The Transformation of Deer Park Avenue

Growing up I had family who lived off Deer Park Avenue in Dix Hills. As a result, I always associated the road with the town. This week I thought it would be interesting to look at the history of the road, the changes it underwent over the years, and what those changes meant for the community. Because like so many things we have discussed in this column, Deer Park Avenue is just another symbol of America's changing landscape and that of Half Hollow Hills in particular.

Deer Park Avenue, also known as County Road 35 or State Road 231, runs from Huntington in the North, where it is known as Park Avenue, to Babylon in the South, where it is known as the Babylon- Northport Expressway. 

Originally it was a two-lane country road. One resident, who grew up on Deer Park Avenue, recollects easily walking back and forth over the street with no fear of traffic. Today, on the other hand, it is a four-lane road that contains entrances to the Northern State Parkway, Long Island Expressway, and Southern State Parkway. It is rarely without traffic.

On June 23, 1922 the Long-Islander announced that, “Floyd E. Baylis, Highway Superintendent, submitted a report stating that the town is putting the money from State Lowman Fund in the finishing of the concrete road on Deer Park Avenue, which will be completed this year to the Babylon town line.” The article goes on to explain that the Town is contributing by, “making the improvement 20 feet in width, 4 feet wider than the State provides.” And so the first major change came to the road, as it made the transition to concrete and also became a little wider than it was.

Though already it proved to not be wide enough, and on November 20, 1925, just three years later, the Long-Islander reported that the Huntington Town Board adopted a plan to widen the concrete wings at Deer Park Avenue and Jericho Turnpike.

Finally, on January 28, 1927, the Long-Islander reported that, “At the meeting of the Babylon Town Board … funds were released for the completion of the concrete road at Deer Park Avenue… to the Huntington town line… it will be built at least 20 feet wide.”  It took five years, but Deer Park Avenue had become a concrete road from top to bottom.

Nine years later though, more work had to be done to the road as attempts were made to even it out and make it level.  That work was started on July 1, 1936 and scheduled to be completed on January 1, 1937.  The job cost $150,000 and was done by contractor, Anthony F. Vachris of Brooklyn.  (Long-Islander, September 25, 1936)  According to the January 24, 1937 New York Times, the work was done on time and Deer Park Avenue, reconstructed to Deer Park Avenue was listed as one of the Suffolk County roads opened to traffic.  And for a little while it seemed that all was well on Deer Park Avenue, and things got quiet for a while.

In the spring of 1953, improvements on Deer Park Avenue were once again the topic of conversation.  A bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Elisha T. Barrett, had cleared both Houses of the legislature and as of April 9, 1953 was sitting on the desk of Governor Thomas E. Dewey for executive action.  According to that day’s Long-Islander, the bill provided, “for the transfer of Deer Park Avenue from county ownership to state ownership. [It was} of great importance to the taxpayers of the county… [because it] is badly in need of widening and other improvements.  Any well-planned, long-range improvement of this busy thoroughfare would have cost…. two to three million dollars.”  (I am not sure if this 1953 bill passed, but at some point the road was transferred to State control by the early 1960s.)

At a fundraiser for the Republican Party on April 13, 1961, at the Huntington Town House, Governor Rockefeller discussed the plans of the State Highway Program.  Amongst the projects he listed, was the reconstruction and widening of Deer Park Avenue.  (New York Times, April 14, 1961)  The following year, on April 9, 1962 the New York Times announced that the reconstruction would begin in the fall.  The article explains that according to the State Department of Public Works the project, including the change to a four-lane road, would cost $20,000,000.  The work was scheduled to be completed by 1970.  The State also planned to fix the flooding problem, which occurred at anything more than light rain.  The first section to be done was the southern most section.

On November 2, 1967 the Long-Islander reported on a meeting between the Town Board and the residents of Dix Hills, sponsored by the Dix Hills Civic Association.  The meeting was to discuss the issues of concern to the residents of Dix Hills, and one of the concerns was the future of Deer Park Avenue.  Len Horn was quoted in the article as saying, “Deer Park Avenue should be as close to the past as possible in appearance.  The State has created a monstrosity in its widening but it doesn’t have to become business. If we permit the first bit of down-zoning there, that is the end of the whole road.”  Other people at the meeting reflected the same concern that it would turn commercial and lost its residential charm.  The Town Board assured the residents they had no plans to change the zoning.

Today the stretch of Deer Park Avenue that runs through Dix Hills is a mixture of residential and some commercial.  Though much of the commercial is in the form of nurseries, so it is not nearly as invasive as it could be. 

The changes that had Deer Park Avenue underwent really symbolize the change that Dix Hills was undergoing in the mid-century.  As more people moved out here, more housing developments sprung up, and farms disappeared, the growing population required more than a simple street to use as for their north-south travel.  Deer Park Avenue had to change with the times, and accommodate the growing parkway system that was being built.  From a country dirt road, to a major four-lane thoroughfare, Deer Park Avenue was transformed as suburbanization spread.