Please note that this historical account was copied from the December 1999 Planning and Zoning Study by JAC Planning Corp (Graet Neck, NY)

The Village of Port Washington North was incorporated only two-thirds of a century ago. However, the Village, part of the Cow Neck peninsula, dates back to the mid-1600's and is one of the early settlements on Long Island. The creation of the Village of Port Washington North and its land use relationship to the peninsula is directly related to its natural resources. Examples of this include the grist mills, which were built where there was water to power them and sand mining which occurred where there was sand and a means to transport it away. The process of land use evolving from natural resources must be reflected upon. In the process, history and the progression of land uses must be examined along with the current conditions in order to plan for the future. Simply put, it is necessary to know who we were, so we can decide what we want to become.

The Village celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1982, at which time it designated eleven sites as "Historic Landmarks" and commemorated the occasion by erecting bronze plaques at those locations (soon to be attached figure showing a map of the Village and the locations). In 1976, during our Nation's anniversary, the Village erected a bronze plaque identifying the "Mill Pond Historic District" which declared as such in 1973 by the Vilage Landmark Preservation Commission. Therefore, the Village and its officials perceive and acknowledge its historic character and historical implications.

The Village and the Cow Neck peninsula trace their beginnings back to early European settlements when the Town of Hempstead (which then included the Town of North Hempstead) was created in 1644 by the Dutch. The English subsequently created the entity of Queens County and the New York legislature created North Hempstead in 1784 located within Queens County. Nassau County was created as a spin-off when the City of New York was created in 1898.

The population grew slowly in the Port Washington-North Hempstead area from 1790 to the early 1900's (prior to 1940) as follows

1790 - 2,696
1840 - 3,891
1890 - 8,134
1940 - 83,385
1990 - 218,624

 

More to come soon

 

Village Chronology prepared at Village 50th anniversary