Central Islip, NY

Much of Central Islip’s present civic center occupies the former Central Islip State Hospital campus. Opened in 1889, the institution grew to more than 100 buildings on over 1,000 acres, housed more than 10,000 patients at its peak, and closed in 1996. The reused grounds now include the Alfonse M. D’Amato Federal Courthouse, Touro Law Center, Fairfield Properties Ballpark, and housing. The Secatogue inhabited the area before European settlement, and arrival of the Long Island Rail Road in 1842 helped turn an agricultural community into a transportation and commercial center. Central Islip is a Town of Islip hamlet with a 2020 population of 36,714.