Great Neck, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Village of Great Neck | |
 |
|
| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Nassau County |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Richard E. Deem |
| Area | |
| - City | 1.4 sq mi (3.5 km²) |
| - Land | 3.5 sq mi (3.5 km²) |
| - Water | 0.04 sq mi (1.46 km²) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - City | 9,538 |
| - Density | 7,065.2/sq mi (2,727.9/km²) |
| - Metro | 222,611 |
| Time zone | Eastern Standard (UTC-5) |
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern Daylight (UTC-4) |
| Website: Great Neck Village | |
Great Neck is a village in Nassau County, New York, in the USA, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 9,538.
The Village of Great Neck is in the Town of North Hempstead. The term Great Neck is also commonly applied to the entire peninsula on the north shore, comprising a residential community of some 40,000 people made up of nine villages as well as unincorporated areas of North Hempstead (and a few hamlets). There is no governing entity which encompasses this larger Great Neck, but it is unified as a postal zone, a water district or two, a school district, and a park district.
Great Neck is within easy commuting distance of Manhattan's Penn Station on the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road via the Great Neck station, which is one of the most frequent served in the entire system. Indeed, it is the only station on the Port Washington Branch (except for Penn Station) served by all trains, both local and express.
Contents |
[edit] Geography (Village of Great Neck)
The Village of Great Neck is located at (40.802671, -73.731255)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.5 km² (1.4 mi²). 3.5 km² (1.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (1.46%) is water.
[edit] Demographics (Village of Great Neck)
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 9,538 people, 3,346 households, and 2,552 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,727.9/km² (7,062.3/mi²). There were 3,441 housing units at an average density of 984.1/km² (2,547.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 85.33% White, 2.82% African American, 0.10% Native American, 4.94% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.28% from other races, and 3.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.17% of the population.
There were 3,346 households out of which 36.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.9% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.30.
In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $76,645, and the median income for a family was $89,733. Males had a median income of $52,445 versus $37,476 for females. The per capita income for the village was $38,790. About 5.5% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.5% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
Great Neck, originally called "Madnan's Neck", was settled in the late 17th century, not long after settlers landed on Plymouth Rock. The area had previously been inhabited by the Mattinecock Native Americans, who were pushed back by the colonists' expansion.
In more recent days, Great Neck — in particular the incorporated village of Kings Point — provided a backdrop to F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby. Thinly disguised as "West Egg," in counterpoint to Port Washington's more posh "East Egg," the next peninsula over on Long Island Sound, Great Neck symbolized the decadence of the Roaring Twenties as it extended out from New York City into the then-remote suburbs. The Great Gatsby's themes and characters reflected the real-world transformation that Great Neck was experiencing at the time, as show-business personalities like Sid Caesar and the Marx Brothers bought homes in the hamlet and eventually established it as a haven for Jews, formerly of Brooklyn and the Bronx.
The end of World War II saw a tremendous migration of Ashkenazi Jews from the cramped quarters and frequent discrimination of the city to the burgeoning suburb. They founded many synagogues and community groups and pushed for stringent educational policies in the town's public schools. Jay Cantor's novel, Great Neck, portrays the eponymous town of this era, with recently installed residents of various stripes all trying to secure the brightest futures for their children.
During the 1960s, many residents frequented the local pool and ice skating complex, Parkwood, but in the past fifteen years attendance has declined as homeowners built their own inground pools. (After the events of September 11, 2001, the ice skating rink was renamed in honor of Andrew Stergiopoulos, a local resident who was killed in the attack).
Things have changed in Great Neck since the Baby Boomer era. In the 1980s, an influx of affluent Iranian Jews who left their country following the 1979 Islamic Revolution settled in Great Neck. Though the majority of their children attended Great Neck schools, they did not integrate into the existing Ashkenazi temples, instead starting their own Iranian synagogues, where they could follow Mizrahi traditions. The Persian community also established their own grocery shops.
From the late 1990s, the Great Neck peninsula has been home to another Jewish shift. During this time, more observant, Orthodox Jews have moved to the area. This is a similar trend to what has happened in the Five Towns area on the South Shore of Long Island, although Reform and Conservative Jews appear to remain predominant in Great Neck.
Also beginning in the late 1990s and continuing till present day, a large amount of East Asians, predominantly Chinese and Korean, have been moving into the area. These East Asians usually come from neighboring towns in the borough of Queens or immigrate here from their respective countries. Most of these families move to Great Neck for a better environment for their children as well as the well-known public school education. Great Neck's proximity to ethnic enclaves such as Flushing and Bayside make it ideal for East Asians.
It should also be noted that the general trend is that the "North" part of Great Neck (those students who are sent to Great Neck North Middle and High) is home to more Iranian families, while the "South" part (those students who are sent to Great Neck South Middle and High) has larger East Asian and African-American populations. The African-American populations is still very low. The latter district also includes students from Manhasset Hills and the Parkville section of New Hyde Park.
A point of conroversy in the Village has been the erection of new synagogues by members of the Mizrahi Jewish commnunity. Various plans to erect synagogues and schools by Iranian, Syrian and other groups on Steamboat Rd. and Middle Neck Rd. attracted huge crowds to public hearings, mainly with residents questioning traffic and congestion. In 2006, two new Iranian synagogues were completed and a third was undergoing construction in the former Nassau County District Courthouse on Middle Neck Road. Also in late 2006, another Iranian synagogue was proposed for construction on Middle Neck Rd. on the site of an old gas station. The group removed old fuel tanks from the site but as of January 2007, had not filed for official permission for hearings on construction.
Besides the newer and many older synagogues, the Village also includes St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, All Saints Episcopal Church and cemetery, as well as a complex including Great Neck North High School and Great Neck North Middle School as well as the Parkwood, Village Green and sections of Kings Point Park managed by the Great Neck Park District, giving the Village an unusually large amount of property not on the tax rolls.
[edit] Emergency services
Great Neck is protected by the Nassau County Police Department.
Great Neck is served by three all-volunteer fire departments. The Great Neck Alert Fire Co. was founded in 1901. The Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company was founded in 1904. Company 3 of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department was founded in 1912, and Company 4 of the M-LFD was founded in 1926. Alert covers the northern part of the peninsula, providing fire and rescue response. Vigilant serves the middle portion of Great Neck with fire and rescue response. Vigilant also provides ambulatory services to both its own area, as well as Alert's territory, due to the fact that even though many members of Alert are licensed EMTs, Alert does not operate an ambulance. M-LFD Co. 3 and 4 serve the southern part of Great Neck, including the villages of Thomaston and Lake Success. These two companies offer fire and rescue services. The M-LFD Ambulance Unit operates one ambulance out of Co. 3's firehouse. In addition the Nassau County Police ambulance units cover EMS calls in the Manhasset-Lakeville territory.
[edit] Culture and tourism
Currently, Great Neck, connected to New York City by the Long Island Rail Road, serves primarily as a bedroom community for New York City. As such, it contains few "touristy" attractions. Notable exceptions include:
- Saddle Rock Grist Mill, a historical grain-mill; known to have been in operation as early as the 1700s.
- United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point
- Steppingstone Park
[edit] Great Neck School District
Great Neck residents, typically well-educated, are concerned about education and have high expectations for their school system.[1] However, the school system strongly supports social promotion, which has faced criticisms. In theory, this is supposed to help the student but it remains a controversial topic.
The Great Neck School District is the school district of Great Neck, New York (also including parts of New Hyde Park and Manhasset Hills). About 6,000 students, grades K-12, attend the Great Neck Public Schools. There are three high schools: North High School, with an alternative program, Community School; South High School; and The Village School, a small alternative high school. There are also two middle schools and four elementary schools. Students have diverse backgrounds; they come from more than 40 countries and represent a broad socioeconomic range.
- High Schools:
- Great Neck North High School
- Great Neck South High School
- Great Neck Village School (Alternative school)
- Middle Schools:
- Elementary Schools:
- Nursery School:
Great Neck's two major high schools are rated among the top in the country. Its students have been frequent finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search. In Newsweek magazine's annual list of the Top 1200 American High Schools, Great Neck's schools consistently rank in the top 50. As of 2005, Great Neck South is ranked 31st, and Great Neck North is ranked 23rd.
[edit] People associated with Great Neck
- David Baltimore, Nobel prize winning biologist and former president of Caltech (former resident and high school graduate)
- Nikki Blonsky, actress who will star as Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 film version of Hairspray
- Oscar Brand, folk singer and songwriter (resident)
- Donald Brian, Broadway actor, singer and dancer
- Sid Caesar, television pioneer known for Your Show of Shows (former resident)
- Maurice Chevalier, actor and entertainer (former resident)
- Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer, founder of the Chrysler Corporation (former resident)
- Mary L. Cleave, space shuttle astronaut (attended high school in Great Neck)
- George M. Cohan, entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, director, and producer (former resident)
- Steven A. Cohen, hedge fund manager (SAC Capital), billionaire (former resident)
- Kenneth Cole, designer (attended school in Great Neck)
- Francis Ford Coppola, film director (former resident)
- Andrew W. Cordier, Columbia University president (former resident)
- Anthony Cumia, latter half of Opie and Anthony (resident)
- Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Assemblyman (resident)
- W. C. Fields, comedian and actor (former resident)
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist and author of The Great Gatsby (former resident)
- Whitey Ford, New York Yankees pitcher (former resident)
- Jamie Gorelick, Clinton Administration official (former resident)
- Morton Gould, concert pianist (former resident)
- Mark J. Green, former New York City Public Advocate and mayoral candidate (former resident and high school graduate)
- Ilan Hall, chef and winner of reality television show Top Chef (former resident)
- Oscar Hammerstein II, writer, producer and director of musicals (former resident)
- Emily Hughes, member of the U.S. Figure Skating Team at the 2006 Winter Olympics and Cousin of Gregg "Opie" Hughes of the Opie and Anthony Radio Show
- Sarah Hughes, Gold medalist in Figure Skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics and Cousin of Gregg "Opie" Hughes of the Opie and Anthony Radio Show
- David Kahn, US historian, journalist, and writer on subjects of cryptography and military intelligence
- Andy Kaufman, comedian and actor (former resident)
- Josh Kopelman, American entrepreneur (former resident)
- Alan King, comedian and actor (former resident)
- Matilde Krim, AIDS researcher (former resident)
- Christopher Lambert, actor (born in Great Neck)
- Ring Lardner, sports columnist and short story writer (former resident)
- Daniel Levine, Avant Guide publisher (former resident)
- The Marx Brothers, stars of vaudeville and movies (former residents)
- Bobby Muller, Vietnam War veteran and anti-war activist (grew up in Great Neck)
- Louise Nevelson, abstract sculptor (former resident)
- Paul Newman, actor (former resident)
- Eugene O'Neill, playwright (former resident)
- Dan Raviv, author and CBS TV and radio correspondent who hosts the CBS News Weekend Roundup (former resident)
- Jordan Rudess, Keyboard Player for the band Dream Theater (grew up in great neck)
- George Segal, actor (resident)
- Talia Shire, actress (former resident)
- Harry F. Sinclair, oil industrialist (former resident)
- Alfred P. Sloan, President of General Motors (former resident)
- Norma Talmadge, actress (former resident)
- William Kissam Vanderbilt II, railroad executive and yachtsman (former resident)
- Robert Varkonyi, World Series of Poker champion (resident)
- Sam Warner, one of the four brothers who were co-founders of Warner Brothers (former resident)
- P. G. Wodehouse, English comic writer (former resident)
- Herman Wouk, author (former resident)
- Mordecai Waxman (1917- 2002), Rabbi and spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Great Neck, a major force in the Conservative Jewish movement for 60 years during which he was president of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism, the World Council of Synagogues and interfaith activity with the Vatican that helped resolve disputes on anti-Semitism and helped the recognition of Israel. He was knighted by Pope John Paul II for this work, the only rabbi to have been so honored. His only book was "Tradition and Change," which remained a key tract of the Conservative MOvement.
- Richard Deem, Mayor of Great Neck, from 2003; an engineer and consultant to Brookhaven National Laboratory, Deem was the first mayor of Great Neck elected by the Village Preservation Party and the only official in more than 50 years not a member of the Better Government Party.
- Ernst Pawel (1920-1994), an acclaimed author whose biographies of Theodore Herzl ("Labyrinth of Exile") and Franz Kafka ("Nightmare of Reason") won book awards for history and biography during his lifetime. His biography of Heinrich Heine was published posthumously. Like Kafka, Pawel worked most of his life for an insurance company, spending spare time on writin. Only in retirement was he able to devote full time to scholarship and writing.
[edit] References
- ^ Great Neck residents; URL accessed November 9, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Great Neck Village website
- Great Neck Public Schools
- Great Neck unofficial website
- Great Neck Chamber of Commerce
- Some Famous Great Neckers
- Some Historic Sites in Great Neck
- Great Neck Alert Fire Company
- Great Neck Library whose circulation policy is to grant cards to residents of the school district.
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
| Town of North Hempstead, New York | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
