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East Hills

Leading Family Saved by Irving Berlin

Beginnings: Did George Washington visit East Hills? No one knows for sure, but the Father of Our Country is believed to have inspected the Onderdonk Paper Mill in Roslyn on his 1790 tour of Long Island, and from there he could have walked or ridden 100 yards to the future East Hills. What is known is that East Hills was part of the vast land purchase - including the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead - made by the Rev. Robert Fordham and John Carman after they crossed Long Island Sound from Stamford, Conn., in 1643. The first mention of an East Hills connection appears in 1661 records of ``a path alongside Harboure Hill,'' now Harbor Hill Road.

Turning Points: In the late 1800s, East Hills became the home of a few wealthy families. Grandest was the Harbor Hill mansion of the Clarence Mackay family, designed by famed architect Stanford White and finished in 1902. Here in 1924, the Mackays entertained the prince of Wales (later, briefly, Edward VIII) and Charles A. Lindbergh after his solo flight to France in 1927. The mansion was demolished in 1947 to make way for the Country Estates development. The Mackays lost their fortune and had to be bailed out by their spurned son-in-law, songwriter Irving Berlin. The East Hills polo field became Fairfield Park.

New Beginnings: East Hills was incorporated in 1931 with a population of 269 in 65 homes. Robert H. Willets, an eighth-generation resident, was elected the first mayor of the village, which was then 98 percent farm or estate, 2 percent homes. By the '90s the percentage was reversed: 98 percent residential, less than 2 percent undeveloped land. One other statistic of note: While some 6,600 village residents live within the borders of the Town of North Hempstead, a tiny piece of the village lies in the Town of Oyster Bay. How tiny? Just 18 East Hillers are residents of Oyster Bay.

Where to Find More: Village history brochure available in Village Hall.