Great Neck, New York

Pre-colonization and colonization

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Long before Dutch and English settlers arrived on the peninsula of Great Neck in the 17th century, bands of Lenape Native Americans inhabited the shorelines of the peninsula. They became known as the Mattinecock people, identified with the geographic area. They fished in Long Island Sound and used the waterways as trade corridors to other Native American groups.

In 1681 some of the European settlers held their first town meeting. They referred to present-day Great Neck as Menhaden-Ock. It is speculated that they chose this name because of the large amount of fish in the area. With the arrival of the European settlers on the peninsula in the 1640s, Menhaden-Ock evolved into Madnan's Neck. By 1670, Madnan's Neck had further evolved into the current name Great Neck.

Local European legend has it that "Madnan's Neck" is named after Anne (or Nan) Hutchinson. It is said that Anne Hutchinson tried to take over what is considered present-day Kings Point upon her arrival to the peninsula. However, she could not procure a land grant or deed for the land that she desired. Her temper supposedly earned her the nickname Mad Nan.

On November 18, 1643, the Hempstead Plains, which included the peninsula of Great Neck, was sold to the Reverend Robert Fordham and John Carman. In the beginning, the Mattinecock Indians and the European settlers cooperated and coexisted very well together. The Mattinecock would teach the settlers their knowledge of the land in exchange for new technology from the settlers. The settlers started using the Indian currency of wampum. However, this peaceful coexistence would not last, and the relationship between the Mattinecock and the settlers quickly began to deteriorate as they competed for resources.

Settlers began complaining of unfriendly Mattinecock behavior, claiming that the natives would damage their homes and hurt their cattle. On November 18, 1659, the settlers passed a law that forced the natives to pay damages for white property that they had damaged. The problem between the settlers and the Mattinecock natives over land and property kept growing and finally came to a head in 1684. A commission of settlers had been elected and given the power to appease the Mattinecock and their leader Tackapousha. Tackapousha was eventually paid off, and received 120 pounds sterling for his land. Tackapousha eventually died, and his body still rests at the Lakeville AME Zion Church's cemetery on Community Drive, across the street from North Shore University Hospital. The Lakeville AME Zion Church is one of the oldest churches in New York State.

The first European to look upon the Long Island peninsula of Great Neck was Captain Adrian Block of the Great Dutch West India Company in 1614, when his men were stranded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, after their ship Tiger sank shortly after the landing. The captain and his men built a ship called the Onrust out of timber and salvaged parts from Tiger. When the sailors departed, they sailed around Long Island, mapping it as they passed. Later, the Reverend Robert Fordham and John Carman first came to Great Neck from New Haven by use of Long Island Sound. During this trip, the deal with Chief Tackapousha was reached. One year later, on November 16 William Kieft granted a special land patent for the territory, and permission for the community's incorporation. William Kieft was the director general of New Netherland, and the patent that he granted gave the people of the peninsula the right to religious self-determination. The new community's political independence was so great that the only town officials in any way elected by the Dutch government or its magistrates, had first to be nominated by a town meeting.

The Dutch controlled Long Island from 1642 to 1664. Under Dutch rule, constables, local officers, nominated magistrates, and overseers were elected by town meetings and passed legislation. On December 21, 1656, Peter Stuyvesant, who was the director general of New Netherland after William Kieft, appointed the first two magistrates of Hempstead. These two men were John Seaman and Richard Guildersleeve.

The local government of Madnan's Neck at the time was extremely active in passing new laws. They imposed a liquor tax: half of that tax paid for the town's supply of ammunition, with the other half going to education. They also published a religious code of ethics, which included requirements for conduct on holidays that applied to the entire town. Punishments for poor conduct were detailed, including fines, corporal punishment, and banishment. The first reported instance of sexual misconduct in the peninsula's history was recorded on October 3, 1659, against Henry Linnington. After the threat of being banished, Linnington was ultimately allowed to stay, on the condition that he reformed his behavior.

Around this time, the boundaries of Madnan's Neck and Hempstead grew increasingly apart. As the population of Madnan's Neck grew, independence from Hempstead became increasingly realistic. In 1672, Robert Jackson, a well-known man in the community of Madnan's Neck, defeated Simon Seryon in the election for constable of Hempstead by a count of 39 to 31. However, Seryon was still declared the victor, due to governmental corruption and back door bribery. Incensed by the fixed election and obviously staged result, residents of Madnan's Neck petitioned the governor for separation, but their request was denied.

Finally, on June 9, 1687, the government of the New Netherland ordered that Madnan's Neck be "separate, hereafter from Hempstead". The town was given its own marshal, and its own constable. The first constable of Madnan's Neck was Edward Hare, who had aided the movement for the community's independence. Over time, Madnan's Neck grew increasingly politically independent. Few communities of Madnan's Neck's size had their own highway, grist mill, minister, constable, and marshal, yet Madnan's Neck, emerged from Hempstead as a fully functioning town.

Later development

During the late 19th century, Great Neck was made the rail head of the New York and Flushing Railroad. It gradually developed from a farm village into a commuter town, where many residents traveled to Manhattan and other points to work.

Great Neck of the 1920s—in particular the Village of Kings Point - is considered the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. The author referred to the area as "West Egg," in counterpoint to Manor Haven/Sands Point, which was considered more posh and was designated as "East Egg" (the next peninsula to the east reaching into Long Island Sound). Great Neck was a site of extravagant parties symbolizing the decadence of the Roaring Twenties extending from New York City to then-remote suburbs. The Great Gatsby's themes and characters reflected the transformation of Great Neck between the wars and before the stock market crash. New wealth was moving into the area and young people wanted to celebrate.

Successful show-business figures such as Eddie Cantor, Sid Caesar, and the Marx Brothers bought homes in the hamlet and eventually established it as a haven for Jewish Americans who were descendants of immigrants from Brooklyn and the Bronx.

In 1943, the United States Merchant Marine Academy was founded at the former location of Walter P. Chrysler's palatial estate in Kings Point. It was the only higher education institution in Great Neck.

Following the end of World War II, pent up housing demand and a growing economy resulted in many ethnic groups leaving crowded conditions in Manhattan and Brooklyn for newer houding in the suburbs of Nassau County, including Great Neck. Among them were numerous Ashkenazi Jews. They founded many synagogues and community groups and pushed for high standards in the town's public schools. Decades later, Jay Cantor's novel Great Neck (2003) explored the drive of those postwar migrants trying to secure the brightest futures for their children.

During construction of the current headquarters of the United Nations from 1947 through 1952, the UN was temporarily headquartered at the Sperry Corporation facility in the Great Neck community of Lake Success due to its proximity to Manhattan. Eleanor Roosevelt headed the UN Commission on Human Rights at this location.

During the 1960s, many residents frequented the local pool and ice-skating complex, Parkwood. But as homeowners built their own in-ground pools, patronage declined. Local attention returned to the complex when the ice-skating rink was renamed in honor of Andrew Stergiopoulos, a local resident who was killed in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Towers in Manhattan. The Great Neck complex was extensively renovated in 2007 and 2008.

Beginning in the 1980s, an influx of Persian Jews who fled persecution from the 1979 Islamic Revolution settled in Great Neck. Since the late 1990s, numerous East Asians, predominantly ethnic Chinese and Korean of later immigration waves, have been moving into the area. The high quality public school education is a key attractor for many of those moving in (the GNPS school district has been ranked by Niche as a #1 public school district in New York in previous years and some of its schools have received Blue Ribbons).