Nassau County Post Offices 1794-1879






<PRE>
Curtesy of David Roberts &  LI-Rooters@aplusdata.com List
 <a href="mailto:droberts@us.hsanet.net">droberts@us.hsanet.net</a>

"New York Postal History: The Post Offices & First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980" 
by John L. Kay & Chester M. Smith, Jr.
American Philatelic Society: 1982.

There was only one post office established in present Nassau County 
when the Long Island post road to Sag Harbor was established 
September 25, 1794.
It appears that the mail from New York went to Jamaica. This was the only
post office in the present day Boroughs of Queens or Brooklyn before 1803.

From Jamaica the mail went east along the Jericho Turnpike/Middle
Country Road route and ended at Sag Harbor.

The only post office on this route between Jamaica and Suffolk County was
QUEENS established the same date as the others on this route 9/25/1794.
This post office was officially Queens, but I have seen the area called
"Queens Court House" and was located approximately in the
Mineola-Westbury area. The courthouse was used until the 1870's 
when the county court was moved to Long Island City. Later it served 
as the Queens County Insane Asylum and still later as an early 
courthouse for the new Nassau County, during construction of the present 
"old" Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola. It was demolished shortly 
after 1900 ... after about 120 years of service of one type or the other.

This historic post office has had a variety of names. It was QUEENS
[unofficially "Queens Court House" from 1794 to 1805, when its name was
changed to NORTH HEMPSTEAD [5/21/1805], a name it carried until 1868,
except for a brief period in 1841 when it was called WESTBURY. 
In 1868, the post office was re-named OLD WESTBURY   25 March 1868 
and name it has kept to the present except for two brief periods .. 
for two weeks in March 1882 it was called WOODEDGE .. 
and for about one year 1907-1908 it was called WESTBURY. 
It re-took the name OLD WESTBURY [10/3/1908] and has used it
until the present. The historic post office was reduced to a branch of the 
Westbury [formerly Westbury Station] post office on 15 January 1965.

So, by the end of the 18th century there were only two post offices in
Queens County and only one in present-day Nassau County. Both were on the
route that probably started in New York City and went east across Long
Island to Sag Harbor.

By Town:
NORTH HEMPSTEAD: Queens

Nassau County Post Offices # 2.

When the South Shore route was established in 1802, two additional post
offices were created in present-day Nassau County.

The route from Jamaica east went to HEMPSTEAD [9/7/1802], which is still
in
operation under its original name.
A second post office was established at MERRICK [9/7/1802]. This post
office was closed in 1811, but re-opened 8/29/1843 and has operated under
that name since.
Part of the route between Hempstead & Merrick uses the name Babylon
Turnpike, indicating this was part of the old post road from Hempstead to
Merrick to Babylon [Huntington South], the most westerly of the post
offices in Suffolk County established on 9/7/1802, along this South Shore
route.

Another post office was created on the central post road Jamaica to
Suffolk
[Riverhead] in 1802: JERICHO [1/26/1802] still is in operation under its
original name, and right after 1802 was the only post office in present
Nassau County between Queens [Mineola/Westbury] and the Suffolk County
line.

The first present Nassau County post office off the central or South
Shore
routes was OYSTER BAY [12/20/1806]. Oyster Bay has been in operation
since
1806 to the present under its name, except for a short period January
1846
to July 1848 when it used the named SYOSSET [note: this is NOT the
present
Syosset]. The old name OYSTER BAY was re-established 7/31/1848, after
about
a 2 1/2 year lapse & has been used ever since.

By Town: [1810]

NORTH HEMPSTEAD:  North Hempstead
HEMPSTEAD:  Hempstead, Merrick
OYSTER BAY: Jericho, Oyster Bay



Nassau County Post Offices # 3
During the 1810's and 1820's 4 post offices were established in present
Nassau County.

Along the South Shore route established in 1802, a new post office was
opened in the area of present-day Massapequa:
SOUTH OYSTER BAY [5/19/1814]. This post office was closed 12/27/1861. The
alternate name was OYSTER BAY SOUTH; the South Oyster Bay name is still
in
use as a major north-south road in the Syosset/Plainview area; it merges
into Hicksville Road [NY 107] and does still lead to South Oyster Bay
[present Massapequa].

Two additional post offices were established in the 1810's on the North
Shore:

#1. HEAD OF COW NECK [11/20/1812]. Head of Cow Neck changed its name in
1837 to MANHASSET [6/17/1837] & is still in operation today under the
name
Manhasset.

#2. MOSCHETO COVE [12/12/1818]. Moscheto Cove took a better name in 1834.
Who would want to live in a place named for the mosquito? Moscheto Cove
became GLEN COVE [2/24/1834], a name it has carried since, except for a
brief period
1895-1905 when the post office changed the name to one word: GLENCOVE,
but
in December 1905, the two word name GLEN COVE was re-established & is in
use today.


During the 1820's only one post office was established in present Nassau
County:
BUCKRAM [3/13/1820]. In 1857 Buckram changed its name to LOCUST VALLEY
[12/14/1857] and has been operating under that name to the present.

In 1829 by TOWN:

NORTH HEMPSTEAD: North Hempstead, Head of Cow Neck
HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead
OYSTER BAY: Oyster Bay, Moscheto Cove, Buckram, Jericho, South Oyster Bay

Merrick est. in 1802 was closed in 1811.



Subject: Nassau County Post Offices - 1830's

One post office was created on the South Shore during the 1830's. It
would
be along the 1802 South Shore route & may have been needed to take up the
slack caused by the closing of the Merrick post office in 1811.

#1. JERUSALEM SOUTH [3/16/1838], took is name from the colonial
"Jerusalem"
a huge area in eastern Hempstead Town and a Quaker meeting located in
present North Wantagh. Jerusalem South changed its name in 1868 to
SEAFORD
[1/7/1868] and the post office is still in operation under that name.

Along the North Shore, two new post offices were established in the
1830's.

#1. CEDAR SWAMP [6/17/1830], an old colonial name still found on Cedar
Swamp Road [NY 107], kept its colonial name until 1866 when it became
GREENVALE [6/25/1866] [note NOT the present Greenvale] and changed it
again
in 1874 to GLEN HEAD [1/29/1874]. The post office has been operating as
Glen Head to the present, except for a period 1895-1905 when the post
office changed it to GLENHEAD, but in December 1905 the two word name
GLEN
HEAD was restored.

#2. HEMPSTEAD HARBOR [11/15/1834], named for the body of water it is on,
changed its name to ROSLYN [10/24/1844], a name it has used to the
present
day.

An additional post office was established on the Central post route
[Jericho Turnpike/ Middle County Road NY25] Jamaica to Suffolk
[Riverhead]
in 1836.
#1. WOODBURY [6/17/1836] was located very near the Suffolk line & was the
most easterly of the post offices in present Nassau County along this
central route.
Woodbury was closed 4/11/1840 and re-opened the same day as WEST HILLS,
in
a nearby community in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County. WOODBURY
was
re-established 2/19/1858 again back in the Town of Oyster Bay.

In 1839 by TOWNS:

NORTH HEMPSTEAD: North Hempstead, Manhasset, Hempstead Harbor
HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead, Jerusalem South
OYSTER BAY: Oyster Bay, Buckram,  Glen Cove,  Cedar Swamp, Jericho,      
 
            Woodbury, South Oyster Bay
note: Merrick est. 1802 was closed in 1811 & was still closed in 1839.
note: the name changes for Manhasset & Glen Cove between 1829-1839.


Nassau County Post Offices - 1840's

Six post offices were opened in present Nassau County during the 1840's.

#1. ROCKAWAY [4/24/1840]. Rockaway changed its name to LAWRENCE STATION
[4/5/1876] and again to just LAWRENCE [1/7/1899] and has been operating
under that name to the present. It's important to realize that "Rockaway"
in historic terms in more than just the peninsula now in Queens.

#2. FOSTER'S MEADOW  [3/31/1841] closed 7/5/1842. The post office was
re-opened some 35 years later on 3/29/1878. In 1894, it lost its ' and
became FOSTERS MEADOW, a spelling it used until it was finally closed
6/30/1909. At that time mail service was taken over by the Springfield
Gardens office in QueensBorough. Foster's Meadow is a colonial term &
covers areas mostly in the Town of Hempstead, but partly in the old Town
of Jamaica.

#3. HEMPSTEAD BRANCH [10/29/1844], where the Hempstead Branch met the Main
Line of the LIRR, was taken as the name of the community which grew up
along the new LIRR, not far from the Queens County Courthouse. This
community took the name MINEOLA  on 6/12/1858 and has used it until the
present.

#4. FARMINGDALE on the Main Line of the LIRR near the Suffolk County
border had once been "Hardscrabble." It took a better name when it became 
a post office 7/31/1845. The post office has been in operation under 
that name to the present.

#5. EAST NORWICH. There is a Norwich in Chenango County. The colonial
"Norwich" in Oyster Bay Town became "East Norwich" when its post office
was opened 6/26/1846. It has been in operation to the present time with 
that name.

#6. ROCKVILLE CENTRE was established 1/27/1849. During the mid-1890's,
the Post Office tried to shorten names, get rid of possessives, and eliminate
British spellings and replace them with American spellings. Rockville
Centre became ROCKVILLE CENTER during December 1893, but on 7/1/1933 its
original British spelling was restored and it has been operation since
1933 once again as Rockville "Centre."

In operation 1849 by TOWN:

NORTH HEMPSTEAD: North Hempstead, Manhasset, Roslyn, Hempstead Branch
HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead, Merrick, Jerusalem South, Rockaway, Rockville
Centre OYSTER BAY: Jericho, Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, South Oyster Bay, 
Buckram, Cedar Swamp

Note: Merrick was re-opened 8/29/1843; Hempstead Harbor became Roslyn
10/24/1844; Woodbury was closed 4/11/1840 & moved to West Hills in
Suffolk County; Foster's Meadow was closed 7/5/1842.


Nassau County Post Offices - 1850's

7 post offices were established in Nassau County 
[or the pre-1898 Town of Hempstead] during the 1850's.

#1. FREEPORT was established 12/5/1853 on the South Shore of Hempstead
Town. It is still in operation under this name. The establishment of
South Shore post offices in the 1840's, 1850's & 1860's shows the growth 
of an area not heavily settled in earlier times.

#2. HICKSVILLE [2/13/1855]. Like Hempstead Branch [Mineola] and
Farmingdale, Hicksville was the product of the Main Line of the LIRR. The
area was heavily settled by Germans during the 1850's & was one of the
first areas in present Nassau County to be heavily effected by the
mid-19th century wave of European immigrants, many of whom were settling, 
at the time, in Brooklyn and the more westerly parts of the original 
Queens County. Hicksville has been operating under its name from 1855 
to the present.

#3. SYOSSET  [6/15/1855]. For many years a spur line off the Main Line of
the LIRR ended at Syosset. Not until well after the Civil War was the
line finally extended thru' Huntington and out to Port Jefferson. The
community which grew around the terminus took the name Syosset, briefly 
used in the late 1840's by Oyster Bay village. Syosset, 
under its present name, has been a post office from 1855 to the present. 

#4. JERUSALEM STATION  [1/29/1857]. 
Another product of the Main Line of the LIRR was Jerusalem Station, a 
community on the Hempstead Plains.
Jerusalem Station took as its name a form of the colonial name Jerusalem, 
used for a vast area of the eastern part of the Town of Hempstead, although 
this post office was located in Oyster Bay Town. The name was changed to 
CENTRAL PARK

[3/1/1867] Briefly respelled CENTRALPARK [1895-1899], Central Park became
BETHPAGE on 10/1/1936. Bethpage is another colonial name used by a nearby
Quaker community. The change of Central Park to Bethpage was one of the
last complete name changes of Nassau County's post offices.

#5. WOODBURY [2/19/1858]. Woodbury was re-established in Oyster Bay Town
in 1858. The orginal Woodbury post office was moved in 1840 to West Hills 
in Suffolk County. Woodbury has been in operation since 1858 with its
present name within the borders of Oyster Bay Town.

#6. ROCKAWAY BEACH. This post office, located in Hempstead Town, may not
be in present Nassau County, but probably was located on that part of the
Rockaway Peninsula cut from Hempstead Town in 1898 and added to Queens
Borough. This was a short lived post office: opened 6/6/1858 and closed
11/10/1859.

#7. PORT WASHINGTON  [7/12/1859]. Located on what was in colonial times
Cow Neck, Port Washington's post office has operated under its present 
name since 1859.


1859 by Town:
NORTH HEMPSTEAD: North Hempstead, Manhasset, Roslyn, Mineola, Port Washington

HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead, Merrick, Jerusalem South, Rockaway, Rockville Centre,
		Freeport, Rockaway Beach

OYSTER Bay: Jericho, Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, South Oyster Bay, Locust
		Valley, Cedar Swamp, East Norwich, Farmingdale, Hicksville, 
		Jerusalem Station, Syosset, Woodbury


Nassau County Post Offices - 1860's

4 post offices were established in present Nassau County during the 1860's.

#1. SMITHVILLE SOUTH [3/27/1867]. 
Smithville or Smithville South was an
old community in Hempstead Town, south-east of Hempstead village. It kept
this name until after World War I, when it was changed to NORTH BELLMORE
[3/23/1920]. The old Smithville post office was reduced to a branch of
the Bellmore post office in 1949.

#2. RIDGEWOOD [10/16/1868] 
was located to the south of the colonial Jerusalem, in the south-east 
corner of Hempstead Town. The name was changed to WANTAGH [6/19/1891] 
to honor an Indian chief, but its spelling is quite
misleading. The post office has operated under its present name and
spelling since 1891.

#3. GREAT NECK [10/15/1867]. 
Like Port Washington, Great Neck would appear to be a late arrival as a 
post office, since the area was settled very early in colonial times as 
"Madnan's Neck." Great Neck was briefly GREATNECK [1895-1905], but its 
two word name was restored in December 1905.

#4. ATLANTIC [4/23/1868]. 
The area know in colonial times as "Near
Rockaway" briefly took the name Atlantic [1868-1870], but its colonial
name was partly restored when it became EAST ROCKAWAY [2/9/1870]. 
It was operated under the name East Rockaway to the present time.

1869 by TOWNS:
NORTH HEMPSTEAD: Old Westbury, Manhasset, Roslyn, Mineola, Port Washington,
		Great Neck

HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead, Merrick, Seaford, Rockaway, Rockville Centre,
		Freeport, Smithville South, Ridgewood, Atlantic

OYSTER BAY: Jericho, Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Locust Valley, Greenvale,
	East Norwich, Farmingdale, Hicksville, Central Park, Syosset, Woodbury


Nassau County Post Offices - 1870's

12 post offices were established during the 1870's, showing both a growth
in population in present Nassau County and the post Civil War growth of
the Federal government.

#1. VALLEY STREAM  [3/16/1870]. A rather "romantic" name, of the type
popular with late 19th century suburban communities, Valley Stream post
office been in operation since 1870.

#2. NEW HYDE PARK [2/27/1871] 
took its name from the colonial estate of
Governor Dongan, first governor of the New York colony under the Duke of
York. Briefly, NEW HYDEPARK [1895-1905], since December 1905, New Hyde
Park has been operating under its three word name.

#3. BALDWIN [11/27/1871]. 
Sometimes called "Baldwins" in the late 19th
century, the official name had no final S. The post office has operated
since 1871 as "Baldwin."

#4. SEA CLIFF GROVE [6/6/1872].
This community began as a Methodist camp
meeting area. Methodists from Brooklyn and Manhattan summered in the
country on high land overlooking Hempstead Harbor and Long Island Sound.
The word "Grove" was dropped in 1880, and the post office became SEA
CLIFF [6/21/1880], a name it has used to the present, except for the period
1895-1905, when like so many other multiple word names, it became SEACLIFF.

#5. PEARSALLS [5/29/1873]. 
Named after a member of the old Hempstead Town
Pearsall family, the area had once been "Pearsall's Corner." The name was
changed in 1894 to LYNBROOK [3/30/1894] a play on the name of Brooklyn.

#6. WOODSBURGH [5/29/1873]. 
Located on the Rockaway Peninsula,Woodsburgh
became HEWLETT'S [11/21/1888] and HEWLETT [10/26/1893], a name it has
carried to the present. 

#7. OCEANUS [6/19/1874] 
was located on the Rockaway Peninsula, probably
within the part cut from Hempstead Town in 1898 and added to Queens
Borough. This post office was reduced to a branch of the Far Rockaway
post office in 1902.

#8. FAR ROCKAWAY [11/3/1874]  
Located on the Rockaway Peninsula, this
area was cut from Hempstead Town in 1898 and added to Queens Borough. 
Today Far Rockaway is the main post office for the entire Queens Borough 
portion of the Rockaway Peninsula.

#9. GARDEN CITY [8/12/1875]. 
One of the first planned suburban communities in the United States, 
Garden City was established by Alexander T. Stewart,
New York City department store millionaire. The community is the seat of
the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. The post office has operated under
this name since 1875. It's interesting to note, the Post Office never
tried to reduce the name to "Gardencity" at the time they were attempting 
other simplifications nationwide.

#10. EAST HINSDALE [7/17/1877] 
was changed to FLORAL [5/27/1884] and back
to EAST HINSDALE [7/28/1884], just two months later. The post office was
closed 12/13/1891 and mail was delivered from the Floral Park post office.

#11.  BAYVILLE [7/31/1877] 
was established on Long Island Sound, north of
Oyster Bay village. It has operated under that name to the present.


#12. EAST WILLISTON  [5/19/1879] 
was located on the branch of the LIRR to
Glen Cove and Oyster Bay. The post office was closed 8/1/1958. It was
briefly re-opened as a branch of Williston Park from 1964-1973, but was
closed again 9/3/1973. 

1879 by Town:

NORTH HEMPSTEAD: 
Old Westbury, Manhasset, Roslyn, Mineola, Port Washington,
		Great Neck, New Hyde Park, East Williston

HEMPSTEAD: 
Hempstead, Merrick, Seaford, Foster's Meadow, Lawrence Station,
Rockville Centre, Freeport, East Rockaway, Ridgewood, Smithville South,
Baldwin, East Hinsdale, Far Rockaway, Garden City, Oceanus, Pearsalls,
Valley Stream, Woodsburgh

OYSTER BAY: 
Jericho, Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Locust Valley, Glen Head,
East Norwich, Farmingdale, Hicksville, Central Park, Syosset, Woodbury,
Bayville, Sea Cliff Grove

Early Huntington Postmasters

Amityville [1850]  James H. Potter
Centreport [1835]  Shubael M. Nichols
Cold Spring Harbor [1825] Devine Hewlett
Commack [1839]  Matthew H. Gardiner
Cow Harbor [1831]  Shunael M. Nichols
Crab Meadow [1820] Charles Scudder
Deer Park [1851] Nathan E. Bassett
Dix Hills [1799] Moses Blackley   [Blatchley ???]
Fresh Pond [1852]  Albert G. Mulford
Huntington [1794] Ebenezer Platt ..... this one was in the Dix Hills area
Huntington [1799] Timothy Williams .... current one in Huntington village
Melville [1852]  George H. Conklin
Northport [1840]  Thomas B. Smith
West Hills [1826]  Josiah Rogers
Winnacomac [1799]  Moses Blackley .. had been "Huntington;" w/in a few
  months became "Dix Hills"


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