Best Web Design in Hempstead, NY (2026)

Web Design for Hempstead, New York

The Incorporated Village of Hempstead is the oldest English settlement in what is now Nassau County and today the most populous village in New York State, with roughly 59,000 residents packed at about 15,000 people per square mile. Long known as 'The Hub,' it sits at the transportation crossroads of Long Island, where the LIRR Hempstead Branch meets a dense web of bus lines. It is home to Hofstra University, which uniquely hosted three consecutive U.S. presidential debates.

AppWT works with Hempstead, NY businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Hempstead

Also known as. The Hub. Long Island's Hub. Old Blue.

History. In 1643, followers of Presbyterian minister Richard Denton, led by Robert Fordham and John Carman, crossed Long Island Sound to negotiate with local Native Americans for a tract of roughly 64,000 acres. In spring 1644, thirty to forty families from Stamford, Connecticut, established the settlement, the oldest English settlement in present-day Nassau County. The name likely derives from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England, birthplace of founder John Carman, or possibly from Heemstede in the Netherlands. The settlement adopted the austere Duke's Laws in 1664, earning the nickname 'Old Blue' for its blue laws. Poet Walt Whitman taught school in the Hempstead area in the late 1830s; the village was formally incorporated in 1853.

Local economy. A historic marketplace and retail center that declined in the 1980s-90s as major department stores departed, then pivoted toward being a government and business center. Functions as a major transit hub anchored by the Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center, one of the largest in Nassau County. Hofstra University, partially within village limits, is a major institutional employer and economic anchor. Concentrations of government employees from multiple levels of government.

Culture and community. A notable hip-hop heritage; the village and immediate area are associated with artists including Busta Rhymes and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Home to the Nassau County African American Museum. St. George's Episcopal Church holds a silver communion service given by England's Queen Anne in the early 1700s. The First Presbyterian Church claims to be among the oldest continually active Presbyterian congregations in the nation. Demographically transformed from about 63 percent white in 1970 to roughly 50 percent Hispanic/Latino by 2020.

What makes Hempstead distinct. It is the most populous incorporated village in New York State, with about 59,000 residents in the 2020 census. Population density is roughly 15,000 people per square mile, about four times that of neighboring Garden City. Hofstra University, located in Hempstead, hosted U.S. presidential debates in 2008, 2012, and 2016, an unmatched run of three consecutive debates. Stagecoaches bound for eastern Long Island from Brooklyn once all passed through Hempstead, cementing its role as 'The Hub.'

Hempstead Landmarks and Local Life

• Hofstra University campus - partly within the village
• Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center - the intermodal terminus of the LIRR Hempstead Branch and NICE bus system
• St. George's Episcopal Church - dating to the colonial era
• Nassau County African American Museum.
• First Presbyterian Church of Hempstead.