The Incorporated Village of Old Westbury is one of the wealthiest villages in the country as well as the second-richest zip code in the New York State, topped only by Harrison in Westchester County.[2] In 2007, Business Week dubbed Old Westbury as New York's most expensive suburb.[3]Old Westbury Gardens has been recognized as one of the three best public gardens in the world by Four Seasons Hotels magazine.[4]
Westbury was founded by Edmond Titus,[5][6] and was later joined by Henry Willis, one of the first English settlers.[7] Westbury had been a Quaker community of isolated farms until the railroad came in 1836. After the Civil War, the New York elite discovered that the rich, well-wooded flat countryside of the Hempstead Plains was a place to raise horses, and to hunt foxes and play polo at the Meadow Brook Polo Club.
The Village of Old Westbury was incorporated in 1924, separating itself from Westbury, the adjacent area that housed many of the families of the construction and building staffs for the Old Westbury mansions.[7][8] The "Old" part of Old Westbury's name reflects the community's need for its postal address to be different from the Westbury in Cayuga County, as per postal requirements (it had been using a postal address of North Hempstead for this reason); residents did this when they wanted a local post office ca. 1841, and when they incorporated Old Westbury as a village, they felt that it would be confusing for the village name and post office name to be different from one another.[7] The Village of Westbury, located adjacent to Old Westbury, adopted that designation when it incorporated in 1932 as Cayuga County's Westbury's name was no longer being used.[7]
The area was originally known as Wallage, which is related to a Native American term roughly meaning "ditch" or "hole."[7] By February 1663, it was known as Wood Edge, and by October 1675 it was known as "the Plains edge" or simply Plainedge.[7] The name Westbury began to be used for the area around 1683. The name Westbury was chosen by Henry Willis, who named it after Westbury, Wiltshire, his hometown in England.[7]
During World War II, a 187-foot-high tower at the present-day Old Westbury Golf & Country Club, aided the military during World War II as a lookout to spot enemy aircraft.[10] Originally built as the water tower for the Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Residence, it now serves as the club's focal point.[10][11]
When Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway, the powers of Old Westbury forced him to re-site it five miles (8 km) to the south. Once the parkway was completed, many residents found it to not be the eyesore they had been anticipating and regretted making their commutes more inconvenient than necessary. In the 1950s, the state purchased land from Charles E. Wilson, a former president of General Motors who needed to sell off his Old Westbury estate to pull himself out of financial crisis and relocate to the nation's capital to serve in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's cabinet. The land, which runs along an edge of the village, was used for the Long Island Expressway.
As of the census[14] of 2000, there were 4,228 people, 1,063 households, and 967 families residing in the village. The population density was 493.9 inhabitants per square mile (190.7/km2). There were 1,109 housing units at an average density of 129.5 per square mile (50.0/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 73.19% White, 4.24% African American, 0.02% Native American, 7.52% Asian, 3.67% from other races, and 2.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.14% of the population.
There were 1,063 households, out of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 82.2% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 9.0% were non-families. Of all households 5.6% were made up of individuals, and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.37.
In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 22.7% under the age of 18, 20.2% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $163,046, and the median income in the village was $184,298 for a family. The median earnings of the 899 households (89.6% of total households) in the village that took in earnings supplemental to income was $230,721. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $45,200 for females. The per capita income for the village was $72,932. About 1.1% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Public schools
The Wheatley School, one of the public high schools serving, and located within, Old Westbury.
Additionally, the Westbury Union Free School District's high school, Westbury High School – along with the East Williston Union Free School District's secondary school, The Wheatley School – are located within the village.
Doe Avedon, fashion model and actress, wife of Richard Avedon, the inspiration for Audrey Hepburn's character in Funny Face (Avedon was legally adopted by the wealthy employer of her biological father who served as a butler until his death) [17]
Wolf (1994): the country home of Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer) where Jack Nicholson's character first becomes a wolf, which appears on the DVD cover
Television
Alpha House: The forthcoming second season of the Amazon series starring John Goodman had scenes filmed in an Old Westbury estate [34]
Gossip Girl: Season two's nineteenth episode, "The Grandfather", originally airing March 23, 2009, featured an Old Westbury estate as the "van der Bilt” mansion
The Gilded Age: Season two's sixth episode, “Warning Shots", originally airing November 26, 2023
Person of Interest: Season one's seventeenth episode, "Baby Blue", originally airing March 8, 2012, included Moretti's car crash and other road scenes filmed in Old Westbury. The series returned to Old Westbury for the fifth season's sixth episode, "A More Perfect Union", originally airing May 23, 2016, which included horse-riding scenes at the Dudley–Winthrop family estate and a wedding at the Alexander de Seversky mansion.
Royal Pains: Season one's third episode, "Strategic Planning", originally airing June 18, 2009, features the Phipps estate as the home of a wealthy senator and used the lawn as a University of Notre DameFighting Irish practice field
Sex and the City: Season five's finale episode, "I Love a Charade", originally airing September 8, 2002, featured an Old Westbury home in place of an estate in the Hamptons
Reality television
America's Castles: A&E Network documentary series on gilded age homes featured Peggy Phipps Boegner touring one of the Phipps family's estates on the episode airing August 8, 1995, entitled "The Gold Coast".
Princesses: Long Island: Bravo reality series, which features Old Westbury resident Erica Gimbel as one of the six original cast members
Secrets and Wives: Bravo reality series, that features the lives of women living in Old Westbury and surrounding towns
Selling New York: In season five's first episode, "A Prince Looks for a Property...", originally airing January 19, 2012, Prince Lorenzo Borghese views an Old Westbury estate, along with two other North Shore properties, but ultimately does not purchase any of the properties because he found that they each were too large
Wealth
According to Bloomberg/Businessweek, as of 2011, Old Westbury is the second "richest" town in the United States, trailing behind only Palm Beach, Florida.[39] The magazine previously dubbed the town "New York's wealthiest suburb."[3]
Based on a study done by Bloomberg in 2015, the average household income in the village is greater than $640,000.[40]
In 2011, Forbes, having done a study of "America's Millionaire Capitals", found that the average net worth of Old Westbury households was $19.6 million and with an average annual income of $1.2 million.[41] The controlled study included only households with incomes greater than $200,000, which excluded only residents that are living in college dormitories and the staff of homeowners.
The village is famous for being the seat of many of New York's (and America's) wealthiest families, including the Phippses, Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Webbs, Du Ponts, Winthrops, Mortimers, Belmonts and Huttons. While many of these older families—the founding members of the social elite and those that emerged during the gilded age—still count members as Old Westbury residents, the village has also maintained a substantial set of industrialists, businessmen, collectors, athletes and entertainers.[42]
The Old Westbury Fund is a hedge fund that is named after the town.
When Forbes asked billionaire investor Steven Schonfeld what the "wisest investment" he ever made was, his answer was "Old Westbury land".[43]
^Hicks Nurseries (Westbury, Nassau County; Hicks, Edward; Hicks, Henry; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection (1913). Illustrated price list : spring, 1913. National Agricultural Library U. S. Department of Agriculture. Westbury, Nassau Co., N.Y. : Isaac Hicks & Son.
^Bryan, Carmen, It's No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from seduction to scandal, a hip-hop Helen of Troy tells all. New York: VH1 Books, 2006. p 208.
^Harrison Connery (March 14, 2023). "Finding Nimmo a home: Mets star buys in Old Westbury". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 15, 2023. After securing a $162 million long-term contract with the New York Mets, outfielder Brandon Nimmo is taking a walk to Old Westbury.
