West Hempstead is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. The population was 19,835 at the time of the 2020 census. It is an unincorporated area in the Town of Hempstead and is represented by Councilman Edward Ambrosino.

History

West Hempstead first appeared on maps as the name of a

Long Island Railroad The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. The railroad currently operates a public commuter rail ...

station in 1893. There are three railroad stations within its borders: West Hempstead, Hempstead Gardens, and Lakeview. The line continues to Valley Stream where it joins the

Babylon Branch The Babylon Branch is a rail service operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The term refers to the trains serving Montauk Branch stations from Valley Stream east to Babylon; in other words, the Babylon Branch is a ...

. Halls Pond Park, the main park within West Hempstead, was dedicated by Nassau County in 1961. The smaller Echo Park contains a public indoor pool. Its name is derived from the community's first four little league teams: Eagles, Cardinals, Hawks, and Orioles. In 1962 they represented the east in the Senior League world series beating a team from New London,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

3-2 to advance to the championship against La Habra,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. West Hempstead ended up beating them 8-2. In 1956, the West Hempstead Public Library was founded and chartered by the State in 1967. Its present 28,000 square-foot facility was completed in 2007. In 2001, residents of West Hempstead held a nonbinding referendum on renaming the community. The vote followed a two-year effort by the West Hempstead Civic Association and the West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce to give the community a unique name, distancing itself from the neighboring crime ridden Hempstead. By a 94-vote margin, West Hempstead retained its name over the proposed Mayfair Gardens. West Hempstead is easily accessed from the

Southern State Parkway The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or Southern Parkway) is a controlled-access parkway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. The parkway begins at an interchange with the Belt and Cross Island parkways ...

at Exit 17N. The West Hempstead Union Free School District currently operates 4 schools; 1 kindergarten, 1 elementary, 1 intermediate school and 1 secondary school. The West Hempstead Fire Department (also referred to as West Hempstead FD and abbreviated as WHFD) is the main provider of

Fire Protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially Conflagration, destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, Compartmentalization (fire protection), compartmentalisation, suppression and inve ...

and

Emergency Medical Services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

within West Hempstead. West Hempstead's name reflects upon the fact that it is located immediately west of the Village of Hempstead.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (3.64%) is water. West Hempstead lies on a gently sloping terrain between the

Hempstead Plains The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island, in what is now Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, in New York State. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about . It was separated from the Nort ...

and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. Pine Stream runs through the center of West Hempstead, feeding into Halls Pond. The community is bordered on the east by Hempstead Lake State Park and on the south by the

Demographics

2010 Census

As of the 2010 2010 Census, there were 4,867 families residing in the West Hempstead Census Designated Place (CDP) and the population density was . There were 6,110 housing units at an average density of . There were 6,024 households, out of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.2% were non-families. 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.47. The median income for a household in the CDP was $97,627 and the median income for a family was $102,481. Males had a median income of $52,391 versus $39,871 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $32,732. About 2.4% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.

2017 ACS

As of the

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

of 2013–2017, there were 19,841 people in 6,148 households. The racial makeup of the CDP was 70.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 12.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Native American, 9.5% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 11.3% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 20.3% of the population. In the 2017 ACS, the CDP population was spread out, with 23.4% under the age of 18 and 14.8% age 65 or older. The median age was 40.3 years. The CDP is 5.1% people under age 5, 5.8% people age 5–9 years old, 7.9% people age 10–14 years old, 7.3% people age 15–19 years old, 7.0% people age 20–24 years old, 11.8% people age 25–34 years old, 11.1% people age 35–44 years old, 16.5% people age 45–54 years old, 7.2% people age 55–59 years old, 5.6% people age 60–64 years old, 8.1% people age 65–74 years old, 4.1% people age 75–84 years old, and 2.6% people age 85 or older. In 2017, the West Hempstead CDP population had an approximately even number of males (9,922) and females (9,919). However, there is nuance to this data: for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males, and for every 100 females age 65 or over, there were only 65.7 males. West Hempstead, along with adjoining Franklin Square has a sizable

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

population that counts seven synagogues and the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County elementary school among its local institutions.

Notable people

* Nathan Englander, American short story writer and novelist, was born and raised in West Hempstead. * Kalomoira, popular Greek singer, was born in West Hempstead. *

Lucien Laurin Lucien Laurin (March 18, 1912 – June 26, 2000) was a Canadian jockey and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was best known for training Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. Life and career Laurin was born in Joliette, Quebe ...

, award-winning horse trainer and Belmont Stakes champion, lived in West Hempstead. * Don McPherson, former NFL player *

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

, American poet, essayist and journalist, was the headmaster of the West Hempstead-based District 17 Schoolhouse. *

Orville Wright The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first succes ...

, Inventor of powered flight, lived in West Hempstead in the early 1930s. * Heinrich Guggenheimer, Prominent mathematician and Hebrew scholar, lived in West Hempstead later in life.

Local activities

* West Hempstead Chiefs Soccer Club * The New York Equestrian Center, Horse Riding & Boarding * Hempstead Lake State Park * West Hempstead Community Support Association * West Hempstead Lions Club * West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce * West Hempstead Kiwanis Club * Boy Scout Troop 240 * Cub Scout Pack 240 * Girl Scout Troop 1479

References

External links

West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce official website
{{authority control Census-designated places in New York (state) Hempstead, New York Census-designated places in Nassau County, New York