Sayville, New York

Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,853 at the time of the 2010 census.

History

The earliest known inhabitants of Sayville were the Secatogue tribe of the Algonquian peoples.

Sayville was founded by John Edwards (b. 1738) of East Hampton, New York. He built his home, the first in Sayville, in 1761, located at what is now the northwest corner of Foster Avenue and Edwards Street. The house was destroyed by fire in March 1913. Another man, John Greene, settled what is now known as West Sayville in 1767.

The community had no formal name until 1838 when residents gathered to choose a name for their post office, which had opened on March 22, 1837. Until that time, Sayville was known informally as "over south". The townspeople held a meeting to decide on a name, and after Edwardsville and Greensville tied in a vote, one resident suggested "Seaville". According to historical accounts, the clerk at that particular meeting did not know how to spell and had to go home and look in an old Bible he had brought from England years before. In the Bible, the word "sea" was spelled "s-a-y", and "Sayville" became the name he sent to Washington. After the error was discovered, the community sent a letter of protest to Washington D.C.; however, the Postmaster General responded that the name should stay "Sayville", as there were many "Seaville"s in the world but no "Sayville"s. As a result, the name stuck. Incidentally, in some very old Bibles, the town name is also spelled "S-a-v-i-l-l-e".

Sayville (LIRR station)

Sayville is a station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Sayville, New York, on Depot Street between Greeley Avenue and Railroad Avenue. Ferries to Fire Island board from a port south of the station.

History

Sayville station was originally built by the South Side Railroad of Long Island in December 1868, and was the end of the line until April 1869 when the line was extended to Patchogue. From that point until the early 20th century, the station also served as the local post office. At the time, it contained coal sidings, spurs into lumber yards, a freight house west of Greely Avenue, a dairy farm, and even a horse trolley to the Great South Bay owned by the South Shore Traction Company. The horse trolley was eventually converted into an electric trolley line after being acquired by the Suffolk Traction Company. In November 1905, mail that was delivered to the railroad station was blown out of its pouch by a speeding train and scattered under the tracks and was searched by the postmaster along "half a mile of track." The original station was razed sometime in 1906 and a second depot opened on August 3 that year. When Bayport station was closed by the Long Island Rail Road in 1980, former Bayport commuters opted to use Sayville station. A renovation project took place sometime in 1998-1999. It brought the current pedestrian overpass and sheltered high-level platforms.