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Westbury, New York

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Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement Westbury is a village in the town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Westbury area. The population was 15,404 at the time of the 2020 census.

History

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The first settlers in what is now the Village of Westbury arrived in 1658 in the region known as the Hempstead Plains.<ref name=":81">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Many of the early settlers were Quakers.<ref name=":81" /><ref name=":0" />

Westbury's Jericho Turnpike, which provides connection to Mineola and Syosset as well as to the Long Island Expressway (or LIE), was once a trail used by the Massapequa Indians. As far back as the 17th century, it served as a divider between the early homesteads north of the Turnpike and the Hempstead Plains to its south. Today, it serves as a state highway complex.<ref name=":0" />

File:George Bradford Brainerd (American, 1845-1887). J. P. Kelsey's Store, Westbury, Long Island, ca. 1872-1887.jpg
George Bradford Brainerd, J. P. Kelsey's Store, Westbury, Long Island, Template:Circa–1887 (Brooklyn Museum)

In 1657, Captain John Seaman purchased Template:Convert from the Algonquian Tribe of the Massapequa Indians.<ref name=":0" /> In 1658, Richard Stites and his family built their homestead in this area.<ref name=":81" /> Theirs was the only family farm until an English Quaker, Edmond Titus, and his son Samuel joined them and settled in an area of Hempstead Plains, known today as the Village of Westbury. In 1675 Henry Willis, also an English Quaker, named the area "Westbury", after Westbury, Wiltshire, his hometown in England.<ref>Richard Panchyk, A History of Westbury, Long Island (The History Press, 2007), p. 14</ref> Other Quaker families who were also seeking a place to freely express their religious beliefs joined the Tituses and Willises. The first Society of Friends meeting house was built in 1700. The early history of Westbury and that of the Friends are so interconnected that they are essentially the same.<ref name=":81" />

File:Westbury African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.jpg
Westbury A.M.E. Zion Church

These settlers, like many other landowners throughout the colonies, owned slaves. In 1775, compelled by their religious beliefs, the Quakers freed all 154 African-Americans that they owned. Many of these freed men and women built their own homesteads on the open land near the sheep grazing pastures. Their new community consisted of farms and dairies. In 1834, with Quaker assistance, they and their descendants built the New Light Baptist Church. In 1867 the congregation moved to 247 Grand Boulevard, and in 1892 changed their name to Westbury A.M.E. Zion Church.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Abraham" /> In 2014, the congregation celebrated its 180th anniversary.<ref name="Abraham">Template:Cite news</ref> The building still stands on the corner of Union Ave. and Grand Blvd.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Abraham" />

The outbreak of the American Revolution disrupted Westbury's tranquility. From the beginning of the war until 1783, British soldiers and German-speaking mercenaries occupied local homes, confiscated livestock, and cleared the woods for firewood for the troops. With the close of the war, Westbury received its third group of settlers, the Hessians, mostly from Hesse-Cassel in the Holy Roman Empire, who chose not to return to their home country. Instead, they remained in an area now known as New Cassel, a name chosen in honor of the part of Hesse from which most had come.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=p40>Panczyk (2007), p. 40</ref>

By 1837, the Long Island Rail Road had built through Westbury. Schedules from March 1837 mention a stop at Westbury, but by June list Carle Place instead,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with schedules from 1842 listing both.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1840, the first public school was built. The railroad made it easier for Italian and Irish immigrants to work Westbury's farms and in 1857, St. Brigid's Parish was founded.<ref name=":0" />

At the same time more African-American families came to the area via the Underground Railroad. For some, Westbury was only one stop on the way to Canada, but several stayed in this area after being harbored in secret rooms in the homes of the Quakers. In the years after the Civil War, until near the turn of the century, the few stores that comprised the small village around the railroad depot, were mainly black owned.<ref name=":0" />

The Village moved from its agricultural setting in the late 19th century when the very wealthy began to settle and build mansions. This area is now known as Old Westbury. Post Avenue soon became a commerce center to serve the surrounding estates. Various estate workers began to move in as well. Streets were mapped out and constructed. Post Avenue received electricity in 1902 and in 1914 a water company was founded.<ref name=":0" />

From the 1850s to the 1900s, Westbury's population and ethnic diversity began to rise as many people of Irish and Italian origins continued to settle. New Cassel began to be developed in the first quarter of the 20th century.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=p40 />

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, a couple of hundred yards south of downtown, for the history-making flight to Paris, marking probably the most famous event tied to the Greater Westbury area.<ref name=":0" /><ref>The Spirit of St. Louis, Scribner 1953, Chapter 5</ref>

In response to a rumor that northern Westbury planned to incorporate as its own village, thereby leaving the southern part without a name, local residents voted to incorporate the greater area as the Village of Westbury in 1932.<ref name=":81" /> The village's boundaries included Grantsville, the section south of Union Avenue around A.M.E. Zion church – but it did not take in New Cassel to the east, as the few families that lived there thought being included in the new village would only unnecessarily increase their taxes.<ref name=":81" />

In 1938, the Northern State Parkway was constructed through the area. In 1941, the World War II began. Westbury sent 1,400 persons to serve the country. This was 20% of the community's population, making it the highest percentage of any comparable community in the United States.<ref name=":0" />

In the mid-1950s, Westbury virtually ran out of undeveloped land and with it came the end of the building boom. In 1940, Westbury listed its population at 4,525. By 1960, Westbury's population had grown to 14,757, according to the census data for that year. Many Caribbean and Latin American families began to settle during this time and in the decades that followed.<ref name=":0" />

On September 8, 1974, Crosby, Stills & Nash performed at the Roosevelt Raceway.<ref name=":0" />

As the birth rate declined, people married at a later age and the high cost of buying a home prevented many people from assuming a mortgage in the 1970s, Westbury again underwent change, becoming more urban and city-like over time.<ref name=":0" />

Geography

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According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of Template:Convert, all land.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Westbury is located about Template:Convert east of Manhattan.<ref name=":1" />

Greater Westbury area

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In addition to Westbury Village itself, unincorporated regions surrounding its borders also use the Westbury name, including New Cassel, Salisbury (South Westbury) and parts of Jericho. For example, the Westbury Music Fair performing venue (now known as the NYCB Theatre at Westbury), located in the Westbury postal zone, is part of the Jericho hamlet.

The region is grouped under the name Greater Westbury, a region that also includes organizations with common interests, such as those in New Cassel. The school districts that serve the Greater Westbury region, based on the boundaries, are Westbury (including New Cassel) (Westbury Union District) and East Meadow (Clark District). The only homes zoned for East Meadow Schools are actually located in the Hamlet of Salisbury, which is in the Town of Hempstead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

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Template:US Census population As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 15,146 people, 5,078 households, and 3,523 families residing in the village. The population density was Template:Convert.<ref name="Census QuickFacts">Template:Cite web</ref> The racial makeup of the village was 66% White, 20% of the population are Hispanic White or White Latino, 12% African American, and 2.0% Asian.<ref name="Zip-Codes">Template:Cite web</ref>

There were 5,078 households, out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.0 and the average family size was 3.5.<ref name="Zip-Codes" />

In 2010, the US Census Bureau estimated the median income for a household in the village was $100,000 and the median income for a family was $135,000. The per capita income for the village was $44,000.

Westbury is made up of European Americans, Black Americans, Spanish Americans and Caribbeans; particularly Haitians, Guyanese, and Jamaicans. Many of the Hispanics are of Salvadoran, Honduran, and Mexican origin.<ref name="Census QuickFacts" /> Many of the remaining Italian-Americans in the village trace their origins to the town of Durazzano in Southern Italy, and are closely related. A great number still reside on the Hill across from Saint Brigid's Church. The nickname for the Village, "A Community for All Seasons," was adapted after The Greater Westbury Community Coalition ran a slogan contest shortly after the 1966 release of the Oscar-winning Best Movie, A Man for All Seasons. The film was about Sir Thomas More who was portrayed as a man of the utmost principle. The winning slogan: “A Community For All Seasons" was a take-off on the movie's title and was meant to suggest that Westbury was a good place to live, a place that stood for accepting people of all sorts, a community that embraced diversity.<ref name=":0" />

Education

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The Village of Westbury is served primarily by the Westbury Union Free School District, although the westernmost portions of the village are served by the Carle Place Union Free School District.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Transportation

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File:LIRR Third Track Completed (52402241364).jpg
The Westbury LIRR station in 2022

Westbury is served by the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road.<ref name=":1" /> It is also served by the following bus routes operated by Nassau Inter-County Express:<ref name=":1" />

  • n22: Jamaica—Hicksville via Hillside Avenue & Prospect Avenue
  • n22X: Jamaica—Hicksville via Hillside Avenue & Prospect Avenue
  • n24: Jamaica—Hicksville via Jericho Turnpike & Old Country Road
  • n35: Westbury—Baldwin

Notable people

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References

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Template:NorthHempsteadNY

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