Piercings in New Hyde Park

Thomas Dongan, the fourth royal governor of New York, was granted an 800-acre parcel of land in 1683 that included New Hyde Park. It was known as “Dongan’s Farm.” Dongan built a mansion on what is now Lakeville Road. In 1691 Dongan fled to New England and then Ireland, as King James II and his Catholic forces failed to regain power in England and Ireland.

In 1715, Dongan’s estate was sold to George Clarke (who was Secretary of the Province of New York). He named it Hyde Park in honor of his wife, Ann Hyde. Clarke sold the property in 1783 and in the early 19th century it was parceled up and sold as farm land. Raising cattle was a chief agricultural enterprise from Dongan’s time until the mid-19th century, when cattle farming in the expanding American West forced the farmers into other pursuits.

When a post office opened in 1871, the name was changed from Hyde Park to New Hyde Park to avoid confusion with the Hyde Park in the Hudson Valley.