Munsey Park is a village in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Manhasset area, which is anchored by Manhasset. The population was 2,809 at the time of the 2020 census.

The Incorporated Village of Munsey Park is located entirely within the Town of North Hempstead, and has been recognized as a Tree City USA since 1983.

History

Before Munsey Park (pre-colonization – 1925) The land that Munsey Park now comprises was originally inhabited by the Matinecock Native Americans. In the 17th century, Dutch and English colonists began to explore and settle the area; many large farms were established on Cow Neck – the bottom of which includes Munsey Park – by these European settlers.

In the late 1890s, what is now the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road was extended east from the Great Neck station to a new terminal in Port Washington, with a new station in Manhasset – located at Plandome Road – being constructed between them. The extension of the LIRR and the opening of the Manhasset station spurred significant development throughout the Manhasset area, at a time when many wealthy individuals and their families had started to purchase large tracts of land within the Manhasset area and across the North Shore of Long Island. Among these individuals was publisher Frank Andrew Munsey (1854–1925), who had purchased all of the land now occupied by Munsey Park – along with significant acreage directly across Northern Boulevard (NY 25A) therefrom, to its south.

Development and early years (1925–1929) Munsey Park was first developed in the 1920s, following Frank Munsey's death in 1925. Having no family to whom he could pass down his sprawling estate, Munsey bequeathed his land to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Upon assuming ownership of the land, the Metropolitan Museum sold the portion of the estate south of Northern Boulevard (NY 25A); that area would eventually become part of Strathmore. Meanwhile, the museum retained ownership to the portion of Munsey's estate on the north side of Northern Boulevard, and – with help from the Hassett Realty Company – decided to develop that land into a "model, restricted community" and commuter town, under the leadership of museum president Robert W. DeForest. This planned community was designed to take advantage of the Long Island Rail Road's Manhasset station, located just west of the development.

The new community was developed with Colonial-style houses and streets named for American artists. Much of the original landscaping in the planned community was designed by the Olmsted Brothers, while architect Frederick Lee Ackerman designed many of the houses and other buildings therein.

In 1928, Munsey Park's first model home opened. Like many of the other earliest homes to be constructed in the planned community, it was built in Section "A" – located at the western end of the development; Section "A" was the first section of Munsey Park to be constructed.

The name of the community was originally to be Munsey Meadows – but this name was changed to Munsey Park; it is named in honor of Frank Munsey.

Push for incorporation (1929 – 1930) On April 8, 1929, the short-lived Manhasset Sewer District was established. This sewer district had been created with the goal of constructing and maintaining a network of sanitary sewers throughout the Greater Manhasset area – including Munsey Park. Munsey Park's residents were largely opposed to the plan, and wished not to have sewers be installed in their neighborhood. Accordingly, the sewering proposals led to a significant amount of concern amongst many of the locals – and it spurred Munsey Parkers to consider incorporating the area as a village, so to have more control over the execution of such projects therein and to otherwise directly govern their community through exercise municipal home rule.

On January 27, 1930, Munsey Park residents voted 155-to-3 in favor of incorporating their community as the Incorporated Village of Munsey Park, which would have its own municipal government and zoning powers; the incorporation would be made official 20 days after the vote.

Village of Munsey Park (1930 – present) Following the vote to incorporate Munsey Park as a village, the Village of Munsey Park held its first village election on March 1, 1930; this election saw residents of Munsey Park vote for the village's first elected officials. Herman Block was elected to serve as the village's first Mayor.

One of the first decisions made by the village's elected officials was to leave the Manhasset Sewer District – much to the delight of many village residents – in addition to a decision to leave the Manhasset Parking District; the Manhasset Sewer District ultimately dissolved in 1932.

In 1931, the Munsey Park Shopping Center – also designed by Frederick Ackerman – opened at the northwestern corner of Northern Boulevard and Manhasset Woods Road; it was designed to conform to the architecture of the homes within the village. The following year, on January 12, 1932, several of the village's female residents – wishing to establish a local philanthropic civic organization – created the Munsey Park Women's Club.

On May 30, 1932 – four months after the Munsey Park Women's Club was created, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened the 18-hole golf course at the eastern end of the village, known as the Munsey Park Golf Club; its clubhouse was also designed by Ackerman. Operated by the Metropolitan Museum, the golf club closed on March 1, 1937, as a result of poor revenue and profits, in addition to rising deficits. The former club's land was subsequently redeveloped as additional housing – in addition to a business area at the former club's clubhouse, which was already zoned for commercial use. Much of the residential development on the site of the former golf course was developed by the Callan Brothers; Levitt & Sons had also attempted, unsuccessfully, to develop the remaining portions of the former golf course in the 1940s.

In the late 1930s, the Manhasset Union Free School District built the Munsey Park Elementary School within the village. It was constructed in order to address overcrowding issues in the district's existing schools caused by the large development boom in the Manhasset area and the resulting influx of residents – including in Munsey Park.

In late 1941, during the first week of the United States' involvement in World War II, the Metropolitan Museum of Art deeded the Polliwog Park to Munsey Park. This park would be dedicated and renamed by the village in 1943, as Waldmann Memorial Park – in honor Munsey Park resident Lt. George Raymond Waldmann, who was killed fighting for the United States in World War II and the first village resident to die while fighting in the war.

In May 1942, the Congregational Church of Manhasset purchased of land in Munsey Park, along the north side of Northern Boulevard. On this land, it would erect a large church building. The church's groundbreaking occurred on May 12, 1948, and it was completed the next year, in 1949. The Church of Our Savior, Lutheran, broke ground directly across Copley Road that same year; it was completed in 1950.

In 1956, New York City-based department store Bonwit Teller announced that it would erect a department store in Munsey Park, in the business area which had formerly been part of the Munsey Park Golf Club. The building was designed by Lanthrop Douglass and Charles Anderson, and the store opened in 1957.

On December 8, 1974, Munsey Park Village Hall opened. Located at 1777 Northern Boulevard at the southern edge of the village, the structure was built to conform to the style of residential homes in Munsey Park, and was erected on land which the village had purchased back in 1950.

In 1983, Munsey Park was designated as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the first time.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, developers planned turning the Munsey Park Plaza shopping center at the village's southeast corner into a luxury shopping mall; this shopping center included Munsey Park's Bonwit Teller branch, which opened in 1957 and closed in 1990. The proposed shopping mall on the site would have featured two floors, multiple exterior designs, and a parking garage with three levels. The proposal, which was first made in 1988, was rejected by the village. After Munsey Park's rejection of the plans, the developers filed a lawsuit against the village. Ultimately, the lawsuit was unsuccessful, and the mall was never built; the property was eventually purchased in 1992 by TH Associates, which rehabilitated it and secured a new tenant for the former Bonwit Teller space.

In 2008, the Village of Munsey Park was ranked as the 13th (tied) Wealthiest Town in America by BusinessWeek.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it being land.

Munsey Park, in its entirety, uses the Manhasset 11030 postal code and is served by the Manhasset Post Office.

Topography Like the rest of Long Island's North Shore, Munsey Park is situated on a terminal moraine, which is named the Harbor Hill Moraine. This moraine was formed by glaciers during the Wisconsin Glacial Episode, and is named for Harbor Hill in Roslyn; Harbor Hill is the highest geographic point in Nassau County.

Drainage Munsey Park is split between two minor drainage areas: Leeds Pond and Whitney Pond. These two drainage areas are sub-watersheds of the larger Manhasset Bay Watershed, which in turn is part of the larger Long Island Sound/Atlantic Ocean Watershed, which covers all of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Climate The Village of Munsey Park features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) under the Köppen climate classification. Accordingly, the village experiences hot, humid summers and cold winters, and experiences precipitation throughout the entirety of the year.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition +Munsey Park village, New York – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)2,4172,3802,14191.83%88.38%76.22%Black or African American alone (NH)811290.30%0.41%1.03%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)0010.00%0.00%0.04%Asian alone (NH)1491733785.66%6.42%13.46%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)0010.00%0.00%0.04%Other race alone (NH)0180.00%0.04%0.28%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)15411020.57%1.52%3.63%Hispanic or Latino (any race)43871491.63%3.23%5.30%Total2,6322,6932,809 100.00%100.00%100.00%

2020 census As of the 2020 census, Munsey Park had a population of 2,809. The median age was 41.1 years. 30.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 105.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.8 males age 18 and over.

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 821 households in Munsey Park, of which 51.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 81.6% were married-couple households, 6.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 10.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 8.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 842 housing units, of which 2.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 0.0%.

2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 2,693 people residing in the village. The racial makeup of the village was 91.20% White, 0.41% African American, 6.46% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 1.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.23% of the population.

2000 census