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Living In Oceanside/IslandPark
Oceanside
www.liherald.com
HISTORICAL TIMELINE continued from previous page
•1972
•1951
The Oceanside Knights of Columbus is founded.
•1952
Temple Avodah is founded.
•1954
The Lincoln Shopping Center opens, featuring a Woolworth’s, a Food Fair and a National Shoes.
•1959
Murray Handwerker turns the Roadside Rest Property on Long Beach Road, which had grown to become a major local eatery, into the country’s first Nathan’s Famous hotdog outside of Coney Island.
•1961
The Town of Hempstead builds the first garbage incinerator power plant in the country next to the landfill on Long Beach Road.
•1970
Roughly 200 Oceanside High School students boycott their graduation in opposition to the Vietnam War.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation declares shellfishing in the area illegal, putting a definitive end to Oceanside’s oyster industry.
•1973
A census reveals that Oceanside’s population had leveled off at around 42,000.
•1988 •1955
The Oceanside School District dedicates its current high school on Skillman Avenue.
The 180-foot landfill on Long Beach Road is closed.
•2001
Oceanside students open a time capsule buried in celebration of America’s bicentennial in 1976.
•1960
St. Anthony’s underground shrine to the Virgin Mary burns down in a fire caused by a short circuit in its electrical organ.
•1970
The first St. Anthony’s Feast is held.
•2014
In response to a slump in business, Nathan’s moves to a smaller location on Long Beach Road.
•2018
In December, South Nassau Communities Hospital merges with the Mount Sinai Health System, making it the Long Island flagship hospital in the Mt. Sinai network, which is based in New York City.
•1997
Chwatsky’s, a prominent department store in Oceanside, closes.
•2012
Hurricane Sandy devastates the area, displacing hundreds of residents.
•2017
Costco, a wholesale warehouse, opens in Oceanside.
•2020
Oceanside was hit with the coronavirus pandemic..
Courtesy of Richard Woods
Oceanside cheerleader Joe DeBaun is credited with coining the name for Oceanside’s sports teams: the Sailors. He graduated from Oceanside High School in 1938.
