Editing Wyandanch, New York (section)

===Colonial settlement and after===

Wyandanch (West Deer Park before 1903) evolved out of what was originally known as the Lower Half Way Hollow Hills. The area was first settled by Captain Jacob Conklin after he was given a tract of land in what is now Wheatley Heights by his father, Timothy Conklin, about 1706. Gradually, pioneers from [[Huntington, New York|Huntington]] began settling along the southern slope of the Half Way Hollow Hills as they purchased farm and forestlands from the Conklins. What is known today as Wyandanch originated with the establishment of the [[Wyandanch (LIRR station)|West Deer Park LIRR station]] in 1875. The present-day Wyandanch railroad station sits on the site of the 1875 station on the [[Long Island Rail Road]].<ref>Chauncey L.C. Ditmars, "A Story of the Conklin Family," ''Long Islander'' (Huntington) June 5, 1936: 4; Verne Dyson, ''Deer Park Wyandanch History'', 1957.</ref> Jacob Conklin's 1710 "Pirate House" was the first house built in what became the town of Babylon.<ref>Jasmin Frankel, "Teen's Eagle Scout Project Honors Lineage," ''Newsday'' online, April 5, 2011.</ref>

The LIRR built the original West Deer Park railroad station, which incorporated a post office, in May 1875 at the request of General [[James J. Casey]], a brother-in-law of President [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. Casey had purchased the {{convert|1000|acre|adj=on}} Nathanial Conklin estate in 1874, and he wanted a rail depot and post office located closer than the LIRR [[Deer Park (LIRR station)|Deer Park depot]] that had opened in 1853. The 1875 West Deer Park/Wyandanch railroad station was demolished in 1958.<ref>{{cite news |title=West Deer Park |newspaper=South Side Signal |date=June 5, 1875 |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Vincent P. |last=Seyfried |title=The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History: Part Three: The Age of Expansion |page=189}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Vincent P. |last=Seyfried |title=The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History: Part Six: The Golden Age: 1881–1890 |pages=261–2}}</ref>

The first lots were sold near the station, around the time of a Long Island land boom in 1872.<ref>{{cite news |title=Breslau! Breslau! Charles S. Schleier, Real Estate Dealer |newspaper=Brooklyn Eagle |date=December 22, 1877 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Breslau! Breslau! Grand Excursion Monday, June 19 |newspaper=Brooklyn Eagle |date=June 6, 1878 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=To the City of Breslau |newspaper=Brooklyn Eagle |date=July 3, 1879 |page=3}}</ref> The efforts of a local realtor successfully targeted Germans and German-Americans.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roy |last=Douglas |title=A Letter From Henry A. Brown |newspaper=Long Island Forum |date=July 1987 |page=152}}</ref>

In April 1903, the {{convert|1343|acre|adj=on}} ex-Conklin estate and historic Conklin family cemetery was sold to Bishop Charles Edward McDonnell of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn]], who resumed the bottling of spring water from the Colonial Spring. Eventually the McDonnell property became the [[Catholic Youth Organization]]'s (CYO) summer camp in Wyandanch. In 2011, 14-year-old Michael Berdon, a descendant of Jacob Conklin, restored the 257-year-old cemetery and laid a brick path approach to the gravesite with the assistance of several local businesses.<ref>"The Old Conklin Farm at West Deer Park Sold," Brooklyn Eagle, October 26, 1902: 9; "Bishop Mc Donnell Gets Conklin Estate," New York Times, April 21, 1903: 8.</ref><ref>Denise M. Bonilla, "Fixing up the Family Plot: Aspiring Eagle Scout with notable lineage restores historic cemetery," Newsday November 17, 2011: A23</ref>

On March 8, 1907, the Wyandanch post office was moved from the LIRR depot to Anthony Kirchner's General Store and Hotel on Merritt Avenue diagonally across from the railroad station.<ref>{{cite journal |first=J. Fred |last=Rodriquez |title=The Wyandanch Post Office |journal=Long Island Postal History Journal |date=Winter 1984 |pages=1–5}}</ref>