How Glen Cove became a city

This is part one in a series.

Glen Cove was tied inextricably to the Town of Oyster Bay for the first 250 years of its existence. The settlement of Oyster Bay preceded that of Mosquito Cove (the 17th century name of this community) by about 15 years and four of the five original proprietors of the Mosquito Cove Plantations had lived in Oyster Bay village and had acquaintances there.
From 1668 however, the early Glen Cove community known as Mosquito Cove operated as a rural hamlet under the oversight of the five proprietors. Over time and with the passing of the original settlers, local governmental administration would fall under the Town of Oyster Bay.
One hundred and fifty years passed before the Hamlet of Mosquito Cove was recognized by the federal government, when the first post office opened here in 1818. With the establishment of its own post office, from all of the various spellings (Mosquito, Muskeeto, Musketa, Muscheda, Moscheto, etc.), the official name of the community became Musquito Cove.

The residents finally voted for an alternative name in 1834, changing it to Glen Cove, in order to dispel the notion that the community was a haven for mosquitoes. There are two tales as to how this name was selected, but that’s another story.
The community of Glen Cove would grow dramatically during the latter half of the 19th century, but it never incorporated. By early in the 20th century its population was approaching 10,000 souls, making it the largest community in both Nassau and Suffolk counties according to an editorial in the “Glen Cove Echo,” the local newspaper. In 1915, when this editorial appeared, Glen Cove was accessible by the Long Island Railroad and the steamships from New York City; it had an electric trolley line that connected the steamer wharf with the downtown and with the Glen Street and Sea Cliff railroad stations; the Glen Theater was a major entertainment venue hosting vaudeville shows and moving pictures; the Ladew Leatherworks was the largest employer of local workers; and the Crystal Spring Ice Company had replaced the Upper Glen Lake as a year-round source of ice for village households.
It was a thriving community, but Glen Cove was still administered by the Town of Oyster Bay, while the neighboring Village of Sea Cliff had incorporated in 1883. Many citizens felt that Glen Cove was not receiving the services commensurate with the tax dollars sent to the town.
Some in the community thought that Glen Cove should become an incorporated village and form its own government, while another faction favored a complete break from the Town of Oyster Bay, and its incorporation as a city. As early as 1906, articles in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” newspaper, which chronicled many of the happenings in Glen Cove, discussed forming a local committee of prominent citizens to study the incorporation issues. By 1915, the editor of the “Glen Cove Echo,” John Davis, had become a voice for the pro-city faction, printing editorials advancing this position. In a follow-up editorial in 1916, he sparked a debate on the topic, and the Village Improvement Association finally called a meeting to discuss the matter. At this meeting on April 21, 1916, a “Committee of Seven” was selected, whose members were many respected Glen Cove names of the period: Franklin A. Coles, John C.F. Davis (the “Echo” editor), Harry L. Hedger, William E. Luyster, William A. McCahill, Edward E. Craft, and Edward Donaldson. They were tasked with studying the question of incorporating Glen Cove as a city. However, the committee remained silent on the topic for a long period – World War I was then raging in Europe, and the debate as to whether America should enter the war overshadowed the debate on Glen Cove’s future form of government.
~ GC350 History Committee