Munsey Park is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Nassau County, on the North Shore of

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. It is considered part of the Greater Manhasset area, which is anchored by

Manhasset Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 ...

. The population was 2,809 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Munsey Park is located entirely within the Town of North Hempstead, and has been recognized as a Tree City USA since 1983.

History

Development and early years (1920s)

Munsey Park was first developed in the 1920s, on North Shore land previously owned by wealthy publisher Frank Andrew Munsey (1854–1925), as a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

and "model, restricted community", taking advantage of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

's Manhasset station, located immediately to the west of the development. The land on which the planned community now stands on was bequeathed by Munsey to

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

in 1925. The Metropolitan Museum of Art sold the portion of the estate south of Northern Boulevard (NY 25A); that area would eventually become part of Strathmore. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art retained ownership of the portion of Munsey's estate north of Northern Boulevard, and, with help from the Hassett Realty Company, developed the planned community on the land under the leadership of museum president Robert W. DeForest. It was developed featuring Colonial-style houses and streets named for American artists. Much of the original landscaping in the planned community was designed by the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

. In 1928, Munsey Park's first model home opened. Like many of the other earliest homes to be constructed in the planned community, it was built in Section "A" – located at the western end of the development; Section "A" was the first section of Munsey Park to be constructed. The name of the community was originally to be Munsey Meadows – but this name was changed to Munsey Park; it is named in honor of Frank Munsey.

Push for incorporation (1929–1930)

On January 27, 1930, Munsey Park residents voted 155-to-3 to incorporate their community as a village with its own municipal government and zoning ability; the incorporation would be made official 20 days after the vote. Residents incorporated after learning about the creation of a sewer district serving Greater Manhasset in 1929; the proposal led to a significant amount of concern amongst many of the locals, who were opposed to sewering the area.

Village of Munsey Park (1930 – present)

Following the vote to incorporate Munsey Park as a village, the Village of Munsey Park held its first village election on March 1, 1930; this election saw residents of Munsey Park vote for the village's first elected officials. Herman Block was elected to serve as the village's first Mayor. One of the first decisions made by the village's elected officials was to leave the Manhasset Sewer District – much to the delight of many village residents – in addition to a decision to leave the Manhasset Parking District. In 1931, the Munsey Park Shopping Center opened at the northwestern corner of Northern Boulevard and Manhasset Woods Road; it was designed to conform to the architecture of the homes within the village. On May 30, 1932, the 18-hole Munsey Park Golf Club opened at the eastern end of the village. Operated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the club closed on March 1, 1937, as a result of poor revenue and profits, in addition to rising deficits. The former club's land was subsequently redeveloped as additional housing – in addition to a business area at the former club's clubhouse, which was already zoned for commercial use. Much of the residential development on the site of the former golf course was developed by the Callan Brothers. In the late 1930s, the

Manhasset Union Free School District The Manhasset Union Free School District, also known as Manhasset Public Schools, is a State school, public school district serving the Greater Manhasset, New York, Manhasset area of Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (L ...

built the Munsey Park Elementary School within the village. It was built to address the overcrowding in the district's existing schools which had from the large development boom in the Manhasset area and the resulting influx of residents – including in Munsey Park. In May 1942, the Congregational Church of Manhasset purchased of land in Munsey Park, along the north side of Northern Boulevard. On this land, it would erect a large church building. The church's groundbreaking occurred on May 12, 1948, and it was completed the next year, in 1949. The Church of Our Savior, Lutheran, broke ground across Copley Road that same year, and was completed in 1950. In 1956, New York City-based

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Bonwit Teller announced that it would erect a department store in Munsey Park, in the business area which had formerly been part of the Munsey Park Golf Club. The building was designed by Lanthrop Douglass and Charles Anderson, and the store opened in 1957. On December 8, 1974, Munsey Park Village Hall opened. Located at 1777 Northern Boulevard at the southern end of Munsey Park, the structure was built to conform to the style of residential homes in the village, and was erected on land which it had purchased back in 1950. In 1983, Munsey Park was designated as a Tree City USA by the

National Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods, communitie ...

for the first time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, developers planned turning the Munsey Park Plaza shopping center at the village's southeast corner into a luxury shopping mall; this shopping center included Munsey Park's Bonwit Teller branch, which opened in 1957 and closed in 1990. The proposed shopping mall on the site would have featured two floors, multiple exterior designs, and a parking garage with three levels. The proposal, which was first made in 1988, was rejected by the village. After Munsey Park's rejection of the plans, the developers filed a lawsuit against the village. Ultimately, the lawsuit was unsuccessful, and the mall was never built; the property was eventually purchased in 1992 by TH Associates, which rehabilitated it and secured a new tenant for the former Bonwit Teller space. In 2008, the Village of Munsey Park was ranked as the 13th (tied) Wealthiest Town in America by

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

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 village has a total area of , all of it being land. Munsey Park, in its entirety, uses the Manhasset 11030

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

and is served by the Manhasset Post Office.

Topography

Like the rest of Long Island's North Shore, Munsey Park is situated on a

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...

, which is named the

Harbor Hill Moraine The Harbor Hill Moraine, in the geography of Long Island, forms the northern of two ridges along the "backbone" of Long Island. Description The Harbor Hill Moraine, skirting the North Shore, represents the terminal moraine of the most recent ...

. This moraine was formed by

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s during the Wisconsin Glacial Episode, and is named for Harbor Hill in Roslyn; Harbor Hill is the highest geographic point in Nassau County.

Drainage

Munsey Park is split between two minor

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

s: Leeds Pond and Whitney Pond. These two drainage areas are sub-watersheds of the larger

Manhasset Bay Manhasset Bay, New York, is an embayment in western Long Island off Long Island Sound. Description Manhasset Bay forms the northeastern boundary of the Great Neck Peninsula and the southwestern boundary of the Cow Neck Peninsula ( Port Was ...

Watershed, which in turn is part of the larger

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

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 ...

Watershed, which covers all of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Economy

Munsey Park is a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

of the City of New York, which is how the community was originally envisioned as being by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As such, a significant number of Munsey Park residents commute to/from New York for work. The village itself is predominantly residential in character, with the heavy majority of lots within the village being zoned for single-family homes. The only businesses within Munsey Park are at three shopping centers along the north side of Northern Boulevard; these are the only areas of the Village zoned for commercial use. The largest of the shopping centers in Munsey Park – Munsey Park Plaza – is located at the southeast corner of the village and houses tenants including Whole Foods and Benihana; it has also previously housed a Bonwit Teller and a Bed, Bath & Beyond. Developers unsuccessfully proposed rebuilding the shopping center as a luxury shopping mall in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When originally planned, the intersection of Manhasset Woods Road and

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

was to contain businesses, as well as near Locust Place (now Munsey Place); these plans were eventually amended in favor of additional single-family homes.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 2,809 people residing in the village.

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 2,693 people residing in the village. The racial makeup of the village was 91.20%

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 ...

, 0.41%

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 ...

, 6.46% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 1.56% 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 3.23% of the population.

Census 2000

As of the

of 2000, there were 2,632 people, 817 households, and 731 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 833 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 93.35% White, 0.34% African American, 5.66% Asian, 0.08% from other races, and 0.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.63% of the population. There were 817 households, out of which 48.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 82.6% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.5% were non-families. 9.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.22 and the average family size was 3.43. In the village, the population was spread out, with 30.8% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 28.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males. The median income for a household in the village was $149,100, and the median income for a family was $159,147. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $46,250 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 village was $66,772. About 1.6% of families and 2.3% 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 2.5% of those under age 18 and 1.2% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Munsey Park's government is divided into three boards. All of the boards are non-partisan, and members do not get paid. The main organ of government is the Board of Trustees. This board functions as the equivalent of a city council. As of January 2023, the Mayor of Munsey Park is Lawrence Ceriello, the Deputy Mayor is Anthony D'Angelo, and the Village Trustees are Antonio D'Angelo, Regina Im, Gregory Licalzi Jr., and Joseph Williams.

Representation in higher government

Town representation

On the town level, Munsey Park is located in the Town of North Hempstead's 5th council district, which as of June 2025 is represented on the North Hempstead Town Council by David A. Adhami ( R – Great Neck).

County representation

At the county level, Munsey Park is located in Nassau County's 10th Legislative district, which as of June 2025 is represented in the Nassau County Legislature by Mazi Melesa Pilip (R – Great Neck).

State representation

At the state level, Munsey Park is located within the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

's 16th State Assembly district and the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

's 7th State Senate district. As of June 2025, they are represented by Daniel J. Norber (R–Great Neck) and Jack M. Martins (R– Old Westbury), respectively.

Federal representation

At the federal level, the village is located in

New York's 3rd congressional district New York's 3rd congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the New York (state), State of New York. It is represented by Democratic Party (Un ...

, which as of June 2025 is represented in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

by Thomas R. Suozzi ( D). Additionally, like the rest of New York, Munsey Park is represented in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from New York, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he has led the Senate Democratic Caucus si ...

(D) and

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

(D).

Politics

Munsey Park contains 2 election districts: AD 16 – ED 63 and AD 16 – ED 64. Both of these districts are located within New York's 16th State Assembly district (AD16) and are entirely within the village. In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the majority of Munsey Park voters voted for Donald J. Trump (R).

Education

School district

The Village of Munsey Park is located entirely within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the

. As such, all children who reside within Munsey Park and attend public schools go to Manhasset's schools. As aforementioned, the Munsey Park Elementary School is located within the village.

Library district

Munsey Park is located entirely within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Manhasset Library District.

Media

Newspapers

''The Manhasset Press Times'' is the

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

for the Village of Munsey Park. It is part of

Schneps Media Schneps Media is a New York City-based media company founded in 1985 that owns and operates both print and online news services. Their first newspaper was '' The Queens Courier''. The company's flagship publication since 2019 has been '' amNewYor ...

. Other major newspapers serving Munsey Park include ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'', ''New York Post'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The Wall Street Journal''.

Television

Munsey Park is one of North Shore TV's fourteen member villages. North Shore TV provides Munsey Park and the other member villages with

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

programming, through

Altice USA Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American telecommunications provider with headquarters in New York City, owned by the Franco-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi. The company delivers pay television, Internet access, telephone se ...

and Verizon Fios – the main cable television providers in the area.

Parks and recreation

Munsey Park owns and operates two municipal parks: * Copley Pond Park * Waldmann Memorial Park Additionally, the short-lived, unsuccessful 18-hole Munsey Park Golf Club was formerly located at the eastern end of the village between 1932 and 1937, and the Munsey Park Elementary School also features a playground and recreational fields.

Park district

Munsey Park is wholly located within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Manhasset Park District. This special park district owns and operates numerous parks and parking facilities throughout the Greater Manhasset area.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Roads

Munsey Park is served by two state roads, which also form portions of the village's boundaries. Northern Boulevard (NY 25A) forms the southern border of the village, while Port Washington Boulevard (NY 101) forms its eastern border. Other major streets within the village include

, Park Avenue North, and Manhasset Woods Road. Many streets – such as Sargent Place, Eakins Road, ad

Ryder Ryder System, Inc. is an American transportation and logistics company, specializing in truck rental and leasing, fleet management, supply chain management, and transportation management. It also offers full-service leasing, rental and maint ...

Road – use a street naming convention based on famous artists. Furthermore, the village maintains roughly of roads.

Rail

No rail lines pass through Munsey Park. The nearest

station to the village is

on the

Port Washington Branch The Port Washington Branch is an electrified, mostly double-tracked rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It branches north from the Main Line at the former Winfield Junction stat ...

Bus

Munsey Park is served by the n20H, n21, and n23 bus routes – all three of which are operated by Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE). These three bus routes travel through the area via Northern Boulevard and Port Washington Boulevard.

Utilities

Natural gas

National Grid USA provides

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

to homes and businesses that are hooked up to natural gas lines in Munsey Park.

Power

PSEG Long Island provides power to all homes and businesses within Munsey Park.

Sewage

Munsey Park is unsewered. As such, the entirety of the village relies on cesspools and septic systems, as opposed to being connected to

sanitary sewer A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings (but not stormwater) to a sewage treatment plant or disposal. Sanitary sewers are a type of gravity sewer and are part of ...

Water

Munsey Park is located within the boundaries of the

Manhasset–Lakeville Water District The Manhasset–Lakeville Water District (MLVWD) is a public Water district, water utility district serving a large portion of Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. History The Ma ...

, which provides the entirety of Munsey Park with water. The Manhasset–Lakeville Water District also owns and operates a water tower within the village, known as the Munsey Park Water Tower.

Healthcare & emergency services

Healthcare

There are no hospitals located within Munsey Park. The nearest hospital to the village is St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill.

Fire

Munsey Park is located entirely within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Manhasset–Lakeville Fire Department.

Law Enforcement

The Village of Munsey Park is served by the 6th Precinct of the

Nassau County Police Department The Nassau County Police Department (also referred to as the Nassau Police & Nassau County Police and abbreviated as NCPD) is the law enforcement agency of Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, New York (state), New York, Unit ...

, with RMP 609 assigned as the Munsey Park patrol car. Policing is funded through village and county taxes.

Notable people

* Arthur G. Elvin – Engineer, inventor, and the first Mayor of Flower Hill – as well as the former Mayor of Plandome; moved to Munsey Park after resigning, following the death of his wife. * Harry Goz – Actor; lived on Manhasset Woods Road within the village. * William E. Haugaard – Architect. Haugaard served as the State Architect for the State of New York between 1928 and 1944. * Elaine R. Phillips – Financial adviser and politician. Phillips had served as a Village Trustee before moving to adjacent Flower Hill, where she would serve as Mayor before being elected to the New York State Senate in 2016 and then as Nassau County Comptroller in 2021. * Madeline Singas – Associate judge of the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeal ...

and former Nassau County District Attorney. * Jeanne Singer – Pianist and composer.

In popular culture

Over the years, scenes for shows and movies have been filmed within the village. These include scenes for the film The Good Shepherd, which were shot within Munsey Park in 2005, and scenes for the television series

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...

, which were shot within the village in 2009.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Munsey Park, New York Town of North Hempstead, New York Villages in New York (state) Villages in Nassau County, New York 1930 establishments in New York (state)

History

Development and early years (1920s)

Push for incorporation (1929–1930)

Village of Munsey Park (1930 – present)

Geography

Topography

Drainage

Economy

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

Census 2000

Government

Representation in higher government

Town representation

County representation

State representation

Federal representation

Politics

Education

School district

Library district

Media

Newspapers

Television

Parks and recreation

Park district

Infrastructure

Transportation

Roads

Rail

Bus

Utilities

Natural gas

Power

Sewage

Water

Healthcare & emergency services

Healthcare

Fire

Law Enforcement

Notable people

In popular culture

See also

References

External links