Editing Selden, New York (section)

===19th-century farm community===
A school district for the Westfield area was first created in 1815, carved out of the districts for New Village (now Centereach) and Coram. Originally named District 25, it was renumbered as District 12 in 1842,<ref name="Brook1856">Records of the Town of Brookhaven (1796–1856), Port Jefferson, Times Steam Job Print, 1888</ref> which it remained until the formation of the [[Middle Country Central School District]] in 1957.

When a post office was opened in 1852, Westfield had already been taken as a name by a community upstate. Upstate attorney (and later judge) [[Henry R. Selden|Henry Selden]] promised to do "something handsome" if the community named itself after him. The name was adopted, though it is usually said to be unknown whether he ever followed through on his promise,<ref name="newsdayselden">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsday.com/topic/ny-historytown-hist005y,0,2725015.story|title= Newsday: Selden History|access-date=2009-05-29}}</ref> and probably did not.<ref name="baylessketches2">Bayles, Richard Mather. ''Historical and Descriptive Sketches of Suffolk County'' (Port Jefferson, New York, 1874)</ref> While some sources report that the attorney had no known connection to the community, one newspaper reported in 1858 that Selden and attorney Edward Boyle (the namesake for Boyle Road) acquired a large tract of land in the hamlet shortly before the post office opened, and started to develop it.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bailey |first1=Paul |title=The Name of Selden |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031119/1958-03-06/ed-1/seq-3.pdf |access-date=March 7, 2022 |work=The Long Islander |date=March 6, 1958 |at=Section 1; p. 3 |via=NYS Historic Newspapers}}</ref><ref name="baylessketches2"/>

As of 1885, Selden was home to 88 residents and a Presbyterian church (built in 1857), and noted for producing melons and early garden vegetables from its farms.<ref name="baylessketches2"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Panter |first1=Laura  |url=http://www.northshoreoflongisland.com/Articles-i-2006-12-14-152629.112113_When_the_country_storewas_the_community_hub.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717112244/http://www.northshoreoflongisland.com/Articles-i-2006-12-14-152629.112113_When_the_country_storewas_the_community_hub.html |title=When the country store was the community hub |newspaper=[[The Times Beacon Record]] |date=December 15, 2006 |archive-date=July 17, 2014 |access-date=June 8, 2009}}</ref><ref name="bayleshandbook">Bayles, Richard Mather. ''Bayles' Long Island Handbook'' (Budget Steam Print: Babylon, New York, 1885)</ref> Around 1897, the popular cross-island [[Bicycle Path, Long Island|Bicycle Path]] was completed and ran through Selden. A popular stop along the path, "Wheelmen's Rest", was in Selden and run by Albert Norton.<ref name="Overton1994">{{cite web |title=David Overton, Brookhaven Town Historian on Selden |url=http://www.sachemlibrary.org/pages/adult_overton.aspx |website=sachemlibrary.org |publisher=[[WNYG|WLIM]] |access-date=March 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005190331/http://www.sachemlibrary.org/media/overton/Selden_2_2_6_94.mp3 |archive-date=October 5, 2013 |date=February 6, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Norton's Wheelmen's Res. |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075686/1900-09-08/ed-1/seq-2.pdf |access-date=March 7, 2022 |work=The Port Jefferson Echo |date=September 8, 1900 |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=TOUR OF THE ISLAND AWHEEL |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031151/1900-05-27/ed-1/seq-41.pdf |access-date=March 7, 2022 |work=[[Brooklyn Eagle]] |date=May 27, 1900 |page=41}}</ref>