Dix Hills, New York

History

Settlers traded goods with the Indigenous Secatogue tribe for the land that became Dix Hills in 1699. The Secatogues lived in the northern portion of the region during the later half of that century. The land was known as Dick's Hills. By lore, the name traces to a local native named Dick Pechegan, likely of the Secatogues. Scholar William Wallace Tooker wrote that the addition of the English name "Dick" to the indigenous name "Pechegan" was a common practice.

Tooker wrote that Pechegan's wigwam and his planted fields became the hilly area's namesake, known as the shortened "Dix Hills" by 1911. The area was mostly used for farming until after World War II.

In 1941, a ranch house featured at the World of Tomorrow exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair was purchased by real estate developer J. Franklin Bradley, who at the time was creating a new housing development in Dix Hills. Bradley relocated the house to this new development in the hamlet, where it was rebuilt to its original World's Fair specifications.

In the 1950s, Dix Hills and its neighbors Wheatley Heights and Melville, along with the area known as Sweet Hollow, proposed to incorporate as a single village. This village – which would have been known as the Incorporated Village of Half Hollow Hills – would have had an area of roughly 50 mi2, with its boundaries essentially co-terminus with those of the Half Hollow Hills Central School District (C.S.D. No. 5). The plans were unsuccessful, and these areas would remain unincorporated.

Proposals were revived around 2001, when Dix Hills, Melville, Wheatley Heights, and East Farmingdale (all within the school district) proposed incorporating as a single village. These plans also failed, and as of 2025, all of these community remain unincorporated hamlets.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP of Dix Hills has a total area of 41.3 km2, all of it land.

Dix Hills is located centrally on Long Island, on the southern edge of the Town of Huntington, bordering the Town of Babylon to its south.

The Long Island Expressway passes almost straight through the middle of the hamlet.

Demographics

As of the 2020 U.S. census, there were 26,180 people, 7,765 households residing in Dix Hills. The population density was 1,662.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of Dix Hills was 74.7% White, 15.1% Asian, 6.1% are Hispanic or Latino of any race, 3.7% African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.0% Pacific Islander, and 4.8% from two or more races. Dix Hills, like many other towns on the North Shore of Long Island, has a large Jewish population, as well as a large number of residents of Asian origin. 25.6% of the population spoke a language other than English at home, mostly Chinese or Korean.

The median household income (in 2021 dollars) in Dix Hills was $184,580. The per capita income for Dix Hills was $75,486. About 4.9% of the population was below the poverty line.

Dix Hills had Long Island's highest number of electric vehicles on the road by ZIP Code as of 2023.

Education

Dix Hills is served by the Half Hollow Hills Central School District and the Commack School District. The Half Hollow Hills elementary schools are Otsego, Paumanok, Signal Hill, Sunquam, and Vanderbilt.

Middle schools that serve the district are Candlewood Middle School and West Hollow Middle School. The high schools are Half Hollow Hills High School East and Half Hollow Hills High School West. Commack Middle School and Rolling Hills Elementary are both a part of the Commack School District and are located within Dix Hills.

Five Towns College is also located within Dix Hills.

Dix Hills is part of the Half Hollow Hills Community Library.

Emergency services

Dix Hills is served by the Dix Hills Fire Department, through three stations. The Dix Hills Fire Department's headquarters (Company 2) is located on Deer Park Avenue, immediately north of the Northern State Parkway. Substation #1 (Company 3) is located on Deer Park Avenue, south of the Long Island Expressway.

Substation #2 (Company 1) is located on Carll's Straight Path, about half of a mile south of the Long Island Expressway. The Dix Hills Fire Department consists of approximately 150 volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians who respond to over 2,500 calls for assistance each year – ranging from fires to motor vehicle accidents to medical and traumatic emergencies.

Notable people

• Brian Bloom, actor
• Bob Bourne, NHL player
• Ernest P. Buffett, Businessman, father of congressman Howard Buffett, grandfather of billionaire investor Warren Buffett
• Gidone Busch, New York City Police Department shooting victim
• John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist and composer (John Coltrane Home)
• Clark Gillies, NHL player
• Tobias Harris, NBA player
• Steve Israel, former New York congressman
• Mark LoMonaco of The Dudley Boyz, pro wrestler
• Ralph Macchio of The Karate Kid, actor
• Kyle Merber, professional runner
• Cathy Moriarty, actress
• Greg Mottola, writer-director of Superbad
• Cameron Ocasio, actor
• Todd Phillips, writer-director of Old School and The Hangover
• Samantha Prahalis, WNBA basketball player
• Michael Prywes, writer-director
• Jenna Rose, entertainer
• Carmela Sbarro and Gennaro Sbarro, founders of Sbarros pizza chain
• Dee Snider, Twisted Sister frontman
• Ryan Star, singer-songwriter
• Wesley Walker, NFL player
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Congresswoman, former chair of the Democratic National Convention, Hills East '84
• Chris Weidman, UFC fighter
• Judd Winick, cartoonist
• Gary Wood (1942–1994), NFL quarterback
• Jon Bellion, singer-songwriter

Notes

References

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