Wantagh, New York

USA / New York / Wantagh /
 hamlet, draw only border, CDP - Census Designated Place
Wantagh is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in the Town of Hempstead, NY. Known as "The Gateway to Jones Beach", it was part of the much larger area known as "Jerusalem" in colonial times. In the mid-1800s, the lakes that today make up the Twin Lakes and Mill Pond preserves were put into use as reservoirs in the Brooklyn Water Works system. When the LIRR arrived in 1867, the station was called "Ridgewood" - named after the Queens neighborhood where the terminus of the Water Works system was located. As such, the area was known by many new residents and travelers as "Ridgewood" until the name was officially changed to Wantagh in 1891 to honor the sachem of a local Indian tribe. In the late 1920s, the area was developed as a resort and residential community with the construction of the Wantagh Parkway, Jones Beach Causeway and Sunrise Highway making it a popular and easy to reach vacation spot.

The final wave of development occurred during the post-WWII housing boom. Air travel and air conditioning had diminished it's value as a tourist destination, but the existing infrastructure made Wantagh valuable as a residential community. Today it is generally considered an upper-middle class commuter town, but in reality is much more mixed economically. Wantagh is known for having several bars and restaurants within walking distance of the LIRR, most of which see quite a bit of use any given night of the week.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wantagh,_New_York
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°40'0"N   73°30'35"W

Comments

  • I have read that that the reservoir in Queens/Brooklyn was named after the Ridgewood train station in Wantagh!
  • Might be the other way around, Sven....I'm not sure - but they definitely have a shared history. The bodies of water that are now Twin Lakes (along with several others along Sunrise Highway) once fed into the Ridgewood (Queens) Reservoir through underground conduits to provide drinking water to Brooklyn and later NYC.
  • Oh wait I guess my last comment was kinda redundant since it says the same thing in the description above, LOL....my bad.
This article was last modified 9 years ago