Editing Brookville, New York (section)

== History ==
The geographic Village of Brookville was formed in two stages. When the village was incorporated in 1931, it consisted of a long, narrow tract of land that was centered along [[New York State Route 107|Cedar Swamp Road (NY 107)]]. In the 1950s, the northern portion of the unincorporated area then known as Wheatley Hills was annexed and incorporated into the village, approximately doubling the village's area to its present {{convert|2650|acre}}.<ref>Note that such figures are often imprecise. The cited figure was calculated by Frederick P. Clark Associates for the report: "Village of Brookville: Open Space Preservation Through Large Lot Zoning; A Village Master Plan Update Study, September 1989, Finalized January 1990".</ref>

When the Town of Oyster Bay purchased what is now Brookville from the [[Matinecock (tribe)|Matinecocks]] in the mid-17th century, the area was known as Suco's Wigwam. Most pioneers were [[English people|English]], many of them [[Quakers]]. They were soon joined by [[Dutch people|Dutch]] settlers from western Long Island, who called the surrounding area Wolver Hollow, apparently because [[Gray wolf|wolves]] gathered at spring-fed Shoo Brook to drink. For most of the 19th century, the village was called Tappentown after a prominent family. Brookville became the preferred name after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and was used on 1873 maps.<ref name=":81">{{Cite book|last=Winsche|first=Richard|title=The History of Nassau County Community Place-Names|date=October 1, 1999|publisher=Empire State Books|isbn=978-1557871541|location=[[Interlaken, New York]]|pages=}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=HISTORY|url=http://villageofbrookville.com/history.html|access-date=August 9, 2021|website=VILLAGE OF BROOKVILLE|language=en}}</ref>

Brookville's two centuries as a farm and woodland backwater changed quickly in the early 20th century as wealthy New Yorkers built lavish [[mansion]]s in the area. By the mid-1920s, there were 22 estates, part of the emergence of Nassau's [[North Shore (Long Island)|North Shore]] Gold Coast. One was Broadhollow, the {{convert|108|acre|km2|adj=on}} spread of attorney-banker-diplomat [[Winthrop W. Aldrich]], which had a 40-room manor house. The second owner of Broadhollow was [[Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr.]], who at one point was president of the [[Belmont Park|Belmont]] and [[Pimlico Race Course|Pimlico]] racetracks. [[Marjorie Merriweather Post]], daughter of cereal creator [[Charles William Post]], and her husband [[Edward Francis Hutton]], the famous financier, built a lavish 70-room mansion on {{convert|178|acres|km2}} called Hillwood.<ref name=":0" />

In 1931, estate owners banded together to win village incorporation to head off what they saw as undesirable residential and commercial development in other parts of Nassau County. The first Mayor was W. Deering Howe. In 1947, the Post estate was sold to [[Long Island University]] for its C. W. Post campus. The campus is noted as the home of the [[Tilles Center for the Performing Arts]]. Also in Brookville is the [[DuPont-Guest Estate|DeSeversky Conference Center]] of the [[New York Institute of Technology]]. The center was formerly Templeton, mansion of socialite and businessman [[Winston Frederick Churchill Guest|Winston Guest]]. Templeton was later used as one of the settings for the [[Dudley Moore]] film ''[[Arthur (1981 film)|Arthur]]''.<ref name=":0" />

The Chapelle de St. Martin de Sayssuel, also known as the [[St. Joan of Arc Chapel]] where Joan of Arc prayed prior to engaging the English, was moved from [[France]] to Brookville in the early 20th century. It was acquired by Gertrude Hill Gavin, daughter of James J. Hill, the American railroad magnate. The chapel was dismantled stone by stone and imported from France to her Brookville estate in 1926. The chapel is now located at [[Marquette University]] in [[Wisconsin]].<ref name=":0" />

The [[Brookville Reformed Church]], one of the [[List of the oldest churches in the United States|oldest existing church]] congregations in the country, calls Brookville its home. The Brookville Church was founded by 17th century Dutch settlers.<ref name=":0" />

The [[James Preserve]] is a nature preserve in Old Brookville and is the only tract of land showing the natural appearance of the village before development. Although it is in Old Brookville, it is connected to [[Greenvale, New York|Greenvale]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

In 2009, ''[[BusinessWeek]]'' dubbed Brookville the wealthiest town in America.<ref name="businessweek">{{cite web|title=The Wealthiest Towns in America|url=http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0317_richest_zips/2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321081433/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0317_richest_zips/2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 21, 2009|access-date=April 26, 2009|work=BusinessWeek}}</ref>