Freeport, New York

(just south of the railroad tracks), and roughly the northern two-thirds of what is shown as a reservoir at left is now the site of Freeport High School and its grounds. However, this does provide a detailed map of most Freeport streets at that time, a great many of which still retain the same locations and names. Pre-colonial settlement Before people of European ancestry came to the area, the land was part of the territory of the Meroke Indians. Written records of the community go back to the 1640s. 19th century: development In 1853, residents voted to rename the village Freeport, adopting a variant of a nickname used by ship captains during colonial times because they were not charged customs duties to land their cargo. From 1868, Freeport was served by the Southside Railroad, which was a major boon to development. The most prominent figure in this boom was developer John J. Randall; among his other contributions to the shape of Freeport today were several canals, including the Woodcleft Canal, one side of which is now the site of the "Nautical Mile". The Freeport Spite House still is standing and occupied. The village residents voted to incorporate the village on October 18, 1892, At that time, it had a population of 1,821. Public street lighting was begun in 1907, and a public fire alarm system was adopted in 1910. 1900–1939: expansion In the years after incorporation, Freeport was a tourist and sportsman's destination for its boating and fishing. From 1902 into the late 1920s, the New York and Long Island Traction Corporation ran trolleys through Freeport to Jamaica, Hempstead, and Brooklyn. These trolleys went down Main Street in Freeport, connecting to a ferry at Scott's Hotel near Ray Street. In later years these ferries departed from Ellison's dock on Little Swift Creek, served by separate trolleys operated by the Great South Bay Ferry Company. The ferries took people to Point Lookout, about three miles (5 km) south of Freeport, where there is an ocean beach. For a few years after 1913, the short-lived Freeport Railroad Company ran a trolley nicknamed "the Fishermen's Delight" along Grove Street (now Guy Lombardo Avenue) from Sunrise Highway to the waterfront. Freeport's population was largest in the summer season, during which most of the theaters of the time were closed and performers left for cooler climes. Leo Carrillo and Victor Moore were early arrivals, later joined by Fannie Brice, Trixie Friganza, Sophie Tucker, Harry Ruby, Fred Stone, Helen Broderick, Moran and Mack, Will Rogers, Bert Kalmar, Richard Whiting, Harry von Tilzer, Rae Samuels, Belle Baker, Grace Hayes, Pat Rooney, Duffy and Sweeney, the Four Mortons, McKay and Ardine, and Eva Tanguay. Buster Keaton, W. C. Fields, and many other theatrical performers who did not own homes there were also frequent visitors. LIGHTS presented summer shows in Freeport from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s. A Coney Island–style amusement park called Playland Park thrived from the early 1920s until the early 1930s but was destroyed by a fire on June 28, 1931. With the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan on Long Island in the 1920s many villages in Nassau and Suffolk counties were the focal point of Klan activity. According to a story in Newsday detailing the history of Long Island,often, respected clergymen and public officials openly supported the Klan and attended its rallies. On Sept. 20, 1924, for instance, the Klan drew 30,000 spectators to a parade through Freeport – with the village police chief, John M. Hartman, leading a procession of 2,000 robed men.... the founding of one of Long Island's first klaverns, in Freeport, was memorialized on Sept. 8, 1922, in the Daily Review, which carried a banner headline about the meeting at Mechanics Hall on Railroad Avenue. About 150 new members were greeted by seven robed Klansmen. 1940–present: recent history theater and later a cinema, stood at 70 South Main Street. It burned on January 31, 1924. While never a major boatbuilding center, Freeport can boast some notable figures in that field. Fred and Mirto Scopinich operated their boatyard in Freeport from just after World War I until they moved it to East Quogue in the late 1960s. Their Freeport Point Shipyard built boats for the United States Coast Guard, but also for Prohibition-era rumrunners. From 1937 to 1945 the shipyard built small boats for the United States Navy and British Royal Navy. The marina and dealership operated by Al Grover in 1950 remains in Freeport and in his family. Grover's company built fishing skiffs from the 1970s until about 1990. One of these, a 26-footer, carried Grover and his sons from Nova Scotia to Portugal in 1985, the first-ever crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a boat powered by an outboard motor. Columbian Bronze operated in Freeport from its 1901 founding until it closed shop in 1988. Among this company's achievements was the propeller for the , an operational nuclear-powered submarine and the first vessel to complete a submerged transit across the North Pole. ==Geography==

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of . The village is bisected by east–west New York State Route 27 (Sunrise Highway). The Meadowbrook State Parkway defines its eastern boundary. The south part of the village is penetrated by several canals that allow access to the Atlantic Ocean by means of passage through salt marshes. The oldest canal is the late 19th-century Woodcleft Canal. Freeport has extensive small-boat facilities and a resident fishing fleet, as well as charter and open water fishing boats. ==Demographics==

Racial and ethnic composition 2020 census As of the 2020 census, Freeport had a population of 44,472. The median age was 39.4 years. 21.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.4 males age 18 and over. There were 13,501 households in Freeport, of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.1% were married-couple households, 17.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. 2010 census As of 2010, the population was 42,860. The demographics were as follows: • Hispanic – 17,858 (42.5%) • Black alone – 13,226 (30.9%) • White alone – 10,113 (23.6%) • Asian alone – 669 (1.6%) • Two or more races – 174 (0.4%) • Other race alone – 292 (0.7%) • American Indian alone – 94 (0.2%) 2000 census As of the census of 2000, there were 43,783 people, 13,504 households, and 9,911 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 13,819 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 42.9% White, 32.6% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 17.2% from other races, and 5.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 33.5% of the population. There were 13,504 households, out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 17.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.6% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20 and the average family size was 3.65. In the village, the population was spread out, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males. The median income for a household in the village in 1999 was $55,948, and the median income for a family was $61,673. Males had a median income of $37,465 versus $31,869 for females. The per capita income for the village was $21,288. About 8.0% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over. ==Government==

Freeport's government is made up of four trustees and a mayor, who are elected to four-year terms; one trustee also serves in the capacity of deputy mayor. Freeport's first African American mayor, Andrew Hardwick, was elected in 2009; he was succeeded on March 20, 2013, by Robert T. Kennedy The current Deputy Mayor is (Trustee) Ronald Ellerbe. The other current Trustees are, Jorge Martinez, Christopher Squeri, and Evette Sanchez. Freeport's current government is a coalition of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Mayors The following is a list of mayors of Freeport since 1892: • Carman Cornelius, 1892-1893 • William G. Miller, 1893-1900 • Andrew Hardwick, 2009-2013 ==Infrastructure==

Transportation Road Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway both run roughly east-west through the village. This short-lived proposal in the early 1950s was killed largely by community opposition. Rail Freeport is served by the Freeport station on the Long Island Rail Road's Babylon Branch. Bus Freeport serves as a hub for several Nassau Inter-County Express bus routes: The village maintains a sanitary sewer system which flows into Nassau County's system, which treats the sewage from the village's system through the Nassau County-owned sewage treatment plants. Water The Village of Freeport owns and maintains its own water system. Freeport's water system serves the entire village with water. ==Arts and culture==

Freeport is a Long Island hot spot during the summer season in New York. A popular festival occurs on Freeport's Nautical Mile (the west side of Woodcleft Canal) the first weekend in June each year, which attracts many people from across Long Island and New York City. The Nautical Mile is a strip along the water that features well-known seafood restaurants, crab shacks, bars, eclectic little boutiques, fresh fish markets, as well as party cruise ships and casino boats that float atop the canals. People line up for the boat rides and eat at restaurants that feature seating on the water's edge and servings of mussels, oysters, crabs, and steamed clams ("steamers") accompanied by pitchers of beer. An 18-hole miniature golf course is popular among families. The Sea Breeze waterfront park—which includes a transient marina, boardwalk, rest rooms and benches—opened in 2009 at the foot of the Nautical Mile. It has proven to be a very popular spot to sit and watch the marine traffic and natural scenery. This is in addition to an existing scenic pier. Freeport has an ethnically and racially diverse population. There is one housing project, named after Nassau County's first black judge, Moxie Rigby. Freeport's Hispanic community is made up of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Colombians and other Latin American countries. Among the many Latin-American-themed businesses are several grocery stores or "bodegas" and restaurants along Merrick Road and Main Street that serve Caribbean, Central American, Dominican, and South American cuisines. Freeport, along with neighboring Merrick, is also the gateway to Jones Beach, one of the largest state beaches in New York. One famous area is the Town of Hempstead Marina, where people from all over Long Island dock their boats. Freeport is a 45-minute ride by the Long Island Rail Road to Manhattan, making the trip an easy commute to New York City. From 1974 to 1986, Freeport was one of the few Long Island towns to hold a sizeable open-air market area, known as the Freeport Mall. The heart of the Main Street business area was closed to vehicular traffic and reconfigured for pedestrians only. The experiment was not a success. The W. T. Grant store that was supposed to anchor the mall closed, along with the rest of that chain, shortly after the mall opened. The mall area became shabby and disused, and many businesses failed. The mall was dismantled and returned to through traffic with regular parking on each side of the street. Architecture Just north of the high school and the railroad tracks is the ruin of the former Brooklyn Waterworks, described by Christopher Gray of The New York Times as looking like an "ancient, war-damaged abbey." Designed by architect Frank Freeman and opened in 1891 to serve the City of Brooklyn (later made a borough of New York City), it was fully active until 1929 with a capacity of 54 million gallons a day, and remained in standby for emergency use until 1977, when the pumps and other machinery were removed. See Ridgewood Reservoir. An unsuccessful 1989 plan would have turned the building into condos. The parcel has been the subject of litigation and ongoing investigations by various agencies. Long Island Traditions also describes the sites of notable architecture in Freeport's history, such as bay men's homes and commercial fishing establishments, some of which are still existing, as well as the still-existing Fiore's Fish Market and Two Cousins, which are located in historic waterfront buildings, built by the owners, so they could negotiate directly with the baymen as they pulled into dock. Long Island Traditions also describes and provides a photograph of the no-longer existing Woodcleft Hotel and important boatyards, about which the site writes: "In Freeport the Maresca boatyard stands on the site of what is now the Long Island Marine Education Center owned by the Village of Freeport. Founded in the 1920s by Phillip Maresca, they built both recreational and commercial boats. Their customers included Guy Lombardo and party boat captains. The business was taken over by Everett Maresca, who died in 1995. The original building remains relatively intact, consisting of a large concrete block structure. Further down on Woodcleft Canal stands the former Scopinich Boatyard, now part of Shelter Point Marine services. The structure is obscured by corrugated metal siding but elements of its original frame structure remain. The yard was founded by Fred Scopinich, a Greek immigrant in the early 1900s. His grandson Fred moved the yard to East Quogue. The Freeport yard specialized in building commercial fishing boats including trawlers, government boats for the Coast Guard, rum running boats, as well as sailboats and garveys for local baymen. Finally the original Grover boatyard, founded by Al Grover, stands on Woodcleft Avenue a short distance from the Maresca yard. A modest frame building, approximately 20 people worked there. Today the yard is located north of the Nautical Mile on South Main street, run by Grover's sons. Their yard consists of modern corrugated structures used primarily for maintenance and storage." Libraries The Freeport Memorial Library, which is the library serving the Freeport Library District, is the main library in Freeport. The children of Freeport, in grades 1–4, attend four magnet elementary schools, each with a different specialty: Archer Street (Microsociety and Multimedia), Leo F. Giblyn (School of International Cultures), Bayview Avenue (School of Arts and Sciences), and New Visions (School of Exploration & Discovery). In grades 5 and 6, all public school children attend Caroline G. Atkinson School on the north side of the town. Seventh and 8th graders attend John W. Dodd Middle School. The Middle School is built on the property that housed the older Freeport High School, but not on exactly the same site. The old high school served for some years as the junior high; then the new junior high was built on what was previously parking lot and playground, and the old building was torn down. In 2017, The school remodeled, with an added track and field. A Catholic school, the De La Salle School, is run by the Christian Brothers and accepts boys from grades 5–8. Children in grades 9–12 attend Freeport High School, which borders the town of Baldwin and sits beside the Milburn duck pond, which is fed by a creek, several hundred yards of which was diverted underground when the high school was built. Freeport High School's mascot is the Red Devil, and its colors are red and white. The school has track-and-field facilities. One unique feature of the school's curriculum is a science research program run in cooperation with Stony Brook University. The school offers numerous advanced placement courses and was a pioneer in distance learning at the high school level. Roughly 87 percent of the high school's graduates go on to some form of higher education. A community night school for teenagers had 236 students as of 1999. Freeport saw its share of the social, political, and racial turbulence of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 1969–70 school year saw three high school principals in the village's only high school, succeeded in August 1970 by William McElroy, formerly the junior high school principal, who came to the position "in the midst of racial tension and a constantly-polarizing student body"; McElroy backed such initiatives as a student advisory committee to the Board of Education and, in his own words, "made [him]self available to any civic-minded group" that wished to discuss with him the situation in the school. By May 1972, he could claim success, of a sort. "Formerly, a fight between a black and a white student would automatically become racial; now a fight is just a fight—between two students." It has won numerous awards over several decades. From 1969 until 1999, it operated under "free press" guidelines unusual for a high school newspaper, with an active role for the students in picking their own faculty adviser and with ultimate editorial control firmly in the hands of students. In a 2010 Newsday story regarding Long Island eighth-grader scores on Regents Exams, which have traditionally been given to students in ninth grade and up, Freeport was ranked in the highest tier. Sports and recreation In the early 1930s, Freeport was the playing field for the Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York, a semi-pro baseball team which took their name from the caps worn by Pullman porters. For a few years after that, the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers football team, which, like their baseball namesakes, played at Ebbets Field, using the stadium as a midweek training site. originally Freeport Municipal Stadium. Seating about 10,000, the stadium originally hosted "midget" auto races; after World War II it switched to stock car racing and eventually demolition derbies. ==Notable people==

• Cindy Adams, gossip columnist. • Leo Carrillo, actor (Pancho in the Cisco Kid series) built a home on Randalls Channel at the corner of Roosevelt and South Long Beach Avenues. • Broderick Crawford, actor • D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the New York Jets • Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.), rapper and reality TV star; grew up in Freeport and neighboring Roosevelt • Kay Gardner, musician, composer, author, and musical producer who lived in Freeport • George Gollin, an elementary particle physicist and physics professor • Eddie Gordon, professional mixed martial arts fighter and UFC's TUF winner • Morlon Greenwood, football player • Havoc, of hip-hop group Mobb Deep, lives in Freeport • Gabriel Heatter, radio personality • Jay Hieron, retired professional mixed martial arts fighter and IFL welterweight champion • Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3 • David A. Kessler (born 1951), pediatrician, attorney, author and administrator who served as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration 1990 to 1997 • Joe Kelly, comic book writer and founder of Man of Action Studios which created Ben 10 and Big Hero 6. • Erik Larson, author of books such as ''Isaac's Storm and The Devil in the White City'', attended Freeport High School • Peter Lerangis, author of children's and young-adult fiction; valedictorian of the FHS Class of 1973 • Steve Lieberman, punk rock bassist, flautist, singer signed to JDub Records known as The Gangsta Rabbi; served as Freeport Village Comptroller (1998-2014) • Guy Lombardo, musician and big bandleader, lived in Freeport during the latter portion of his life; his former residence on South Grove Street (now Guy Lombardo Avenue) included a boathouse where he kept his powerful speed boats, which he raced on the ocean • Donnie McClurkin, Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, and founder and pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport • Eddie Murphy, attended junior high school at John W. Dodd Middle School • Billy Murray (singer), Vaudeville-era singer • Wade Nichols (born Dennis Posa), pornographic actor, cast member in The Edge of Night, and a singer • Shelly Peiken, songwriter who is best known for co-writing the US #1 hits "What A Girl Wants" and "Come On over Baby" by Christina Aguilera. • Prodigy, of hip-hop group Mobb Deep, lived in Freeport • Lou Reed, singer-songwriter and founding member of The Velvet Underground • Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers • Samantha Sepulveda, a Long Island police officer who gained fame when the New York Post reported that she is also an Internet glamour model • Clifton Smith, former American football linebacker who played college football at Syracuse University • Elinor Smith, 1920s aviator • Hale Smith, 20th-century composer • Dee Snider (born 1955), Twisted Sister singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor • Susan Sullivan, actress • Harold E. Varmus, the 1989 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine • Jean R. Yawkey, wife of Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and owner of the team from his death in 1976 until her own in 1992; grew up in Freeport. • Michael Zielenziger, journalist and author ==In popular culture==

• History Alive, season 1, episode 56: "Rumrunners, Moonshiners and Bootleggers" (1995) describes boat making operations and illicit business ventures in Freeport. • The Sopranos, season 5, episode 8: "Marco Polo" (April 25, 2004) reveals that the crew of Lupertazzi crime family member Jerry Basile operates in Freeport. ==Notes==