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New Hyde Park

Babe Ruth Threw Out the First Ball

Jericho Turnpike at New Hyde Park (Photo from "Long Island To-day" by Frederick Ruther, 1909)

Beginnings: Irish Thomas Dongan, appointed New York's royal governor by King James II in 1682, was so popular a change from his predecessors that the Towns of Hempstead and Flushing decided to give him 900 acres in what is now the North New Hyde Park area for a summer home. Dongan built a mansion on what is now Lakeville Road in 1688, but didn't have long to enjoy it. James was toppled by anti-Catholic forces, and Dongan fled to New England and then to Ireland in 1691.

The Name: In 1715, Dongan Manor was sold to New York Lt. Gov. George Clark, who renamed it Hyde Hall after his wife, Ann Hyde. The name Hyde Park was applied to an area described as ``ye estate, North of Hempstead Plain - one-half mile southe of Lake Success.'' The estate was subdivided into farms in the 1800s. The mansion burned in 1819, was replaced in 1826 and survived into the 1940s. Because there was a Hyde Park upstate, the area was named New Hyde Park when a post office opened in 1871.

Turning Points: It was cattle country until the mid-1800s when competition from the western plains squeezed out cattlemen, who turned to farming. Brothers Emanuel and John C. Christ and Philip S. Miller were young German immigrants who arrived after the Civil War and transformed the community. The Christs ran an inn, general store, sawmill and blacksmith shop; Miller built a meeting hall and planted hundreds of trees. John's son, Philip, became chairman of the Nassau County Board of Supervisors, 1907-16, and his son, Marcus, became a leading judge. A mile-square area was incorporated as the village of New Hyde Park in 1927. The population grew rapidly as farms were subdivided into housing developments starting in the 1920s.

Neighbors: North New Hyde Park remained an unincorporated section of the Town of North Hempstead, and nearby Herricks was developed mostly as part of the post-World War II building boom that covered much of Nassau County with houses. Herricks apparently took its name from Herricks Path, which existed as early as 1659 (though for whom the path was named is lost to history). The Herricks school district, which draws students from several communities in North Hempstead, was established in 1813, making it one of the oldest in Nassau County.

Babe Ruth Was Here: Showman Jim Barton and his wife, Kay, a Ziegfield Follies veteran, organized Barton's Night Hawks, a semi-pro team, and built Barton's baseball field in 1938. Babe Ruth threw out the first ball on opening day, and Roy Campanella played there. The property was sold for stores in 1957.