Smithtown is a town in Suffolk County, New York, on the Northshore of Long Island. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. The population was 116,296 at the 2020 Census.
The census-designated place (CDP) of Smithtown lies within the town's borders.
History
upright=.8|left|thumb|Statue of the Smithtown Bull that Richard Smith was said to have ridden in order to claim the land that became the Town of Smithtown The land that would become the town was previously inhabited by the Nissequogue Native Americans.
Actual founding
According to local historians, the bull story is a myth.
The border between Smithtown and the town of Huntington is partially defined by Bread and Cheese Hollow Road (Suffolk County Road 4), so named after Bread and Cheese hollow, which according to legend is where Smith stopped on his ride to have a lunch of bread and cheese. The road is reputed to follow part of his original ride. The border between Smithtown and Huntington was also the site of Fort Salonga, a British fort that was the site of a battle of the American Revolution during 1781.
The Smithtown hamlet of Nesconset was the home of Spaceplex, an indoor amusement park and arcade that was falsely accused of being the abduction site in the Katie Beers kidnapping case in 1992.
350th anniversary
In 2015, the town celebrated its 350th anniversary with the unveiling of a new statue of founder Richard Smith, in front of an office building at the intersection of Main Street and Route 111.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 115,715 people, 38,487 households, and 31,482 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 39,357 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was:
- 114,817 or 99.2% mono-racial
- 110,546 or 95.51% White
- 748 or 0.65% Black or African American,
- 78 or 0.01% Native American
- 1,763 or 1.7% Asian
- 22 or less than 0.01% Pacific Islander
- 660 or 0.6% from other races
- 898 or 0.8% from two or more races.
- 3,855 or 3.3% Hispanic or Latino
There were 38,487 households, out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.6% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.2% were non-families. 15.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.28.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 1000 females age 18 and over, there were 911.2 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $100,165, and the median income for a family was $110,776.
Males had a median income of $61,348 versus $38,208 for females. The per capita income for the town was $31,401. About 2.1% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.
Ancestries: Italian (35.3%), Irish (26.0%), German (18.7%), Polish (6.9%), English (5.0%), Russian (4.1%).
Government and politics
{| style="text-align:center; float:right; font-size:85%; margin-left:2em; margin:10px;" class="wikitable"
|+Current Town Board as of January 1, 2024
!Town Clerk / Registrar
!Councilwoman
!Councilman
!Supervisor
!Councilwoman!!Councilman
!Receiver of Taxes
|-
|Thomas D. McCarthy (R)<br />since January 1, 2024
|Lynne Nowick (R)<br />since January 1, 2014
|Thomas J. McCarthy (R)<br />since January 1, 1998
|Edward Wehrheim (R)<br />since January 1, 2018
|Lisa Inzerillo<br />(R)<br />since January 1, 2015
|Thomas W. Lohmann (R)<br />since January 10, 2018
|Deanna Varricchio (R)<br />since January 1, 2002
|}
The present town hall and seat of the town was built in 1912 on Main Street in Smithtown.
In 2015 the town hall was dedicated and renamed after former Supervisor Patrick R. Vecchio.
Smithtown is led by a Town Supervisor and a four-member Town Council, elected town-wide with each serving four year terms. Elections are held in odd-numbered years, with two of the councilmembers being up for re-election each year.
The current Supervisor is Edward Wehrheim who has been Town Supervisor since 2018. His predecessor, Patrick Vecchio was in office for forty years, the longest elected town supervisor in the history of the United States. Elected as a Democrat during a special election, Vecchio switched parties in 1993 in an attempt to run for County Executive. Although defeated in the primary by Robert Gaffney, Vecchio remained a Republican until his death in 2019. He is the longest serving town supervisor in all of New York State. Vecchio ran in 2013 against former Councilman Robert Creighton, of the Conservative Party. Supervisor Vecchio won the Republican Primary against Councilman Creighton and then later defeated the Councilman in the General Election 45-30%. The Democratic candidate, Steven Snair received 25% of the vote. Councilman Creighton was later ousted in 2015 by Lisa Inzerillo. In the 2017 Republican primary, then-Councilman Ed Wehrheim received about forty votes more than Vecchio. The race was too close to call and a recount was demanded by Vecchio. Following the recount a week later, Wehrheim was declared the winner, nearly doubling his lead. Vecchio conceded the race the same day saying "“All good things come to an end." On November 7, 2017, Ed Wehrheim defeated William Holst in the election for the town's next supervisor. Wehrheim succeeded Vecchio on January 1, 2018. On January 10, 2018, Thomas Lohmann was appointed to the seat vacated by Wehrheim's election.
The Town of Smithtown has always been dominated by Republicans at all levels of government. This one-party domination has often led to infighting between factions of the Republican Party in Smithtown with the most recent between Supervisor Vecchio and Smithtown Republican Party Chairman William Ellis. In recent times the Republican party has dominated the Town Board; the last Democratic Town Supervisor being Mr. Vecchio. The most Republican areas for Smithtown are its three incorporated villages, Nissequogue, Head of the Harbor, and the Branch, along with the hamlets of Smithtown and Kings Park. The weakest areas for the Republican party in Smithtown is the edges of the Town in the hamlets of Commack and Hauppauge. In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a margin of 25 percent. Democratic County Executive Steve Bellone has won the town, in two of his three runs for that office.
In addition to presidential politics, the Town of Smithtown is also the power bases of many State and County elected officials. The former New York State Senate Majority Leader John J. Flanagan had the bulk of his district located in Smithtown. Current Republican Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr., along with his wife, Suffolk County Legislator Leslie Kennedy both reside in Nesconset.
Former Supervisor Vecchio died on April 6, 2019, at the age of 88.
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:10px;"
|+ Town of Smithtown, New York vote<br/> by party in presidential elections
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Year
! Republican
! Democratic
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2020
| style="text-align:center; |58% 42,051
| style="text-align:center; |40% 28,946
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2016
| style="text-align:center; |61% 35,931
| style="text-align:center; |36% 20,552
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2012
| style="text-align:center; |60.17% 32,549
| style="text-align:center; |39.83% 21,544
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2008
| style="text-align:center; |56.85% 34,409
| style="text-align:center; |43.15% 26,114
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2004
| style="text-align:center; |56.41% 33,686
| style="text-align:center; |43.59% 26,034
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Town of Smithtown, Supervisor election results
!Year
! colspan="2" |Candidate
!Vote
!%
|-
| rowspan="2" |2021
|(R)
|style="text-align:center; |Edward Wehrheim
|style="text-align:center; |21,095
|style="text-align:center; |73.9
|-
|(D)
|Maria Scheuring
|7,453
|26.1
|-
| rowspan="3" |2017
|(R)
|style="text-align:center; |Edward Wehrheim
|style="text-align:center; |16,268
|style="text-align:center; |56.8
|-
|(D)
|William Holst
|10,047
|35.0
|-
|(I)
|Kristen Slevin
|2,250
|8.2
|-
| rowspan="3" |2013
|(R)
|style="text-align:center; |Patrick Vecchio
|style="text-align:center; |9,507
|style="text-align:center; |45.08
|-
|(C)
|Robert Creighton
|6,366
|30.18
|-
|(D)
|Steve Snair
|5,218
|24.74
|-
| rowspan="3" |2009
|(R)
|style="text-align:center; |Patrick Vecchio
|style="text-align:center; |11,049
|style="text-align:center; |60.35
|-
|(D)
|Patricia Biancaniello
|7,051
|38.51
|-
|(WF)
|Deanna DeLieto
|208
|1.14
|-
| rowspan="3" |2005
|(R)
|style="text-align:center; |Patrick Vecchio
|style="text-align:center; |12,370
|style="text-align:center; |55.52
|-
|(D)
|William Holst
|5,981
|26.84
|-
|(I)
|Jane Conway
|3,929
|17.63
|}
Communities and locations
Villages (incorporated)
- Head of the Harbor
- Nissequogue
- Village of the Branch
- Village of the Landing (former; dissolved 1939)
Hamlets (unincorporated)
- Commack (in part, with the Town of Huntington)
- Fort Salonga (in part, with the Town of Huntington)
- Hauppauge (in part, with the Town of Islip)
- Kings Park
- Lake Ronkonkoma (in part with the Town of Brookhaven and Town of Islip)
- Nesconset
- Smithtown
- St. James
The now-defunct hamlet of Flowerfield is also listed in the official New York State Gazetteer, maintained and published by the New York State Department of Health, which includes numerous defunct hamlets and towns, some with alternate or archaic spellings.
Other communities
- North Smithtown
- San Remo
- Smithtown Pines
State parks
- Caleb Smith State Park Preserve, a state park southwest of Smithtown village
- Sunken Meadow State Park
- Nissequogue River State Park
- Blydenburgh Park Historic District
Media and culture
thumb|right|Smithtown Performing Arts Center
Smithtown broadcasts its board meetings on SGTV, the Town of Smithtown's public service television station; Optimum channel 18 or Verizon Fios channel 27. The Times of Smithtown newspaper carries community-based articles.
The Smithtown Performing Arts Center is a theater at 2 East Main Street. In 2022 the building was purchased by the nonprofit Smithtown Performing Arts Council, which programs a variety of live entertainment and community events including musicals, plays, music, comedy, educational classes. and summer camps.
Emergency services
Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services are provided by the seven Volunteer Fire Departments, and two Volunteer Ambulance Corps that cover parts of the Township. The Smithtown, Kings Park, Saint James, Nesconset, and Nissequogue Fire Departments provide both Fire Protection, as well as Emergency Medical Services to their districts. The Commack Fire Department and Commack Volunteer Ambulance Corps provide coverage for the Commack hamlet, which is divided between the Town of Smithtown, and the Town of Huntington. The Hauppauge Volunteer Fire Department and Central Islip-Hauppauge Volunteer Ambulance Corps provide coverage to the Hauppauge hamlet, which is divided between the Town of Smithtown, and the Town of Islip.
Smithtown is policed by the 4th Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department. The Suffolk County Police are the primary law enforcement agency in Smithtown. They are responsible for responding to all 911 emergency calls. The Smithtown Department of Public Safety is an agency with limited powers. The Park Ranger Division is made up peace officers as defined in the Criminal Procedural Law of the state of New York. Their enforcement powers are limited to Smithtown town property. The Department of Public Safety also has a Harbor Master division and Fire Marshall division.
Emergency medical care can be found at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, located in Smithtown, as well as the nearby Stony Brook University Hospital, located in Stony Brook, in the neighboring Town of Brookhaven.
Transportation
Railroad lines
The Town of Smithtown is also home to the Kings Park, Smithtown, and Saint James stations of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Jefferson Branch.
Bus service
The Town of Smithtown is served entirely by Suffolk County Transit bus routes.
Elementary schools
- Accompsett Elementary School
- Branch Brook Elementary School (Closed)
- Dogwood Elementary School
- Mills Pond Elementary School
- Mt. Pleasant Elementary School
- Nesconset Elementary School (Closed)
- Smithtown Elementary School
- St. James Elementary School
- Tackan Elementary School
Middle schools
- Accompsett Middle School (formerly Smithtown High School Freshman Campus 1992–2005)
- Great Hollow Middle School
- Nesaquake Middle school
Smithtown High School
- Eastern Campus (formerly Smithtown Central High School, 1960s–1973; formerly Smithtown High School East, 1973–1992; formerly Smithtown Middle School, 1992–2005) - located in St. James
- The High School's Eastern Campus is composed of graduates of Nesaquake Middle School and those graduates of Great Hollow Middle School that reside in the Tackan and Mills Pond Elementary area.
thumb|Smithtown High School West
- Western Campus (formerly Smithtown High School West, 1973–1992; formerly Smithtown High School 10-12 Building, 1992–2005) - located in south of the Kings Park Hamlet and west of the Smithtown Bull
- The High School's Western Campus is composed of graduates of Accompsett Middle School and those graduates of Great Hollow Middle School that reside in the Mt. Pleasant Elementary area.
Private schools
- Smithtown Christian School (pre-school to twelfth grade)
- St. Patrick School
Former schools (No longer used as K-12 Facilities)
- New York Avenue Junior High School- (now the Joseph M. Barton/New York Avenue Building) Currently the central office and headquarters of Smithtown Central School District
- Smithtown Branch High School- Smithtown High School before the opening of Smithtown Central High School in the 1960s
Notable people
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- Mose Allison, American jazz and blues pianist, singer and songwriter
- Cooper Andrews, actor
- Craig Biggio, former Major League baseball player
- Frank Catalanotto, former Major League baseball player
- Adam Conover, American comedian, actor, and writer
- Dan Corbett, weather broadcaster for the BBC
- Bob Costas, American sportscaster
- John Curtis, American baseball player
- Amanda Daflos, American political figure
- John Daly, Olympic athlete
- David DiVona, musician and television personality
- Michael J. Epstein, filmmaker, musician, artist, and writer
- Nick Fanti, professional baseball player
- Brian Fitzpatrick, professional baseball player
- Mick Foley, former pro wrestler and author
- Eliot Glazer, comedian and actor
- Ilana Glazer, actress and comedian (Broad City)
- Andrew Gross, noted author
- John Hampson, Nine Days lead vocalist
- Emily Hart, American actress (younger sister of Melissa Joan Hart)
- Melissa Joan Hart, American actress (elder sister of Emily Hart)
- Jodi Hauptman, Senior Curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; organizer of landmark exhibitions Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs and Georges Seurat - The Drawings
- Andrew Hauptman, businessman and owner of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club
- Eddie Hayes, celebrated attorney, bon vivant, and memoirist
- Chris Higgins, National Hockey League player
- Kevin Killian, poet, author, and playwright
- Keith Law, sportswriter and blogger
- Fredric Lebow, screenwriter
- Curtis Lepore, Internet personality
- Andrew Levy, publicist and co-host of Fox News' Red Eye
- Lori Loughlin, actress
- Brendan Martin, distance runner
- Lynn Martin, 68th president of the New York Stock Exchange
- Jim Mecir, Major League baseball player
- John Miceli, drummer for Meat Loaf
- Michael P. Murphy, Medal of Honor recipient, KIA in Operation Red Wings
- Soledad O'Brien, Chairwoman of Starfish Media Group; former CNN News anchor
- Kyle Palmieri, National Hockey League player
- Cubby Broccoli, Producer James Bond series of films
- John Petrucci, Dream Theater guitarist
- Jodi Picoult, novelist
- Stephen Rannazzisi, American actor
- Jai Rodriguez, Queer Eye and Broadway actor
- Scott Snyder, comic book writer and author
- Kevin Thoms, American actor
- Jeremy Wall, founding pianist of the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra
- William Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts (1991–1997)
- William H. Wickham, 81st Mayor of New York City
- Matt Yallof, SNY sports broadcaster
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Smithtown (town), New York
References
</references>
External links
- Smithtown Central School District Website
- Town of Smithtown, NY
- Smithtown history
- Bullrider Smith's Bull "Whisper" Historic photos of Smithfield
- Kings Park Chamber of Commerce
- Smithtown Government Television