By Danny deBruin
The Long Islander
June 23, 1993; pp. 3 and 39
How much would you pay for the Town of Huntington? How about six coats, kettles, hatchets, hoes, shirts, and ten knives and an assortment of other valuables?
April 2, 1993 marked the 340th year since Huntington was sold by the Matinnicoke Indians to a group of settlers from Oyster Bay. What started off as roughly six miles of land between Cold Spring Harbor and Northport Harbor would soon expand to the current town borders and include what is now Babylon, though in 1873, Babylon seceded from Huntington.
How the town was named is still in dispute. Some folks believe Huntington was named after Oliver Cromwell’s birthplace in England, Huntingdon. Other folks believe the town was named Huntington because it was a great place to get some “hunting done.” Actually, all bad humor aside, there are folks who believe the town was named because it was a “hunting town” and had a good hunting reputation.
Huntington has a rich heritage in the American Revolution. Residents of Huntington are well aware of Nathan Hale, a hero from the Revolution who was caught by the British in Huntington and hanged. His famous last words, “I regret that I have one life to lose for my country,” are a staple for any school kid growing up in Huntington. Halesite is named after the Revolutionary War hero, and there is a monument honoring him located at the New York Avenue and Mill Dam Road intersection.
In 1774, Huntington residents took a bold step against British authority by approving the Huntington Declaration of Rights. By and large, the declaration was a response to the Boston Tea Party and the oppressive taxes levied by England. Eventually, the town of Huntington formed its own militia, which drilled and prepared at what is now known as the Arsenal, which was built circa 1740 and still stands today at Park Avenue at the Village Green. It’s open to the public all year. For more information, call 351-3244. Admission is free.
After seeing the Arsenal, you might consider visiting the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building, located at 228 Main Street. Built in 1892 as a Civil War memorial, the Soldiers and Sailor Memorial has another Nathan Hale memorial and, in 1992, a memorial was erected for Korean War veterans.
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As well as sending soldiers to fight, Huntington also participated in technological and economic advances. For example, the Long Island Railroad connected Huntington in 1867 to its huge neighbor in the West, New York City. And during the Gold Coast era, when “ordinary men became millionaires,” Huntington became one of the places Manhattan moguls landed their tremendous mansions. George McKesson Brown owned what is now Coindre Hall. Marshall Field II owned what is now Cuamsett State Park. And the granddaddy of them all, OHEKA, built by financier Otto H.E. Kahn, was the second largest private residence in the nation when it was built in Cold Spring Hills early this century. Many of these turn-of-the-19th-century millionaires’ estates still stand today and some, like William K. Vanderbilt’s Eagle’s Nest in Centerport, are operated as museums.
After the Great Depression and World War II, Huntington, like the rest of Long Island, became suburbanized. From 13,893 residents in 1920 to 47,506 in 1950, to 201,512 in 1980, Huntington’s population expanded dramatically in a 60-year span. Houses, stores, schools, malls, and office building sprung up as Huntington’s landscape transformed from a rural town to a highly diversified suburban town. The trolley cars and tracks disappeared as automobiles and paved roads took their places.
Throughout its history, Huntington has always been a town of enterprising people. They’ve done it all here, from the farming days of the early settlers to running tourist hotels and casinos during the 1920s and 1930s. Huntington had its share of blacksmiths, ship builders and whalers in the past, as it now has its share of lawyers, delis, restaurants and bars, supermarkets, and pizza parlors. Huntington continues to be a lively town, sometimes livelier than some residents like, but it also maintains its “country” appeal.
