Editing Deer Park, New York (section)

==History==
Deer Park is located in the [[pine barrens]] in the northeastern corner of the town of [[Babylon, New York|Babylon]]. It grew out of Jacob Conklin's 1610 settlement of the Half Way Hollow Hills, later known as [[Wheatley Heights, New York|Wheatley Heights]]. Charles Wilson started what is now Deer Park in 1853 about eleven years after the [[Long Island Rail Road]] arrived in 1842-when he established a large and productive farm. A post office was opened in 1851, closed in 1872 and re-opened on July 1, 1873. Deer Park had an elementary school in 1874. Prior to 1923, the [[Deer Park School District (New York)|Deer Park School District]] took in Deer Park and [[Wyandanch, New York|Wyandanch]].<ref>
{{cite book
  |first=Verne|last=Dyson
  |title=Deer Park-Wyandanch History
  |publisher=Brentwood Village Press
  |year=1957
}}</ref>

Farming was a staple of this small town for most of its history. Known as the "fruit basket" of New York state, the area was also famed for its [[dahlia]] cultivation. It was not until the effects of the post-[[World War II]] boom reached Deer Park that its economy ceased to be agricultural.

Deer Park had two industries before 1940: the '''Walker and Conklin''' firm baked red bricks in West Deer Park (now Wheatley Heights), and the '''Golden Pickle Works''' (1902) prepared pickles in Deer Park. Deer Park was the locale of the [[Edgewood State Hospital]] (1938–1969)-originally a [[tuberculosis]] sanatorium, and later an Army hospital during [[World War II]]. The [[Fairchild Aircraft|Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation]] established a factory in Deer Park in 1956.<ref name=NysEncyc>{{cite book|chapter=Deer Park|title=The Encyclopedia of New York State|editor-first=Peter|editor-last=Eisenstadt|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=2005|page=442}}</ref>

In 1946, the former [[Deer Park Airport (New York)|Deer Park Airport]] opened. It operated until 1974; the land was subsequently redeveloped.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: New York: Long Island, Western Suffolk County |url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/NY/Airfields_NY_LongIs_Suffolk_W.htm#deerpark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221224733/http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NY/Airfields_NY_LongIs_Suffolk_W.htm |url-status=live |archive-date=February 21, 2015 |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=[[Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields]]}}</ref>

[[Image:TangerDeerPark.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Tanger Outlets at the Arches]]
Deer Park is reputed to have been the favorite summer spot of President [[John Quincy Adams]], as his preferred vacation destination from 1835 until his death. However, this "fact" has never been verified.<ref name=NysEncyc/><ref>{{Citation
| url = http://www.longislandexchange.com/towns/deerpark.html| title = Deer Park| publisher  = Long Island Exchange| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140106024609/http://longislandexchange.com/towns/deer-park/| archive-date = January 6, 2014}}</ref>

On October 22, 2008, the $300 million [[Tanger Outlets]] at the Arches shopping mall opened.<ref>{{cite news |last=Levere |first=Jane L. |title=Luxury Outlet Center to Open on Long Island |work=The New York Times |date=October 22, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/realestate/commercial/22outlet.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |access-date=21 September 2018}}</ref>