A century ago in the Town of Babylon

A century ago, the West Deer Park Hotel was located not too far from what is now the Wyandanch train station. It was a perfect stopover for business trips. The hotel was on Merritt Avenue, the northwest corner of Straight Path and the railroad.

It was also the tranquil stop just to the west of Deer Park, which made it a popular place for hunters to sleep before going out to shoot deer.

The community of West Deer Park changed its name to Wyandanch in 1899 because city residents riding the Long Island Rail Road would get confused and get off in West Deer Park instead of Deer Park. The Long Island Rail Road changed the name of the station to Wyandance in 1888, thereby changing the identity of the community. The spelling became Wyandanch by 1903.

The hotel was later named the Wyandanch Hotel, and is believed to have remained into the 1920s.

"That area was very popular for hunting and fishing," said Mary Cascone, the Town of Babylon's historian. "Geiger Lake today was a place to fish until the mid-1900s. It was a modest summer lake community."

BOHACK'S

The regional New York City supermarket was a popular place for residents of Babylon Village, Amityville, Lindenhurst, Deer Park and Copiague to bag their groceries until the company faded away in the 1970s.

"When community downtowns were shopping headquarters, markets were modest storefronts," Cascone said. "Even the A&Ps were much smaller than today's supermarkets. But they were instantly recognizable and people remember them."