Editing Long Beach, New York (section)

=== Pre-settlement ===
The city of Long Beach's first inhabitants were the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking [[Lenape]], who sold the area to English [[Settler|colonists]] in 1643. From that time, while the barrier island was used by [[fisherman|baymen]] and farmers for fishing and harvesting [[salt hay]], no one lived there year-round for more than two centuries. The [[Wreck of the Mexico (1837)|barque ''Mexico'']], carrying Irish immigrants to New York, ran aground on a sandbar 200 yards off of Long Beach on January 2, 1837; 115 of its passengers would freeze to death on the deck of the ship.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Howland |first=Southworth Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LW_XAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States: To which is Appended Accounts of Recent Shipwrecks, Fires at Sea, Thrilling Incidents, Etc. |publisher=Dorr, Howland & Company |year=1840 |pages=267–275 |access-date=May 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224324/https://books.google.com/books?id=LW_XAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Austin Corbin]], a builder from [[Brooklyn]], was the first to attempt to develop the island as a [[resort]]. He formed a partnership with the [[Long Island Rail Road]] (LIRR) to finance the [[Long Beach Branch|New York and Long Beach Railroad Co]]., which laid track from [[Lynbrook, New York|Lynbrook]] to Long Beach in 1880. That same year, Corbin opened Long Beach Hotel, a row of 27 cottages along a {{convert|1100|ft|adj=on}} strip of beach, which he claimed was the world's largest hotel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Long Beach Hotel: 1880–1907 |url=http://www.homestead.com/captfxco/LongBeachHotel.html |website=ILoveLongBeachNewYork.com |access-date=September 3, 2007 |archive-date=August 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830202704/http://www.homestead.com/captfxco/LongBeachHotel.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History & Mission {{!}} The Long Beach Chamber |url=https://thelongbeachchamber.com/our-history-and-mission |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=thelongbeachchamber.com |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209054417/https://thelongbeachchamber.com/our-history-and-mission |url-status=live }}</ref> In its first season, the railroad brought 300,000 visitors to Long Island. By the next spring, tracks had been laid the length of the island, but they were removed in 1894 after repeated washouts from winter storms.
[[File: Long Beach Hotel (Long Island), Long Beach, N. Y (NYPL b12647398-66805).tiff|thumb|left|Long Beach Hotel]]
[[File:longbeach 1911.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Long Beach boardwalk, {{circa|1911}}]][[File:longbeach 1923.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Crowded beach, {{circa|1923}}]]