Wyandanch - the Name, the Zip Code, Etc.

The community of Wyandanch is the only one in the Town of Babylon to be named for a real person. The name Wyandanch refers to the 17^th century Chief or Sachem named Wyandanch, who is believed to have been born around 1615 in Montauk, the east end of Long Island, and have died in 1658 around Long Island City, the western part of Long Island. 

Sachem Wyandanch is referenced in many land documents with the European settlers in the 1600s. Contrary to local legends, there is no evidence that Chief Wyandanch ever resided in the community named for him, nor was there a band of Native Americans known as “the Wyandanch.”

Please note: Spellings and pronunciations of Long Island Native American words and names are subjective and typically determined by community residents. The Native Americans of Long Island had a spoken language, and records kept by Colonists, starting in in the 1600s, contained interpretations of the Native American language. The European settlers typically used phonetic spellings, which often differed among documents and writers. The meanings of Native American words can also differ among historians and researchers. 

In his 1911 book “The Indian Place-Names on Long Island and Islands Adjacent,” William Wallace Tooker identified at least nine different spellings of “Wyandanch” between 1642 and 1659, including: Waiandance, Waindance, Waindance, Wayandanch, Weandance, Weyrinteynich, Wiantanse, Wyandance, and Wyandanch. Tooker surmised that the name Wyandanch could be interpreted as “the wise speaker.”

Located in the lower portion of the Half Hollow Hills, the present community of Wyandanch was previously known as West Deer Park. The name Deer Park came into use when the Long Island Rail Road established one of its first depots there, in 1842. Being to the west of Deer Park, the name West Deer Park was assigned to the railroad depot established around 1875. Reportedly, this was followed by years of confusion and complaints by railroad travelers that mistakenly got off the train in West Deer Park when they had intended to go to Deer Park.

To reduce the station confusion and create a unique identity for the western station, the LIRR made the following announcement:

Wyandance …, not a typo. As referenced above, that was one of the many interpretive spellings of the Chief’s name. Both Wyandance and Wyandanch were used throughout the 1800s in Long Island newspapers, which frequently wrote stories about the European Colonists and their transactions with the Native Americans. However, by the early 1900s, the spelling Wyandanch, became the preference.

For better or worse, the Long Island Rail Road appears to have influenced, or changed, the names of many communities, including Massapequa (formerly South Oyster Bay) and Copiague (formerly East Amityville). In many instances, a Post Office typically named itself after the local railroad station, and vice-versa.

Not just in the Town of Babylon, but across Long Island, the assignment of zip codes can cause confusion about “where” things are located. The West Deer Park Post Office was established on August 23, 1875, with George W. Conklin as Postmaster. The post office name was changed to Wyandance on December 30, 1888 and to Wyandanch on February 11, 1903.  In the 1800s and early 1900s, post office operations were typically conducted from an existing store/office location, and the merchant/Postmaster received modest compensation for the job. 

Up through the mid-1900s, it was common for residents to pick up their mail from the post office. For example, in 1910, a letter addressed to “Miss Mary Jackson, Wyandanch, New York” or “Wyandanch, Long Island,” was sufficient to have the letter delivered to the Wyandanch Post Office, where it would wait for Miss Jackson to pick it up. (Residential mail delivery was established around 1950.)

In 1963, the U.S. Postal Service introduced the basic 5-digit zip code, across the country. The Wyandanch Post Office was assigned 11798. The zip code assigned to addresses is based on the post office assigned to deliver the mail, but can be confused with all of the other facilities associated with an address, as illustrated by the sample addresses.