Old Bethpage, New York

Old Bethpage, New York
CDP
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Nassau
Area
• Total	4.1 sq mi (10.7 km2)
• Land	4.1 sq mi (10.7 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	174 ft (53 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	5,400
• Density	1,311.4/sq mi (506.3/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	11804
Area code	516
FIPS code	36-54551
GNIS feature ID	0959252

Old Bethpage is a hamlet (and census-designated place) located in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 5,400 at the 2000 census. Its ZIP code is 11804.

Old Bethpage and its neighboring hamlet, Plainview, share a school system, library, fire department and water district. Law enforcement for the community is provided by the Nassau County Police Department's Eighth Precinct.

History

In 1695, Thomas Powell bought more than 15 square miles or about 10,000 acres from local indian tribes, including the Marsapeque, Matinecoc, and Sacatogue, for 140 English pounds. This land, which includes present day Bethpage, Old Bethpage, Farmingdale, South Farmingdale, East Farmingdale, Plainedge, Plainview, and part of Melville, is known as the Bethpage Purchase and is approximately 3½ miles east to west and 5 miles north to south.

Powell called his land Bethphage, because it was situated between two other places on Long Island, Jericho and Jerusalem, just as the biblical town of Bethphage (meaning "house of figs") was situated between Jericho and Jerusalem in Israel. Today, the Long Island place formerly called Jerusalem is known as Wantagh and Island Trees. Over time, the second "H" was dropped in spelling resulting in its current spelling. Powell's 14 children split up his purchase and it evolved into several farming communities, and the one in this mostly central part of the purchase retained the name "Bethpage".

In 1932, Bethpage State Park, much of which is within the hamlet's borders, was opened to the public. In 1936, the larger, adjacent hamlet of Central Park changed its name to Bethpage, following which the name of the hamlet originally called Bethpage was changed to Old Bethpage.

Geography

Old Bethpage is located at 40°45′43″N 73°27′16″W (40.761819, -73.454544)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.7 km²), all land.

A significant portion of Old Bethpage consists of Bethpage State Park.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 5,400 people, 1,834 households, and 1,557 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,311.4 per square mile (506.1/km²). There were 1,843 housing units at an average density of 447.6/sq mi (172.7/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.57% White, 1.19% African American, 0.04% Native American, 2.94% Asian, 0.35% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.93% of the population.

There were 1,834 households out of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.6% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.1% were non-families. 13.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $89,771, and the median income for a family was $100,325. Males had a median income of $67,917 versus $40,353 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $34,666. About 2.4% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

School System

Old Bethpage's school system is the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District. This school district contains one high school, two middle schools, four elementary schools and a kindergarten center. Of these schools, the only one located in Old Bethpage proper is Old Bethpage Grade School.

Old Bethpage also had its own one room school house named the Little Red Schoolhouse. This building, which stood until the 1970s, was located appropriately enough, on Schoolhouse Road, just off of Round Swamp Road. The building was torn down and the property developed into several houses.

Recreation

Parks

Old Bethpage has a number of community parks tucked in between its homes. For residents, the primary park is the Old Bethpage Park, located on Haypath Road. This park features two tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, a basketball court, playgrounds and a community center. For out-of-towners, the town is also home to the Battle Row Campground, which provides accommodations for trailers and tent camping.

Entertainment

Old Bethpage is home to the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, an authentic recreation of a mid-19th century Long Island village, complete with farmhouses, a blacksmith, general store, cobbler, school house and church.

Old Bethpage was home to one movie theater, located in the Tru-Value Shopping Center. This theater initially showed first or second run movies. However, in the 1970's it began to broadcast pornographic movies until community protests forced the theater to revert to its original general commercial offerings. The theater closed and remained vacant for a number of years until it was reopened as a live action theater known as the Plaza Playhouse. It was later sold by its owners Kevin and Phyllis Harrington, and became the Cultural Arts Playhouse, or CAP Center.

Sports

Old Bethpage is home to "Skate Safe of America", which provides facilities for roller hockey and other indoor sports.

Trivia

• Actor John Savage was born in Old Bethpage.

• Apprentice candidate and businessman Brian Mandelbaum grew up in Old Bethpage.

• Portions of the Long Island Motor Parkway ran through Old Bethpage. Street names such as "Vanderbilt Lane", "Motor Parkway" and "Toll Place" serve as reminders. Segments of the old roadbed and some bridges can still be seen in some places. For example, in Battle Row Campground, Bethpage State Park, and the Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

• At one time a railroad, the Central Railroad of Long Island, ran a spur to a brickworks plant which opened in Old Bethpage in the 1860s. The brickworks had been established to supply necessary materials to Alexander Stewart's Garden City. The remnants of a locomotive turntable can be found in the woods on the east side of Round Swamp Road, in Bethpage State Park

• Prior to its development as a suburb, the area that is now Lark Avenue roughly between Belair Drive and Lee Place, was once a shooting range.

• The stretch of undeveloped land which starts in Bethpage State Park and crosses Haypath Road, Old Bethpage Road and Old Country Road, was originally purchased as a right of way by the State of New York, for a proposed extension of the Bethpage State Parkway to the Long Island Expressway. The intersection of these two roads would have been Exit 47 on the Expressway. There is still no Exit 47, with the LIE skipping from Exit 46 to Exit 48. This land is currently set aside by New York State as permanent park land and is now designated as Trailview State Park.

External links

• Plainview-Old Bethpage Chamber of Commerce
• Plainview-Old Bethpage Chamber of Commerce - Area history
• Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District
• Plainview-Old Bethpage Library
• Plainview-Old Bethpage Fire Department
• Old Bethpage Village Restoration
• Newsday article on Old Bethpage
• More Bethpage History
• 1903 map showing Old Bethpage as Bethpage (including LIRR tracks)
• Old Bethpage Village photo gallery

Sources

• "Our Town: Life in Plainview-Old Bethpage 1600 Through Tomorrow", by Richard Koubek, published in 1987