Massapequa: Our Story So Far ...

This overview summarizes the recorded history of the Massapequas from 1696, when Thomas Jones became the first white settler in the area, to the present. Jones and his family owned most of the land in what is today southeastern Nassau County, including several barrier islands that were joined in the 1920s to create Jones Beach. Several of his descendants were important political figures in New York State politics, serving as Judges, State Senators and Assemblymen in the nineteenth century.

The Jones family dominates the first century and one-half of Massapequa's history: some of Thomas's descendants were Patriots during the American Revolution, others were Loyalists who were forced into exile in England after the Revolution. They founded the first church in the area (1844) and the first library (1896) and built several grand mansions along what is now Merrick Road.

By the second half of the nineteenth century, the focus broadened to include farmers who settled in the northern part of the Massapequas and produced crops for the ever hungry New York City market. Entrepreneurs also built hotels and vacation retreats, as Massapequa became identified as a place that offered clean air and water, bathing, hunting and fishing - in short, a respite from the dirt and overcrowding of New York City.

Many celebrities were attracted to the area in the early 20s, including vaudevillians Fred Stone and Tom Smith, western stars Wild Bill Hickok and Annie Oakley, humorist Will Rogers and hunter Frank Buck, who built a zoo that existed into the mid 1960s.

Several real estate companies bought large tracts of property from Jones family members and attempted to create new cities composed of private houses, with small shopping areas for residents' convenience. Many houses were built in the 1920s, including several from plans provided by Sears Roebuck. An airfield was even laid out that would enable residents to park their planes and use them to commute to NYC, or fly them for pleasure on weekends. The 1929 stock market crash limited these expansion plans and left the area minimally developed until after World War II.

The Massapequas changed radically in the three decades after the war. As happened in Levittown, Hicksville and, indeed, most other western Long Island towns, scores of new houses were built to attract returning war veterans and others who were looking to flee  New York City.  New houses were built by several different companies, giving the Massapequas a far more varied appearance than "typical" suburbs.

Their construction was followed by schools, houses of worship, libraries, hospitals, playgrounds, vibrant shopping areas and the ubiquitous sign of suburbia, a shopping mall, in this case the Sunrise Mall, which opened in 1970. Among better known recent residents of the area whose parents had settled here are Jerry Seinfeld, Alec Baldwin, along with his brothers Daniel, Steven and William, " Dee"  Snyder, lead singer of Twisted Sister, and, notoriously, Joey Buttafuoco. These individuals and their parents felt firsthand the radical changes that occurred in their physical surroundings in less than 25 years.

Subsequent articles will document these changes and fill out this history, to stir memories of days gone by and to educate a current generation about their area's history.