This is a sad story about a home in the Town of North Hempstead which has been the victim of neglect for too long. What is so sad is North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman’s lack of vision for the future of our town. I am speaking of the Cornell/Van Nostrand/Schumacher house on the grounds of Clinton G. Martin Park.
This house represents our humble beginnings in America. Pioneers built this house to settle in a new land. The Cornell family who built this home recognized an opportunity to start a new life. They were courageous to travel to a new land to build a new and better life, like so many in the town today. The town’s Business and Tourism Development Corp. has stated the farmhouse could become a valued focus for efforts to promote both tourism and business. As well, this home could become a great educational resource for children of all ages and certainly a reminder of the good “old days.”
This homestead was built by the distinguished Cornell family in the early 1700s, has withstood the ravages of time, spanning the Revolutionary War, to, barely, the present. It was built when travel to Manhattan was a day’s journey. Sperry Rand owned this house and used it as a guest house for visiting dignitaries, and the United Nations used it as a school house for their members during the U.N.’s temporary housing in the Sperry Building. Its past is indeed rich, and we have so little from the past in our part of the town.
Here’s a summary of the town fathers’ shameful malpractice with this landmark: In 2004, the Town of North Hempstead Historic Landmark Commission recognized the farmhouse’s value and recommended that it be landmarked, in effect, deemed it important for interpreting and preserving the history and heritage of the town. On March 15, 2005, the Town Board of North Hempstead agreed.
In July 2005, they then agreed to seek grants to restore it. On Jan. 24, 2006, it was sold by the New Hyde Park Park District, to the town, for the sum of $1 and the adjoining playground. The Park District (a special taxing district) had been told prior that the town couldn’t get grants unless the town owned the landmark.
In June 2007, it was added to New York State Registry of Historic Places.
The town indicated that it was going to attempt to have the farmhouse added to the National Register of Historic Places, further ensuring its eligibility for grants and raising its profile.
On Oct. 29, 2010, the town received notification that issuance of the grant, which Supervisor Kaiman now states is in a “holding pattern,” is, in fact, being delayed because the town has not provided information the bonding authority requested. I recall being told by a member of then-Senator Johnson’s staff, when we were notified of the grant, that the town would match it.
This is a town-owned historic landmark. Its fate is the town’s responsibility. In 2010 and 2011 alone, the town has approved bonding in the amount of $22,401,390 to make physical improvements in various town parks, waterfront and town-owned facilities. Yet, this sad landmark sits in disrepair and abandoned. Why? Because the Town of North Hempstead, failing to comply with efforts at gaining the needed funds, now doesn’t think it prudent to spend its own money. When the house collapses, as it surely will without more attention and funding, the sound of its falling timbers will represent a perfect metaphor for Supervisor Kaiman’s failed vision and leadership in this issue.
We are a young nation. We have so little to embrace in terms of heritage in our town. We should be proud of our past and recognize this house as an example of another way of life, farming on Long Island.
Saving this home won’t take much, but courage in town hall seems in short supply these days. And so it goes.
Marianna Wohlgemuth
