Hempstead (village), New York

Town of Hempstead's old Town Hall located in The Village of Hempstead on the corner of Front Street and Washington Street. This building was completed in summer 1918, and functioned as the center of Town of Hempstead government 1918-1968. In 1968, a new Town Hall with entrance on Washington Street instead of Front Street was attached to the historic building, and so was the Nathan H.L. Bennett Pavilion, whose main entrance faces toward Main Street across the Town Hall parking lot. The 1918 building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2018.[8]

The land on which the Village of Hempstead stands was under Dutch control from the early 1620s. The Dutch West India Company established, first a trading post in 1613, and then the community of New Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan. Dutch colonies were founded in what is now New Jersey as well as the western half of Long Island. Attracting a sufficient quantity of Dutch settlers to colonize the land, however, proved difficult.[9]

Meanwhile, European traders from France, Spain, Holland, and England set up trading posts along the Atlantic Coast; Native Americans had been encountering Europeans since Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into New York Harbor on April 17, 1524. Starting with the Pilgrims in 1620, English citizens founded the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut. A Presbyterian minister named Richard Denton came from Yorkshire, England, to join the Massachusetts Bay colony. He then went to Connecticut and helped establish both Wethersfield and Stamford.

These colonies were threatened by wars among the Pequots, Narragansetts, and Mohegans. The Pequots had for decades forcibly exerted control over much of the area that became New England, subjugating the Mohegans and many other Algonquian-speaking groups, such as the Narragansett. The Pequots controlled the wampum and fur trades with the Europeans. Initially the Pequots lived peacefully with the Puritans and other English colonists of New England, but as English communities grew, the Pequots felt pressured by loss of territory. They began to trade exclusively with the Dutch, who were centered in New Amsterdam. Native groups resentful of Pequot control (mainly Mohegan and Narragansett) allied with the English. War broke out, culminating in the ugly Pequot War of 1636-1637, which broke the dominance of the Pequots.[10]

Relations between Dutch and Indians in western Long Island, and between English and Indians on eastern Long Island, while never truly equal, were more peaceful than in New England. Incidents of violence and misunderstanding did occur during European encounters with the Native Americans along the Hudson River after Henry Hudson reached Manhattan in 1609. However, the native groups had something that the Europeans badly wanted (furs) and the native groups willingly traded furs for the brightly colored European coats and other clothing, as well as for European-style beads, firearms, metal tools, and at times alcohol. The relations between the foreigners and the natives therefore continued to develop.[11] The Pequot defeat in 1636-1637 meant Long Island Native Americans were no longer subject to Pequot dominance, and were free to establish their own complex dealings with the Europeans.[12]

The Dutch needed to populate Long Island or lose control of the territory. They invited New England colonists to found new settlements on Long Island, as long as the English settlers agreed to Dutch sovereignty.[13] Possibly the English had visited Long Island during the late 1630s and early 1640s.[10] A dreadful series of raids on Native American groups mainly in Staten Island and Manhattan, provoked and sustained by then-Dutch Governor Willem Kieft during 1640-1645, evoked retaliatory action from the Native groups, and led ultimately to the deaths of 1,000+ Native Americans and a few dozen white settlers (mostly Dutch). This unfortunate series of battles was known as Kieft's War, and was finally ended with a treaty signed in Manhattan in 1645.[14] These perturbances could have deterred further European settlements in western Long Island. However, at a lull in Kieft's War, a Long Island Native leader known as Sachem Pennawitz represented Long Island's Native groups in a peace agreement with the Dutch on March 4, 1643.[15] This peace agreement was the precursor to the 1643 journey of colonists from Stamford to mid-Long Island.

In the fall of 1643, two of Rev. Denton's followers, Robert Fordham and John Carman, crossed Long Island Sound by rowboat to negotiate with the local inhabitants (Indians) for a tract of land upon which to establish a new community or "town spot". Representatives of the Marsapeague (Massapequa), Mericock (Merrick), Matinecock and Rekowake (Rockaway) tribes met with the two men at a site slightly west of the current Denton Green in Hempstead Village. Tackapousha, who was the sachem (chief spokesman) of the Marsapeague, was the acknowledged spokesman for conducting the transaction.[16] The Indians sold approximately 64,000 acres (260 km²), the present day towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead, for an unknown quantity of items; a 1657 revisit of this agreement names large and small cattle, stockings, wampum, hatchets, knives, trading cloth, powder, and lead given as payment by the English.[17] Some items may have been valuable to the Native Americans in terms of the contemporary markets for European "trinkets," which may have held symbolic and spiritual importance to Native America peoples in the Northeast.[18]

The 1643 transaction is depicted in a mural in Hempstead Village Hall, reproduced from a poster commemorating the 300th anniversary of Hempstead.

In the spring of 1644, thirty to forty families left Stamford, Connecticut, crossed Long Island Sound, landed in Hempstead Harbor and eventually made their way to the present site of the village of Hempstead where they began their English settlement within Dutch-controlled New Netherland. The settling of Hempstead marked the beginnings of the oldest English settlement in what is now Nassau County. Subsequent trips across the Sound brought more settlers who prepared a fort here for their mutual protection. These original Hempstead settlers were Puritans in search of a place where they could more freely express their particular brand of Protestantism. They established a Presbyterian church that is the oldest continually active Presbyterian congregation in the nation.[16] In 1843, Benjamin F. Thompson wrote and published a history of the village, and an account of contemporary Hempstead Village. Thompson reported that there were 200 dwellings, and 1,400 residents; that the village was connected to New York City by a Turnpike and a railroad; that it had dry soil, excellent water, and pure air; and that it was the principal place of mercantile, and mechanical business, in the county. The village of Hempstead was incorporated on May 6, 1853, becoming the first community in Queens County (Nassau County did not exist as a separate county until 1899) to do so.[2]

Regarding the origin of the name "Hempstead", Hempstead founder John Carman was born in 1606 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, on ancestral land recorded in the 2nd historic census of England (under Edward the First), the Rotuli Hundredorum (Hundred Rolls) AD 1273 as being owned by his direct ancestor Henry Carman. These same properties were on record continuously as being owned by Henry's descendants, through John Carman of 1606. John's wife Florence and her father, Rev. Robert Fordham, were from the county of Surrey, England.[16] Another theory regarding the origin of the name 'Hempstead' is that it is derived from the Dutch town of 'Heemstede' in the Netherlands, as this was an area from which many Dutch settlers of New Netherland originated. Several of Hempstead's original fifty patentees had Dutch surnames. In 1664, the new settlement adopted the Duke's Laws, an austere set of laws that became the basis upon which the laws of many colonies were to be founded. For a time, Hempstead became known as "Old Blue," as a result of the "Blue Laws".[2]

St. George's Church circa 1734

As the years passed, the population of Hempstead increased, as did its importance and prestige. Between 1703 and 1705, the newly formed St. George's Church, which would not have been called "Episcopal" then, but was under the established Church of England, received a silver communion service from England's Queen Anne.[2] Right after he became President, George Washington made a tour of Long Island, stopping overnight at Sammis Tavern here (Nehemiah Sammis's Inn established between 1660 and 1680[19]). Hempstead can boast of its share of celebrities. Peter Cooper, inventor and politician, lived with his brother in Hempstead until he married Sarah Bedell of Hempstead on Dec. 18, 1813, and settled there 1814-1818.[20] During this time, he invented the self-rocking cradle, which he patented on March 27, 1815.[21] His house was moved from Hempstead to Old Bethpage Restoration Village in about 1965, and still contains the cradle. During the 1820s on, he and his family lived in the city of New York, where he patented many inventions and in 1859 established The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a major experiment in adult education which operates still in lower Manhattan.[22][23] Cooper ran for President on the "Greenback" ticket. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, spent her summers here between ages 4 and 8, when her father Elliott Roosevelt owned a summer home on Richardson place (now the site of the manse for St. Laudislaus RC Church). Lionel Barrymore reputedly lived at 75 Marvin Avenue.

During the American Revolution, Hempstead was a center of British sympathizers or Tories, as they were known.[24] The British attempted to occupy Hempstead after the Battle of Long Island,[24] and used St. George's as a headquarters as well as a place to worship. Judge Thomas Jones faulted a lax peace treaty for forcing the evacuation of the loyalists.

In 1845, future Major League Baseball catcher Nat Hicks was born in Hempstead. Before Nat Hicks, baseball catchers would stand approximately 25 feet behind the batter, catching the pitched baseball on a bounce, since there were no gloves or protective gear. Pitchers would not throw curveballs because they would likely be wild pitches. In 1872 while playing for a Brooklyn team, Hicks stood directly behind the batter, catching the pitched baseball in flight instead of on a bounce. This allowed his teammate, pitcher Cummings, to throw curveballs. Hicks was badly injured often but he changed baseball fundamentally. This repositing of catcher by Hicks facilitated pictures throwing breaking balls, throwing over-hand instead of underhand, made the game faster paced, and necessitated the need for new inventions such as baseball gloves, catchers protective gear, and the facemask.[25][26]

In the 19th century, Hempstead became increasingly important as a trading center for Long Island. In 1853 it became the first self-governing incorporated village. Many prominent families such as the Vanderbilts and the Belmonts built homes here, making Hempstead a center of Long Island society. Hempstead merchants established routes out to outlying farms and served as a distribution point for many firms. Wagons would leave Hempstead loaded with tobacco, candy, and cigarettes and return in a week to restock. Bakeries covered routes from Baldwin to Far Rockaway daily. Butchers ran routes to Seaford, Elmont, Valley Stream, Wantagh, East Meadow, Creedmoor, East Rockaway and Christian Hook. Drugs, medicines, perfumes, extracts, aprons, children's coats and dresses and men's clothes were peddled about the country by Hempstead merchants. People came from all sections of Queens to purchase stoves, and there were few places outside Hempstead where stoves could be purchased. Hempstead was the shopping center for Nassau County and the eastern portion of Queens, those settlements east of Jamaica before 1900 when Nassau County was established, following the creation of the City of Greater New York in 1898. Hempstead has historically been the center of commercial activity for the eastern counties of Long Island. In Nassau County, all major county roads emanate from this village. It is indeed the "Hub" of Nassau County. During the 18th and 19th centuries, all stage coaches en route to eastern Long Island from Brooklyn passed through Hempstead. Today, seventeen bus routes and three interstate buses leave from the village every day. In addition, the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road has its terminal here. At one time, there were three railroad companies with terminals within the village.[27]

In March 1898, Camp Black was formed on the Hempstead Plains (roughly the shared location of Hempstead and Garden City), in support of the impending Spanish–American War. Camp Black was bounded on the north by Old Country Road, on the west by Clinton Road, and on the south by the Central Line rail. Camp Black was opened on April 29, 1898 as a training facility and a point of embarkation for troops.[28]

Charles A. Lindbergh, arguably the world's most famous aviator, spent quite a bit of time in Hempstead both before and after his epic solo flight from nearby Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France on May 20, 1927.[16] While living here, Christopher Morley was so enamored with the place that on the three hundredth anniversary of its founding he wrote a beautiful essay in tribute. His first novel, Parnassus on Wheels, was written on a kitchen table at his Oak Street, Hempstead home in 1917.[29] In 1704 the first stage coach on Long Island stopped to water its horses here.[30]

Early Long Islanders made their living in agriculture or from the sea. Hempstead, with its central location, became the marketplace for the outlying rural farming communities. It was a natural progression, as the surrounding areas developed from small farms into today's suburbia, that Hempstead Village would remain as the marketplace. Chain department stores such as Arnold Constable and Abraham & Straus called Hempstead home for many years. Hempstead's Abraham & Straus was the largest grossing suburban department store in the country during the late 1960s. Hempstead was Nassau's retail center during the 1940s through the 1960s. The advent of regional shopping malls such as the one at nearby Roosevelt Field, the demise of nearby Mitchel Air Force Base in 1961 as well as the changing demographics put the retail trade in the village into a downward spiral that it was unable to recover from during the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s. A plethora of businesses left the village in the 1980s and early 1990s, notably retail giant, Abraham & Straus.[31]

The Village of Hempstead as shown from eastbound lanes of Fulton Street.

In the course of the 1990s the village saw redevelopment as a government center as well as business center. There are more government employees from all levels of government in the village than there are in the county seat in Mineola. According to James York, the municipal historian, writing in 1998, the population during the day might rise to nearly 200,000, from a normal census of 50,000.[16] Retailers' interest in the village was rekindled, due to the aggressive revitalization efforts of former Mayor James Garner, who served from 1989 to 2005, and former Community Development Agency Commissioner, Glen Spiritis, who served under Garner's administration. Specifically, two large tracts of retail property have recently undergone redevelopment. The former 8.8-acre (36,000 m²) Times Squares Stores (or TSS) property on Peninsula Boulevard and Franklin Street has been redeveloped as Hempstead Village Commons, a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m²) retail center including Pep Boys and Staples. The former Abraham & Straus department store on 17 acres (69,000 m²) has recently undergone demolition and been replaced by a large retail development consisting of Home Depot, Old Navy, Stop & Shop and many other smaller establishments. A considerable infusion of state and federal funding as well as private investment have enabled the replacement of blighted storefronts, complete commercial building rehabilitations and the development of affordable housing for the local population. The replacement of the 1913 Long Island Rail Road Hempstead Terminal with a modern facility was completed in 2002[32] and a four-story, 112 unit building for senior housing, with retail on the ground level was completed at Main and West Columbia Streets in January 1998. Thirty two units of affordable townhouses known as Patterson Mews at Henry Street and Baldwin Road was completed and fully occupied in 1997.

In 1989, Hempstead residents elected James A. Garner (R) as their mayor. He was the first Black or African-American mayor ever elected to office in New York state and he served for four consecutive terms. Subsequently, Wayne Hall, a former Village of Hempstead trustee who is also African American, served as mayor for three terms, from 2005 to 2017.

The first African-American male judge, Lance Clarke, was elected in 2001. Cynthia Diaz-Wilson was the first female justice in the Village of Hempstead and first African American village justice in the state of New York.

In recent years, there has been concern regarding ongoing gang activity in certain neighborhoods, notably the "Heights". Hempstead was also one of the first Long Island communities that had to deal with the Salvadoran gang, MS-13 or "La Mara Salvatrucha". The continual intra-violence this gang has exhibited has led to the formation of their arch-rivals, "SWP" or "Salvadorans with Pride". These issues have contributed to Hempstead's high crime rate as compared to other communities in the area.