Milestones in the Town of North Hempstead

Town milestones:

Dec. 13, 1643: Robert Fordham and John Carman, English leaders of a religious sect in Connecticut, purchased all of the area of the present Towns of North Hempstead and Hempstead from Tackapausha, Chief Sagamore of the western Long Island Indians. They called it "Hempstead," for the settlers' ancestors' English village of Hemel-Hempstead.

April 6, 1784: The New York State Legislature grants North Hempstead's request to become a separate town and officially recorded the secession, which took place during the American Revolution.

1801: North Hempstead Turnpike (now Northern Boulevard and formerly an old Indian trail) was opened as a toll road.

1866: North Shore Railroad extended its Flushing line to Great Neck. It would later become part of the Long Island Rail Road, which built its first Great Neck station in 1883.

Jan. 1, 1898:

All the western towns in Queens County became part of New York City. The eastern towns -- Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay -- are excluded and become Nassau County.

Oct. 16, 1907: Town Hall opened on Plandome Road and Manhasset became the permanent seat of North Hempstead Town's government.

1910: The Long Island Motor Parkway, the first parkway built for the automobile, was extended to Great Neck.

1941:The development of the Miracle Mile on Northern Boulevard began and was continued after World War II.

Source: Howard Kroplick