Editing Bethpage, New York (section)

==History==
{{Further|Bethpage Purchase}}
The name ''Bethpage'' comes from the [[Quakers|Quaker]] [[Thomas Powell (1641–1722)|Thomas Powell]], who named the area after the Biblical town [[Bethphage]], which was between Jericho and Jerusalem in the Holy Land. Present-day Bethpage was part of the 1695 [[Bethpage Purchase]]. An early name for the northern section of present-day Bethpage was ''Bedelltown'',<ref name=1873TOB>
{{cite web |url=http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=852058&imageID=1527321&word=oyster%20bay&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=16&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=3# |title=1873 map of Town of Oyster Bay |publisher= New York Public Library |access-date=2008-04-07}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.lirrhistory.com/timeline.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011215072407/http://lirrhistory.com/timeline.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 15, 2001 |title =LIRR timeline: 1898 map used as background }}
</ref>
a name that appeared on maps at least as late as 1906.<ref>
{{cite web | url=http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/2420/Farmingdale++Medow+Brook/Nassau+County+1906+Long+Island/New+York/ | title= 1906 map of Central Nassau County |access-date=2011-04-30}}</ref>

On maps just before the arrival of the [[Long Island Rail Road]] (LIRR), the name ''Bethpage'' appears for a community now included in both the post office district and school district of the adjacent community of [[Farmingdale, New York|Farmingdale]].<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgdisplaylargemeta.cfm?strucID=252877&imageID=434024&word=long%20island%201842&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&num=0&imgs=12&total=2&pos=1
|title= Geological map of Long & Staten islands with the environs of New York
|author= W.W. Mather
|publisher= New York Public Library
|date= c. 1842
}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
(The location marked ''Bethpage'' is near Merritts Road, just north of Hempstead Turnpike. An unbounded area further east in Suffolk County is marked ''Hardscrabble''. The map is dated 1842 with a question mark. Neither Farmingdale nor Hicksville appears on the map. The Hicksville LIRR station opened in 1837, and its absence suggests an earlier date for the map. The LIRR also had taken a different route east of Hicksville, arriving in Farmingdale in 1841.)</ref> In 1841,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lirrhistory.com/lirrhist.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000304071119/http://www.lirrhistory.com/lirrhist.html |url-status= usurped |archive-date= March 4, 2000 |title=Early LIRR History }}
</ref> train service began to [[Farmingdale (LIRR station)|Farmingdale station]], near a new settlement less than a mile eastward from what had previously appeared on maps as ''Bethpage''. Schedules at that time do not mention Bethpage as a stop, but have a notation "late Bethpage".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=BEagle&BaseHref=BEG/1841/11/02&PageLabelPrint=&EntityId=Ar00121&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T |title=1841 ''Brooklyn Eagle'' LIRR timetable |date=November 2, 1841 |publisher=[[Brooklyn Eagle]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612125240/http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=BEagle&BaseHref=BEG%2F1841%2F11%2F02&PageLabelPrint=&EntityId=Ar00121&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T |archive-date=June 12, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}
 (Whether "late Bethpage" is meant to indicate a flag stop at the community near Merritts Road, or that the area near the Farmingdale LIRR station had lately been called ''Bethpage'' has not yet been determined.)
</ref> On an 1855 map,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/1855_Colton_Map_of_Connecticut_and_Long_Island_-_Geographicus_-_ConnecticutLongIsland-colton-1855.jpg | title=1855 Colton map}}
</ref> The location identified as ''Bethpage'' has shifted slightly southward to include a nearby area now called [[Plainedge, New York|Plainedge]].

Between 1851<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lirrhistory.com/aug2000/1851fare.JPG | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000829070354/http://www.lirrhistory.com/aug2000/1851fare.JPG | url-status=usurped | archive-date=August 29, 2000 |title=1851 schedule without Bethpage}}
</ref> and 1854,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1854/04/13/archives/railroads.html |title= Railroads |date=April 13, 1854 |page=7 |work=The New York Times|access-date=2008-04-07}}
</ref> the LIRR initiated a stop within present-day Bethpage at a [[Bethpage (LIRR station)|station]] then called ''Jerusalem Station'', and on January 29, 1857, a local post office opened, also named ''Jerusalem Station''.<ref name=NCPO/><ref>
Jerusalem was a community to the south, now called Wantagh. One of the reasons later given for changing the name from ''Jerusalem Station'' was that residents wanted to establish an identity of their own that did not depend on their being a station for another community.
</ref> LIRR schedules listed the station also as simply ''Jerusalem''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arrts-arrchives.com/custom4.html |title= 1863 LIRR timetable |access-date=2008-04-07}}
</ref><ref>
The schedule shows the stop is 2 miles from Farmingdale and 3 miles from Hicksville, the same distances for the existing Bethpage LIRR station as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}.
</ref> Residents succeeded in changing the name of the post office to ''Central Park'', effective March 1, 1867 (respelled as ''Centralpark'' from 1895 to 1899).<ref name=NCPO>{{cite web |url=http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Civil/Nassau.P.O.html |title=Nassau County Post Offices 1794–1879 |first=David |last=Roberts |access-date=2019-05-26}} {{cite book |title=New York Postal History: The Post Offices & First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980 |author=John L. Kay & Chester M. Smith, Jr.|publisher=American Philatelic Society|year=1982}}
</ref><ref>
[[Central Park]] in Manhattan had opened in 1859.
</ref> The Central Park Fire Company was organized in April 1910, and incorporated in May 1911. In May 1923 the Central Park Water District was created.

Following the 1932 opening of nearby [[Bethpage State Park]], the name of the local post office was changed to Bethpage on October 1, 1936. The LIRR station was also renamed [[Bethpage station]]. The name ''Bethpage'' was, however, already in use by an adjacent community,<ref name=1873TOB/> which resisted suggestions of a merger and instead renamed itself [[Old Bethpage, New York|Old Bethpage]]. The change from Central Park to Bethpage was one of the last complete name changes of Nassau County's post offices.<ref name=NCPO/>

From 1936 until 1994, Bethpage was home to the [[Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation]], which made, among other things, the [[F-14 Tomcat]], the Navy version of the [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark]] and the [[Apollo Lunar Excursion Module]] (LEM) for Moon landings, and for this reason Bethpage is mentioned in the 1995 film ''[[Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13]]''. Grumman was made famous by the performance of its [[Grumman F4F Wildcat|F4F Wildcat]] fighter aircraft and its successor the [[Grumman F6F Hellcat|F6F Hellcat]], which shot down 5,223 enemy aircraft, more than any other naval aircraft. In 1994, Grumman was purchased by [[Northrop Corporation|Northrop]] and formed [[Northrop Grumman]]. Although no longer headquartered in Bethpage, the company still retains operations there.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.northropgrumman.com/careers/northrop-grumman-in-bethpage-new-york/|title=Northrop Grumman in Bethpage, New York|access-date=October 25, 2021}}</ref>

The [[Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Bethpage]] (NWIRP) started operations in 1942, west of the Grumman site.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 2013 |orig-date= |title=RECORD OF DECISION |url=http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/remediation_hudson_pdf/130003ou3rod.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120000000/http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/remediation_hudson_pdf/130003ou3rod.pdf |archive-date=2025-01-20 |access-date=April 9, 2014 |work=www.dec.gov |publisher=Northrop Grumman, Bethpage Facility |pages=8–9 |publication-place=Bethpage, Nassau County}} [https://archive.org/details/march-2013-record-of-decision-northrop-grumman-bethpage-facility Alt URL]</ref>

In August 2015, [[Beechcraft Bonanza#Model 35 Bonanza|a small airplane]] with engine trouble failed to reach Farmingdale airport, and was redirected to "Bethpage Airport" by the air traffic controller. However, the pilot could not find that airport because it was closed and had buildings on it, and the plane crashed on LIRR tracks.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Editorial Staff|date=2015-08-25|title=NTSB Says ATC Directed Pilot In Distress To Closed Airport|url=https://www.avweb.com/news/ntsb-says-atc-directed-pilot-in-distress-to-closed-airport/|access-date=2021-08-31|website=AVweb|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20150816X95657&key=1|title=Aviation Accident}}</ref>

===Swedetown Village===

In the early 1900s, Bethpage (then called Central Park) was home to a small village of early [[Scandinavia]]n immigrants,<ref>{{cite web |title=Town Unveils Historical Marker Celebrating Swedetown |url=https://www.midislandtimes.com/articles/town-unveils-historical-marker-celebrating-swedetown/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Midisland Times}}</ref> whose area was north of Cherry Avenue, east of Stewart Avenue, and west of today's Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swedetown - Central Park Historical Society Encyclopedia|url=https://www.bethpagehistory.org/wiki/index.php?title=Swedetown&oldid=1441 |website=Bethpage History}}</ref> A Scandinavian-American Club of North Central Park formed in 1924, called Central Park North Civic Association, whose social activities and project fundraising helped improve roads, street lighting, water service, and postal service. After officially disbanding in 1959, the clubhouse, located on Stewart Avenue, became Saint Isidoro's Greek Orthodox Church.

In August 2021, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor [[Joseph Saladino]], with the help of Central Park Historical Society, helped unveil a historical marker celebrating the Scandinavian immigrants, located on the corner of Flamingo Lane and Caffrey Avenue.

===Superfund site===
Bethpage's history as a space and aviation center has left heavy metals, toxic waste, and radioactive<ref>{{cite web |title=Governor Cuomo Orders Engineering Investigation to Expedite Containment of Long Island Groundwater Plumes |url=https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-orders-engineering-investigation-expedite-containment-long-island-groundwater. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628041523/https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-orders-engineering-investigation-expedite-containment-long-island-groundwater. |archive-date=June 28, 2019 |url-status=dead |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=governor.ny.gov}}</ref> byproducts dumped into the surrounding ground and leeching into the water. Bethpage as of 2012 has been declared a class 2 [[Superfund site]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Hinko |first=Christy |date=June 29, 2012 |title=DEC Outlines Remediation Plan For Bethpage Plume |url=http://www.antonnews.com/levittowntribune/news/23711-dec-outlines-remediation-plan-for-bethpage-plume.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810085436/http://www.antonnews.com/levittowntribune/news/23711-dec-outlines-remediation-plan-for-bethpage-plume.html |archive-date=August 10, 2014 |access-date=2014-08-03 |website=Levittown Tribune |publisher=Antonnews.com |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The rate of cancers and birth defects in Bethpage is statistically well above the national average, which many attribute to the polluted soil and ground water.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bethpagecancerproject.com/1/post/2013/07/blog-series-letters-togrumman-from-the-bethpage-community-part-i.html |title=Blog Series: Letters to Grumman from the Bethpage Community, Part I |publisher=Bethpage Cancer Project |access-date=2014-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808042312/http://www.bethpagecancerproject.com/1/post/2013/07/blog-series-letters-togrumman-from-the-bethpage-community-part-i.html |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bethpage residents have taken action by filing a $500 million lawsuit against Grumman.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dooley |first=Emily C. |date=2016-09-15 |title=Bethpage Residents File $500M Lawsuit Against Northrop Grumman |url=https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/bethpage-residents-file-500m-lawsuit-against-northrop-grumman-1.12323453 |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703044907/https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/bethpage-residents-file-500m-lawsuit-against-northrop-grumman-1.12323453 |archive-date=2017-07-03 |access-date=2018-12-12 |newspaper=Newsday |language=en-us}}</ref>