Deer Park

Once a Retreat for John Quincy Adams

Beginnings: Jacob Conklin was one of the first settlers in the region that in the late 1600s was still thick with scrub oak, pine and carpets of vine. When Conklin went north to visit Huntington village, he'd tell people about his farm located ``south toward the Great Bay before you get to the swamp. My farm is in the deer park.'' Apparently Conklin and his few neighbors shared their new home with the deer that thrived in the thick underbrush. The name stayed even when the deer did not.

Ye Olde Spring: A fighting Irishman by the name of Casey rose to the rank of general during the war. When the fighting was over, Casey retired to West Deer Park, where he opened a resort at the Deer Park spring. He called it Colonial Spring and operated it until his death in 1808. The spring is still there, says Bill Frohlich, a member of the Babylon Town Historical Commission who's seen it burbling in a wooded area now owned by the Usdan Center for Creative and Performing Arts on Colonial Springs Road.

Pickles and Plants: In the early 1900s, Hymie Golden ran a pickle works on a strip of land he leased from a local woman for $5 a year and a carload of pickles. When the factory caught fire in 1932, residents complained that the town smelled like sauerkraut for a week. And at one time, Deer Park was the leading dahlia growing community in the state. Thousands of dahlias were shipped to New York City up to the 1950s. No fewer than 200,000 dahlias were grown in one spectacular season in 1952.

Turning Point: As late as 1870, Deer Park had only a blacksmith shop, railroad station and a dozen houses. It wasn't until after World War II that the place boomed like so many others on Long Island, and by the 1970s, the population hit 30,000.

Brushes With Fame: Although a native of Quincy, Mass., ex-President John Quincy Adams bought a summer home in Deer Park in 1835 and spent many summers there until his death in 1848. The boundaries of the Adams place are long forgotten but it was somewhere in the vicinity of Adams Street, a half-mile west of Deer Park Avenue. On Nov. 22, 1921, Rodney Dangerfield was born at 44 Railroad Ave. (now Acorn Street) to vaudevillian Phil Roy and his wife. Although Dangerfield left Deer Park early in his childhood, he returned in 1970 for Rodney Dangerfield Day. A week later, Dangerfield brought the plaque he received to an appearance on Johnny Carson's ``Tonight'' show.

Where to Find More: ``Deer Park Thru the Years,'' by Anthony F. Cesare, and ``Recollections: Deer Park, 1900-1950'' by the creative writing-illustrative design class of Deer Park High School.