Great Neck

A Jewel in a Gold Coast Setting

By Andrew Smith | Staff Writer

Great Neck was prime real estate for centuries, long before theater stars, captains of industry and well-to-do commuting suburbanites made it the western anchor of the Gold Coast.

The Great Neck peninsula was surrounded by water rich in oysters, crabs, clams and many types of fish, and the land was thick with rabbits, beavers, foxes and other animals useful both for their fur and their meat. The Matinecock Indians alternately called it Menhaden-Ock, which may be translated as ``place of fish,'' or Wallage. When Europeans arrived in the 1640s, the name Menhaden-Ock evolved into Madnan's Neck. Some attributed the mangled name to Anne Heatherton, an English woman of uncertain sanity who tried to claim possession of the peninsula in 1640 before the Dutch chased her out. In any event, by 1670 the name Great Neck (compared to Little Neck just to the west) was in use, and during the next century it supplanted Madnan's Neck as the name for the peninsula.

Indians co-existed peacefully in the area for several decades, although the Rockaway Sachem Tackapousha protested well into the 1680s that the Indians were undercompensated for Madnan's Neck and Cow Neck, the peninsula to the east that is now Port Washington. English settlers appointed a committee in 1684 to settle the issue, although it is unclear whether they satisfied the Indians or merely ignored the issue until smallpox had decimated the native population.

Seventeenth Century settlers initially used Great Neck as a giant cattle pen. With water on three sides, a fence along the southern end kept cows well confined. Soon, families began acquiring land on the peninsula for farming. By 1681, there were enough farmers to form a viable political bloc, sometimes supporting different candidates in elections than the rest of what was then Hempstead Town. Halfhearted moves to secede from Hempstead flared up periodically.

Gristmills were built, furthering development. The Saddle Rock Grist Mill, run for many years by Henry Allen, dates to 1702. Saw mills and clothing mills also operated on the peninsula.

As the Revolution neared, Great Neck and Cow Neck were two of the colonies' most fervently anti-British communities. Indeed, in early 1776 they formed an association and wrote a loyalty oath - the first in America - that any newcomer had to swear to. Like the rest of Long Island, Great Neck suffered during the long British occupation.

After the war, Great Neck became part of the new Town of North Hempstead and the focus returned to agriculture. Great Neck farms supplied much of the New York area. The boat landing at the Grist Mill saw a steady stream of produce headed for the city, and an equally steady stream in return of manufactured goods - as well as manure scooped from city streets, to be used as fertilizer on Great Neck farms. As farmers prospered, businesses such as blacksmiths and carriage makers set up shop in the area.

The landing soon saw steamboat service, which became popular with commuting tycoons after wealthy industrialists started buying up farms for estates in the 1870s. William R. Grace, a wealthy trader who served as mayor of New York in the 1880s, built a 200-acre estate in Great Neck and some of the area's shopping districts. He named one of them Thomaston, after the town in Maine where his wife was born.

Grace was also somewhat responsible for the start of what became Great Neck's substantial Jewish population. He brought his tailor, Avram Wolf, to Great Neck to live. One of Wolf's sons, I.G., became a major real estate salesman in Great Neck, later making Jews feel welcome in Great Neck. Temple Beth El was the first synagogue in Great Neck, built in 1929.

As the 20th Century dawned, other well-known estate owners included oil tycoon Harry Sinclair and hotel executive Ellsworth Statler. The chairmen of two auto giants, Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors and Chrysler Motors founder Walter P. Chrysler, lived in mansions in Kings Point. William K. Vanderbilt II, who had an estate in nearby Lake Success, was a proud member of the Vigilant Fire Co., often pitching in to fight fires.

In addition, the glamor of Great Neck attracted many Broadway actors, musicians, artists and film stars of the day. The result was a society scene famously immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in ``The Great Gatsby,'' which he wrote in Great Neck Estates.

In the early part of this century, the rich and less-rich alike were protective of Great Neck's quiet character. They were leery of what they perceived as weak North Hempstead town zoning and building laws, so a succession of villages was incorporated across the peninsula. Great Neck Estates and Saddle Rock were first, in 1911. Kensington was next, in 1917. Kings Point and Great Neck followed in 1922. Lake Success formed in 1927, Great Neck Plaza in 1930 and Thomaston in 1931. Russell Gardens was the last village incorporated, in 1931.

The Depression brought much of the high times to an end. Many of the estates were subdivided. Apartments and commercial development, particularly on Middle Neck Road in Great Neck Plaza, led to persistent traffic problems. That, in turn, led to the village becoming the first on Long Island to install parking meters, in 1946. The density and ethnic diversity that has characterized much of Great Neck since the early 1960s has given the area a more lively, more cosmopolitan aspect than much of the rest of Long Island.

Where to Find More: ``This Is Great Neck,'' by Roberta Pincus; ``The Book of Great Neck,'' by Gil and Devah Spear, published in 1936, and other material available at the Great Neck Public Library.