Editing Thomaston, New York (section)

== History ==
Thomaston officially became a village on October 1, 1931, after the majority of residents voted in favor of incorporation to preserve home rule.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Hirschhorn|first=Susan|date=1987|title=A History of Thomaston|work=The Great Neck Record|url=https://www.villageofthomaston.org/Forms%20and%20Apps/A%20History%20of%20Thomaston.pdf|access-date=June 18, 2020}}</ref> Originally, the incorporation proposal included [[University Gardens, New York|University Gardens]] and [[Russell Gardens, New York|Russell Gardens]].<ref name=":0" /> However, University Gardens chose not to be included in the proposal and Russell Gardens decided to incorporate itself separately around that time.<ref name=":0" />

The founders of the Incorporated Village of Thomaston were John W. Weight, Hunter L. DeLatour, Ernest A. Gallagher, and Henry A. Singley.<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=96–97}}</ref>

Thomaston Village Hall was constructed in 1971 in order to provide for more efficient government operations and a permanent home for Thomaston's government.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://greatnecklibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/villageofthomaston.pdf|title=Village of Thomaston: The Bicentennial History Publication|publisher=Incorporated Village of Thomaston, New York|year=1976}}</ref> It was designed by the Great Neck-based architectural firm of Blum & Nerzig.<ref name=":1" />

Prior to Village Hall's construction, meetings were typically held in the nearby firehouse and village records were stored in the homes of the Village Clerks.<ref name=":1" />

=== Thomaston's name ===
The name Thomaston has been used to describe the area since the middle part of the 19th Century.<ref name=":81" /> [[William Russell Grace|William R. Grace]], a prominent local who would eventually become the Mayor of [[New York City]], acquired a large area of land around the [[Long Island Rail Road]]'s [[Great Neck station]]; the land he acquired included all of present-day [[Great Neck Plaza, New York|Great Neck Plaza]]. Grace named the area Thomaston after the ancestral home of his wife, Lillian Gilchrist, located in Maine.<ref name=":81" />

At some point, that area's name was changed to Great Neck Plaza, which would ultimately stick and become the name that village incorporated under in 1930.<ref name=":81" />

When the area now known as Thomaston decided to incorporate itself as a village the next year, the residents chose to use this name for their new village since members of the Grace family continued to own land in the area.<ref name=":81" />