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History · Locust Valley

Locust Valley’s post office opened in 1857, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 2000.

1857first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Locust Valley’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Locust Valley began

When was Locust Valley founded?

1857

The Locust Valley post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 3,521 in 20002020 census: 3,571169 years
Founding year: the first Locust Valley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Locust Valley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18974 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1967. Watch Locust Valley change.Old housesHalf of Locust Valley’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Locust Valley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Locust Valley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewThe Crossroads: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Locust Valley on the map, 1897 to 1967

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Locust Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Locust Valley on the 1897 USGS mapLocust Valley on the 1900 USGS mapLocust Valley on the 1954 USGS mapLocust Valley on the 1967 USGS map1897Oyster Bay sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Locust Valley.

The story

How Locust Valley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Locust Valley.

Read it all →

The rolling hills of the North Shore of Long Island were laid down as terminal moraines by the receding glaciers of the last ice age roughly 10,000 years ago. The Algonquian tribe that settled the area, spanning from Flushing to Setauket, called the area "hilly ground" or Matinecock and as a result the Algonquian Indians who settled there became known as the Matinecock Indians.

In 1667, Captain John Underhill negotiated with the Matinecock Indians to purchase land for a settlement that he and his fellow colonists would call Buckram. The town name lasted for nearly 200 years, until in 1856 the name was changed to Locust Valley based on the number of locust trees located in the area.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Locust Valley, 1834 to 1972

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834In the archiveUntitled photo
  3. 1890In the archiveThe Crossroads
  4. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910In the archiveNew York, Long Island
  7. 1972Born hereCyia Batten is born here
By decade

Locust Valley, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1830s1 item
Untitled photo1834Untitled photoDocument
1890s–1910s2 items
The Crossroads1890The CrossroadsNew York, Long Island1910New York, Long Island
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Schiff 2423489958 50af8c9ed3 o2009Schiff 2423489958 50af8c9ed3 oHorse 2422675917 b7cc0f09de o2009Horse 2422675917 b7cc0f09de o
Every building

Locust Valley, building by building, 1920–1927

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Locust Valley fire insurance map, 1920, sheet 11920Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

The Crossroads
Retake this viewThe Crossroads, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Locust Valley’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 15 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
15
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Locust Valley, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,50020002020Peak: 3,571

Between 3,406 and 3,571 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Locust Valley’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Lattingtown2 historic placesAMill Neck3 historic placesA−Matinecock2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGlen Cove6 historic placesA−Oyster Bay61 historic placesA−

Questions about Locust Valley’s history

What year was Locust Valley founded?

The Locust Valley post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.