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Facts about the Village

Rockville Centre at a Glance

Population: 24,568 (2000 Census).
Housing Units: 9,200 (6,000 single family homes, 3,200 multi-dwelling units)
Residential community of primarily one-family homes with some town houses, condominiums and apartments.
Area: 3.3 square miles.
Located: Southwestern Nassau County.
Government: Incorporated Village.
Incorporated: 1893.
College: 1 - Molloy College.
Houses of Worship: 11 Churches, 2 Synagogues.
Headquarters of the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Police Department Village Police Department.
Fire Department: 300+ Volunteers in Seven companies; over 2,000 calls each year.
Distance from N.Y.C.: 25 miles east of mid-town Manhattan.
Train time to N.Y.C.: Long Island Railroad station (Babylon Line)
Approximately 35 minutes. LIRR Train Schedule.
Driving time to Kennedy Airport: 15 minutes.
Electric & Water: Village owned and operated.
Hospitals: Two medical centers - Mercy and South Nassau.
Four medical office buildings.
Business Community: 10 banks, 2 movie theaters (7 screens), 9 professional office buildings, scores of restaurants.
Parks: 8 with fields, playgrounds, facilities; 6 for walking, sitting.
Parochial Schools: 1 - St. Agnes Cathedral School (grades 1-8).
Public Schools: The Village of Rockville Centre and the Rockville Centre School District do not have the same boundaries. Most Village residents live in the Rockville Centre School District, which maintains five elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. About 20 percent of Village residents live in the Oceanside School District and attend one of two Oceanside elementary schools and the Oceanside Middle School and High School. A few streets in the Village are within the Baldwin School District.
Note: Several streets in South Hempstead are within the Rockville Centre School District and are also assigned the 11570 postal zip code. This area is sometimes casually referred to as “unincorporated Rockville Centre,” but it is not within the Village boundaries and receives no services from the Village of Rockville Centre.
Public Library:

The Village is served by two public libraries-- Rockville Centre Public Library and  Oceanside Public Library-- whose service areas coincide with the school district boundaries. Both offer access to the collections of more than 75 libraries in Nassau County.


SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ROCKVILLE CENTRE

December l3,1643 - Sachem Tackapousha, chief of the Indians occupying the "Rockaways" and south shore of Long Island, and six other chiefs signed a deed granting Englishmen a large tract of land encompassing all the southern half of what is now Nassau County. Twelve years later, fearing that the Indians felt inadequately compensated. Governor Nichols of New York wrote the magistrates of the newly established Town of Hempstead to "pay Tackapousha further gratuities for payment of lands which he said were bought too cheap . . . and prevent trouble and settle it one and for all." In 1657 they did just that and added to the original payment "some great cattle, and some small cattle, and some wampum, and some hatchets, some knives, some trading cloth, and . . . some powder and lead, and they went away for anything I know very well satisfied." as recorded by one of the negotiators.

January 27, 1849 - The Rockville Centre Post Office was established.

1852 - Plans for he building of the "Jamaica Plank Road," the major route from the farms of the South Shore (including Rockville Centre) to New York City. Three or four stage coaches carried passengers from Rockville Centre to the City and back every week, and the road was considered a great technological advance over the dirt roads that prevailed. The "Plank Road" is now known as Merrick Road.

June 16th, 1865 - Rockville Centre's first newspaper, "The Picket" was published. "The Picket", later known as the "Daily Review" and the "Nassau Daily Review", ran continuously for 88 years. Copies of these papers can still be read on microfilm in the Rockville Centre Library and the New York Historical Society at Adelphi University, and make a fascinating account of daily life in Rockville Centre from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries.

September 23, 1867 - Long Island Rail Road service began. A year after service began, the Picket reported the commutation rates between Rockville Centre and New York City was $65 a year, $30 for two months and $45 for six months.

MILESTONES  

January, 1872 - Union Free School District established

1882 - Rockville Centre Public Library founded

July 15, 1893 - Rockville Centre's first Policeman hired, Joseph Shelly, at an annual salary of $500 per year.

1895 - Municipal Water Department established

1898 - Municipal Electric Light Department established. The first electric wires strung on poles throughout the business district of the Village delivered power at night only. Residents were permitted to tap the lines to "electrify" they homes between sundown and dawn only.

1906 - New York Telephone Company opened service in Rockville Centre.