Brookhaven, New York | |
|---|---|
| Town of Brookhaven | |
       Clockwise from top-left:Stony Brook University, mill in Frank Melville Park inSetauket,Stony Brook Village Center,Old Field Point Light, downtownPort Jefferson, Miller homestead inMiller Place, and theLong Island Museum | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Location inSuffolk County | |
 Show Brookhaven Show New York Show the United States | |
| Coordinates:40°49′N72°56′W / 40.817°N 72.933°W /40.817; -72.933 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New York |
| County | Suffolk |
| First settled | 1655 |
| Incorporated | 1686 |
| Town Seat | Farmingville |
| Government | |
| • Type | Civil township |
| • Body | Brookhaven Town Council |
| • Supervisor | Daniel J. Panico (R) |
| Area | |
• Total | 531.54 sq mi (1,376.68 km2) |
| • Land | 259.43 sq mi (671.93 km2) |
| • Water | 272.11 sq mi (704.75 km2) |
| • Rank | 1st (when water area included) |
| Elevation | 79 ft (24 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 485,773 |
| • Rank | 3rd |
| • Density | 1,875.6/sq mi (724.18/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−05:00 (Eastern Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 |
| Area codes | 631, 934 |
| FIPS code | 36-10000 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0978758 |
| Website | www |
Brookhaven is a largesuburban town inSuffolk County,Long Island,New York. With a population of 488,497 as of 2022,[2] it is the second most populous town in New York (afterHempstead, in the adjacentNassau County) and the third most populous community in the state.[3]
The first settlement in what is now Brookhaven was known asSetauket. Founded as a group of agricultural hamlets in the mid-17th century, Brookhaven first expanded as a major center of shipbuilding in the 19th century. Its proximity toNew York City facilitated the establishment of resort communities, followed by a post-war population boom. In the 2020 census record, Brookhaven contained 485,773 people.[4]
The township is home to two renownedresearch centers,Stony Brook University andBrookhaven National Laboratory. Combined these two research centers are approximately 50% of the Town's top ten employer's employee count. Tourism is also a major part of the local economy. The largest traditional downtowns are located inPort Jefferson, a regional transportation hub for theBridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry, andPatchogue. The area has long been serviced by theLong Island Rail Road.
The primary known inhabitants wereAlgonquian-speakingNative Americans, of the Setauket and Unkechaug tribes. The first English settlers arrived around 1640, and in 1655, several purchased Brookhaven's land from its tribal inhabitants. The latter founding year was recognized in 1976, when the Brookhaven Town Bicentennial Commission proposed setting the date on the seal to 1655 in line with this first deed of settlement of the town of Brookhaven at Setauket on April 14, 1655. Considering this founding year of 1655, Brookhaven is the fifth English township on Long Island followingSouthampton,Southold,Huntington, andEast Hampton.
The first English settlement was named"Setauket" after the Native American tribe. The names "Brookhaven" and "Setauket" were initially used interchangeably to describe the village or the town. The verbal division between the smaller hamlet of Setauket and township of Brookhaven was not set until well into the 19th century. A point of confusion is the existence of the hamlet namedBrookhaven, which was in fact named for the township in 1879. Other names used in the settlement's first decades were "Ashford", afterAshford, Kent, in England, and "Cromwell Bay", for English Protestant leaderOliver Cromwell.
The original purchase from the native Setalcott tribe that took place in 1655 encompassed the land making up present-daySetauket,Stony Brook, andPort Jefferson. A second purchase was made by Richard Woodhull in 1664 expanded this tract eastward along the North Shore to additionally include all lands from theOld Mans area (Mount Sinai andMiller Place) toWading River. Richard Woodhull was the direct heir of Eustace de Vesci, a British noble who was a signator of the Magna Charta.[5] Another land purchase in the same year expanded Brookhaven to the South Shore of Long Island.
Brookhaven was integrated into theProvince of New York following that colony's establishment in 1664, and in 1666 GovernorRichard Nicolls granted apatent for the town which confirmed title to the lands purchased. GovernorThomas Dongan issued a patent in 1686 which granted powers to the town and established a representative form of government.[6] The town seal was authorized at this time. The central element of the town seal, the letter “D”, was designated to the Town of Brookhaven as its official cattle earmark by the Duke's Laws of 1665. Although no records exist dating to the town seal's original design plan, it is generally thought that the seal's olive branch signified peace and the whaling tools signified the most lucrative business in the Town of Brookhaven at the time. The current seal is a redesign, retaining the original elements, but adding the Town of Brookhaven and its 1655 date of settlement.
Early English settlers farmed, fished, and hunted whales. Brookhaven was largely agrarian, with each hamlet being limited to a handful of families yet containing miles of land. This economy was supplemented in coastal sections with fishing. A major commercial center did not exist in Brookhaven until the early 19th century.
Brookhaven was founded primarily by English colonists that partook in the settlement ofSouthold, and was likewise under the jurisdiction of the theocraticNew Haven Colony in the modern state ofConnecticut. Brookhaven was transferred to the more secular Hartford-ledConnecticut Colony in 1662. Following the English takeover ofNew Netherland in 1664, the new Englishcolony of New York laid claim to Long Island and brought Brookhaven into its jurisdiction.
During the early stages of theAmerican Revolutionary War, Brookhaven and the rest of Long Island were captured by British forces, and many residents sided with the British as loyalists to the English crown. Nevertheless, Brookhaven had multiple episodes of celebrated American activity during the war. This included the actions of theCulper Spy Ring, a spy network working for George Washington that largely consisted of Brookhaveners working in occupied territory. Another episode wasBenjamin Tallmadge's successful raid from across Long Island to the British stronghold at theManor St. George, wherein his raiding party rowed fromConnecticut toCedar Beach and marched across Long Island, culminating in theBattle of Fort St. George and burning of the defensive structure. A more minor skirmish occurred within the settlement ofSetauket, where the British had repurposed thelocal Protestant church as a fortress. Gunshots were fired and some bullet holes remain within the walls of the adjacentCaroline Church.
In the mid-19th century, several communities in Brookhaven prospered as shipbuilding ports. The most successful of those were the villages ofPort Jefferson andPatchogue, which remain the township's most bustling traditional downtowns. Whaling and cordwood industries also developed in Brookhaven.
Railroads reached Brookhaven in the mid-19th century, beginning in 1843 with trains reaching inland toRonkonkoma. The earliest equivalent to the North Shore's present-dayPort Jefferson Branch began operation in 1873. TheBridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry has been operating between Port Jefferson andBridgeport, Connecticut, since 1888 and was partly founded by legendary circus-masterP.T. Barnum.
From the end of the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th, many communities along the North Shore and South Shore became successful resort towns. These hosted many urban residents from nearbyNew York City, including numerous celebrities of the era, during the summer months. Meanwhile, many rural sections across Brookhaven served as campgrounds for youth clubs.
During theGilded Age, Brookhaven underwent some of the same changes that affected Long Island'sGold Coast. Waterfront areas along the North Shore, includingBelle Terre andOld Field, transformed from small fishing communities into fashionable and exclusive enclaves of the moneyed elite.
A variety of notable research occurred in Brookhaven around the turn of the 20th century. InventorNikola Tesla had a research center inShoreham, which featured the largeWardenclyffe Tower. As of 2016, this site was being renovated as theTesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe.Guglielmo Marconi opened one of the world's largest radio facilities, known asRCA'sRadio Central, inRocky Point.
In the post-war era, Brookhaven experienced a massive population boom. This was partly due to its proximity toNew York City along theLong Island Rail Road and the highway system ofRobert Moses. The township's most internationally renowned institutions,Stony Brook University andBrookhaven National Lab, both date to the years following World War II.
During the mid-century, a number of major transformations were conducted by philanthropistWard Melville in the "Three Village" area (The Setaukets,Stony Brook, andOld Field). Melville, an Old Field resident and owner of what later becameCVS Corporation, used his fortune to transform Northwestern Brookhaven to his vision of an idealized New England–style region. To this end, he ordered the construction in 1939 of theStony Brook Village Center, a picturesque commercial center set on village green inStony Brook, with clapboard buildings designed to look as if they had colonial origins. In 1962, Ward Melville donated 400 acres of land for the relocation of now-namedStony Brook University fromOyster Bay.
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) sits on the site ofCamp Upton, aUnited States Army installation that was used as a training ground inWorld War I andWorld War II by thousands of soldiers including composerIrving Berlin. In 1946 ownership of the grounds was transferred for use by the new national laboratory, which began operating the following year. Brookhaven researchers have since made such diverse contributions as patentingMaglev, designing one of thefirst video games, detecting the firstsolar neutrinos, designing pollutant-eating bacteria, creating the firstPET scan, and various contributions toparticle physics. The laboratory contains theRelativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and theNational Synchrotron Light Source.
Brookhaven is located centrally on the geographic Long Island and extends from theNorth Shore to theSouth Shore. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 532.0 square miles (1,378 km2), of which 259.6 square miles (672 km2) is land and 272.4 square miles (706 km2) (51.20%) is water.[7] It is the largest town in New York in terms of total area, excluding water. However, there are four towns in the state with more land area:Arietta inHamilton County,Long Lake in Hamilton County,Ohio inHerkimer County andWebb in Herkimer County.
Brookhaven is bounded byLong Island Sound to the north, theAtlantic Ocean to the south,Riverhead to the northeast,Southampton to the southeast,Smithtown to the northwest, andIslip to the southwest.
A large part ofFire Island (accessible by a bridge at Smith Point) and theGreat South Bay are in the town.
Bald Hill, a large hill in the hamlet ofFarmingville, marks where the glacier which formed Long Island stopped. At the top of Bald Hill is aVietnam veterans memorial.Telescope Hill, to the west of Bald Hill Cultural Park, is slightly taller at 334 feet (102 m) above sea level and the highest point in the town.
| Climate data for Brookhaven, New York (National Weather Service Forecast Office,Brookhaven National Laboratory,Upton, New York) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 67 (19) | 68 (20) | 83 (28) | 90 (32) | 97 (36) | 99 (37) | 98 (37) | 102 (39) | 97 (36) | 85 (29) | 77 (25) | 68 (20) | 102 (39) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 38.3 (3.5) | 40.1 (4.5) | 47.0 (8.3) | 57.5 (14.2) | 67.8 (19.9) | 76.3 (24.6) | 81.6 (27.6) | 80.6 (27.0) | 74.3 (23.5) | 63.3 (17.4) | 52.9 (11.6) | 43.9 (6.6) | 60.3 (15.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 21.1 (−6.1) | 22.0 (−5.6) | 29.1 (−1.6) | 38.4 (3.6) | 48.2 (9.0) | 58.4 (14.7) | 64.5 (18.1) | 62.8 (17.1) | 55.5 (13.1) | 44.0 (6.7) | 34.2 (1.2) | 27.4 (−2.6) | 42.1 (5.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −13 (−25) | −8 (−22) | −7 (−22) | 12 (−11) | 28 (−2) | 34 (1) | 45 (7) | 40 (4) | 30 (−1) | 17 (−8) | 9 (−13) | −6 (−21) | −13 (−25) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 4.04 (103) | 3.86 (98) | 4.94 (125) | 4.19 (106) | 3.65 (93) | 3.94 (100) | 3.71 (94) | 4.52 (115) | 4.20 (107) | 4.30 (109) | 3.76 (96) | 4.86 (123) | 49.97 (1,269) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 9.6 (24) | 9.4 (24) | 5.1 (13) | 1.3 (3.3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.7 (1.8) | 4.0 (10) | 30.1 (76) |
| Source: NOAA[8] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | 3,224 | — | |
| 1800 | 4,022 | 24.8% | |
| 1810 | 4,176 | 3.8% | |
| 1820 | 5,218 | 25.0% | |
| 1830 | 6,095 | 16.8% | |
| 1840 | 7,050 | 15.7% | |
| 1850 | 8,595 | 21.9% | |
| 1860 | 9,923 | 15.5% | |
| 1870 | 10,159 | 2.4% | |
| 1880 | 11,544 | 13.6% | |
| 1890 | 12,772 | 10.6% | |
| 1900 | 14,592 | 14.2% | |
| 1910 | 16,737 | 14.7% | |
| 1920 | 21,847 | 30.5% | |
| 1930 | 28,291 | 29.5% | |
| 1940 | 32,118 | 13.5% | |
| 1950 | 44,522 | 38.6% | |
| 1960 | 109,900 | 146.8% | |
| 1970 | 245,260 | 123.2% | |
| 1980 | 364,812 | 48.7% | |
| 1990 | 407,779 | 11.8% | |
| 2000 | 448,248 | 9.9% | |
| 2010 | 486,040 | 8.4% | |
| 2020 | 485,773 | −0.1% |
As of the2020 United States census,[4] there were 485,773 people residing in the town. Thepopulation density was 1,873.4/sq mi (723.3/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 83.0%White (including 72.0%Non-Hispanic Whites), 6.1%Black orAfrican American, 0.1%Native American, 4.7%Asian, 0.1%Pacific Islander, and 3.8% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino people of any race were 15.6% of the population.
According to Brookhaven's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the town are:[9]
| # | Employer | # of Employees | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stony Brook University | 13,623 | Stony Brook |
| 2 | Internal Revenue Service | 3,332 | Holtsville |
| 3 | Sachem School District | 3,100 | Holbrook |
| 4 | Brookhaven National Laboratory | 2,500 | Upton |
| 5 | John T. Mather Memorial Hospital | 2,047 | Port Jefferson |
| 6 | Long Island Community Hospital | 2,030 | East Patchogue |
| 7 | St. Charles Hospital | 1,520 | Port Jefferson |
| 8 | Three Village Central School District | 1,454 | East Setauket |
| 9 | Verizon | 1,440 | Patchogue |
| 10 | William Floyd School District | 1,300 | Mastic Beach |
Patchogue was the town seat of Brookhaven until 1986. The seat moved to Medford and then its current location nearBald Hill in Farmingville.
Brookhaven is led by a town supervisor and a six-member town council, which are all four-year term elected positions.[10] Council members have been elected by district since a referendum in 2002.[11]
Before 2002, the localRepublican Party for the Town of Brookhaven nearly controlled the entirety of the town board for several decades, except for four years in the mid-1970s whenDemocrats held a majority under Supervisor John Randolph.[12]
This one-party domination, and a series of scandals, led to a tarnished reputation of local politics and accorded the nickname "Crookhaven".[13][14]
After the referendum was passed In 2002,[15] Steve Fiore-Rosenfield became the first Democrat elected since the 1970s in 2003.[16]
In 2005,Brian X. Foley, a Democratic county legislator, won the town supervisor race.[17] Constance Kepert and Carol Bissonette were also elected to the town board. With Fiore-Rosenfield's re-election, the Democrats gained control of the Brookhaven town board for the first time since the 1970s.[18]
In 2007, councilwoman Carol Bissonette chose not to pursue re-election but to instead run for the open receiver of taxes seat. Her district (the 6th) was won by Republican Keith Romaine, returning the town to a 4-3 majority on the town board. The new majority opted to elect Councilman Tim Mazzei as the majority leader.[19]
In 2008, Brian X. Foley was elected to the New York State Senate. As per New York state law, his seat was declared vacant, and a special election was held on March 31, 2009, to replace him. DemocratMark Lesko[20] defeated Majority Leader Mazzei to become supervisor. In August 2012, Lesko chose to step down and join a tech company on Long Island. A special election was held on November 6, 2012, which was won by Republican county legislator Edward P. Romaine, who had previously served as county clerk. With Romaine's victory and the subsequent victories of Daniel Losquadro in 2013 for the special election of highway superintendent andIndependence Party of New York member Donna Lent to town clerk, the Republican party and its endorsed allies won all townwide seats for the first time since former supervisor John Jay LaValle.
Brookhaven has eightvillages:
Brookhaven includes all or part of approximately 50hamlets. One of those hamlets is also named Brookhaven.
Brookhaven is the home ofStony Brook University, which moved toStony Brook from its original Oyster Bay campus in 1962; the university has since become the town's largest employer. The town is home to the first and largest campus ofSuffolk County Community College, located inSelden. The town is also home toThe Stony Brook School, a Christian college prep and boarding school inStony Brook. TheSt. Joseph's University's Long Island Campus is located in Patchogue.
Brookhaven Public Schools over-sees the 11 School Districts, 15 High Schools and 63,500 Students within the town.
Notable Roads.
I-495 (Long Island Expressway)
New York State Route 25A
New York State Route 25
New York State Route 24
New York State Route 27
New York State Route 112
New York State Route 347
County Route 16
Montauk Highway, includingCounty Route 85 andCounty Route 80
County Route 97
County Route 83
County Route 46
County Route 51
County Route 111The Town of Brookhaven is served primarily bySuffolk County Transit. It also operates aPara-Transit Bus line. The Village of Patchogue operates its ownlocal Bus Service.
Long Island Rail Road has three lines running through the Town of Brookhaven. TheMain Line includesRonkonkoma station, which not only serves as a major transportation hub, but is also located on the Islip-Brookhaven Town Line. It also contains theMedford andYaphank stations. TheMontauk Branch, located on theSouth Shore of Long Island, includes thePatchogue,Bellport, andMastic–Shirley stations, with theCenter Moriches station having operated until 1998. On theNorth Shore of the town, thePort Jefferson Branch contains two stations as it enters from theTown of Smithtown,Stony Brook station along the northern edge ofSUNY at Stony Brook, andPort Jefferson station alongMain Street where the line terminates.
The primary ferry within the Town of Brookhaven is theBridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry, which takes vehicles and passengers across theLong Island Sound to and from Port Jefferson toBridgeport, Connecticut. On the Great South Bay, passenger ferries take vacationers to and from Fire Island. The ferry terminals in Patchogue lead to the communities ofDavis Park, andWatch Hill Visitor Center, on the western edge of theOtis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area. Bellport also has a ferry leading to Bellport Beach on Fire Island.
From Fire Island itself, communities have ferries from Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove, both of which are popular vacation spots for LGBT tourists as well as the Sailors Haven Visitor Center,[21] which is located within the Sunken Forest Visitor Center.[22] All three ferries lead toSayville in the Town of Islip.Ocean Bay Park is the westernmost community in the Town of Brookhaven, and ferries from there lead toBay Shore.
The Town of Brookhaven contains no Commercial Airports. The adjacentTown of Islip containsLong Island MacArthur Airport which serves Brookhaven Residents, three Minor Reliever Airports are within Brookhaven, all of which are in the southern shore communities. The first one is theBrookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley. East of this is theSpadaro Airport andLufker Airport both of which are in East Moriches, and both of which share a taxiway. Coram Airport was operational until 1984.[23]
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