Yaphank, New York

Yaphank (/ˈjæpæŋk/) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,945 at the time of the 2010 census.[4]

Yaphank, New York
Hamlet and census-designated place
The historic Swezey-Avey House on the southeast bank of Upper Yaphank Lake
U.S. Census map
Yaphank
Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 40°50′7″N 72°55′45″W
CountryUnited States
StateNew York
CountySuffolk
Area
 • Total13.8 sq mi (35.7 km2)
 • Land13.7 sq mi (35.4 km2)
 • Water0.1 sq mi (0.3 km2)
Elevation
43 ft (13 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total5,945
 • Density430/sq mi (170/km2)
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
ZIP code
11980
Area code(s)631
FIPS code36-83426[1]
GNIS feature ID0971807[2]
[3]

Yaphank is located in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven. It is served by the Longwood Central School District, except for extreme southwestern Yaphank, which is served by the South Country Central School District.

History

Captain Robert Robinson came to Yaphank and built his Dutch Colonial house with the building dated at 1726. He was then granted permission to dam the Carmans River to build a mill across the street from his house. The construction of this mill in 1739 was considered the founding date of the Hamlet of Yaphank.[5]

In the mid 18th century, a man named John Homan built two mills along the Carmans River, which runs directly through the center of the town. These two mills inspired the first name for the town: Millville. The translator/author Mary Louise Booth was born in Millville in 1831. In 1846 a post office was opened in the town, but because there were thirteen other towns named "Millville" in New York state at the time, the town was renamed "Yaphank", from the local Native American word Yamphanke, meaning "bank of a river".

In 1843 the Long Island Rail Road built a railroad station in Yaphank (still named Millville at the time), and virtually overnight the small mill town became a major commercial center. By 1875, Yaphank had two grist mills, two lumber mills, two blacksmith shops, a printing office, an upholstery shop, a stagecoach line, two physicians, a shoe shop, two wheelwright shops, a meat market, a dressmaker and a general store.

Today, Yaphank is home to about half of those industries. The grist mills, blacksmith, physician, shoe shop, wheelwright shops, meat markets and the dressmakers are long gone, although the rail road station is still there, along with the general stores.

Today, Yaphank holds three delis, one pizza shop, a shooting supply company, a skeet range, a bank, and a house moving company.

Yaphank was the home of Camp Upton, which was used as a boot camp in 1917. In 1947, the U.S. Department of War transferred the Camp Upton site to the Atomic Energy Commission, and it now serves as the home of Brookhaven National Laboratory. Before the end of World War I, more than 30,000 men received their basic training there, including songwriter Irving Berlin. It was there that Berlin composed the musical comedy revue Yip Yip Yaphank, which had a brief run on Broadway, and wrote the patriotic tune "God Bless America".

A number of Suffolk County facilities are located in Yaphank, including Suffolk County Police Department headquarters, the county fire academy, and the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center, which offers a glimpse into the workings of an authentic 100+ year old farm and educational programs by Cornell Cooperative Extension.

A quarter horse racing facility named Parr Meadows operated in Yaphank in 1977. The racetrack reopened in 1986 for a single meet, then called Suffolk Meadows. In 1979, Parr Meadows served as the venue of a tenth anniversary reunion concert that featured many of the original performers from the Woodstock Festival.

Camp Siegfried
Main article: Camp Siegfried

Yaphank was also home to Camp Siegfried, a summer camp which taught Nazi ideology.[6][7][8] It was owned by the German American Bund, an American Nazi organization devoted to promoting a favorable view of Nazi Germany, and operated by the German American Settlement League (GASL). Camp Siegfried was one of many such camps in the US in the 1930s, including Camp Hindenburg in Grafton, Wisconsin,[9] Camp Nordland in Andover, New Jersey,[10][11] and Deutschhorst Country Club in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.[12]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 13.8 square miles (35.7 km2), of which 13.7 square miles (35.4 km2) is land and 0.12 square miles (0.3 km2), or 0.89%, is water.[4]

Demographics of the CDP

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 5,025 people, 1,566 households, and 1,130 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 359.5 per square mile (138.8/km2). There were 1,650 housing units at an average density of 118.0/sq mi (45.6/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 85.11% White, 11.22% African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.94% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.34% of the population.

There were 1,566 households, out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.8% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 34.6% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $70,534, and the median income for a family was $72,348. Males had a median income of $48,807 versus $35,406 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $25,020. About 3.3% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people
  • Fred Hembeck (born 1953) - comic book writer and illustrator
gollark: What?
gollark: What next? 🍇 memes?
gollark: https://i.ibb.co/hDckj17/God-Eating-Penguin.jpg
gollark: So all purported *recent* Dres landings are actually from Gilly.
gollark: My view is that Dres *did* exist, but it was so amazing and great that it was destroyed by too many space missions running all its mass through ISRUs.

See also

References
  1. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  2. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  3. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  4. "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Yaphank CDP, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
  5. "An Old House – An Unusual House Guest" Yaphank Historical Society
  6. Shaffer, Ryan (Spring 2010). "Long Island Nazis: A Local Synthesis of Transnational Politics". Long Island History Journal. 21 (2). ISSN 0898-7084. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  7. Neuss, Gustave (November 2002). "The German American Bund". Longwood's Journey. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  8. Miller, Marvin D (1983). Wunderlich's Salute: The Interrelationship of the German-American Bund, Camp Siegfried, Yaphank, Long Island, and the Young Siegfrieds and Their Relationship with American and Nazi Institutions. Malamud Rose Pubns. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-9610466-0-6.
  9. Van Ells, Mark D. (2007). "Americans for Hitler". America in World War 2. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  10. Staff (1938). "American Nazis in the 1930s". Click Magazine. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  11. Grover, Warren (2003). Nazis in Newark. Transaction Publishers. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-7658-0516-4.
  12. "German-American Bund". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
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