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FRANKLIN SQUARE/ELMONT ALMANAC
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FRANKLIN SQUARE HISTORY
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entrally located in what was once the large, grassy Hempstead Plains, Franklin Square was first used as grazing land, and then used as farmland after the American Revolution. The northern portion of Franklin Square — along with Elmont, Rosedale, Valley Stream, Laurelton, Springfield, Franklin Square, West Hempstead and Jamaica — was once Fosters Meadow, a German farming community.
Fosters Meadow, which was owned by the Dutch in the 1600s and purchased by Thomas and Christopher Foster in 1647, was settled by a German farming population in 1850. Farmers would transport produce from Franklin Square to New York City markets, the most well-known being Wallabout Market in Brooklyn. During the time that Fosters Meadow existed, Franklin Square's southern section was forested by Munson Oak and Dogwood woods. In the fall of 1643, the Rev. Robert Fordham and John Carman, two enterprising gentlemen, crossed Long Island Sound by rowboat to negotiate with local Indians for a tract of land to establish a new community. According to the legend, representatives of the Massapequak, Mericoke, Matinecock and Rockaway tribes met with the men at a site slightly west of the current Denton Green. The Indians sold approximately 64,000 acres, much of the present day towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead, for items worth less than $100 today. The impetus behind the name “Franklin Square,” however, remains a mystery. While some have suggested that it is named after founding father Benjamin Franklin, the statesman has no historical connection to the area. Others believe that the community was named after a local resident, but no historical records provide a name. In 1790, President George Washington made his famous tour of Long Island and passed through the town, writing in his diary that the area was “entirely treeless, except for a few scraggly fruit trees.” In the spring of 1840, future poet Walt Whitman served as the schoolmaster of the Trimming Square school district, located at the meeting point of Franklin Square, Garden City South and West Hempstead, for three months. Things were rather quiet in the farm-based hamlet until 1852, when Louis Schroerer built a hotel along the recently paved Hempstead-Jamaica Turnpike, a pay road that had a
Jina Papadpniou /Herald
Kate Mattia, left, of Kings Park; Beth Rizzo of Centereach; and Kate Cotton of Wantagh, were all smiles at the Wesley United Methodist Women’s annual Spring Tea & Boutique — a celebration of spring and spending time with friends. tollgate by what is now Arden Boulevard. With the hotel came a sense of community, as well as large numbers of visitors and immigrants, especially Germans, looking for a new life away from New York City. Monroe Street School, located on Monroe Street, was built in the early 1900s. Franklin Square gained national recognition through a financial institution which, while now defunct, left a lasting mark on the corner of James Street and Hempstead Turnpike. Originally a local bank opened in 1926, the Franklin Square National Bank would eventually become the 18th largest bank in America. After weathering the financial storm of the Great Depression, the bank bucked the trend of larger Manhattan-based banks opening branches on Long Island after World War II by opening branches in the city. Its innovative style, however, could not stop the business from becoming the largest bank failure to date in the United States in 1974. The green-topped building would soon after be known as the EAB Building, then Citibank, and now Chase. In 2004, it was named a historical landmark by the Town of Hempstead. With the help of this strong financial leader, the town saw a steady rise in population up until the 1940s. At this point, Franklin Square transformed into one of the fastest-growing areas on Long Island. Fueled by its easy access to New York City and the large number of soldiers returning home from World War II, the farms that once dominated the landscape were completely replaced by homes by 1952. Today, the 2.9-square-mile suburb remains an active community with a strong local business core and some of the most acclaimed restaurants in Nassau County.