Islip (/ˈaɪslɪp/ EYE-slip) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the South Shore of Long Island.

The yearly fee paid to Governor Thomas Dongan of New York was five bushels of quality winter wheat or 25 shillings.

By 1710, the colonial government passed an act to enable the precinct of Islip in the County of Suffolk to elect two assessors, a collector, a constable and a supervisor.

Tourism brought much wealth into the area and business sprung up to service the hotels that began to dot the landscape.

Some of those tourists stayed on and built summer homes, thus the vacationers and the town seemed to enjoy a mutual prosperity.

Early in the 20th century, diesel-powered ferries replaced the whale boats while housing developments and small manufacturing firms sprang up on the sites of old farms.

Like the rest of the country, Islip and all of Long Island suffered during the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression.

When the veterans returned home from World War II, there was a housing shortage in New York City, but a rebirth on Long Island.

Within a decade following the end of the war, Islip began to turn from a bucolic farming community into a bustling suburb, becoming what was once described as a "bedroom" of New York City.

In 1987, the 430 tons of ash that resulted from incineration of the cargo of the Mobro 4000 "Garbage Barge" was added to the landfill in Islip.

In 1969, the Republicans returned to local power for another 38 years until the 2007 elections gave the Democrats control of the town board.

In 2006, Republican Supervisor Peter McGowan resigned due to charges of misuse of campaign funds.

In the ensuing special election Phil Nolan, a Democrat, won the supervisor seat.

The next year in 2007 Supervisor Nolan ran for his first full term in office with running mates John Edwards and Gene Parrington.

[18] In 2009, new voter registration skewed slightly towards the Democratic Party for the first time in the history of the Town of Islip.

Tom Croci, a veteran running in his first election, led an energized campaign that upset incumbent Supervisor Nolan.

[19] In 2018, four residents sued the town for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by maintaining a discriminatory at-large council system.

One-third of Islip's population is Hispanic, but only one person of color[clarification needed] has ever been elected to a town seat.

Passenger ferries depart to Fire Island from Bay Shore and Sayville, which lead to communities both in the Towns of Islip and Brookhaven.