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Roslyn

Making History, and Preserving It

By Rhoda Amon | Staff Writer

In the rich drama of Roslyn history, two strong-willed men who lived 200 years apart played seminal roles.

Hendrick Onderdonk came to Roslyn in 1752, operated a gristmill and two paper mills, and also ran the community like a benevolent baron, making it a commercial center for rural Long Island.

Roger Gerry came to Roslyn in 1950, recognized it as an endangered historic gem and restored it.

A third player was George Washington, who made a cameo appearance as president in 1790, when he visited Onderdonk and praised him for operating his mills ``with spirit and to profit.'' The general, who had held a ragtag army together for seven years to finally win independence, received a warm reception in Roslyn, where Revolutionary spirit had run high.

The Roslyn that Onderdonk found in 1752 was a Dutch-English settlement called Head of the Harbor, and later, Hempstead Harbor. It is believed to have been the spot where the first English colonists from Connecticut landed in 1643 and then pushed south to Hempstead on an old Indian trail, now Roslyn Road. Early settlers also found an east-west path leading to Flushing; it became North Hempstead Turnpike in 1801, and later, Northern Boulevard.

In 1701 the settlers built the gristmill that Onderdonk took over in 1759 and ran for 43 years. Inland farmers brought their grain to be ground into flour and shipped directly to New York and New England ports. In 1773 Onderdonk built what was possibly the nation's first paper mill on a dam over Roslyn Creek. Onderdonk also ran a store and a bakery, and in 1769 was elected supervisor of the Town of Hempstead. (Both the Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County were yet to be established.)

After the Revolution, the Roslyn businessman, who had ties to both sides but favored independence, was a Queens County representative to the State Assembly that created the Town of North Hempstead in 1784. The house where he lived until 1801 is now the Washington Manor restaurant. The gristmill became a tea room in 1916, with a guest list that included actors Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard. The Roslyn Mill, which closed in the '60s, languished empty until Nassau County recently began restoration plans on the urging of current Roslyn Mayor Janet Galante and a restoration committee.

The Valentine family acquired the two paper mills in 1801 and ran them for almost a century. William M. Valentine, Roslyn's leading merchant in the late 1800s, was the victim of a historic mugging. He was assaulted by ``cowardly ruffians'' in 1882 and never recovered, according to the Roslyn News. The 1870 Valentine home became the Roslyn Village Hall in 1962.

Roslyn, which got its name in 1844 reportedly because it reminded some of the Roslin Castle area in Scotland, became a colony of artists and writers, attracted by the scenic harbor and William Cullen Bryant, a leading poet and publisher who settled there in 1843. Bryant donated a library-meeting house to the people of Roslyn for their ``intellectual and social improvement,'' in time for the nation's 1876 centennial. The Bryant Library moved to the Roslyn War Memorial building on Paper Mill Road in 1952.

Roslyn acquired its Clock Tower in 1895, a gift from the children of philanthropist Ellen Ward. The tower serves as a gateway to the old Roslyn valley -- the 18th and 19th Century houses and businesses along Main Street and East Broadway.

But time was taking its toll. The Roslyn that Roger Gerry found in the 1950s was showing its age. Bypassed by a Northern Boulevard viaduct, historic houses were deteriorating. Some were derelict. And plans to widen Main Street into a major north-south thoroughfare by Nassau County threatened to further demolish old Roslyn. Gerry, an oral surgeon with a penchant for historic preservation, came to the rescue. He organized Roslyn Preservation Inc., which bought threatened historic structures and resold them to buyers who would restore them. He also established the Roslyn Landmark Society, which conducts annual tours of the pristinely preserved area, now protected as a national historic district. Gerry died in 1995, but a colony of historic-minded citizens continues his work.

Earlier, Roslyn residents sought to control their own zoning destiny by incorporating as villages. Roslyn Harbor and Roslyn Estates incorporated in 1931; Roslyn followed in 1932. (Roslyn Heights, an unincorporated area of upscale homes, and parts of East Hills and Flower Hill complete the Greater Roslyn area.)

Roslyn Estates began as a large-scale home development by the Dean Alvord Co. in 1906. Residents formed the Association of Roslyn Estates in 1911, the oldest existing residents' association in Nassau County. The association later opened a tea room, which in 1949 became the Wee Tappee Inn. The village has winding roads with names such as The Intervale and Diana's Trail and ponds called The Loch Little Turf Pond and the Black Ink Pond, glorified by author Christopher Morley.

Morley, namesake of a county park, was one of the well-known writers who came to Roslyn in the '20s, first as a summer resident. He's buried in the Roslyn Cemetery, along with the Bryant family. A more recent author, Michael Crichton, grew up in Roslyn Heights and was a graduate of Roslyn High School, class of 1960.

Where to Find More: ``Roslyn -- Then and Now,'' by Roy W. Moger; ``Old Roslyn,'' by Peggy and Roger Gerry; other reference material in the Bryant Library, Roslyn.