FLORAL PARK, LONG ISLAND

Floral Park, Long Island

Floral Park is an incorporated village located in Nassau County, Long Island, New York. It is at the western border of Nassau County, and is located in both the Town of Hempstead and the town of North Hempstead. It is a station on the Long Island Rail Road on the Hempstead line between Stewart Manor(east) and Bellerose(west). Currently, the village is leading efforts to stop a Long Island Rail Road track expansion project, which would have a severe impact on the village. As of 2000 census, there were 15,967 people, 5,770 households, and 4,258 families residing in the area. The median income for a household in the village was $73,719, and the median income for a family was $87,243. Males had a median income of $56,527 and only $38,592 for females. The latitude of Floral Park is 40.723N. The longitude is -73.705W. It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is 89 feet. The former and merged names include East Hinsdale, Floral, Hinsdale, Plainfield, and Plainfield Station.

The village was once called Hinsdale but seed seller John Lewis Childs persuaded townspeople to change the name in the 1870s. The history begins in 1874, when 17 year old John Lewis Childs came to the area known as East Hinsdale. The community, then a part of Queens County, consisted of a small group of houses, one store, the Hinsdale Post Office and a railroad station. In 1899 the County of Nassau was formed and Floral Park became a part of it. It was formally incorporated on October 15, 1908 with Childs as its president. The most recent change in the village has taken place on Tulip Avenue. Through the Community Development Fund, matching grants were made available to participating merchants for new facades on the store fronts of Tulip Avenue. These funds also provided for new street lights and trees were planted throughout the business districts with Village funds.

Floral Park is considered to have a high standard of living and known to be a great place to live. The crime rate in 2003 was 0.8 per 1,000 and there were 0 homicides. This shows that the village is very safe to live and the local government that the village is kept visually pleasing as well. There are also quality schools to choose from with two high schools; the Floral Park Memorial High School and Sewanhaka High School, both of which are part of the Sewanhaka Central High School District and three elementary schools such as John Lewis Childs School and Floral Park-Bellerose School, are part of the Floral Park-Bellerose School District and Our Lady of Victory Elementary School is operated by the Roman Catholic Our Lady of Victory parish. The Floral Park Memorial High School Students all worked together and helped break the Guinness Book of World Records previous record for most hugs in one hour by a single person. The previous record was 640 hugs in one hour and the new record is now 844 people, with the record being broken in a mere 22 minutes.