Everywhere you look in the village, there’s history

We’re occasionally asked by village residents to research their home, or help them research their home, to learn more about the genesis of their house or their neighborhood. Researching information from 100 years ago or more can be challenging, but if you know some tricks, the path to gathering the information can be easier.

One of our resident researchers, Alene Scoblete, will present a virtual program next month: “Is Your Home Historic? Gathering Research on Your Nassau County Home.”

Alene is great at this type of research, and is eager to share her knowledge. The program will be presented on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. Please visit our website, rvchs.com, for more information and registration.

Research previously completed by Alene and others turned up some interesting information about one of the more prominent families in Rockville Centre that was important to the growth of the area — the DeMott Family. The DeMotts were highly successful farmers and mill owners, and had significant land holdings in the area. At one time, their property stretched from the pond — Smith’s Pond — and Merrick Road as far north as what is now the Southern State Parkway and east to what became Grand Avenue in Baldwin.

Smith’s Pond was previously known as DeMott’s Pond, because the DeMotts’ mill was built on it. The mill is long gone now, but the house they built in 1747 still remains, at 664 Hempstead Ave., at Cash Lane. It is generally considered the oldest home in Rockville Centre.

The DeMotts not only owned most of the land in the village until the late 1800s, but they also began developing many buildings downtown at the turn of the century, including the original village library and the Bank of Rockville Centre, on Village Avenue. The bank and library were demolished in the 1960s, when the Chase bank was built between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road. This building still remains, at 75 N. Village Ave.

In 1901, Daniel DeMott built his residence down the “block,” at 592 Hempstead Ave. Born in 1858 in the DeMott house on Hempstead Avenue, Daniel was the seventh generation of DeMotts in the village. He inherited the 200-acre farm the family had worked for generations. By 1915 he had begun selling parts of the farm to real estate developers, but the house he built for his second wife and seven children still stands today.

Here’s a quick hit on Rockville Centre then and now: Next time you’re at HomeGoods, think back to the beautiful Wright estate and the family that once owned the property on the corner of North Village and Randall Avenue. Maria and Samuel Wright built the home around 1877, before the 1893 incorporation of RVC. They had 13 children between 1868 and 1890, and all of them were raised here. The most prominent was Edwin, a longtime attorney in town, treasurer of the school board, a real estate developer and eventually the mayor, from 1917 to 1918.

Across the street was Wright’s Pond, today St. Agnes’s parking lot. It was owned by the family, and was a popular ice-skating spot for local kids. Sadly, the home was demolished in 1952.

For the stories above and better context, you can find accompanying photos on our website.

We have some great programs coming up this fall in addition to Alene’s. Come join us. The Historical Society will offer four fall programs:

Is Your Home Historic? Gathering Research on Your Nassau County Home. Sept. 25, 7 p.m., presented virtually by Alene.

Long Island Author Series. Tim Keough, author and assistant history professor at CUNY: In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb. Oct. 8, 7 p.m., Phillips House Museum.

The Nuts & Bolts of Historic Preservation. Oct. 23, 7 p.m., Phillips House Museum.
Long Island Author Series. Dr. Paul van Wie, history professor at Molloy University and editor of “The Natural and Human History of the Hempstead Plains,” will speak about ecology and historic events that occurred on the Hempstead Plains, an area that covered 40,000 acres of Nassau County. Nov. 7, time TBD, Phillips House Museum.

Please visit our website, email us at rvchistoricalsociety@gmail.com or call (516) 670-5737 for more information about these programs and other upcoming events.

Jim Belling is a member of the board of trustees of the Phillips House Museum and the Rockville Centre Historical Society.