Tell Me Why...
Changing Demographics
By John Ellis Kordes
Village Historian

Q: I had always thought of Garden City as a Protestant community but having lived here for 10 years I see it is more Catholic. When did it change and could you tell my why?

Sometimes reputations can linger beyond current reality. Garden City has changed but so has America which was founded by mostly White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. At the beginning of the 20 th century, protestants still made up 46% of the U.S. population and Catholics made up only 14%. Today, Protestants make up 21% of the U.S. population and Catholics make up 22%. This shift in the population during the 20 th century is indeed reflected in Garden City.

Up until World War II, Garden City was still mostly Protestant but the post war suburban boom made Nassau County the fastest growing county in the country in the 1950's. The children and grandchildren of the mass immigration to New York City at the beginning of the 20 th century were now moving out onto Long Island. The two large ethnic groups dominating this migration were Irish and Italians. Both of these groups being Catholic changed Long Island and specifically Garden City.

From the 1970's onward, Garden City has been predominantly a Catholic community with a shrinking Protestant population. Garden City has 11 houses of worship but it's the two Catholic Churches St. Joseph's and St. Anne's that have the largest congregations. They each have very successful parochial schools too.

The irony, of course, is that the village grew up around the Cathedral of the Incarnation which is the Seat of the Episcopal Church on Long Island. In recent decades the Cathedral has had it problems, from the closing of St. Mary's and St. Paul's in 1991 to filing Chapter 11 in the 1990's among other issues. However, after selling off properties and beginning a major restoration project on the Cathedral, they seem to be doing better recently.

Interestingly also is the fact that although Garden City remains a predominantly Christian community, it has had a Jewish Center on Nassau Blvd. for almost 50 years. The Jewish population at the beginning of the 20 th century in America was 2% and 100 years later it is still 2%. However, a large proportion of the 2% live in the Metropolitan area. So, some demographics change alot and some not that much. Today, the fastest growing ethnic population in America, by percentage, is Asians and Hispanics.

As for Garden City in the future? If current trends continue, then just take a look west at Brooklyn and Queens. The children and grandchildren of the people arriving there today will be living here in 20 or 30 years - just as they have been doing for over 100 years.

*Demographic statistics from 2004 World Almanac.