Founded in 1643, the Incorporated Village of Hempstead spans 3.7 square miles in the heart of Nassau County and has a population of more than 53,000 according to a 2010 census. In 1853 it became the first self-governing incorporated village, and is currently the largest and most densely populated village in the country. Within easy commuting distance of Midtown, Manhattan, it is one of the most convenient, sought-after residential and commercial locations on Long Island.
Seven representatives of Long Island native groups, led by Tackapousha of the Marsapeag (Massapequa), developed and signed a land use agreement with Englishmen John Carman and Robert Fordham near the center of today’s Hempstead Village -- an area controlled by Holland.
In late spring 1644, Eighteen to twenty families followed Carman and Fordham from Wethersfield, Connecticut, under the leadership of Presbyterian Reverend Richard Denton, to create the new community of Hempstead.
During late spring 1644, Hempstead's first church -- later known as Christ's First Presbyterian Church -- was established with Reverend Richard Denton as pastor. Its congregants were not all Presbyterians, but nonetheless worshiped together in the meeting house built in the middle of the “town spot.”
Between 1660 and 1680, Sammis Tavern (Sammis Entertainment, Sammis Hotel – the name changed across centuries) established itself as the major hospitality business in Hempstead. An unbroken line of Sammis proprietors operated the hotel until its last vestiges were removed in 1929.
In 1664, Holland lost a war with England, so England gained control of Dutch counties on Long Island as well as Westchester. In March 1664 (1665 by the Gregorian calendar), Governor Richard Nicolls wrote out "the Duke's Laws" - an early constitution named after England's Richard, Duke of York.
In the year 1702, St. George’s Church, which is now called St. George’s Episcopal Church, began ministry as an Anglican (Church of England) congregation under Reverend John Thomas.
In the year 1735, St. George’s raised a new building whose dedication was attended by the Governor of New York and other officials. Its steeple with its famous golden weathercock still rises above Front Street.
On July 4, 1776, the legal status of Hempstead's residents changed. Nearly 100 percent were loyal to King George III of England. Hempstead resisted the American Revolution, so in the eyes of the very new U.S. government, Hempstead became an outlaw stronghold.
On September 22, 1802, the tiny Village of Hempstead became the first seat of a U.S. Post Office east of Jamaica. Abraham Bedell acted as postmaster.
During the year 1812, the United Methodist Church was established in Stephen Bedell’s home in the Village of Hempstead. Its present building was dedicated in 1822.
In the year 1831, Hempstead establishes its own newspaper, called "The Hempstead Enquirer." About 100 years later, the Enquirer merged with other papers to become the Nassau Daily Review-Star.
On April 23,1832, the State of New York legislature authorized the formation of fire departments. Hempstead established its own fire department on December 15, 1832.
In the year 1840 (some sources say 1827), Jackson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was established in Peter Treadwell’s house.
On July 25, 1853, Hempstead Village residents voted to incorporate the village, with 88 votes for incorporation, 41 against. Village trustees were voted in during the same election. They immediately appointed John Augustus Bedell as village president.
In the year 1868, Liberty Hall arose across Front Street from St. George's. It contained a theater where famous actor Edwin Booth performed.
In the year 1869, Alexander Turney Steward bought nine thousand acres on Hempstead’s northern border and established Garden City.
During the years 1870 through 1920, wealthy New York socialites established summer homes throughout Long Island. Elliott Roosevelt who was Eleanor Roosevelt’s father, owned a summer home, 1888–1894, on Richardson Place, where St. Ladislaus Rectory now stands. August Belmont, Jr., who built Belmont Racetrack, owned an estate at Bennett Avenue and Fulton Street. Henry Van Rensselaer Kennedy and his wife Marion Robbins Kennedy built the estate that became today’s Kennedy Park. William and Kate Hofstra built their mansion at the east end of the village, which in 1934 became the site of Hofstra University’s first classes. Alva Belmont, a relative by marriage to August Belmont, Jr., built her mansion, Brookholt, just east of the village limits.
In 874, the Town of Hempstead took over Washington Hall (built in 1870 by the Ladies Washington Sewing Society). The building functioned as the Town of Hempstead Town Hall until 1918.
The First Baptist Church of Hempstead held its first services in 1883. With its support, Union Baptist Church opened its doors in 1922.
Hempstead established itself as an up-to-date municipality when it installed its first village electrical system in 1886.
In 1887, Hempstead Bank opened its doors in the Samuel Seabury Building on Main St. Twenty years later, the proud stone Hempstead Bank was erected at the corner of Main Street and Fulton Avenue. This building still stands.
In the year 1889, Hempstead Public School was built at Henry and Prospect Streets with a large gym and 25 classrooms--by far the most impressive school building in Hempstead up to that time.
In 1893, the Village of Hempstead named three officers to its first official police force: Robert Vandewater, George "Cutie" Gardner, and William L. Hooper. They patrolled at night only. Town of Hempstead constables patrolled during the day.
Until 1899, Hempstead was one village in the huge county of Queens. In response to the area's increasing population, Nassau County was created from the eastern half of Queens, which mainly included the Town of Hempstead, the Town of North Hempstead, and the Town of Oyster Bay.
Enter s1901 founding of St. John Episcopal Church on South Franklin Street, the first Episcopal church for African American congregants in the Village of Hempstead. (It has since merged under the same name with a congregation in Lynbrook.)tory info here
In 1902, trolley lines began running from Brooklyn and Jamaica through Hempstead to Freeport. The trolley service continued for 25 years.
Around 1905, Fulton Park, which is today’s Denton Green, was established in the center of the village. Harper Park was developed in 1913. Hempstead became known for its lovely parks, brooks, and ponds (which were subsequently enclosed in pipes to reduce persistent street flooding).
The central section of Prospect School, initially called Public School No. 2, opened its doors Hempstead's elementary school students in 1906. Prospect Street was widened and renamed Peninsula Boulevard in 1957.
As noted previously, in 1907, the Hempstead Bank Building at Main Street and Fulton Avenue invited its wealthy business customers into its new lobby. The offices of Hempstead Village government as well as the Hempstead Police Department moved from the second floor of the former Fire Department Headquarters into offices on the Fulton Avenue side of the Hempstead Bank.
During 1912, Hempstead Village completed its sewer system -- the first in Nassau County.
In the year 1912, the Washington Street School opened. Physician and Hempstead school board president Charles H. Ludlum helped establish smaller schools throughout the village, enabling young children to attend classes in their own neighborhoods.
In 1913, Alva Belmont led a huge women’s rights rally down Franklin Avenue from Mineola to Hempstead's Harper Park. The parade stopped in front of Prospect School, where speeches and awards were given.
The first Hebrew minyan gathered in 1907 in Liberty Hall. It grew into the Hempstead Hebrew Congregation by 1915 -- today's Congregation Beth Israel on Hilton Avenue.
The plains just north and east of Hempstead and Garden City had been military training camps since the Civil War. Now they became military aviation fields: Hazelhurst Fields #1 and #2. Hazelhurst #2 was renamed Mitchel Field in 1918 to honor former New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel.
Today's dignified, glamorous Town of Hempstead Town Hall arose on Front Street in 1918 built to replace the 1870 building.
On April 5,1919, the 1889 Hempstead Public School, which had become Hempstead High School, burned irreparably. Dr. Charles H. Ludlum oversaw the erection of the new Hempstead High School on Greenwich Street in 1922.
Teddy Roosevelt’s son Quentin joined the U.S. Air Force as a fighter pilot in World War I. He was killed in action in 1918. The airfield Hazelhurst #1 was renamed Roosevelt Field in 1919.
From 1920 through 1947, Coach Joseph Fay led the Hempstead High School Athletics Department. Under his leadership, Hempstead High School became dominant in Long Island sports. Coach Fay broke the color barrier for participation by African American students in 1933 when he placed Zach Embry on the football team.
A broad tract of land known as Parsons Farm opened as the Hempstead Country Club. The wives of its members converted the old Parsons house into an elegant clubhouse.
Hempstead Theater, the first of three theaters built in Hempstead by Salvatore Calderone and his son Frank, opened on Fulton Avenue in 1922 with a seating capacity of 1,800.
Union Baptist Church, with a mainly African American congregation, officially began its thriving, still-ongoing ministry in 1922.
En1922 Union Baptist Church, the first African American Baptist church in Hempstead and still one of the largest African American Baptist churches on Long Island, is founded. ter story info here
In August 1923, the Hempstead Professional Building opened on Fulton Avenue near Cathedral Avenue. It was the first of its kind in the area: a central location for doctors and dentists, equipped with X-Ray machines and medical laboratories to serve the needs of the doctors’ and dentists’ offices.
In 1925, Our Lady of Loretto Roman Catholic Church opened in its current location on Greenwich Street. Its present buildings were dedicated in 1954.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Hempstead Lake provided water to Brooklyn. After 1900, water systems underwent revision while New York State began establishing state parks. Hempstead Lake State Park opened in 1926.
1928 Antioch Baptist Church, a second specifically African American congregation, is founded on Union Avenue (now James L. Burrell Avenue).
The congregation of St. Ladislaus began services in 1915 in the building that now serves as its rectory on Richardson Place. On January 8, 1928, the present St. Ladislaus Church was dedicated by Bishop Thomas E. Molloy.
1931 South Hempstead Baptist Church is founded, another response to the increasing population of African American families in Hempstead.
1932 Hempstead Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded, the first NAACP branch on Long Island. Alverta B. Gray Schultz is its first president. Schultz was a Hempstead business woman and educator for whom the Hempstead middle school is named.
In 1933, lawyer and village counsel A. Holly Patterson became the first Nassau County Presiding Supervisor to hail from the Village of Hempstead.
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