[VIDEO] The Rise and Fall of Long Island, America's Richest Suburb

Long Island's unique history as America's richest suburb is explored, from its initial development by visionaries like Alexander T. Stewart, who founded Garden City on the vast Hempstead Plains, to the island's industrial prowess, particularly with companies like Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage, which produced critical warplanes and the Apollo Lunar Module, alongside the transformative suburbanization led by William Levitt, whose Levittown model revolutionized postwar housing. The video also details the impact of master builder Robert Moses's parkways, such as those leading to Jones Beach State Park, and how these developments shaped the island. Ultimately, the video reveals how the very foundations of Long Island's prosperity—cheap land, rapid growth, and federal investment—have led to its current challenges, including high property taxes, housing unaffordability, and youth outmigration, leaving much of its industrial and natural heritage either contaminated or preserved in small fragments.