Malverne, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law

History

Malverne occupies land the village's own history describes as once 'the tribal territory of the Rockaway Indians, whose lands extended over a good part of present-day Queens and Nassau,' adding that the Rockaways 'were known for their skill in making wampum from shells.'^[1] The same history dates the arrival of the area's first non-Native settlers to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with several streets named for early landholding families such as the Cornwells, Riders, Wicks and Nostrands.^[1] Farming was the dominant early economy, supplemented by a wheelwright shop, a grist mill, several general stores, a greenhouse, a hotel and a tavern.^[1]

The community was originally called Norwood, a name it shared with other New York villages, which the village says caused mail to be 'frequently misdelivered.'^[1] Suburban development began in earnest in 1911, when the Amsterdam Development and Land Company purchased the Lindner farm; two of the development's figures, Alfred H. Wagg and Ernest Childs, proposed renaming the village for Malvern, England, in 1913 after an initial choice, Lynmouth, was dropped as too close to neighboring Lynbrook.^[1]

Residents decided the question of incorporation in October 1920, with the village's own documents listing April 13, 1921 as the formal incorporation date.^[1] By 1940 the village's population had grown enough to qualify it for 'first-class village' status.^[1] Malverne sent 707 residents into military service in World War II, of whom 22 did not return; the superintendent of School District 12 dedicated a memorial pipe organ in 1948.^[1] At the village's 25th-anniversary observance after the war, the village's history recounts that Governor Thomas E. Dewey called Malverne 'one of the best-governed communities in the state.'^[1]

How the roads got here

Hempstead Avenue runs through the village center past the Malverne LIRR station; the village's own history recalls that the intersection of Hempstead Avenue and Franklin Avenue was once known as 'Grassy Pond' and 'was a popular spot for ice skating during the winter.'^[1] Ocean Avenue is likewise mapped as a through-street inside the village limits.^[13]

Hempstead Turnpike, sometimes loosely associated with Malverne, does not pass through the incorporated village. Mapped segments of Hempstead Turnpike lie roughly two to three miles to the north, in the West Hempstead/Hempstead Gardens area of the Town of Hempstead.^[13]

Law and legal history

Malverne is tied to one of New York's early school-desegregation cases, Matter of Vetere v. Allen, 15 N.Y.2d 259, 206 N.E.2d 174, 258 N.Y.S.2d 77 (1965).^[9] The litigation concerned Union Free School District No. 12 of the Town of Hempstead, described in one of the opinions as 'commonly known as the Malverne-Lakeview School District,' which lies partially within the villages of Malverne and Lynbrook.^[9] Parents of white children had challenged a Commissioner of Education determination ordering reorganization of the district's elementary schools to remedy racial imbalance; in a per curiam decision the Court of Appeals held that the racial-balance question 'is not reviewable by this court' under the finality the Education Law gives the Commissioner's quasi-judicial determinations, an outcome that left the Commissioner's reorganization order in place. Two judges, Van Voorhis and Scileppi, dissented, each taking the view that the issue was reviewable and voting to reinstate an earlier Special Term order that had annulled the Commissioner's determination.^[9]

In 2023 the village retired a second piece of that same historical thread: Lindner Place, a street named for developer Paul Lindner, became Acorn Way.^[10][11] Lindner had 'sold his farmland to develop the Village of Malverne more than a century ago and, it turns out, was a grand cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan,' according to CBS News New York; the Long Island Press instead described him as having 'also served as great titan of the New York State Klan' — the two outlets disagree on his specific Klan title.^[10][11] The Long Island Press reported the village board 'voted to change the name in September 2022,' while CBS News reported the board 'unanimously voted to change the name last April,' i.e., April 2022; both place the vote in 2022 but disagree on the month.^[10][11] New Acorn Way signage went up in late January 2023 after a multiyear research and advocacy campaign by Malverne High School students; CBS News reported the renamed street runs past a school 'formerly known as Lindner Elementary and was one of the first schools integrated in New York to accept Black students.'^[11]

Village roads and sidewalks fall under Chapter 411 of the Village Code, 'Notification of Defects,' which the code publisher's own description states provides that, 'notwithstanding the provisions of § 6-628 of the Village Law, no civil action shall be brought or maintained against the Village of Malverne for damages or injuries to person or property sustained in consequence of' a defective street, highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk, curb or crosswalk unless prior written notice was first given to the village.^[15]

Government, courts and policing

Malverne is patrolled by its own Malverne Police Department, headquartered at 1 Arlington Avenue, rather than by a Nassau County Police Department precinct.^[3][4] The department's stated mission is 'to enhance the quality of life in Malverne by protecting the lives and property of its citizens,' and it moved into a newly built headquarters that 'began operating' on December 2, 2024.^[3][4]

Fire protection is provided by the all-volunteer Malverne Fire Department, based at 30 Broadway and described on the village's own site as 'a dedicated group of local volunteers that are your friends, relatives and neighbors.'^[7]

Railroad and transit

Malverne has its own Long Island Rail Road station; the village's history page captions a photo of it 'Malverne Village LIRR Train Station.'^[1] An official LIRR West Hempstead Branch timetable lists Malverne as a stop between Westwood and Lakeview. Rail service to the area predates the current station: the Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad reached the area in 1870, a successor line ran from 1895 until it was discontinued in 1910, and from 1911 to 1926 a battery-powered trolley known locally as 'the dinky' provided the village's only rail service.^[1]