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Lawrence, New York
Village of Lawrence
Rock Hall in Lawrence
Rock Hall in Lawrence
Location in Nassau County and the state of New York.
Location in Nassau County and the state of New York.
Lawrence, New York is located in New York
Lawrence, New York
Lawrence, New York
Location in New York
Country  United States
State  New York
County  Nassau County, New York
Town Hempstead
Incorporated 1897
Area
 • Total 4.63 sq mi (11.99 km2)
 • Land 3.73 sq mi (9.65 km2)
 • Water 0.91 sq mi (2.35 km2)
Elevation
20 ft (6 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 6,483
 • Estimate 
(2019)
6,556
 • Density 1,759.53/sq mi (679.44/km2)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
11559
Area code(s) 516
FIPS code 36-41553
GNIS feature ID 0955101

Lawrence is a village in Nassau County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 6,483.

The Village of Lawrence is in the southwestern corner of the Town of Hempstead, adjoining the border with the New York City borough of Queens to the west and near the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Lawrence is one of the "Five Towns", which consists of the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst, the hamlets (unincorporated areas) of Woodmere and Inwood, and "The Hewletts", which is made up of the hamlet of Hewlett together with the villages of Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor and Hewlett Neck, along with Woodsburgh.

Old Lawrence

Old Lawrence, or Back Lawrence, is a part of the Village of Lawrence, comprising many large homes, mansions, beach side villas and former plantations with very large property, a few dating back to the time of the American Revolution. This area, like Hewlett is unique because its rural affluence is similar in character to the more well known Gold Coast of the North Shore instead of being more urbanized like the rest of the South Shore of Nassau County. An interesting pre-Revolutionary home on Long Island, Rock Hall, was home to two prominent families, the Martins and Hewletts, and is now an active museum.

During the second half of the 19th century, it was a main vacation spot for the rich families until the 1890s. A series of hurricanes and nor'easters altered the coastline considerably and destroyed a large beachfront hotel. Lawrence could no longer boast direct access to the sands along the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, Lawrence began to become more like a modern suburb, a village with schools, public facilities, better roads and a large town area that expanded into what is now today.

Lawrence, or most notably Old Lawrence, was formerly home to a large upper class of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant families that lived there since the time of the American Revolution. From the 1940s to 1980s, it became a center of Reform and Conservative Jewish life that included the largest Reform synagogue on Long Island (Temple Israel). Many noteworthy residents grew up in Lawrence during this period.

In the late 1980s, it saw a large migration of Modern Orthodox Jews. The Orthodox Jewish communities are close to the more Haredi nearby center of Far Rockaway which has more yeshivas for the children and younger members as well as a variety of kosher restaurants and communal organizations. Central Avenue in Lawrence (and its continuation in Cedarhurst) has a large and growing number of kosher restaurants and other business catering to the Orthodox community.

Geography

Lawrence-ny-map
U.S. Census Map

Lawrence is located at 40°36′34″N 73°43′36″W / 40.609566°N 73.726543°W / 40.609566; -73.726543.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12.1 km2), of which, 3.8 square miles (10.0 km2) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.2 km2) of it (17.91%) is water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1890 626
1900 558 −10.9%
1910 1,189 113.1%
1920 2,861 140.6%
1930 3,041 6.3%
1940 3,649 20.0%
1950 4,681 28.3%
1960 5,907 26.2%
1970 6,566 11.2%
1980 6,175 −6.0%
1990 6,513 5.5%
2000 6,522 0.1%
2010 6,483 −0.6%
2019 (est.) 6,556 1.1%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,522 people, 2,113 households, and 1,629 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,694.6 people per square mile (654.1/km2). There were 2,287 housing units at an average density of 594.2 per square mile (229.4/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 95.2% White, 1.1% African American, <0.1% Native American, 1.7% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.0% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.4% of the population.

There were 2,113 households, out of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.7% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.62.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 32.6% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $104,845, and the median income for a family was $129,779. Males had a median income of $99,841 versus $41,094 for females. The per capita income for the village was $51,602. About 4.3% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.2% of those under age 18 and 5.8% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

The Lawrence station provides Long Island Rail Road service on the Far Rockaway Branch to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn with connections at Jamaica to other parts of Long Island.

The n31, n32 buses of Nassau Inter-County Express run down Central Avenue extending southwest into Far Rockaway (with a connection to the A train of the New York City Subway at Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue) and northeast to the Hempstead Transit Center in central Nassau County with connections to other parts of Long Island.

A 5-mile drive up Rockaway Turnpike takes you to the Belt Parkway, the Van Wyck Expressway, the Cross Island Parkway, Southern State Parkway and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Lawrence is connected to Atlantic Beach to the south, across Reynolds Channel via the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Lawrence (condado de Nassau, Nueva York) para niños

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