ZIP Code
A ZIP Code is a postal code used by the United States Postal Service in a system it introduced in 1963. The term ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan; the basic format consists of five digits. An extended ZIP+4 code was introduced in 1983 which includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, followed by a hyphen and four additional digits that reference a more specific location; the term ZIP Code was registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, but its registration has since expired; the early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers. The United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example: The "16" was the number of the postal zone in the specific city. By the early 1960s, a more organized system was needed, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide on July 1, 1963; the USPOD issued its Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code on October 1, 1963, with the list of two-letter state abbreviations which are written with both letters capitalized.
An earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. According to Publication 59, the two-letter standard was "based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems", which would be exceeded by a long city name combined with a multi-letter state abbreviation, such as "Sacramento, Calif." along with the ZIP Code. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with the exception of Nebraska, changed from NB to NE in 1969 at the request of the Canadian postal administration, to avoid confusion with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Robert Moon is considered the father of the ZIP Code; the post office only credits Moon with the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or "sec center." An SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The fourth and fifth digits, which give a more precise locale within the SCF, were proposed by Henry Bentley Hahn Sr.
The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes. The mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, most of their employees work the night shift. Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. In the case of large cities, the last two digits coincide with the older postal zone number thus: In 1967, these became mandatory for second- and third-class bulk mailers, the system was soon adopted generally; the United States Post Office used a cartoon character, which it called Mr. ZIP, to promote the use of the ZIP Code, he was depicted with a legend such as "USE ZIP CODE" in the selvage of panes of postage stamps or on the covers of booklet panes of stamps. In 1971 Elmira Star-Gazette reporter Dick Baumbach found out the White House was not using a ZIP Code on its envelopes.
Herb Klein, special assistant to President Nixon, responded by saying the next printing of envelopes would include the ZIP Code. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4 called "plus-four codes", "add-on codes", or "add-ons". A ZIP+4 Code uses the basic five-digit code plus four additional digits to identify a geographic segment within the five-digit delivery area, such as a city block, a group of apartments, an individual high-volume receiver of mail, a post office box, or any other unit that could use an extra identifier to aid in efficient mail sorting and delivery. However, initial attempts to promote universal use of the new format met with public resistance and today the plus-four code is not required. In general, mail is read by a multiline optical character reader that instantly determines the correct ZIP+4 Code from the address—along with the more specific delivery point—and sprays an Intelligent Mail barcode on the face of the mail piece that corresponds to 11 digits—nine for the ZIP+4 Code and two for the delivery point.
For Post Office Boxes, the general rule is. The add-on code is one of the following: the last four digits of the box number, zero plus the last three digits of the box number, or, if the box number consists of fewer than four digits, enough zeros are attached to the front of the box number to produce a four-digit number. However, there is no uniform rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box; the ZIP Code is translated into an Intelligent Mail barcode, printed on the mailpiece to make it easier for automated machines to sort. A barcode can be printed by the sender, it is better to let the post office put one on. In general, the post office uses OCR technology, though in some cases a human might have to read and enter the address. Customers who send bulk mail can get a discount on postage if they have printed the barcode themselves and have presorted the mai
Huntington, New York
The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan area; as of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 203,264. In 1653, three men from Oyster Bay, Richard Holbrook, Robert Williams and Daniel Whitehead, purchased a parcel of land from the Matinecock tribe; this parcel has since come to be known as the "First Purchase" and included land bordered by Cold Spring Harbor on the west, Northport Harbor on the east, what is now known as Old Country Road to the south and Long Island Sound to the north. The three men turned the land over to the settlers, living there. From that initial settlement, Huntington grew over subsequent years to include all of the land presently comprising the modern Towns of Huntington and Babylon; the southern part of the town was formally separated to create Babylon in 1872.
Because Huntington was populated by English settlers, unlike the rest of the New Amsterdam colony, the town voted in 1660 to become part of the Connecticut colony rather than remain under the authority of New Amsterdam. It was not until the British gained control of New Amsterdam in 1664 that Huntington was formally restored to the jurisdiction of New York. Following the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War, British troops used Huntington as their headquarters, remained encamped there until the end of the war; the arrival of the Long Island Rail Road in 1867 transformed the economy of Huntington from agriculture and shipping to tourism and commuting. Cold Spring Harbor became a popular summer resort; the end of World War II brought about an explosive growth of population in Huntington, as in the rest of the region. Farms and resorts gave way to homes, Huntington has transformed into a major bedroom community for nearby New York City; as of the census of 2000, there were 195,289 people, 65,917 households, 52,338 families residing in the town.
The population density was 2,078.4 people per square mile. There were 67,708 housing units at an average density of 720.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town in 2000 was 88.31% White, 4.22% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 3.50% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.27% from other races, 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.58% of the population. As of the census of 2010, the racial makeup of the town was 84.15% White, 4.68% Black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 4.96% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.89% from other races, 2.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.00% of the population. There were 65,917 households out of which 37.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.4% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 20.6% were non-families. 16.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.
The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.26. In the town, the population was spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males. According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $102,865, the median income for a family was $113,119. Males had a median income of $61,748 versus $40,825 for females; the per capita income for the town was $36,390. About 2.9% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.1% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over. The town government consists of a town council with four members; the town supervisor is elected by the entire town. Other elected positions are the Town Clerk, Highway Superintendent, Receiver of Taxes. A referendum to move to a ward district system on December 22, 2009 failed 81% to 18%.
Sbarro's headquarters were located in Melville in the Town of Huntington until 2015. Around 2002, Swiss International Air Lines's North American headquarters moved from Melville to Uniondale, Town of Hempstead; the facility, the former Swissair North American headquarter site, was completed in 1995. Swissair intended to own, instead of lease, its headquarters site, it enlisted architect Richard Meier to design the Melville facility. In 1997, Aer Lingus announced that it was moving its North American headquarters from Manhattan to Melville; the move would transfer 75 employees, including administrative personnel, marketing personnel, sales personnel, telephone reservation agents. The airline planned to move on June 15, 1997; the airline had considered sites in Boston and in Westchester, New York. According to Huntington's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the town are: Huntington is home to two colleges and universities, including: Five Towns College in Dix Hills Seminary of the Immaculate Conception There are a number of notable schools in Huntington.
Several weekly newspapers cover local news including The Long-Islander, since 1838 as well as The Times of Huntington by TBR News Media. The Village Connection Magazine, published by Jim Savalli, is a lifestyle and ente
Shelter Island, New York
Shelter Island is a town and island at the eastern end of Long Island in the U. S. state of New York. It is part of Suffolk County; the population was 2,392 at the 2010 census. Shelter Island is nestled between the South Forks of Long Island, it is surrounded on three sides on the fourth side by Gardiners Bay. It can be reached via ferry from Greenport from North Haven to the south. New York State Route 114 runs through the island. Shelter Island is around 8,000 acres in size. Vast tracts are protected wetlands, a nature preserve marshland. Nearly one-third of the island is owned by The Nature Conservancy to be preserved in a wild state; the Preserve has four nature and bird-watching trails, varying in length from 1.5 miles to 11 miles, as well as a barrier-free Braille trail for the visually impaired. According to the United States Census Bureau, Shelter Island has a total area of 27.1 square miles, of which 12.1 square miles is land and 15.0 square miles is water. As of the 2000 census, there were 2,228 people, 996 households, 656 families residing in the town.
However, during the summer months the population can exceed 8,000. The population density was 183.6 people per square mile. There were 2,370 housing units at an average density of 195.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96.32% White, 0.72% Black or African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.09% from other races, 2.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.38% of the population. There were 996 households out of which 20.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female head of household, 34.1% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.75. In the town, the population was spread out with 18.1% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 20.1% from 25 to 44, 29.1% from 45 to 64, 28.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years.
For every 100 females, there were 91.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $53,011, the median income for a family was $63,750. Males had a median income of $41,508 versus $36,316 for females; the per capita income for the town was $30,346. About 4.7% of families and 7.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.0% of those under age 18 and 1.4% of those age 65 or over. Dering Harbor, on the north side of the island. Harbor View is on the west side of the island overlooking West Neck Harbor; the neighborhood, made up of homes built since the 1950s, was part of a large egg farm called "Cackle Hill." The farm house still anchors the Harbor View community and about 17 acres of woods around the former farm have been preserved as forever wild. Several of the children of the original designers of the community still own homes in the neighborhood. Montclair Colony, on the south side of the island overlooking West Neck Bay, is a quiet community, home to one of the Island's marinas, The Island Boatyard, where an annual cricket tournament is held to support the Island's volunteer ambulance service.
Shelter Island, the hamlet of Shelter Island, located on the south side. Shelter Island Heights, on the north side of the island; the Heights was developed as a Methodist Campground in the late 1800s. A private community, it is governed by the Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation, which owns the roads and the North Ferry Company; the Heights was designated on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1993. The Victorian architecture includes one contributing structure. Silver Beach, on a peninsula on the southwest side of the island, overlooks breezy Peconic Bay to the west and West Neck Harbor to the east. Residents of Silver Beach Homeowners Association collectively own several large tracts of undeveloped property, including an 18-acre wooded preserve in the center of the peninsula, maintained as a bird sanctuary and the access point to Shell Beach, which has a large, protected Piping Plover nesting site. Development on Silver Beach began in the post-World War II era, many of the homes there are small cottages typical of the time, though some have been expanded.
Westmoreland, on the west side of the island, was built as a private camp retreat. It has a private airstrip; the home of the late New York Governor Hugh Carey is on Westmoreland, as is the summer home of comedian Louis C. K. "Nostrand Parkway" runs along the west coast of the island. Several prominent older homes there date to a development in the late 1800s known as West Neck Park; the main road, Nostrand Parkway, takes its name from the developer of West Neck Park. Coecles Harbor, an inlet on the east side of the island. Smith Cove, an inlet on the south side of the island. West Neck Harbor, an inlet at the southwest end of the island; the island was long inhabited by indigenous peoples, related to those who lived north of Long Island Sound. At the time of European encounter, it was occupied by the Manhanset tribe, an Algonquian-speaking people related to the Pequot and other Algonquians of New England; the original name of the island, used by the Manhanset Indians, is Manhansack-aha-quash-awamock, which translates to "Island sheltered by islands."
Shelter Island was in
Hempstead, New York
The Town of Hempstead is one of the three towns in Nassau County, New York, United States, occupying the southwestern part of the county, in the western half of Long Island. Twenty-two incorporated villages are or within the town; the town's combined population was 759,757 at the 2010 census, the majority of the population of the county and by far the largest of any town in New York. If Hempstead were to be incorporated as a city, it would be the second-largest city in New York, behind New York City, it would be the 18th-largest city in the country, behind Charlotte, North Carolina and ahead of Seattle, Washington. Hempstead is the most populous municipality in the New York metropolitan area outside New York City. Hofstra University's main campus is located in Hempstead; the town was first settled around 1644 following the establishment of a treaty between English colonists, John Carman and Robert Fordham, the Lenape Indians in 1643. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut, a patent was issued by the government of New Netherland after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives.
This transaction is depicted in a mural in the Hempstead Village Hall, reproduced from a poster commemorating the 300th anniversary of Hempstead Village. In local Dutch-language documents of the 1640s and the town was invariably called Heemstede, several of Hempstead's original 50 patentees were Dutch, suggesting that Hempstead was named after the Dutch town and/or castle Heemstede, which are near the cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam. However, the authorities had Dutchified a name given by co-founder John Carman, born in 1606 in Hemel Hempstead, England, on land owned by his ancestors since the 13th century. In 1664, the settlement under the new Province of New York adopted the Duke's Laws, austere statutes that became the basis upon which the laws of many colonies were to be founded. For a time, Hempstead became known as "Old Blue", as a result of the "Blue Laws". During the American Revolution, the Loyalists in the south and the American sympathizers in the north caused a split in 1784 into "North Hempstead" and "South Hempstead".
With the 1898 incorporation of the Borough of Queens as part of the city of New York, the 1899 split of Queens County to create Nassau County, some southwestern portions of the Town of Hempstead seceded from the town and became part of the Borough of Queens. Richard Hewlett, born in Hempstead, served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the British Army under General Oliver De Lancey in the American Revolution. Afterward, Hewlett departed the United States with other Loyalists and settled in the newly created Province of New Brunswick in what became Canada. A settlement there was named Hampstead, in Queen's County next to Long Island in the Saint John River; the town is headed by the Supervisor Laura Gillen of Rockville Centre, the first Democrat to hold the position in over 100 years, the second woman to hold the position. The responsibilities of the office include presiding over meetings of the Town Council and directing the legislative and administrative function of that body; the position entails creating and implementing the town's budget.
Kate Murray was the town's first female supervisor. One famous former supervisor was Republican Alfonse D'Amato, who represented New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. Prior to 1994, the town had a Presiding Supervisor, who along with the Supervisor, sat on what was Nassau County's main governmental body, the Board of Supervisors, along with the Supervisors of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay and the independent cities of Long Beach—formerly a part of Hempstead Town until its incorporation as a separate municipality in 1922—and Glen Cove, carved out of Oyster Bay Town in 1917; the Presiding Supervisor, besides chairing the weekly county Board of Supervisors meetings, acted as the senior official in the town government with the Supervisor in a more junior, subordinate role. Having the Presiding Supervisor on the county board along with the Supervisor gave Hempstead—by far the most populous of the county's three towns and two cities—the most clout on that body. However, in 1993–94, a federal judge ruled that the board's makeup violated the one-person, one-vote constitutional principle and gave no representation to the country's growing minority population.
As a result of that ruling, the Board of Supervisors was replaced by a 19-member county legislature. Gregory P. Peterson served as the last Presiding Supervisor, as the position was abolished with the demise of the county board; the Town Council comprises six voting members, elected from a councilmanic district. Their primary function is to adopt the annual budget and amending the town code and the building zone ordinances, adopting all traffic regulations, hearing applications for changes of zone and special exceptions to zoning codes; as of 2019, the council members are: Dorothy L. Goosby Edward A. Ambrosino Bruce A. Blakeman Anthony P. D'Esposito Erin King Sweeney Dennis Dunne, Sr. Other elected officials in the town include the receiver of taxes; the clerk is responsible for issuing birth and death certificates
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county in the U. S. state of New York. It is the second-most populous county on the mainland of New York, after the Bronx, the most populous county in the state north of New York City. According to the 2010 Census, the county had a population of 949,113, estimated to have increased by 3.3% to 980,244 by 2017. Situated in the Hudson Valley, Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles, consisting of six cities, 19 towns, 23 villages. Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city of England; the county seat is the city of White Plains, while the most populous municipality in the county is the city of Yonkers, with an estimated 200,807 residents in 2016. The annual per capita income for Westchester was $67,813 in 2011; the 2011 median household income of $77,006 was the fifth highest in New York and the 47th highest in the United States. By 2014, the county's median household income had risen to $83,422. Westchester County ranks second in the state after New York County for median income per person, with a higher concentration of incomes in smaller households.
Westchester County had the highest property taxes of any county in the United States in 2013. Westchester County is one of the centrally located counties within the New York metropolitan area; the county is positioned with Nassau and Suffolk counties, to its south. Westchester was the first suburban area of its scale in the world to develop, due to the upper-middle-class development of entire communities in the late 19th century and the subsequent rapid population growth; because of Westchester's numerous road and mass transit connections to New York City, as well as its shared border with the Bronx, the 20th and 21st centuries have seen much of the county the southern portion, become nearly as densely developed as New York City itself. At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Native American inhabitants of present-day Westchester County were part of the Algonquian peoples, whose name for themselves was Lenape, meaning the people, they called the region Lenapehoking, which consisted of the area around and between the Delaware and Hudson Rivers.
Several different tribes occupied the area, including The Manhattans, the Weckquaesgeek and Siwanoy bands of the Wappinger in the south, Tankiteke and Kitchawank Wappinger in the north. The first European explorers to visit the Westchester area were Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. Dutch settlers began arriving in the 1620s, followed by settlers from England in the 1640s. Westchester County was one of the original twelve counties of the Province of New York, created by an act of the New York General Assembly in 1683. At the time it included present-day Bronx County, abutted then-Dutchess County to the north. By 1775, Westchester was the richest and most populous county in the colony of New York. Although the Revolutionary War devastated the county, recovery after the war was rapid. In 1788, five years after the end of the war, the county was divided into 20 towns. In 1798, the first federal census recorded a population of 24,000 for the county. Two developments in the first half of the 19th century – the construction of the first Croton Dam and Aqueduct, the coming of the railroad – had enormous impacts on the growth of Westchester.
The Croton Dam and Aqueduct was begun in 1837 and completed in 1842. In the 1840s, the first railroads were built in Westchester, included the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Hudson River Railroad, the New York and New Haven Railroad; the railroads determined the growth of a town, the population shifted from Northern to Southern Westchester. By 1860, the total county population was 99,000, with the largest city being Yonkers; the period following the American Civil War enabled entrepreneurs in the New York area to create fortunes, many built large estates, such as Lyndhurst, in Westchester. During the latter half of the 19th century, Westchester's transportation system and labor force attracted a manufacturing base along the Hudson River and Nepperhan Creek. In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County, in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County; these would split from Manhattan to form a county. During the 20th century, the rural character of Westchester would transform into the suburban county known today.
The Bronx River Parkway, completed in 1925, was the first modern, multi-lane limited-access roadway in North America. The development of Westchester's parks and parkway systems supported existing communities and encouraged the establishment of new ones, transforming the development pattern for Westchester. With the need for homes expanding after World War II, multistory apartment houses appeared in the urbanized areas of the county, while the market for single-family houses continued to expand. By 1950, the total County population was 625,816. Major interstate highways were constructed in Westchester during the 1960s; the establishment of these roadways, along with the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge, led to further growth in the county. Westchester County is located in southern New York known as Downstate, it shares its southern boundary with its northern border with Putnam County. It is bordered on the west
New York City
The City of New York called either New York City or New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles, New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural and media capital of the world, exerts a significant impact upon commerce, research, education, tourism, art and sports; the city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of, a separate county of the State of New York. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898; the city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. New York City is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the United States, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. In 2017, the New York metropolitan area produced a gross metropolitan product of US$1.73 trillion. If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world. New York is home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world. New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan.
The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, it has been the country's largest city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U. S. by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is an international symbol of the U. S. and its ideals of liberty and peace. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, environmental sustainability, as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. Many districts and landmarks in New York City are well known, with the city having three of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013 and receiving a record 62.8 million tourists in 2017. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world. Times Square, iconic as the world's "heart" and its "Crossroads", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, a major center of the world's entertainment industry.
The names of many of the city's landmarks and parks are known around the world. Manhattan's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. New York is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system worldwide, with 472 rail stations. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top universities in the world. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, the city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. In 1664, the city was named in honor of the Duke of York.
James's older brother, King Charles II, had appointed the Duke proprietor of the former territory of New Netherland, including the city of New Amsterdam, which England had seized from the Dutch. During the Wisconsinan glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth; the erosive forward movement of the ice contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. In the precolonial era, the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquian Native Americans, including the Lenape, whose homeland, known as Lenapehoking, included Staten Island; the first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown. He named it Nouvelle Angoulême. A Spanish expedition led by captain Estêvão Gomes, a Portuguese sailing for Emperor Charles V, arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of the Hudson River, which he named Río de San Antonio.
The Padrón Rea
Oyster Bay (town), New York
The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long Island; as of the 2010 census, it had a population of 293,214. There are 18 hamlets within the town of Oyster Bay; the U. S. Postal Service has organized these 36 places into 30 five-digit ZIP Codes served by 20 post offices; each post office shares the name of one of the hamlets or villages, but their boundaries are not coterminous. Oyster Bay is the name of a hamlet on the north shore, within the town of Oyster Bay. Near this hamlet, in the village of Cove Neck, is Sagamore Hill, the former residence and summer White House of Theodore Roosevelt and now a museum. At least six of the 36 villages and hamlets of the town have shores on Oyster Bay Harbor, an inlet of Long Island Sound, many of these at one time or another have been referred to as being part of the hamlet of Oyster Bay.
Succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of European contact, the Lenape nation inhabited western Long Island. By 1600 the band inhabiting the local area was called the Matinecock after their location, but they were Lenape people. Following European colonization, the area became part of the colony of New Netherland. In 1639, the Dutch West India Company made its first purchase of land on Long Island from the local Native Americans; the English had colonies on Long Island at this time. The Dutch did not dispute English claims to what is now Suffolk County, but when settlers from New England arrived in Oyster Bay in 1640, they were soon arrested as part of a boundary dispute. In 1643, Englishmen purchased land in the present-day town of Hempstead from the Indians that included land purchased by the Dutch in 1639. In 1644, the Dutch director granted a patent for Hempstead to the English; the Dutch granted other English settlements in Flushing and Jamaica.
In 1650, the Treaty of Hartford established a boundary between Dutch and English claims at "Oysterbay", by which the Dutch meant present-day Cold Spring Harbor and the English meant all of the water connected to present-day Oyster Bay Harbor. Meanwhile, the government of England came under the control of Oliver Cromwell as a republic, smugglers took advantage of the unresolved border dispute. In 1653, English settlers made their first purchase of land in Oyster Bay from the local Matinecock tribe, though there were some rogue English settlements there. For this purchase, the English settlers paid to the Native American Moheness, "six kettles, six fathoms of wampum, six hoes, six hatchets, three pairs of stockings, thirty awl-blades or muxes, twenty knives, three shirts and as much Peague as will amount to four pounds sterling." The monarchy was restored in England in 1660, in 1664 King Charles gave Long Island to his brother James, leading to the Dutch relinquishing control of all of New Amsterdam.
In 1667 the settlement at Oyster Bay received its charter from the new English colony of New York, becoming the Township of Oyster Bay. By 1687, the last piece of land was sold by the Indians, few remained by 1709. During most of the American Revolution the town was under the control of British forces; the town was part of Queens County, until the western portion of that county was amalgamated into New York City in 1898 and Nassau County was created in 1899. In 1918 Glen Cove, to the west, incorporated as a city and formed a governing system separate from the town. Following World War II, housing replaced farmland as the population grew from about 40,000 in 1950 to more than 290,000 in 1990. Oyster Bay is home to the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, one of the oldest yacht clubs in the Western Hemisphere, which opened in 1871. There are 40 sites presently named Town of Oyster Bay Landmarks; the town of Oyster Bay extends from Long Island Sound in the north, south to the waters of South Oyster Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
It is bordered by the town of North Hempstead on the northwest and the town of Hempstead on the southwest. It is the easternmost of the three towns of Nassau County, with Suffolk County to the east. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 169.5 square miles, of which 104.4 square miles is land and 65.1 square miles, or 38.42%, is water. As with most of Long Island, the north shore is hilly, the south shore has sandy beaches, the area between is a plain. Between the 1990 Census and the 2000 census, the town exchanged territory with the towns of Hempstead and Babylon, it gained territory from the town of Huntington in Suffolk County. The Long Island Rail Road's Oyster Bay Branch serves the town's vicinity from Glen Head to Oyster Bay; the Main Line runs through the center of the town from with stations in Hicksville, Bethpage. The Port Jefferson Branch begins at Hicksville, goes through Hicksville and Syosset. Rail freight service exists along the Central Branch which begins in Bethpage.
Further south in the town, the Babylon Branch runs from Seaford to the Suffolk County Line with stations in Massapequa and Massapequa Park. The Town of Oyster Bay is served by Nassau Inter-County Express bus routes, though some routes from Suffolk County Transit enter the town from the county line. Interstate 495 is the Long Island Expressway, the sole interstate highway in the Town of Oyster Bay, with interchanges from Exits 40 in Jericho to part of Exit 48 in Plainview near the Nassau-Suffolk County Line. Northern State Park
Interstate 495 is the Long Island Expressway, and the sole interstate highway in the Town of North Hempstead, with interchanges from Exit 33 in Lake Success to Exits 39 in Old Westbury.
Northern State Parkway is a suburban continuation of the Grand Central Parkway that has interchanges from Exit 25 in Lake Success to Exit 34 in Westbury. The route runs along the south side of the Long Island Expressway; as a parkway, no trucks are allowed.
Meadowbrook State Parkway runs south to north and only exists within the town between Old Country Road (Exits M1) and Northern State Parkway.
Wantagh State Parkway only exists within the town between Old Country Rd(Exit W2) and Northern State Parkway.
New York State Route 25A is the northernmost west-east route in the town, and is a suffixed route of NY 25.
New York State Route 25B is another west-east suffixed route of NY 25 that runs from the Bellerose section of Queens into NY 25 in Westbury.
New York State Route 25
New York State Route 101 is a south-north state route that runs from Flower Hill through downtown Port Washington into Sands Point.
