The Vanderbilt Era. In 1876, William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad magnate, purchased 900 acres, from Montauk Highway to the Great South Bay, on the east bank of the Connetquot River, on which to build his summer and holiday residence. The original mansion burned to the ground and was rebuilt in 1901 with the 110 room, graystone and red brick structure, designed by Richard Howland Hunt. In 1920, after the death of W.K. Vanderbilt, the estate was put up for sale by his son Harold K. Vanderbilt. After seven years, the mansion and its surrounding lands were sold to developers. The farm area became an artists’ colony while the large parcel of wooded land with its extensive canals became the residential community known as Idle Hour.

Pre-College Years. The mansion remained relatively untouched through a succession of owners. These included flamboyant characters of the Prohibition Era and a short term stay of a spiritual cult, the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. In 1947, when the National Dairy Research Council purchased the mansion and the remaining 23 acres of the original tract, extensive changes were made to accommodate laboratories in the Carriage House (now Curtin Student Center) and indoor tennis courts (now part of the Kramer Science Center).

Dowling College Era. In 1968, the College severed its ties with Adelphi and was renamed after its chief benefactor, Robert Dowling, a noted city planner, philanthropist, and aviator. In response to increased enrollment, the Racanelli Learning Resource Center was constructed in 1974 to house the library, cafeteria and additional classrooms. One month after the LRC opened, a devastating fire started in the mansion. The ornate ceremonial rooms of the College (the Hunt Room, the Foyer and Ballroom) were substantially damaged. A College committee, led by Dowling Trustee Alan Fortunoff, guided the restoration of the ornate woodwork, precious marble, and the elaborately carved stonework. While many of the fine details were lost, the grandeur and fine proportions remain. The building was named in honor of Max and Clara Fortunoff. The mansion was designed to be entered from the side facing the river where the Vanderbilts once maintained a floating mahogany dock for their steamship “Mosquito. ” Guests arriving by water would ascend the wide stairway from the river and cross the Great Lawn to the entrance guarded by ancient carved lions. Take time to cross the lawn and enjoy the view from the top of the marble stairs. The Restoration Committee for W.K. Vanderbilt’s “Idle Hour” continues to raise funds to preserve and restore historic and artistic elements of the Gilded Age such as renown sculptor Karl Bitter’s “Diana” in the Hunt Room.

In 2000 the campus in Oakdale was renamed in honor of Trustee Scott Rudolph.

Oakdale is a scion of America’s gilded age of a century ago, where powerful men of incredible wealth built South Shore gold coast mansions and dwelt in manorial splendor.

Oakdale Originated from a tavern owned by Eliphalet (Liff) Snedecor in what is now Connetquot River State Park. Soon after its founding in 1820, Snedecor’s Tavern began drawing New York bluebloods and business barons who wined and dined in remote joy when they weren’t fishing and hunting nearby. “Liff’s food is as good as his creek, a magazine writer declared in 1839, referring to the Connetquot River, “and the two are only second to his mint juleps and champagne punch; whoever gainsays either fact deserves hanging without benefit of clergy. In 1866, as the railroad reached the area, Liff’s wealthy patrons formed the Southside Sportsmen’s Club, and soon the race was on to see who could create the most superb spread in the thick forests adjoining Great South Bay.

The most prominent were William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt; Frederick G. Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., and Christopher Robert II, an eccentric heir to a sugar fortune. Meanwhile, William Bayard Cutting, a lawyer, financier and railroad man, built his estate next door in Great River, which had once been west Oakdale.

Oakdale was part of the royal land grant given to William Nicoll, who founded Islip Town in 1697. Local historian Charles P. Dickerson, writing in 1975, said Oakdale’s name apparently came from a Nicoll descendant in the mid-19th century. The community has other claims to historical distinction: St. John’s Episcopal Church, built in 1765, is the third oldest church on Long Island. In 1912, Jacob Ockers of Oakdale organized the Bluepoint Oyster Co., which became the largest oyster producer and shipper in the country.

But the mansions dominated Oakdale’s past. In 1882, Vanderbilt built the most noted one, Idle Hour, his 900-acre (3.6 km²) estate on the Connetquot River. The lavish, wooden 110-room home was destroyed by fire April 15, 1899, while his son, Willie K. II, was honeymooning there. Willie and his new wife escaped. It was promptly rebuilt of red brick and gray stone, with exquisite furnishings, for a princely $3 million. The building at the time was considered among the finest homes in America. Probably the social event there was the 1895 wedding reception of Vanderbilt’s daughter, Consuelo, to the duke of Marlborough. After Vanderbilt’s death in 1920, the mansion went through several phases and visitors, including a brief stay during Prohibition by gangster Dutch Schultz. Around that time, cow stalls, pig pens and corn cribs on the farm portion of Idle Hour were converted into a short-lived bohemian artists’ colony that included figures such as George Elmer Browne and Roman Bonet-Sintas. Now the estate is the home of Dowling College, a fast-growing commuter school.

By 1888, Robert built a spectacular castle just east of Idle Hour called Pepperidge Hall, magnificently furnished in the French style for his young wife. But the pair didn’t get along. On January 2, 1898, she told police she found Robert shot to death in his Manhattan apartment. It was ruled suicide and she moved to Paris. The mansion fell into disrepair and was razed in 1940.

In 1897, Bourne, who began with 438 acres (1.77 km²) but later owned several thousand acres reaching to West Sayville, completed his mansion, Indian Neck Hall, on the east side of Oakdale. Bourne was active locally, as commodore of the Sayville Yacht Club, and was generous to the local fire department. The eastern part of his estate now comprises the West Sayville County Golf Course and the Suffolk County Marine Museum, while much of the middle portion is covered with homes. Bourne died in 1920. Six years later the mansion, on the western end, became the site of LaSalle Military Academy, operated by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order. In 1993, the brothers converted the academy into a kindergarten-through-high school “global learning community.In 2001, LaSalle was closed and it was bought by St. John’s University, New York.

Between St. John’s University and the West Sayville Country Club is an approximately 250-cottage private summer colony called West Oak Recreation Club (or W.O.R.C.). Although people believe it to be a summer camp or religious community, it is a 75-year-old exclusive, members-only colony. The word LILCO was scratched into the W.O.R.C. pay phone located adjacent to the “big house” in the days before the utility changed its name to LIPA, but after the period when people had to “do their business”, either sitting or standing, at the communal toilets located at what was known as the big house.

Oakdale was founded around two Native American trade routes, where currently lay Sunrise Highway and Montauk Highway.

Notable natives and residents

• William Kissam Vanderbilt
• Alva Erskine Smith
• William Kissam Vanderbilt II
• Consuelo Vanderbilt
• Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
• Frederick Gilbert Bourne
• Dutch Schultz
• Jane Monheit
• Jimmy McNeece
• Tom McNeece
• Tim McIntyre
• Ginny Fields
• James Heartsmen Gamer

Geography

Oakdale is located at 40°44′23″N 73°8′23″W / 40.73972°N 73.13972°W / 40.73972; -73.13972 (40.739858, -73.139696)^[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.7 km²), of which, 3.3 square miles (8.6 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.1 km²) of it (11.70%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[2] of 2000, there were 8,075 people, 3,035 households, and 2,148 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,430.3 per square mile (939.1/km²). There were 3,207 housing units at an average density of 965.2/sq mi (373.0/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.88% White, 1.46% African American, 0.01% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 0.47% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.01% of the population.

There were 3,035 households out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.6% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 27.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $68,793, and the median income for a family was $88,162. Males had a median income of $53,650 versus $36,056 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $31,239. About 0.8% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.0% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.

Information from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakdale,_New_York