In the fall of 1643, two followers of the Presbyterian minister Richard Denton, Robert Fordham and John Carman, crossed Long Island Sound by rowboat to negotiate with the local Native Americans for a tract of land upon which to establish a new community.

Representatives of the Marsapeague (Massapequa), Mericock (Merrick), Matinecock and Rekowake (Rockaway) tribes met with the two men at a site slightly west of the current Denton Green in Hempstead Village.

[7] The Indians sold approximately 64,000 acres (260 km2), the present day towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead, for an unknown quantity of items; a 1657 revisit of this agreement names large and small cattle, stockings, wampum, hatchets, knives, trading cloth, powder, and lead given as payment by the English.

[9] In the spring of 1644, thirty to forty families left Stamford, Connecticut, crossed Long Island Sound, landed in Hempstead Harbor and eventually made their way to the present site of the village of Hempstead where they began their English settlement within Dutch-controlled New Netherland.

Thompson reported that there were 200 dwellings, and 1,400 residents; that the village was connected to New York City by a turnpike and a railroad; that it had dry soil, excellent water, and pure air; and that it was the principal place of mercantile, and mechanical business, in the county.

Between 1703 and 1705, the newly formed St. George's Church received a silver communion service from England's Queen Anne.

[10] The British attempted to occupy Hempstead after the Battle of Long Island,[10] and used St. George's as a headquarters as well as a place to worship.

Many prominent families such as the Vanderbilts and the Belmonts built homes here, making Hempstead a center of Long Island society.

Drugs, medicines, perfumes, extracts, aprons, children's coats and dresses and men's clothes were peddled about the country by Hempstead merchants.

It was a natural progression, as the surrounding areas developed from small farms into today's suburbia, that Hempstead Village would remain as the marketplace.

Chain department stores such as Arnold Constable and Abraham & Straus called Hempstead home for many years.

The former 8.8-acre (36,000 m2) Times Squares Stores (or TSS) property on Peninsula Boulevard and Franklin Street has been redeveloped as Hempstead Village Commons, a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) retail center.

[citation needed] The former Abraham & Straus department store on 17 acres (69,000 m2) has recently undergone demolition and been replaced by a large retail development and many other smaller establishments.

[citation needed] A considerable infusion of state and federal funding as well as private investment have enabled the replacement of blighted storefronts, complete commercial building rehabilitations and the development of affordable housing for the local population.

Thirty-two units of affordable townhouses known as Patterson Mews at Henry Street and Baldwin Road was completed and fully occupied in 1997.

[15] Subsequently, Wayne Hall, a former Village of Hempstead trustee who is also African American, served as mayor for three terms, from 2005 to 2017.

[citation needed] In recent years, there has been concern regarding ongoing gang activity in certain neighborhoods, notably the "Heights", in addition to the issue of illegal rentals (homes/apartments that are illegally-subdivided by slumlords) and racial steering.

[20] A 2019 investigation by Newsday revealed widespread racial discrimination by real estate agents on Long Island, including in Hempstead.

[22] The Village of Hempstead differs from the majority of Nassau County as its population density is about 15,000 people per square mile—almost four times that of its neighbor on its northern border, Garden City.

[34][35] number Residents (native or lived) about whom an article exists, by date of birth: Media related to Hempstead (village), New York at Wikimedia Commons