A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SAYVILLE AND SAYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL
Introduction……………
For those of us who read the Sayville Alumni Association web pages, we probably share a variety of common experiences. We likely spent some time growing up in Sayville, Long Island as well as attended or graduated from Sayville schools, notably Sayville High School.
Some of us have spent years in Sayville, while others only a few. The article below is meant to provide a brief overview to refresh and enhance our memories about the history of Sayville and the growth and development of its school system, principally the explosive development of its high school.
What began with one high school graduate in 1895, there are now, in spring 2025, an overall number of approximately 22,544 graduates.
Photos as well as some graphs and charts accompany this historical narrative and its brief discussion of the growth of Sayville High School’s enrollment, expansion of its physical facilities, and the extensive, vibrant academic and extracurricular activities currently offered.
We hope you enjoy reading this overview.
Courtesy of the Sayville Historical Society.
The Early Sayville Years……….
The first known inhabitants of Sayville were the Secatogue tribe of the Algonquian people. They valued the area for its fish and shellfish from the Great South Bay and ocean.
In 1761, John Edwards, a veteran of the French and Indian War and a tailor by trade in East Hampton, bought the land that extended from the bay to the area currently around Tariff Street and from Brown’s River to the area between present day Candee and Greene Avenues, for about $3 an acre.
He built his house on land that is now on the corner of Foster Avenue and Edwards Street.
Over the years, the family grew and when the farm land was divided to such an extent that it could no longer support such a large family, the men had to turn to other means of support, including the logging and shipping of firewood from Sayville to New York City as well as the oyster and clamming businesses.
In Sayville, oyster operations were housed on Brown’s River, while in West Sayville even more robust oyster harvesting operations were established at the foot of Atlantic Avenue and along West Avenue.
Dutch immigrants, such as members of the Ockers, Hage, and DeWall families learned to harvest oysters in Holland and brought these skills to Long Island.
Along the shore fronts, more than 20 oyster houses, employing hundreds of men during the 1880’s, brought oysters to these houses, packed them in barrels, and transported them to New York City via oyster schooners, where oysters were served in restaurants. Once the South Shore Railroad was built, oysters also were shipped by rail.
By the 1880’s, the oyster industry was near its peak producing 70,000 barrels annually from the Great South Bay. Once the oyster industry declined, it was replaced, to some extent, by clamming and fishing businesses.
Until 1838, the community had no formal name; it was simply known as “over south”. In March of that year, residents gathered to choose a name.
They chose “Seaville”. As a result of confusion and misspelling, the name sent to Washington for post office approval was Sayville, not Seaville. Throughout this period, Sayville was of little importance.
The mail route on South Country Road was discontinued. Sayville’s first highways were mere winding paths or lanes.
This situation changed in 1868, when the South Shore Railroad was extended to Patchogue. This important milestone opened the Sayville area as a summer destination.
Hotels were built on the main road south of Montauk Highway. Many grand homes and estates were built.
People came to enjoy the bay, cool breezes, swimming, sailing, golf, and entertainment of all types. The circus came to town annually parading the elephants down Main Street to their set up on an empty lot.
In 1876, a census of Sayville and West Sayville showed a population of 1200. At that time, there were 215 dwellings, six stores, four churches, a public school, one doctor, and two undertakers.
Between 1880 and 1930, Sayville grew substantially. More luxurious, elegant homes were built including Meadow Croft, the home of John Ellis Roosevelt, a cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. In the 1920’s, Sayville was the largest summer resort area in the United States.
Sayville’s first formal school was built about 1800 on land donated by the Edwards family on the westerly corner of North Main Street and Lincoln Avenue. It was a 200 square foot log cabin only in use for the three winter months a year.
The older students sat on benches built around the sides of one room, facing the wall. They bent over wide shelves built out from the wall. Those next younger in age were in the next row and the smallest children sat in a circle around the stove. The teacher’s desk was at the back of the room and pupils sat with their backs to him while they wrote.
Large quantities of wood for the stove were piled against the wall. There were only four windows in the building – three on the east and one opposite the door behind the teacher. Classes were taught by an itinerant teacher or by a few town’s people who were knowledgeable enough to do so.
In 1825, the second schoolhouse replaced the first. Building construction was improved and a more substantial stove replaced the former fireplace.
The first permanent teacher arrived in 1838, nineteen year old, John Wood.
By 1838, there were enough students to have a ten-month school term. Mr. Wood received $12 a month and “boarded around” with student families, staying a week for the number of children the family had in school (one child/one week/six children/six weeks).
Sayville’s population growth made the one-room building, constructed in 1825, inadequate. In 1860, a third schoolhouse, a two-story, two room structure (later expanded to four rooms) was erected in its place.
In 1875, three teachers were employed constantly and a fourth during the winter months.
The amount paid annually for teachers’ salaries was about $2,000. At this point, the third schoolhouse was completely inadequate for the number of pupils it served.
To address the space problem, in 1885, a two-and–one half acre plot at 88 Greene Avenue, midway between the railroad and Main Street, was purchased for $900 for a new school.
There were four classrooms each seating 50 children on each floor with (some years later) rest rooms, and an attic. Built for $13,350, it opened on January 1, 1889, with five teachers and 375 students.
Eight grades existed. Until the early 1890’s, students wishing to go beyond eight grades might go to another town or to New York City for high school.
The Sayville School at 88 Green Avenue grew substantially over the next five years under the leadership and administrative skill of its principal, Asher Johnson Jacoby.
According to the Suffolk County News, Jacoby’s important accomplishments included adding more classrooms and a gymnasium, substantially increasing library holdings, increasing enrollments. initiating departmental teaching plans, holding weekly teacher’s meetings, adopting a system of school reports, and hiring teachers specifically to offer high school classes.
In 1893, two brothers, Arthur Forest Cambern and Edward Anthony Cambern, received “local” high school diplomas, but their diplomas did not meet State requirements.
Twelve years earlier, in 1878, New York State introduced Regents exams to standardize secondary education to ensure consistent academic standards.
These exams aimed to unify curricula and provide a reliable measure for graduation and college. Asher Jacoby laid the foundation to meet State educational requirements.
In 1895, When George Peters Armstrong became principal, he accepted naming Sayville a Union Free District and adopted changes required by the State of New York raising graduation standards from those fixed by the school itself to those of the University of the State of New York, namely the Regents Academic Diploma.
Anna L. Green, who had been attending Sayville School and taking 16 Regents exams at both Patchogue, in 1894, and in Sayville, in 1895, became Sayville Union School’s first graduate, receiving a Regent’s diploma in a single student commencement in June 1895.
For this reason, Sayville High School considers itself established in 1895 and its first graduate to be Anna L. Green. In 1896, six additional graduates received their Regent’s diplomas.
Enrollment continued to grow. In 1894-95, eight more classrooms were added to the building at 88 Greene Avenue and, in 1905, six more, some specifically designated for high school.
In 1910, two “temporary” structures were placed behind the school building, one for Instructional Arts and the other for two additional classrooms.
As the 1920’s approached, the school was again reaching capacity. In December 1920, voters approved $7,500 to purchase land adjoining the north border of the existing school along both Greeley and Greene Avenues to Railroad Avenue as the site for a future high school.
Construction of this new fireproof high school building began in October 1926 and was dedicated in January 1928.
The cost was $338,000. At its first commencement only 23 students graduated. School enrollment continued to rise. A 1936 survey showed 501 students enrolled in the Greene Avenue high school in a facility built for 350 students only eight years earlier.
Ten years later, in 1946, Sayville High began double sessions for the first time.
The population explosion after World War II, aided by benefits to former military personnel, resulted in thousands of New York City dwellers leaving Manhattan in search of a home in the suburbs. Long Island, with both its well-developed Long Island Railroad and its highway system was the recipient of much of this population flow. Large areas of Suffolk County were undeveloped and land was inexpensive.
To house this influx of students, school buildings had to be expanded and new ones constructed. To insure an adequate tax base to cover increased costs, school districts began merger talks.
In 1957, Sayville notified the districts of Oakdale, Bohemia, Ronkonkoma, and Holbrook that in 1960, it no longer would accept their high school students, thus reducing enrollment pressures to some extent.
A new Sayville High School opened at 20 Brook Street, near the southeast corner of Cherry Avenue, in September 1958. The opening on September 4, marked the first full-time high school session in three years.
The site, purchased several years earlier for slightly over $91,000, consisted of 27 acres of woodland landscaped to fit the needs of the sprawling educational plant. Construction of the building cost almost 3.5 million.
At times, district taxpayers authorized the new building program by slim voting margins. In June 1955, the initial $2,850,000 building appropriation was approved by only a 23 vote margin over the required two-thirds majority.
In 1956, a supplementary appropriation to permit completion of the equipping and furnishing of the building and the development of the outdoor athletic facilities, was approved by only a four vote margin.
The final tally was 738 to 363, with a margin of victory exactly four votes over the required two-thirds majority.
The estimated capacity of the new high school was 1,000 students. This beautiful building was described at the dedication as a “building that contains all the elements of a fine educational program.”
The building contained 29 classrooms, a home economics suite, a business practice suite, chemistry, physics, and biology labs, an industrial arts shop, a mechanical drawing room, band and choral rooms, a 400 seat cafeteria, a 800 seat auditorium, a 100 x 96 foot gymnasium, and a large outdoor athletic space.
Only 13 years later, additions and alterations to the building began. In 1971, a new library, six additional classrooms, an art and mechanical drawing room, a large group instructional area, and an additional cafeteria were added.
Subsequent additions took place in 1991, 2002, 2003, and 2010 provided a new music room, a science laboratory, a second floor on the English section, and a wellness center.
The attractive physical plant of Sayville High School is being accompanied by a vibrant academic program, extracurricular activities, and a wide-ranging sports program. The Sayville High School Academic Program of Study for 2025 – 2026 is posted on the Sayville High School web pages.
This comprehensive document includes a discussion of graduation and diploma requirements and descriptions of all course offerings in eight academic areas including English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, World Languages, Arts and Music, Business and Technology, and Physical Education and Health. The Program of Study helps parents and their children make decisions about the academic opportunities available to them.
All academic departments offer a wide variety of educational opportunities for students to develop employment skills, become technologically proficient, and to prepare for future career and college opportunities.
A complete array of college level Advance Placement (AP), honors, and research courses are offered providing there is sufficient enrollment.
Sayville High hosts 28 clubs and activities offering a wide variety of challenges and opportunities beyond the classroom.
Some clubs focus on developing skills (Mathletes, Robotics Club, Debate Club), while others recognize skills already developed (National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, Rho Kappa Social Studies Honors Society, World Language Honor Society, and TRI-Music).
Other clubs focus on service (Key Club, Athletes Helping Others), or on activities in specific academic areas.
This latter group includes publications (College, the Arts and Literary Magazine, The Current, the school newspaper, and the Yearbook) and the areas of music and the arts (Thespian Society, Sayville Players, the Chamber Orchestra and the Arts Club).
Sayville has a rich array of stimulating, academically enhancing offerings, only a few of which are referenced here.
A description and discussion of each club and activity can be found in the Sayville High School Club and Activities Handbook located in the Sayville High website.
Through various extracurricular initiatives, students acquire experiences that broaden perspectives and that grows both their resumes and allows them to give back.
In addition, Sayville High offers numerous sports activities during the fall, winter, and spring months for both men and women. In the fall, for example, football for men and flag football for women, soccer, field hockey, and volleyball are the prime offerings.
In winter, the sports emphasis is on basketball, fencing, wrestling, and bowling, while in spring the focus is on baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, and golf. Track and field, swimming/diving, and cheering are offered throughout the year.
Since its establishment, both Sayville and its school system have seen a steady, at times, explosive growth. This was the situation until 2010, when Sayville’s population began to decline resulting in a corresponding downturn in school enrollment.
This decline reflects the high cost of living in the Sayville area and the limited ability of new families to afford housing and other necessities.
The average household income in Sayville is $175,967. The graph below shows the swings in Sayville’s population beginning with a high of 16,853 people in 2010 to a low in the 2020 census year of 15,910, back up to a population of 16,027 in 2024. The -0.37 percent annual decline in population is now beginning to be offset by a population increase of .74 percent.
West Sayville’s census population in 2010 was 5,011. It declined to 4,872 people in the 2020 census, but has increased to 5,036 in 2024, a growth of .04 percent. West Sayville encompasses a total area of 2.10 square miles.
Below are charts reflecting the enrollment growth of Sayville High School from 1905 to 2024. These charts come from a variety of sources and include, to some extent, data on other dimensions besides enrollment data.
No one agency or group has systematically collected data about Sayville High School during its 133 year history.
The number of Sayville High School graduates began with just one in 1895; it now has, in spring 2025, approximately 22,544.
Bibliography
Brooklyn Daily Times. “Sayville Schools: An Efficient Institution”, June 17, 1905, p. 1.
Census Data. https://data.census.gov/
Curran, Patrick J., A History of Public Education in the Town of Islip, New York, Ph.D. Dissertation, North Texas State University, Denton, Texas, 1971.
Edwards, Clarissa, A History of Early Sayville. Published in 1935 by Suffolk County News Press.
Long Island Traditions, “West Sayville Maritime Survey Report”, 2004. https://www.longislandtraditions.org
Sayville High School Website: https://shs.sayvilleschools.org
Sayville High School Data. New York State Education Department, Albany, New York. Data Sources: Archive Data (1998-2022), School Data for 2022-23, and for 2023-2024.
Sayville Historical Society, “The History of Sayville”. Website: https://sayvillehistorical.org/about-sayville-ny/