Great Neck, New York

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Great Neck, New York
U.S. Census Map
U.S. Census Map
Great Neck, New York (New York)
Great Neck, New York
Great Neck, New York
Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 40°48′10″N 73°43′53″W / 40.80278, -73.73139
Country United States
State New York
County Nassau
Area
 - Total 1.4 sq mi (3.5 km²)
 - Land 1.4 sq mi (3.5 km²)
 - Water 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²)
Elevation 108 ft (33 m)
Population (2000)
 - Total 9,538
 - Density 7,062.3/sq mi (2,726.8/km²)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 11020–11027
Area code(s) 516
FIPS code 36-30169
GNIS feature ID 0951636

Great Neck is a village in Nassau County, New York, in the U.S., 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 (hamlets) of North Hempstead, of which it is the northwestern quadrant. No governing entity 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°48′10″N, 73°43′53″W (40.802671, -73.731255)[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.5 km²), of which, 1.4 square miles (3.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (1.46%) is water.

[edit] Demographics (Village of Great Neck)

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 9,538 people, 3,346 households, and 2,552 families residing in the village. The population density was 7,062.3 people per square mile (2,727.9/km²). There were 3,441 housing units at an average density of 2,547.9/sq mi (984.1/km²). 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.

As of 2000 Great Neck was the second most Iranian place in the United States with 21.1% of its population reporting Iranian ancestry.[3]

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.

During the late 19th century Great Neck was the rail head of the Flushing and North Side Railroad, and began the process of converting from a farm village into a commuter town.

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 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 its 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.

On one road, Old Mill Road, there are three synagogues representing the three main branches of American Judaism: Temple Beth-El (Reform), Great Neck Synagogue (Orthodox), and Temple Israel of Great Neck (Conservative). Old Mill Road also has an honorific extra naming, "Waxman Way," in memory of Temple Israel's renowned rabbi, Mordechai Waxman, who led the congregation for 50 years.

Also beginning in the late 1990s and continuing till present day, a number of East Asians, predominantly Chinese and Korean, have been moving into the area. Many 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.

The general trend is that the "North" part of Great Neck (whose students attend Great Neck North Middle and High) has a greater number of Iranian families, while the "South" part (whose students attend Great Neck South Middle and High) has a larger East Asians population. The African-American population is low, district wide. The "South" catchment area also includes students from Manhasset Hills and the Parkville section of New Hyde Park.

A point of controversy in the Village has been the erection of new synagogues.

Besides the 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. The Parkwood pool and skating rink complex, the Village Green and sections of Kings Point Park are 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, although the villages of Great Neck Estates, Kings Point and Kensington (villages on the peninsula but not within the village of Great Neck) have their own police departments.

Great Neck is served by three all-volunteer fire departments. The Great Neck Alert Fire Company 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. The Vigilant Fire Companyalso 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:

[edit] Great Neck School District

Great Neck residents, typically well-educated, are concerned about education and have high expectations for their school system.[4]

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.

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. In the 2007 list, Great Neck South is ranked 42nd, and Great Neck North is ranked 50th.[1]

[edit] People associated with Great Neck

 This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)

[edit] References

  1. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  2. ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ Iranian ancestry by city - ePodunk
  4. ^ Great Neck residents; URL accessed November 9, 2006.

[edit] External links

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Town of North Hempstead, New York
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Website: northhempstead.com
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