{ title: 'Bellmore life. (Bellmore, N.Y.) 1964-2013, November 11, 1964, Page 14, Image 14', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn90066174/1964-11-11/ed-1/seq-14/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn90066174/1964-11-11/ed-1/seq-14.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn90066174/1964-11-11/ed-1/seq-14/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn90066174/1964-11-11/ed-1/seq-14/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Bellmore Memorial Library
... Pagel4 BELLMORE LIFE Wednesday, November 11, 1964 What Are The Bellmores? Some Facts About Our Community by Trudi Cowan Looking around at the split levels, tri-levels, raised-ranches, flat-ranches, flocks of TV antennas and new cars on the streets, a resident of the Bellmores might find it hard to believe that his community will celebrate its 315th birthday next year. The Bellmores are believed to have been settled in about 1650, only 30 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, by Quaker and Dutch families who bought land from the Indians, and proceeded to build small wooden homes that might these days be adverti zed as \quaint single-levels.\ Like so many of the settlers who followed them, these first \Bellmorites\ may well have selected the area be- cause of its proximity to the water and \plenty of space for the children to play'' - perhaps just far enough away from th~ busy city life of New Amsterdam. The population grew to 1000 1n 1921 but by postwar 1952, it was exceeding 17,000. As of rbe first of this year the pop- ulation of Bellmore is 13,811 and North Bellmore has 22,643 or a total of 36 ,454, according to the L.I. Lighting Company's population survey. \Distinctive\ Name On ce known as LiitUe Neck be- cause it was located on East Bay, then as Newbridge and Smithville South (changed in 1921 to North Bellmore), the name \Bellmore\ came into being at the turn of the century, having been selected by the townspeople \because It was distinctive.'' It is certainly a distinctive nam e , since the only other \Bellmore\ in the entire world is a town Jn Indiana with a population of 120 - unles s you wish to count \Belmorskl\ in the U.S.S.R.! The Bellmores today are an unincorporated pan of the Town- ship of Hempstead, although as far back as 1929, the Bellmore Board of Trade seriously con- sidered becoming an incor- porated village because of dif- ficulties in obtaining public util- ities and roads. Many \Firsts\ In the years since its christ- ening, Bellmore has lived up to its di stinctiveness more than once. It was the first com- munity east of Freeport to es- tablish a bank, a movie house, a district-owned firehouse, and a parochial school (St. Barnabas). One of the first 50,000 wan transmitters in the world was built on Maple Avenue in the 1920's by NBC. And tile first supervising district superinten- dent Jn the Town of Hempstead was W .C. Mepham for whom the high school was named. But as far back as the Amer- ican Revolution, tile Presbyterian Cllurch was established, !laving been built in 1777, and as long ago as 1820, children in the North end of town were att ending a tiny one-room schoolhouse . Today, the communities lO· gether contain nine elemenrarv schools which enrolled 6~144 children this year. Bellmore and North Bellmore comprise haif of Central High School Dis- trict #3, encompassing three high schools and four Junior High Schools. Mepham High School is near the border between North Bellmore and North Merrick, and the new John F. Kennedy High School is now beJng erected in Bellmore. Jersualem Avenue Jr. High School is in North Bell- more, and Grand Avenue Jr. High School borders Bellmore and Merrick. There are North Bell- more children enrolled in the new Brookside Jr. High School in North Merrick a s well. No Dividing Line On the south, the Bellmores are bounded by Great South Bay, and on the north, by North Jer- usalem Road, dividing the Bell- mores from East Meadow. The almost invisible demarcation be- tween Bellmore and North Bell- more is Beltagh A venue. The two Bellmores have separate sc hool and library districts, fire districts, and garbage districts. However, Nor l h BellmorE' com m u t e r s go into Bell~ more to catch their daily trains, and Bellmore drivers goto Nonh Bellmore to enter Southern State Parkway. When Bellmore ladie s shop \uptown\ they go to North Bellmore. When North Bellmore ladies shop \downtown'' they go to Bellmore. Both Bellmore and North Bellmore families go \south\ co the new Newbridge Road Parle, located south of Sun- rise Highway in the rapidly- being-developed shore area of the Belimores. There are also families with Merrick, Wantagh and North Merrick mailing ad- dresses whose children are in Bellmore's school district #7 or North Bellmore's district #4. Legally, Bellmore is not a town, not a city, not a village. lt was, in fact, characterized re- cently by a 16-year resident as \really a state of mind.'' A growing Community in the last ten years, Bell- more and North Bellmore both have built new post offices, new public libraries, as well as new schools. They now boast four banks, ten churches, and three synagogues. Residents to d a y have their choice of clubs and organizations tO take weight off, arrange floweres, bowl, sing, play music, discuss great books or politics, traipse through an galleries, or argue the fine points of philately. And today's shop - ping centers provide just about every item necessary to the lo- cal .homeowner including enough Pizza restaurant s to keep every resident happy and well-fed every Saturday night for the next 315 years I TREES AND FIELDS make this aerial view ot North Bellmore in the 1940's look a lot different from the Bellmore we know today. From the Quick collection of Bellmore historical photos. OLD CHURCH IN BELLMORE. Presbyterian Church on Bellmore Avenue established in 1 777 . THE LOOK OF BELLMORE TODAY. Children frolic in the sand piles sllbouelte against the scores of new houses under construction that dot the landscape of South Bellmore. Lewis and Karen Silver, far left and far right, of 2833 Bellmore A venue, play with their friends Gwen and Sherry Bernstein, 282 1 Bellmore Avenue • ellmore Railroa
