For Immediate Release Contact: Collin Nash
September 28, 2009 (516) 869 7794
North Hempstead Day
Celebrating the Historic Origins of our Town
North Hempstead. NY—Dressed in 1900s Edwardian attire, Supervisor Jon Kaiman, the Town Council and the Town Clerk took a rapt audience of third and fourth-graders back to September 23, 1775 when North Hempstead separated from the Town of Hempstead.
“We are not only reenacting history here today, but as leaders in government, we also are shaping North Hempstead’s history which is being documented and recorded so that you, our future leaders will have a map of where we’ve been and a better understanding of where we need to go,” Supervisor Jon Kaiman, dressed as former Town Supervisor Phillip J. Christ, told some 300 cheering fourth and fifth graders.
As part of the annual North Hempstead Day celebrations, the reenactment of North Hempstead’s split from the Town of Hempstead in front of the students from Manor Oaks School in New Hyde Park and E.M. Baker School in Great Neck was the backdrop for a fun-filled day of activities, entertainment and education.
As history tells it, a group of patriots living in the northern section of the town gathered in Cow Neck—modern day Port Washington—and declared their allegiance to the revolutionary cause by formally separating from the town of Hempstead, which was predominantly loyal to England.
“There are many things you can learn from yesterday,” Town Clerk Leslie Gross, characterizing Elizabeth Mellick Baker—named for the school—told the students, who earlier paraded up Memorial Place to the gazebo inside Mary Jane Davies Park waving red, white and blue pompoms. “But you should look to the future because you are indeed the future.”
The day’s events fast forwarded to 1907-1909 when Teddy Roosevelt, portrayed by Sea Cliff resident James Foote, was president and North Hempstead Town Hall was built. It concluded with a mock town board meeting in Town Hall’s board room where students portrayed elected officials and created legislation for the Town.
E. M. Baker fourth-grade teacher Malissa Kiernan lauded North Hempstead Day as an invaluable teaching tool.
“It’s a great experience for the kids to be able to get as close to the real thing as possible,” she said.
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