs Neck Bridge can be seen from 10 miles (20 km) away from many parts of the city, while at night, the bridge's lights can also be seen. The city's seal, created in 1892, depicts what were then considered the highest points in Mount Vernon: Trinity Place near Fourth Street, Vista Place at Barnes Avenue, and North 10th Avenue between Washington and Jefferson places. Since then, it was discovered that the city's highest elevation is on New York Route 22, North Columbus Avenue, at the Bronxville line.[citation needed]
Downtown Mount Vernon features the Gramatan Avenue and Fourth Avenue shopping district (known as "The Avenue" by locals[30]) and the Petrillo Plaza transit hub, and houses the city's central government.
Downtown is in the same condition it was 40 years ago. It features the same mid-century architecture and format. Former mayor Clinton Young vowed to make Mount Vernon a new epicenter with a new central business district. His failed plans included establishing commercial office space and rezoning to allow high density development in the downtown, as well as affordable and market rate housing.[31]
Mount Vernon Heights' highly elevated terrain has earned the moniker "the rolling hills of homes".[citation needed] It is home to the city's commercial corridor, along Sandford Boulevard (6th Street).
Sandford Blvd (6th Street)—also known as "Sandford Square"—is a commercial corridor which attracts residents from Mount Vernon, nearby communities in Westchester County and the Bronx a well as other locales.
Most of the commercial development in this corridor has occurred since the 1980s. The area is still undergoing revitalization to encourage economic development within this 400-acre (1.6 km2) of land along and around the boulevard.[14]
Mount Vernon's North Side is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Westchester County. The northern part of the city consists of five neighborhoods: Chester Heights, Estate Manor/Aubyn Estates, Fleetwood, Huntswood, and Oakwood Heights. In Fleetwood, many large co-op buildings line the center of town, which is bisected by Gramatan Avenue.
Church housed in a former synagogue on the South Side
Mount Vernon's South Side, which abuts The Bronx, resembles New York City and includes the neighborhoods Parkside, South Side and Vernon Park. Numerous industrial businesses are in Parkside, while the rest of South Side Mount Vernon features multi-family homes, apartment buildings, and commercial businesses.[citation needed]
Mount Vernon city, New York – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the U.S. Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 67,292 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 61.3% Black, 18.5% White, 0.3% Native American, 1.8% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.4% from some other race and 2.5% from two or more races. 14.3% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
As of the 2000 census,[36] 68,381 people, 27,048 households, and 18,432 families resided in the city. The population density was 14,290.3 inhabitants per square mile (5,517.5/km2), with 28,558 housing units at an average density of 7,205.9 per square mile (2,782.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 59.58% African American, 28.63% White, 10.48% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 4.85% from other races, 4.44% from two or more races, 2.12% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, and 0.32% Native American. A significant proportion of the population is of Brazilian descent; Brazilians can be included in the African American, White, Multiracial and/or Latino categories. Similarly, a significant part of the Black and/or Latino population is of Caribbean origin.
There were 27,048 households, of which 40.9% were married couples living together, 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were non-families, and 28.0% had a female householder with no husband present. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.27.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years.
For every 100 females, there were 82.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $47,128, and the median income for a family was $55,573. Males had a median income of $41,493 versus $37,871 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,827. 13.9% of the population and 11.8% of families were below the poverty line. 12.7% of the population was 65 or older.
Mount Vernon's three major employers are the Mount Vernon city school district with (1,021 employees), Michael Anthony Jewelers (712 employees), and Mount Vernon Hospital (700 employees).[citation needed]
The grandstand at Memorial Field. The aging structure was finally demolished in May 2018.
The city limits contain a number of city parks large and small [citation needed], and Willson's Woods Park, a 23-acre (93,000 m2) county-owned park. One of the oldest parks in the county system, Willson's Woods offers a wave pool, water slides, and a spray deck and water playground, against the backdrop of an English Tudor style bathhouse. The park also has areas for picnicking and fishing.[37]
The City of Mount Vernon is governed by a five-member city council, a mayor, and a comptroller. As per the city charter, to balance power, the mayor runs every four years with two council members, and the comptroller runs two years after the mayor with three council members. Therefore, in 2019, the mayor and two council seats were up for re-election; in 2021 the remaining offices will be up for election. Beyond the regular political powers of elected officials, the City of Mount Vernon also has a checks and balances voting session called the Board of Estimate.
The city council consists of five representatives, elected at-large, one of whom is the city council president. The city council president is appointed/elected by the existing city council members. Under normal circumstances the council presidency is rotated, as are the council committee assignments as chair of the four council committees. In recent years, the full rotation has ceased to reappoint the more experienced council members. The council president also serves as mayor, in the absence of the mayor. This can occur when the mayor is out of town, had resigned, or dies in office. When this happens the president pro tempore becomes acting city council president and the acting president pro tempore becomes assumes his/her duties.
January 1, 2018 – present (after winning an election that features former City Councilman Marcus Griffith, no independent official building have yet to be established by the City of Mount Vernon, authorized by the State of York, or U.S. House of Representative motion to do so as of November 16, 2021)
The Board of Estimate is composed of the mayor, the city council president, and the comptroller. The city council president votes on behalf of the city council. All monetary decisions, including the annual budget and many legal ramifications, must pass vote of the Board of Estimate, which meets every Tuesday after the city council's Wednesday legislative session.
The Mount Vernon city court is part of the New York State Unified Court System. It has three elected full-time judges who serve for ten years and one part-time associate judge who is appointed by the mayor for a period of eight years. The judges of the court are William Edwards, Adrian Armstrong, and Nichelle Johnson. Adam Seiden serves as an associate judge of the court. The court handles a wide variety of cases, including initial processing of all felony criminal cases; handling of all misdemeanor cases from inception through trial; civil proceedings with a limited monetary jurisdiction of up to $15,000; all landlord tenant cases originating in the city; small claims cases; and all vehicle and traffic law matters. The court is housed in the public safety complex, which is adjacent to City Hall.
In 2011, The Journal News featured an article titled "Region's Aging Schools Crumble as Finances Falter", by Cathey O'Donnell and Gary Stern. The article discussed several old school buildings within the region that were in disrepair, how much it would cost to fix them, and which if any might need to be demolished. The Mount Vernon school district was included in the article, which stated:
"In Mount Vernon, meanwhile, where a high school wall collapsed last year, inspectors flagged buildings for insufficient smoke detectors, poor air quality, evidence of rodents and vermin, halls without emergency lighting and junction boxes with exposed live wires."[59]
The city of Mount Vernon is protected by Fire Department of the City of Mount Vernon (FDMV).The FDMV currently operates out of four firehouses, throughout the city, under the command of the Chief of Operations. The department operates four engine companies and two ladder companies. The department responds to approximately 14,000 emergency calls annually.[60]
As of 2021, the Mount Vernon Police Department has 184 officers.[61]
In May 2021, the District Attorney for Westchester County requested intervention by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for civil rights violations by the Mount Vernon Police Department. The DOJ announced its civil investigation in December 2021.[62]
The 115-year-old Mount Vernon Hospital[63] has 121 beds.[64] It is part of the Montefiore Health System and provides in-patient, critical care, and ambulatory services to residents of Mount Vernon and neighboring communities. The hospital is most known for its premier Chronic Wound Treatment and Hyperbaric Center, which is one of the most advanced in the Northeast. It also offers a variety of services, including the Assertive Community Treatment Center (ACT), the Family Health and Wellness Center, the Hopfer School of Nursing, Hyperbaric Medicine, and Intensive Case Management.[63]
Mount Vernon Hospital's emergency room treats 25,000 patients a year and is going to be expanded at a cost of $2.5 million, doubling its size from 9,000 to 18,500 square feet (800 to 1,700 m2). The expansion plans include 15 private treatment rooms and upgrades to the waiting area, triage room and other areas in the emergency department.[citation needed]
The area around the hospital has many medical office buildings and treatment facilities which provide healthcare to residents living in Mount Vernon, the southeast section of Yonkers, and the north Bronx, which shares a border with the city. For example, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, the Planned Parenthood affiliate that serves New York's Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, opened its first medical center in Mount Vernon in 1935; the affiliate remains a vital source for reproductive health care services to Mount Vernon residents.[citation needed]
The city's previous motto was "A City That Believes". This is reflected in the houses of worship in the city that represent more than 25 denominations.[65]
Research has confirmed the tradition that Grace Baptist Church was founded in 1888 by a few women who formerly had been enslaved and it discovered their names: Emily Waller, Matilda Brooks, Helen Claiborne, Sahar Bennett, and Elizabeth Benson.[66]
Petrillo Plaza, adjacent to Metro North's Mount Vernon East station in downtown Mount Vernon, is the hub for Westchester's Bee-Line Bus System service in Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon's taxi services operate from Petrillo Plaza as well.[citation needed]
Bee-Line Bus routes serving Mount Vernon are 7, 40, 41, 42, 43, 52, 53, 54, 55, as well as the 91, which operates during the summer.[67][68]
A New York City Bus route (MTA) serves two blocks in Mount Vernon along the NYC border. The New York City Bus Bronx Route travels along Mundy Lane (S. 11th Avenue) between W. 5th Street (Nereid Avenue) and W. Sandford Blvd (Pittman Avenue).[69]
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999): shot a scene in Willson's Woods Park, which was transformed to look like Central Park; the Vernon Woods co-op complex was used to stage and store equipment during the scene.[84]
^Nevius, Michelle & Nevius, James (2009), Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City, New York: Free Press, ISBN141658997X, p.177-78
^"2 Banks Merge In Mt. Vernon". The Yonkers Herald. Yonkers, New York. July 18, 1930. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
^ ab*"Berg Resigns Mayors Post," Mount Vernon (New York) Daily Argus, July 2, 1931, p. 1, 4th col.; Old Fulton New York Post Cards (http://www.fultonhistory.comArchived March 27, 2019, at the Wayback Machine : accessed December 31, 2018) Browse Archives > Historical Newspapers United States and Canada > Mount Vernon NY Daily Argus > Mount Vernon NY Daily Argus 1931 > Mount Vernon NY Daily Argus 1931 – 3790.pdf
^Williams, Lena (February 3, 1985). "Blackwood Outlines Goals As Mayor". The New York Times. p. WC1. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on April 12, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2014.cite web: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Liberty Lines
^"Dr. Christine Haycock". The Nutley Sun. January 31, 2008. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and raised in Richmond, Va., before moving to Nutley, Dr. Haycock went from Nutley High School to the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing.
^"Board of Directors". Official Web Site of the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
^ abMaker, Greg (October 3, 2012). "Mount Vernon...Did You Know?". Mount Vernon Daily Voice. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
Research at BNL includes nuclear and high energy physics, energy science and technology, environmental and bioscience, nanoscience, and national security. The 5,300 acre campus contains several large research facilities, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and National Synchrotron Light Source II. Seven Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work conducted at Brookhaven Lab.[1]
BNL operations are overseen by a Department of Energy Site office, is staffed by approximately 2,750 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support personnel, and hosts 4,000 guest investigators every year.[2] The laboratory is guarded by a Department of Energy Protective Force, has a full service fire department, and has its own ZIP code (11973). In total, the lab spans a 5,265-acre (21 km2) area that is mostly coterminous with the hamlet of Upton, New York. BNL is served by a rail spur operated as-needed by the New York and Atlantic Railway. Co-located with the laboratory is the New York, NY, weather forecast office of the National Weather Service.[3]
Brookhaven National Lab was originally owned by the Atomic Energy Commission and is now owned by that agency's successor, the United States Department of Energy (DOE). DOE subcontracts the research and operation to universities and research organizations. It is currently operated by Brookhaven Science Associates LLC, which is an equal partnership of Stony Brook University and Battelle Memorial Institute. From 1947 to 1998, it was operated by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), but AUI lost its contract in the wake of two incidents: a 1994 fire at the facility's high-flux beam reactor that exposed several workers to radiation and reports in 1997 of a tritium leak into the groundwater of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens on which the facility sits.[10][11]
Soldiers during World War I at the Camp Upton site, which would in 1947 be repurposed as BNL
Out of 17 considered sites in the Boston-Washington corridor, Camp Upton on Long Island was eventually chosen as the most suitable in consideration of space, transportation, and availability. The camp had been a training center for the US Army during both World War I and World War II, and a Japanese internment camp during the latter.[citation needed] Following the war, Camp Upton was no longer needed, and a plan was conceived to convert the military camp into a research facility.
In 1970 in BNL started the ISABELLE project to develop and build two proton intersecting storage rings. The groundbreaking for the project was in October 1978. In 1981, with the tunnel for the accelerator already excavated, problems with the superconducting magnets needed for the ISABELLE accelerator brought the project to a halt, and the project was eventually cancelled in 1983.[14]
After ISABELLE'S cancellation, physicist at BNL proposed that the excavated tunnel and parts of the magnet assembly be used in another accelerator. In 1984 the first proposal for the accelerator now known as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) was put forward. The construction got funded in 1991 and RHIC has been operational since 2000. One of the world's only two operating heavy-ion colliders, RHIC is as of 2010 the second-highest-energy collider after the Large Hadron Collider. RHIC is housed in a tunnel 2.4 miles (3.9 km) long and is visible from space.[16]
On January 9, 2020, It was announced by Paul Dabbar, undersecretary of the US Department of Energy Office of Science, that the BNL eRHIC design has been selected over the conceptual design put forward by Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility as the future Electron–ion collider (EIC) in the United States. In addition to the site selection, it was announced that the BNL EIC had acquired CD-0 (mission need) from the Department of Energy.[17] BNL's eRHIC design proposes upgrading the existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, which collides beams light to heavy ions including polarized protons, with a polarized electron facility, to be housed in the same tunnel.[18]
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), which was designed to research quark–gluon plasma[23] and the sources of proton spin.[24] Until 2009 it was the world's most powerful heavy ion collider. It is the only collider of spin-polarized protons.
National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), Brookhaven's newest user facility, opened in 2015 to replace the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), which had operated for 30 years.[26] NSLS was involved in the work that won the 2003 and 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[27]
Computational Science resources, including access to a massively parallel Blue Gene series supercomputer that is among the fastest in the world for scientific research, run jointly by Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University.[31]
Interdisciplinary Science Building, with unique laboratories for studying high-temperature superconductors and other materials important for addressing energy challenges.[32]
NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, where scientists use beams of ions to simulate cosmic rays and assess the risks of space radiation to human space travelers and equipment.[33]
For other than approved Public Events, the Laboratory is closed to the general public. The lab is open to the public on several Sundays during the summer for tours and special programs. The public access program is referred to as 'Summer Sundays' and takes place in July, and features a science show and a tour of the lab's major facilities.[36] The laboratory also hosts science fairs, science bowls, and robotics competitions for local schools, and lectures, concerts, and scientific talks for the local community. The Lab estimates that each year it enhances the science education of roughly 35,000 K-12 students on Long Island, more than 200 undergraduates, and 550 teachers from across the United States.
In January 1997, ground water samples taken by BNL staff revealed concentrations of tritium that were twice the allowable federal drinking water standards—some samples taken later were 32 times the standard. The tritium was found to be leaking from the laboratory's High Flux Beam Reactor's spent-fuel pool into the aquifer that provides drinking water for nearby Suffolk County residents.
DOE's and BNL's investigation of this incident concluded that the tritium had been leaking for as long as 12 years without DOE's or BNL's knowledge. Installing wells that could have detected the leak was first discussed by BNL engineers in 1993, but the wells were not completed until 1996. The resulting controversy about both BNL's handling of the tritium leak and perceived lapses in DOE's oversight led to the termination of AUI as the BNL contractor in May 1997.
The responsibility for failing to discover Brookhaven's tritium leak has been acknowledged by laboratory managers, and DOE admits it failed to properly oversee the laboratory's operations. Brookhaven officials repeatedly treated the need for installing monitoring wells that would have detected the tritium leak as a low priority despite public concern and the laboratory's agreement to follow local environmental regulations. DOE's on-site oversight office, the Brookhaven Group, was directly responsible for Brookhaven's performance, but it failed to hold the laboratory accountable for meeting all of its regulatory commitments, especially its agreement to install monitoring wells. Senior DOE leadership also shared responsibility because they failed to put in place an effective system that encourages all parts of DOE to work together to ensure that contractors meet their responsibilities on environmental, safety and health issues. Unclear responsibilities for environment, safety and health matters has been a recurring problem for DOE management.
Since 1993, DOE has spent more than US$580 million on remediating soil and groundwater contamination at the lab site and completed several high-profile projects. These include the decommissioning and decontamination of the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor,[37] removal of mercury-contaminated sediment from the Peconic River, and installation and operation of 16 on- and off-site groundwater treatment systems that have cleaned more than 25 billion gallons of groundwater since 1996.[38]
Shortly after winning the contract to operate the lab in 1997, BSA formed a Community Advisory Council (CAC) to advise the laboratory director on cleanup projects and other items of interest to the community. The CAC represents a diverse range of interests and values of individuals and groups who are interested in or affected by the actions of the Laboratory. It consists of representatives from 26 local business, civic, education, environment, employee, government, and health organizations. The CAC sets its own agenda, brings forth issues important to the community, and works to provide consensus recommendations to Laboratory management.[39]
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