Back in 1920, most people in Islip lived either south of Main Street or north of Main Street, but only as far north as the railroad tracks. There were very few houses north of Moffitt Boulevard (which borders the railroad tracks) until a family named Wolpert decided that Islip was a good place to build houses. The Wolpert sons, Charles, Richard and Andrew, together with their father Andrew Karl, had, just 10 years before, founded the hamlet of Islip Terrace.
Happy with the success of Islip Terrace, the three brothers wanted to start another development.
They liked the parcel of land north of Moffitt Boulevard (running as far north as Walnut Street) and east of Islip Avenue and bought it. Just as they did when they began to build Islip Terrace, they advertised in newspapers in Brooklyn and Queens for people of German descent who wanted to leave the city and own their own homes out on Long Island. The fact that they would all be German would allow them to share their culture and traditions. They named this new community Islip Manor. Islip Manor became Islip Hamlet's first housing development.
The Wolperts built a two-story house called a "cape" which was square and featured an "A-shaped" dormer in the center front of the second story. Although homeowners have changed the look of their homes through the years by expanding them, the houses can still be recognized today. If you ride down Hemlock, Spruce, or any of the other tree-named streets, or Ferndale, Wilson, and Islip Boulevards, you can recognize many Wolpert features, especially the front dormer and entrance ways and porches.
Many people of German ancestry came and settled in this new community. The Wolperts did everything they could to help folks own their homes. They made the terms of borrowing the money as reasonable as they could. They even allowed some people who didn't have enough money for a down payment to dig their own foundations and accepted their work as a down-payment.
Because of the hundreds of people who moved into the homes, mostly between 1925 and 1930, the business area in Islip Manor grew from four original stores (which are still there) to businesses that run both south and north of Moffitt Boulevard along Islip Avenue. The railroad station, located nearby, allowed those residents who still worked closer to New York City to catch the train right in their own neighborhood.
In those days, Islip had only one school and it contained all the grades, K -12. You can see it today on Main Street across from the Islip movie theatre where it is used as Islip Town offices. There were no buses back then so kids would walk from "the Manor," (as everyone called it), to school.
They didn't mind because almost all of Islip’s kids walked to school as well
It wasn't until after World War II, in the 1950's and 1960's, that the huge, empty woods in the north of Islip were bought, cleared and several housing developments were built. But Islip Manor was the first. Sadly, Andrew Wolpert, Sr. died before this second, charming community came into being.
Original Research: Nancy Porta Libert - Synopsis: NPL 2013