Main Street Historic District

Main Street in Roslyn follows the old road that linked the town of Hempstead with the landing piers at Hempstead Harbor. The district stretches from North Hempstead Turnpike to East Broadway and holds about 50 structures, around 40 of them built before the Civil War. Most are wood-frame houses and shops with shingle or clapboard siding, mixing Federal forms with Greek Revival moldings. The Ellen E. Ward Memorial Clock Tower, built in 1895 of granite and red sandstone, marks the northern end. The Van Nostrand-Starkins House is believed to have been begun around 1680. Roslyn grew around Hendrick Onderdonk's paper mill of 1773, and local builders such as Thomas Wood and his son John built many houses between 1825 and 1865. Preservation groups restored several buildings, and some shops still house small independent businesses. The district was listed for the survival of this largely intact village streetscape amid heavy development in Nassau County.