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AHistory
History · North Hempstead

North Hempstead dates to 1643, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #225 of 758 in New York. What drives it

52 places in town are on the National Register, among them the John Philip Sousa House, a National Historic Landmark, and eight historic districts with 188 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1790.

1643founded
52on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From North Hempstead’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How North Hempstead began

When was North Hempstead founded?

1643

North Hempstead dates its founding to 1643 (Wikipedia’s history). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 2,696 in 17902020 census: 237,639383 years

How historic is North Hempstead?

A

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1805.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives North Hempstead’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Hempstead is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #225 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of North Hempstead’s overall grade.
Founding era1643, from Wikipedia: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194021.0% of homes (±1.0) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register52 listings, 250 historic buildings, 10.5 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 92%
NewerOlder
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 70%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, North Hempstead ranks #63 on History.

New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so North Hempstead’s 10.5 sits near the middle of its state (46% of New York towns have fewer) while its 250 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1643.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about North Hempstead’s past

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

A National Historic Landmark52 places on the National Register, including John Philip Sousa House, a National Historic Landmark.Older than the countryEstablished in 1643, 133 years before the Declaration of Independence.Lost villages8 post offices opened and closed inside today’s North Hempstead, and 50 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18976 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1979. Watch North Hempstead change.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

52 listings protect 250 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
52
National Historic Landmark
1
John Philip Sousa House
historic buildings protected
250
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
John Philip Sousa House
Main Street Historic DistrictOld Westbury GardensToll Gate HouseGrace and Thomaston BuildingsSaddle Rock Grist MillHoratio Gates Onderdonk HouseMain Street SchoolEast Williston Village Historic DistrictGeorge W. Denton HouseSands-Willets HomesteadThomas Dodge HomesteadCedarmere-Clayton EstatesEastman CottageHicks Lumber Company StoreRoslyn Grist MillRoslyn National Bank and Trust Company BuildingRoslyn Savings Bank BuildingSamuel Adams Warner HouseTrinity Church ComplexWillet Titus HouseRoslyn Village Historic DistrictMonfort Cemetery, built 1737House at 18 Seventeenth AvenueHouse at 240 Sea Cliff AvenueUS Post Office-Great NeckUS Post Office-Mineola, built 1936Roslyn HouseMackay Estate Dairyman's CottageMackay Estate Gate LodgeMackay Estate Water TowerRescue Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 FirehouseRoslyn CemeteryCliftonGreenridge-Arthur Williams HouseMudge FarmhouseStephen and Charles Smith HouseWillowmere, built 1750SpringbankSaint Mary's ChapelClapham-Stern HouseStepping Stones Light Station, built 1877Almeron and Olive Smith House, built 1907Gould-Guggenheim EstateNorth Hempstead Town HallCornell-Van Nostrand HouseManhasset Monthly Meeting of the Society of FriendsWilliam Landsberg House, built 1951United Stated Merchant Marine Academy, built 1943Valley Road Historic DistrictSands Family CemeteryJohn S. Old Westbury Gardens-Phipps EstateWilliam Barstow MansionJohn Philip Sousa House★
BuildingsDistrictsSites★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival12
Greek Revival7
Late Victorian5
Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals5
Italianate4
Federal2
★ Landmark
John Philip Sousa HouseBuilding
Main Street Historic DistrictGreek Revival
Old Westbury GardensBuilding
Toll Gate HouseBuilding
Grace and Thomaston BuildingsBuilding
Saddle Rock Grist MillBuilding
Horatio Gates Onderdonk HouseGreek Revival
Main Street SchoolGeorgian Revival
All 53 listings
East Williston Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1985George W. Denton HouseBuilding · listed 1985Sands-Willets HomesteadBuilding · listed 1985Thomas Dodge HomesteadBuilding · listed 1986Cedarmere-Clayton EstatesDistrict · listed 1986Eastman CottageBuilding · listed 1986Hicks Lumber Company StoreBuilding · listed 1986Roslyn Grist MillBuilding · listed 1986Roslyn National Bank and Trust Company BuildingBuilding · listed 1986Roslyn Savings Bank BuildingBuilding · listed 1986Samuel Adams Warner HouseBuilding · listed 1986Trinity Church ComplexBuilding · listed 1986Willet Titus HouseBuilding · listed 1986Roslyn Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1987Monfort CemeterySite · listed 1988House at 18 Seventeenth AvenueBuilding · listed 1988House at 240 Sea Cliff AvenueBuilding · listed 1988US Post Office-Great NeckBuilding · listed 1989US Post Office-MineolaBuilding · listed 1989Roslyn HouseBuilding · listed 1990Mackay Estate Dairyman's CottageBuilding · listed 1991Mackay Estate Gate LodgeBuilding · listed 1991Mackay Estate Water TowerBuilding · listed 1991Rescue Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 FirehouseBuilding · listed 1991Roslyn CemeterySite · listed 1991CliftonBuilding · listed 1999Greenridge-Arthur Williams HouseBuilding · listed 1999Mudge FarmhouseBuilding · listed 1999Stephen and Charles Smith HouseBuilding · listed 1999WillowmereBuilding · listed 1999SpringbankBuilding · listed 1999Saint Mary's ChapelBuilding · listed 2005Clapham-Stern HouseBuilding · listed 2005Stepping Stones Light StationBuilding · listed 2005Almeron and Olive Smith HouseBuilding · listed 2006Gould-Guggenheim EstateDistrict · listed 2006North Hempstead Town HallBuilding · listed 2006Cornell-Van Nostrand HouseBuilding · listed 2007Manhasset Monthly Meeting of the Society of FriendsBuilding · listed 2009William Landsberg HouseBuilding · listed 2014United Stated Merchant Marine AcademyDistrict · listed 2014Valley Road Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1977Sands Family CemeterySite · listed 1992John S. Old Westbury Gardens-Phipps EstateDistrict · listed 2011William Barstow MansionBuilding · listed 2014

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

Timeline

North Hempstead, 1643 to 2007

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

  1. 17th century
  2. 1643
    FoundingNorth Hempstead is established
  3. 18th century
  4. 1737BuiltMonfort Cemetery is built
  5. 1750BuiltWillowmere is built
  6. 1788Born hereJames Mott is born here
  7. 19th century
  8. 1805Born hereJohn A. Searing is born here
  9. 1805Post officeThe North Hempstead post office opens
  10. 1809In the archiveNorth Hempstead, Long Island
  11. 1834In the archiveUntitled photo
  12. 1834Post officeThe Hempstead Harbor post office opens
  13. 1837Post officeThe Manhasset post office opens
  14. 1844Post officeThe Hempstead Harbor post office closes
  15. 1868Post officeThe North Hempstead post office closes
  16. 1877BuiltStepping Stones Light Station is built
  17. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  18. 20th century
  19. 1936BuiltUS Post Office-Mineola is built
  20. 1961Born hereLarry Lawton is born here
  21. 1966LandmarkJohn Philip Sousa House named a National Historic Landmark
  22. 21st century
  23. 2007Born hereDino Klapija is born here
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

North Hempstead had its own post office from 1805 to 1868. Eight other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

North Hempstead
1805–1868
Hempstead Harbor
1834–1844
Manhasset
1837–today
Westbury
1841–1841
Roslyn
1844–today
Mineola
1858–today
Port Washington
1859–today
Greenvale
1866–1874
Great Neck
1867–today
Old Westbury
1868–1965
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AlbertsonBaxter EstatesBird GroveCarle PlaceEast Atlantic BeachEast HillsEast WillistonFlower HillGarden City ParkGreat NeckGreat Neck EstatesGreat Neck GardensGreat Neck PlazaGreenvaleHarbor HillsHerricksHillside ManorKensingtonKings PointLake SuccessManhassetManhasset HillsManorhavenMineola
Gone or out of use
Deep Dale Country ClublocaleGodfrey Preece Racing StableslocaleGreat Neck Yacht ClublocaleGreen Tree Golf ClublocaleNew Hyde Park Golf ClublocalePlandome MilllocaleRobertson Gravel PitmineRoslyn Air Force StationmilitaryRoslyn Heights SchoolschoolRyan EstatelocaleSaint Pauls ChurchchurchSearington Gravel PitmineShelter Rock Golf ClublocaleSound Shore Golf ClublocaleZion Churchchurch
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside North Hempstead
All SaintsChrist ChurchClark Botanic GardenFriendsHoly RoodMethodistMonfortNassau KnollsRoslyn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How North Hempstead came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of North Hempstead.

Read it all →

What is now the Town of North Hempstead was originally inhabited by Native Americans – specifically the Matinecock Nation. It was first settled by European explorers around 1643, as part of the Town of Hempstead.

ChaptersEtymology

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

North Hempstead, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1830s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1800s–1830s2 items
North Hempstead, Long Island1809North Hempstead, Long IslandUntitled photo1834Untitled photoDocument
Date unknown3 to date
Upper section Index Map of Nassau County Long Island Published by E. Belcher Hype. 97 Liberty St. Brooklyn, 5 Beekman S…Date?Upper section Index Map of Nassau County Long Island …MapGreat Neck - Pt. Washington - Kesington - Sea Cliff - Plandome, EtcDate?Great Neck - Pt. Washington - Kesington - Sea Cliff -…Long Island Railroad, Manhasset Bridge, Manhasset Shore Road Vicinity, Flower Hill, Nassau County, NYDate?Long Island Railroad, Manhasset Bridge, Manhasset Sho…
Today17 recent
First North Hempstead Town Council Meeting Plaque, Searingtown, NY March 20, 20262026First North Hempstead Town Council Meeting Plaque, Se…UAW President Shawn Fein with NYS Elected Officials & UAW Region 9A Reps2023UAW President Shawn Fein with NYS Elected Officials &…Gina Sillitti 20232023Gina Sillitti 2023North Hempstead Department of Community Services Bus, Baxter Estates, NY August 17, 2022 B2022North Hempstead Department of Community Services Bus,…North Hempstead Department of Community Services Bus, Baxter Estates, NY August 17, 2022 A2022North Hempstead Department of Community Services Bus,…Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 C2022Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hem…Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 B2022Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hem…Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 A2022Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, Flower Hill, and Hem…Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 C2022Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hemps…Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 B2022Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hemps…Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hempstead Harbor from Glenwood Landing, NY September 4, 2022 A2022Bar Beach, Manhasset Neck, Port Washington, and Hemps…2022 USDA NAIP 4-Band 8 Bit Imagery, New York – m 4007311 se 18 06020222022 USDA NAIP 4-Band 8 Bit Imagery, New York – m 400…2022 USDA NAIP 4-Band 8 Bit Imagery, New York – m 4007311 nw 18 06020222022 USDA NAIP 4-Band 8 Bit Imagery, New York – m 400…Michael J. Tully Park, North New Hyde Park, Long Island, New York September 18, 20212021Michael J. Tully Park, North New Hyde Park, Long Isla…Hempstead Harbor aerial 20212021Hempstead Harbor aerial 2021Hempstead, Manhasset, and Little Neck bays2019Hempstead, Manhasset, and Little Neck baysManhasset Neck, Long Island2010Manhasset Neck, Long Island
On the map

North Hempstead on the map, 1897 to 1979

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

North Hempstead on the 1897 USGS mapNorth Hempstead on the 1900 USGS mapNorth Hempstead on the 1947 USGS mapNorth Hempstead on the 1954 USGS mapNorth Hempstead on the 1968 USGS mapNorth Hempstead on the 1979 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 North Hempstead.

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.

North Hempstead, Long Island
Retake this viewNorth Hempstead, Long Island, 1809

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

North Hempstead, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,000140,000160,000180,000200,000220,000240,000260,00018001850190019502000237,639

Grew from 2,696 people in 1790 to 237,639 in 2020, more than tenfold.

23 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in North Hempstead

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
J
John A. SearingAmerican politician · b. 1805
Larry LawtonAmerican writer and motivational speaker · b. 1961
James MottAmerican activist · b. 1788
D
Dino KlapijaCroatian-American soccer player · b. 2007
Help out

Start North Hempstead’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how North Hempstead’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewNorth Hempstead, Long Island: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Oyster Bay61 historic placesA−Hempstead29 historic placesANew York City1039 historic placesA+University GardensIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew CasselIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarden City4 historic placesA−Jericho1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorth New Hyde ParkIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWestburyIts storyB−Uniondale1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about North Hempstead’s history

What year was North Hempstead founded?

In 1643, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. North Hempstead’s post office opened in 1805, and the first U.S. census counted 2,696 people here in 1790.

How does North Hempstead rank for history?

North Hempstead is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #225 of 758 in New York. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in North Hempstead?

52 listings: 42 buildings, among them the John Philip Sousa House (a National Historic Landmark since 1966), 8 historic districts with 188 contributing buildings, and 3 sites. 250 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in North Hempstead?

21% of North Hempstead’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1955.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (20), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (53), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.