MAY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 13
IN THE NEWS
WE ARE LONG ISLAND
LI PRESS BICENTENNIAL
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
Two hundred years ago, the very first
edition of The Long Island Farmer, a
weekly publication that later changed
its name several times to become the
Long Island Press, rolled off the presses
to become essential reading.
Henry C. Sleight, a Sag Harbor resident
who served in the War of 1812, founded
the paper in Jamaica, Queens, kicking off
a long and proud legacy of chronicling
the Island’s historic moments, and becoming
part of the fabric of the region
along the way.
“Fear no man and do justice to all men,”
was the paper’s motto years later during
the Civil War.
The newspaper’s founding predates
some of the region’s fundamental institutions,
such as the Long Island Rail Road
and the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge
— both of which the paper covered at the
time.
A lot has changed since then. When
the Farmer was founded in 1821, James
Monroe, the nation’s fifth president, was
beginning his second term in the White
House. Spain had just ceded Florida to
the United States. Missouri became the
24th state.
Since the paper’s founding, the population
of LI has grown from 56,978 — slightly
more than the Village of Hempstead
today — to 7.6 million, or 2.8 million for
those who only consider the Island to be
Nassau and Suffolk counties, and not
Queens or Brooklyn. As the population
grew with expansions of the LIRR,
construction of additional East River
crossings and, after World War II, the
development of America’s first modern
suburb, in Levittown, the Press’ coverage
followed its readers east.
At its peak, the Press had a circulation
of more than 445,000 in 1969. Many a
Baby Boomer shares fond memories of
delivering the thick broadsheet newspaper
as their first job. The paper went
out of business in 1977, but the title was
revived as a weekly in 2003. Four years
ago, it was reborn as the monthly news
and lifestyle publication that you hold
today.
Now, as we kick off this We Are Long
Island series to celebrate the 200th anniversary
of our founding, we ask you,
dear readers, to send us your stories and
memories of the Press over the years. We
look forward to celebrating with you.
“We ask you, dear readers, to send us your stories
and memories of the Press over the years.”
THIS MONTH IN LI HISTORY
May 31, 1819:
Famous poet Walt Whitman was born
in Huntington Station. The house that
Whitman was born in, on what is now
called Old Walt Whitman Road, is a
state historic site and museum where
visitors can learn about his life and
influential work.
May 20, 1927:
American aviator Charles A.
Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt
Field, where there was previously an
airport, to complete the world’s first
solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic
Ocean and the first-ever nonstop
flight between New York to Paris.
May 5, 1992:
The popular AriZona Beverage Company,
LLC was founded in Brooklyn;
it is now based in Woodbury.
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