Imaginary Towns on Long Island /Real or Fancied/Town vs Area...You Decide. (Hempstead: malls, estate)

[S.I.B.]

The hamlet is basically to a town as a neighborhood is to city - except whereas the boundaries of city neighborhoods are often times nothing more than colloqial, the boundaries of hamlets are almost always specific and legally defined by the Town or County. There are no governmental functions at the hamlet level - things like School Districts, Water Districts, etc. fall into a totally different layer of local government known as "special districts" and aren't related to the boundaries or governental bodies of counties, towns, villages or hamlets whatsoever. Likewise, post offices are a FEDERAL level of government and simply cover an assigned service area much like the special districts..

if there aren't any government functions, then why do they exist? Not pressing you for an answer...it just seems so uncesscary.

It would be much simpler if everyone went by their mailing address. Does anyone know where the USPS came up with mailing addresses to begin with? Is it possible that they went along with the orginal "hamlets" way back when, and never updated people's addresses once newer (and more obscure ones) were created?

[Walter Greenspan]

S.I.B., according to Rufus B. Langhans, the long-time Town of Huntington historian before his passing, hamlets borders are, generally speaking, the borders of the original school districts, prior to the formation of union free and central school districts, when most school districts were common school districts:

Common school districts are not authorized to operate high schools. They must, therefore, contract with neighboring school districts to provide secondary education for pupils in the district. This is the oldest type of district, and was quite common in the 20th century. Common school districts are governed by either a sole trustee or a board of trustees comprising three members.

Meanwhile, the USPS created postal zones, now known as ZIP Code postal zones, for the delivery of the mail, and, while they assigned a name of a city, village or hamlets to these postal zones, they made no real effort to align the borders of the postal zones to the communities whose name they "share". Hence, we have a situation where the majority of places on LI, as well as in New York State and the U.S., as a whole, have a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

if there aren't any government functions, then why do they exist? Not pressing you for an answer...it just seems so uncesscary.

It would be much simpler if everyone went by their mailing address. Does anyone know where the USPS came up with mailing addresses to begin with? Is it possible that they went along with the orginal "hamlets" way back when, and never updated people's addresses once newer (and more obscure ones) were created?

They have to exist to differentiate between incorporated and unincorporated sections of towns. The one governmental "function" hamlets have, if you want to call it that, is to serve as a statistical area for the census. When you look up stats like what ethnicity is prevalent in an area or what the population density is - that data is compiled from hamlet borders, not mailing addresses. At the federal level (census bureau) hamlets are called Census-Designated Places, but it means the same exact thing and they have the same exact boundaries.....it's just for the sake of unification on a national level. To further complicate things, all hamlets on LI are CDPs - however most upstate hamlets are not, they'll just get included in the larger towns they're part of, because most of the time the population isn't large enough to warrant it's own subcategory.

I actually think it'd be simpler if people were more familiar with the current system, maybe if they taught it in schools. It's only complicated when you first think about it, once you know how it works everything makes sense. Having people generally unfamiliar with the correct geography leads to strange geographic divisions being invented....like "oh, I live in Lindenhurst - but not in the village". If you live in "Lindenhurst" but not in the Village of Lindenhurst.....you don't live in Lindenhurst!

BTW for anyone who joined this thread late, there are maps posted of every single Nassau & Suffolk County town/city/village/hamlet earlier in this thread, just check back a few pages.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

...the USPS created postal zones, now known as ZIP Code postal zones, for the delivery of the mail, and, they made no real effort to align the borders of the postal zones to the communities whose name they "share". Hence, we have a situation where the majority of places on LI, as well as in New York State and the U.S., as a whole, have a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.

How true! And how interesting
When I first moved to my house in Cold Spring Harbor, I had a "Huntington" mailing address, which seemed very odd at the time. A few years later, one of my neighbors petitioned to have our neighborhood changed to a "Cold Spring Harbor" mailing address and it was approved. A lot of big shots lived on my street LOL...
Later, in a chance conversation with one of the postal employees at the CSH Post Office, I found out that as a result of that decision, they actually had to hire another Mail carrier. Just a little trivia...

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti

When I first moved to my house in Cold Spring Harbor, I had a "Huntington" mailing address, which seemed very odd at the time. A few years later, one of my neighbors petitioned to have our neighborhood changed to a "Cold Spring Harbor" mailing address and it was approved. A lot of big shots lived on my street LOL...

As occurs in every one of Suffolk County's 157 communities (0 cities, 32 villages and 125 hamlets), the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor has a different border than does the "Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor):

The "Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724" ZIP Code postal zone includes areas in the Village of Lloyd Harbor and the Hamlet of West Hills in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County as well as parts of the Village of Laurel Hollow in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County. (The world-famous Cold Spring Harbor Lab is actually in the Village of Laurel Hollow in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County and not in the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County.)

[omigawd]

Wheatley Heights ---- For those who live in Wyandanch, have a Wyandanch zip code, but don't want to be associated with Wyandanch. (they will even sometimes refer to their location as Dix Hills)

[Walter Greenspan]

Thanks to SeanX4, we know that the Green Acres Mall is in South Valley Stream ("Valley Stream, NY 11581" mailing address), and that means that all 3 major Nassau County malls are NOT in the community whose name is in that mall's mailing address:

Green Acres Mall, South Valley Stream ("Valley Stream, NY 11581" mailing address)

Roosevelt Field Mall, East Garden City ("Garden City, NY 11530" mailing address)

Sunrise Mall, East Massapequa ("Massapequa, NY 11758" mailing address)

[kiwi80]

Originally Posted by Cindy15161

What about west Sayville?

I live here now, and we have our own zip code 11796

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by kiwi80

I live here now, and we have our own zip code 11796 :)

However, kiwi80, having a "West Sayville, NY 11796" mailing address is not a guarantee that a place is actually in the Hamlet of West Sayville: there are places that have a "West Sayville, NY 11796" mailing address that are in the Hamlet of Oakdale and the Hamlet of Sayville; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of West Sayville that have an "Oakdale, NY 11769" and "Sayville, NY 11782" mailing address.

[kiwi80]

Whhaa?

West Sayville is located at 40°43′54″N 73°6′18″W / 40.73167, -73.105 (40.731594, -73.105116)[3].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.8 km²), of which, 1.9 square miles (4.8 km²) of it is land and 0.54% is water.
The community is located next to the Great South Bay.

I know I live in west sayville. My point is it exists.