Babylon (village), New York
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Babylon is a village located in Suffolk County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 12,615.
Its official name is The Incorporated Village of Babylon. It is commonly referred to as Babylon Village, to distinguish it from the Town of Babylon, of which it is a part.
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History
It was once known as South Huntington (or Huntington South). Lightly settled from the 17th century, its main industry, in common with much of the area along Great South Bay and South Oyster Bay (both actually lagoons), was the harvesting of salt hay, which was used as cattle feed and bedding.
When a coherent community grew up in the area by 1803, prominent local citizens sought to adopt a new name. An influential local lady, Mrs. Conklin, proposed that the new hamlet be named Babylon, which appalled several other notables, who questioned why she should choose such an "unholy" name. In a spirit of apparent defiance of the area's rather bawdy reputation as a stop-over place for travellers on Long Island's south shore, she is said to have proclaimed: "it will be a new Babylon." The name stuck, despite some effort to change it.
Railroads and Fire Island Gateway
In 1865, Babylon became a major station and division point for the South Side Rail Road, later acquired by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). For a brief period, Babylon had another railroad terminal, that of the Central Railroad of Long Island, closer to the shore. Both of these lines still run as part of the LIRR, though the CRRLI soon gave up its own station and moved into the LIRR's.
Babylon soon became the primary gateway to the nearby barrier beaches, including Fire Island, a position it held until the building of the current causeway allowing automobile access to the beaches nearest the Babylon shore. Beachgoers arriving by train or coach, or staying at local hotels typically took the Babylon Railroad, originally a horsecar line and later a trolley, to the Babylon Dock for ferries to Oak Beach and Fire Island destinations.
The Argyle Hotel
In 1882, August Belmont, the LIRR and resort entrepreneur, eyed the attractive Blythebourne Lake at the western side of the village as the location for a grand hotel. He built the Argyle Hotel near the northwestern corner of the lake, as well as a dozen free-standing cottages and also renamed the lake Argyle Lake after the town's aristocrat, the Duke of Argyle, to give it a more genteel English flavor.
This proved a bad venture: it was near the end of the era of such projects, it was built much too large with 350 rooms, and so was rarely more than one-third filled. After about a decade of disuse, it was finally torn down, some of the structure being used to build homes west of the lake in the area now known as Argyle Park.
The lake itself and its immediate surrounding land, including decorative waterfalls, were donated to the village during he 1920s for passive recreation, a use for which it still popular, drawing substantial numbers of visitors from outside the community for fishing, strolling, the children's playground and especially for weddings, since the waterfalls make an attractive setting for picture-taking.
Baseball and African-American history
Many of the black service personnel of the Argyle Hotel formed a baseball team, the Babylon Black Panthers, said to be the first black professional baseball team. The team so dominated local white teams that it played against that Walter Cook, a New Jersey promoter, put up the money to have them travel and play as the "Cuban Giants." Caling black ballplayers (or ballplayers in "white" professional clubs in that era who seemed too dark to be caucasian) "Cuban" was a common practice through World War II. There were no Cubans in the Cuban Giants.
The team went on to become the "world colored champions" of 1887 and 1888, and spawned immitators.
Babylon Village today has three baseball fields for the high school, little league and adult play, and the high school team is named the Babylon Panthers. The village also has one of Long Island's older continuous African-American communities, of which the employees of the Argyle are said to have formed the core. This community still maintains two of the village's 12 churches, the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, both on Cooper Street.
Incorporation
In 1891, the hamlet of Babylon incorporated as a village, gaining a municipal government with an elected mayor and other officials. This proved important in the revival of the community nearly a century later.
In 1925, the LIRR extended electric train service to Babylon, where it still ends today. This establshed Babylon as a major commuter town, though it did drive out most of the existing inhabitants.
Among the celebrities of who have called Babylon home is planner Robert Moses, actor Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo), and Bret Saberhagen of the Mets. Derek Jeter was even spotted in Babylon Village when he was interested in purchasing Bret Saberhagen's former home on Penisula Boulevard.
Current village
Babylon today is part suburban bedroom community, part small-town, and has a substantial shopping and business district. It is situated between Lindenhurst-West Babylon and West Islip.
Today the village is best known for its restaurants and shops, and hosts shopping events during the fall as well as a popular crafts fair.
A statue of Robert Moses was erected in front of the Village Hall on Main Street (Montauk Highway) in 2003.
South of Main Street (Montauk Highway) lies the highly affluent and estate-like houses which was home to a few celebrities in the past thirty years.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 7.1 km² (2.8 mi²). 6.2 km² (2.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 12.32% water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 12,615 people, 4,554 households, and 3,324 families residing in the village. The population density is 2,021.0/km² (5,226.6/mi²). There are 4,680 housing units at an average density of 749.8/km² (1,939.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the village is 92.46% White, 2.69% Black or African American, 0.10% Native American, 1.45% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.49% from other races, and 1.80% from two or more races. 5.11% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 4,554 households out of which 35.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.6% are married couples living together, 9.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% are non-families. 21.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.71 and the average family size is 3.20.
In the village the population is spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.9 males.
The median income for a household in the village is $69,767, and the median income for a family is $78,814. Males have a median income of $58,059 versus $38,770 for females. The per capita income for the village is $30,846. 4.1% of the population and 2.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 2.9% of those under the age of 18 and 7.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.