Islip, New York, United States

🇺🇸 Islip is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Located on the south shore of Long Island, the town is the fourth most populous City or Town in the state. The Town of Islip also contains a smaller, unincorporated hamlet and place named Islip.

History Matthias Nicoll relocated to New York from Islip, Northamptonshire, England, in 1664. His son, William Nicoll, became a royal patentee of the east end of what is now the Town of Islip, and his domain reached from East Islip to Bayport and included Sayville, West Sayville, Oakdale, Great River, Islip Terrace, Central Islip, Hauppauge, Holbrook, Bohemia, Brentwood, Holtsville and a portion of Ronkonkoma. All of this land was bought from Winne-quaheagh, Sachem (chief) of Connetquot in 1683. The yearly fee paid to Governor Thomas Dongan of New York was five bushels of quality winter wheat or 25 shillings. Other early land patentees were Andrew Gibb (Islip Hamlet), John Mowbray (Bay Shore, originally Awixa), Stephan Van Cortlandt (Sagtikos Manor), and Thomas Willets (West Islip).

By 1710, the colonial government passed an act to enable the precinct of Islip in the County of Suffolk to elect two assessors, a collector, a constable and a supervisor. The people had a voice. Growth, however, remained at a standstill until the Revolutionary War ended when, in the 17 years that followed, there was more progress than in the 50 years preceding. This activity was partly due to the impact of American shipping.

By 1825, it was necessary to install a Fire Island light across the Great South Bay and regular ferry service between Bay Shore and Fire Island began in 1862. In 1867[?] the Long Island Rail Road came to Islip and the first depot was built. People were discovering Islip and the tourist trade soon took hold.

Tourism brought much wealth into the area and business sprung up to service the hotels that began to dot the landscape. Some of those tourists stayed on and built summer homes, thus the vacationers and the town seemed to enjoy a mutual prosperity. But the old guard was changing. Early in the 20th century, diesel-powered ferries replaced the whale boats while housing developments and small manufacturing firms sprang up on the sites of old farms. Like the rest of the country, Islip and all of Long Island suffered during the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. When the veterans returned home from World War II, there was a housing shortage in New York City, but a rebirth on Long Island. Within a decade following the end of the war, Islip began to turn from a bucolic farming community into a bustling suburb, becoming what was once described as a "bedroom" of New York City. The influx of people was tremendous - from 71,000 in 1950 to 280,000 in 1970. Then, as growth continued eastward on Long Island, the pace in Islip slowed.

In 1987, the 430 tons of ash that resulted from incineration of the cargo of the Mobro 4000 "Garbage Barge" was added to the landfill in Islip. In response to the garbage barge incident, the Town of Islip developed Keep Islip Clean, WRAP, and other environmentally friendly initiatives to help bolster its image. These acts resulted in one of the first comprehensive recycling programs in the United States.

Geography Islip is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Babylon to the west (at approximately Route 231), Smithtown to the north (at approximately the Long Island Expressway), and Brookhaven to the east (at approximately Nicolls Road). It also shares a small border with Huntington to the northwest.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 162.8 square miles (422 km²), of which 103.2 square miles (267 km²) is land and 59.6 square miles (154 km²) (36.61%) is water.

The town includes part of Fire Island, Jones Beach Island, and Captree Island, which are separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay.

Economy CA Technologies is based in Islandia. NBTY is based in Ronkonkoma. Sigma Corporation is based in Ronkonkoma.

Villages (incorporated) • Brightwaters • Islandia • Ocean Beach • Saltaire.

Hamlets (unincorporated) • Bay Shore • Bayport • Baywood • Bohemia • Brentwood • Central Islip • East Islip • Great River • Hauppauge (partially; with the Town of Smithtown) • Holbrook (partially; with the Town of Brookhaven) • Holtsville (partially; with the Town of Brookhaven) • Islip • Islip Terrace • Kismet • Lake Ronkonkoma (partially; with the Towns of Brookhaven and Smithtown) • Lonelyville • North Bay Shore • North Great River • Oakdale • Ronkonkoma (partially; with the Town of Brookhaven) • Sayville • West Bay Shore • West Islip • West Sayville.

Other communities • Atlantique • Captree • Corneille Estates • Dunewood • East Fire Island (Middle Island) • Edgewood (Brentwood ZIP code) • Fair Harbor • Lakeland (Ronkonkoma ZIP code) • Robbins Rest • Seaview • Sexton Island • West Fire Island (Thompson's Island).

State parks • Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park • Brentwood State Park • Connetquot River State Park Preserve • Heckscher State Park • Robert Moses State Park.

Transport: Air Long Island MacArthur Airport and the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, located in the Town of Islip, are both in the hamlet of Ronkonkoma. A smaller rural airport known as Bayport Aerodrome also exists within the town used for antique aircraft.

Railroad lines The Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch is one of two lines running through the town spanning between the Village of Babylon and the Hamlet of Blue Point in the Town of Brookhaven, with stations from Bay Shore through Sayville. The other line is the Main Line which runs through the northern part of the town with stations in Brentwood, Central Islip and Ronkonkoma, which not only serves as a major transportation hub, but is also located on the Islip-Brookhaven Town Line.

Bus service The Town of Islip is served entirely by Suffolk County Transit bus routes.

Major roads • Interstate 495 is the Long Island Expressway, and the sole interstate highway in the Town of Islip. It runs along the northern portion of the town between Exit 53 in Brentwood and east of Exit 59 in Ronkonkoma. • Southern State Parkway enters the Town of Islip from the Town of Babylon, and has interchanges at Robert Moses Causeway (Exit 40), Suffolk CR 57 (Exit 41 W-E), and Sagtikos State Parkway (Exit 41A). Trucks are forbidden from using the parkway, as with most parkways on Long Island. • Heckscher State Parkway is a continuation of Southern State Parkway leading west to east then curving south to Heckscher State Park in Great River. • Sagtikos State Parkway is the main south-to-north parkway leading from Southern State and Heckscher Parkways in West Islip through the Long Island Expressway where it crosses the Islip-Smithtown Town Line. • Robert Moses Causeway is a south-to-north parkway leading from Robert Moses State Park to Southern State Parkway. • Ocean Parkway runs across Jones Beach Island and terminates at Captree State Park. • New York State Route 27 is Sunrise Highway, the other limited-access highway in the town that does not forbid trucks. • New York State Route 27A is Montauk Highway west of Connetquot River State Park. • County Route 67, the remaining drivable portion of the Long Island Motor Parkway • County Route 85 is Montauk Highway east of Connetquot River State Park. • County Route 93 (Suffolk County, New York) is a four-lane south-north highway running from the north-western edge of Sayville to the south and west side of Lake Ronkonkoma. • County Route 97 is a partially limited-access highway in south-eastern Islip Township. • New York State Route 111 is the south-to-north state route that runs from the Hamlet of Islip through Hauppauge into the Town of Smithtown. • New York State Route 231 runs along the Babylon-Islip town line as the unfinished Babylon-Northport Expressway before curving to the north-west and entering the Town of Babylon entirely. • New York State Route 454 is a west-east divided highway known as the Veterans' Memorial Highway, which runs north-west to south-east from Commack to NY 27 west of Suffolk CR 97 in Holbrook. Within the town it runs from NY 347 at the Islip-Smithtown Town Line and serves as the address for Long Island MacArthur Airport.

Ferries Passenger ferries depart to Fire Island from Bay Shore and Sayville, which lead to communities both in the Towns of Islip and Brookhaven. Bay Shore has terminals for Fire Island ferries, serving Atlantique, Dunewood, Fair Harbor, Kismet, Ocean Bay Park, Ocean Beach, Saltaire, and Seaview, and smaller hamlets. They are located at the southernmost end of Maple Avenue. Some daily ferries to Atlantique also make a stop at the Bay Shore Marina, which is across the canal from the Maple Avenue ferries.

Sayville's ferry terminals lead to the communities of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines, both popular vacation communities for LGBT New Yorkers, as well as to Sailors Haven, which is located within the Sunken Forest Visitor's Center.