Elmont

Christopher and Thomas Foster bought a sizable tract of property in 1650. Dutch settlers ruled the territory owned by the Fosters. On their freshly occupied acreage, the Long Island Hempstead Plains, the Fosters planned to raise sheep and cattle. This location came to be known as “Foster’s Meadow” by them; this name stuck for the village’s next 200 years.

Sephardic Jewish descendants began to settle in the Hempstead Plains around the middle of the 17th century in order to pursue agriculture. In 1664, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was turned over to the English. At Foster’s Meadow, this signaled the beginning of a slow cultural change as a community of mainly English Protestant farmers and their families moved in.Long Island was separated into three counties in 1683: Suffolk County, Kings County, and Queens County. Foster’s Meadow was originally a part of Queens County under this new arrangement. George Washington visited the hamlet in 1790 while on a tour of Long Island’s eastern regions. Elmont’s present borders were established in 1898; at this time, Nassau County was established, resulting in disputes over land and debts arising from Elmont’s boundary change from Queens.

The second cultural transition in Foster’s Meadow occurred in the middle of the 19th century. To the west, there was an influx of Ashkenazi Jewish and Roman Catholic farmers from Middle Village and Brooklyn. The majority of these ethnic groups were of German and Italian ancestry, and they followed both Judaism and Roman Catholicism.

Yes, there was some growth in the Catholic population in Foster’s Meadow. During the Wittelsbach Dynasty, in 1852, the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ was constructed. In 1857, the Roman Catholic Church was reopened as Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Parish, named for Germany’s patron saint. The Parish served as a hub for the steady growth of the Catholic populace. The first permanent pastor of Foster’s Meadow was Rev. Peter Hartraub, who was selected as its founding pastor in 1858. In addition to constructing a new school in 1887 with four classrooms on the first floor and an auditorium on the second, Rev. Peter Hartraub also constructed a new rectory. On parish property that was given to them, the Dominican Sisters constructed a convent and accepted an invitation to teach in the Catholic school.

The next major political upheaval in the town occurred in 1882 when it was separated into districts with distinct names and borders (such as Alden Manor and Locustwood); Foster’s Meadow was then called Elmont. August Belmont Jr. and William C. Whitney, the former Secretary of the Navy, led a syndicate that looked for land on Long Island in 1902 to construct the most ornate racetrack in the United States, which was to be fashioned after the grand racetracks of Europe. On the boundary between Queens and Nassau counties, they discovered what they were searching for. Arguably, the most important turning point in the evolution of contemporary Elmont was the construction of Belmont Racetrack.Once called Foster’s Meadow, the 650 acres encompassed Oaklands, a Tudor-Gothic castle with turrets owned by William de Forest Manice. The palace was intended to be the Turf and Field Club of the track until 1956.

Belmont Park’s establishment in 1905 was a turning point in Elmont’s history. The farms were divided up and sold to build homes. Employees of Belmont Racetrack owned the majority of the newly constructed residences. Hempstead Turnpike saw the establishment of numerous companies in order to sustain the burgeoning suburban area. When the Racetrack opened to the public in 1915, it brought migrant laborers and tourists to the region. To accommodate these workers’ requirements, housing projects and commercial establishments sprang up in the vicinity of the racecourse; this process of development proceeded in subsequent waves, finally transforming Elmont from a rural farming community into a suburban one.

The first air race in American history was held at Belmont Racetrack in 1910. At Belmont Park, Wilbur and Orville Wright organized an international aviation competition that drew fifteen thousand people. The course of the race was Belmont Park to the Statue of Liberty and back.

The first intercity air mail service between New York City and Washington, D.C. was provided by the USPS in 1918, with Belmont Park serving as the New York delivery hub.

In 1940, Belmont Park hosted “War Relief Day” to raise money for the American Red Cross. The following year, in 1943, the park hosted “Back the Attack” Day, where attendees had to purchase a war bond to enter the track. There were between $25 million and $30 million in total receipts that day.

Elmont was the site of extensive tract home development of aesthetically pleasing suburban homes following World War II. Particularly in the area of Dutch Broadway, many of these homes were built in versions of the Cape Cod design, with a ground story composed of brick and veneer. Older, smaller shingled residences are clustered together near Belmont Park on Hempstead Turnpike.

A request for proposals was made in 2017 by the Development Corporation of New York State (Empire State Development) to rehabilitate a portion of the Belmont Park Property in a way that will improve the Park and the neighborhoods around it. The New York Islanders and New York City FC were the two bidders for the location.[3] The state of New York had chosen the Islanders’ offer, according to a number of press sources that appeared on December 19, 2017. A press conference was conducted on December 20, 2017, verifying the reports and an agreement that had been finalized. Among the speakers was Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner. As a result, UBS Arena was built to serve as the Islanders’ new home arena. The arena debuted in autumn of 2021.

Failed incorporation attempts

Over the years, Elmont has attempted numerous bids to become a community. It failed in its initial effort to incorporate in 1931. The identical incident occurred twice again, in 1940 and 1949. By that time, the 1938 amendment to the Nassau County charter required any newly incorporated municipality established after that year to follow the county’s zoning regulations.