1872 Law Creating Town of Babylon (Town of Babylon History Book, Chapter 2)
Town of Babylon History Book - 1872 Law Creating Town of Babylon (chapter 2; April 2025)
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The 1872 Law Creating The Town of Babylon
Town of
Huntington residents voted to create the Town of Babylon, but the measure
needed to be approved by the New York State Legislature before the new
government could be established. On March 13, 1872, the NYS Senate and Assembly
approved the new Town of Babylon. The new law established the town’s
boundaries, directed the first Town Board meeting and set forth instructions
for the division of assets and debts between the two towns.
______________________
Laws Of New York -- Ninety-Fifth
Session
Chap.
105.
AN
ACT for the division of the town of Huntington, in the county of Suffolk, and
the erection of a new town from the southern part of said town, and for the
apportionment of the town property and town debts.
Passed March
13, 1872; three-fifths being present.
The People of the State of New York, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
[Town of Babylon.]
SECTION 1.
There shall be erected out of the town of Huntington, in the county of Suffolk,
a new town to be called the town of Babylon, which is hereby set off and
separated from said town of Huntington.
[Boundaries.]
§2.
The town of Babylon shall be bounded as follows: On the north by a line
commencing at the boundary line between the towns of Huntington and Oyster Bay,
one mile north of the line of the Long Island railroad, and running thence
easterly and parallel with said Long Island railroad, until it reaches a point
on the boundary line between the towns of Huntington and Islip, one mile north
of the Long Island railroad; on the east by the town of Islip; on the south by
the Atlantic ocean; and on the west by the town of Oyster Bay; the eastern and
western boundaries being by the lines now established and recognized as the
town divisions of the said several towns respectively.
[Town of Huntington.]
§3.
All the residue of said town of Huntington shall continue to be the town of
Huntington, and be called and known by the name of the town of Huntington, and from
and after the passage of this act, all laws now in force applicable to the said
town of Huntington, shall apply to the town of Huntington as hereby continued,
excepting that chapter one hundred and nineteen of the Laws of eighteen hundred
and seventy, entitled "An act to increase the number of assessors in the
town of Huntington, county of Suffolk, and, to determine their term of
office," shall not apply to the town of Huntington as hereby continued,
but is hereby repealed.
[First annual town meeting.]
§4.
The first annual town meeting in said town of Babylon, hereby erected, shall be
held at the hotel of P.A. Seaman & Son, in the village of Babylon, on the
first Tuesday of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and the
county judge of Suffolk county shall appoint three persons, residents of said
town, to preside at such meeting, who shall open the polls, appoint a clerk,
and exercise the same powers as justices of the peace, when presiding at town
meetings.
[Personal property to be apportioned between towns.]
§5.
The personal property of the town of
Huntington, including moneys, belonging to the town in the hands of town
officers, not required to meet liabilities of said town of Huntington, when
due, shall be apportioned between the town of Babylon and the town of
Huntington as continued, by the supervisor of the said town of Huntington and
James T. Morris, of said town of Babylon, who is hereby made a special
commissioner for that purpose, pro rata, according to the amount of taxable
property in each of said towns, as the same existed immediately before the
passage of this act; and to be ascertained by the last assessment list of such
town. Such apportionment shall be made between the first day of June, and the
first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-two.
[Real estate divided or sold.]
§6.
The real estate belonging to the said town
of Huntington is hereby divided, apportioned, and shall henceforth be held in
severalty by the town of Babylon and the town of Huntington, as hereby continued,
so that the said two towns shall each respectively be entitled, and shall own,
exercise, control and enjoy all that part of the said real estate which is
situated within the limits defined as aforesaid, except the real estate known
as the town farm, situated at Long Swamp, which is hereby directed to be sold
and the proceeds thereof apportioned between the said two towns, according to
the manner and rule of apportionment described in the last preceding section.
The supervisor and justices of the peace of the said town of Babylon and their
successors are hereby designated and created ex officio trustees of the town of
Babylon, to hold; manage, control, convey and dispose of the real estate of
said town of Babylon. The trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the
town of Huntington are hereby empowered and directed to make and execute all
releases and conveyances necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this
section.
[Debts to be apportioned between
towns. -- Statement of debts, etc., to be made. -- Supervisor of Islip to act
in case of disagreement. -- Statement to be in triplicate and filed. -- Each
town to pay its proportion of debt.]
§7. All debts, bonds, obligations and liabilities of the
town of Huntington, existing at the time of the passage of this act, or which
shall have been authorized or directed by any existing act, are hereby
apportioned between the said town of Babylon and the town of Huntington, as
hereby continued, according to the amount of taxable property in each, to be
ascertained by the assessment roll of the said town of Huntington, for the year
one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one. And the said town of Babylon, and
the town of Huntington as hereby continued, shall henceforth be severally
charged with its respective share of the principal and interest of the said
debts, bonds, obligations and liabilities, according to such apportionment. It
shall be the duty of the supervisor of the town of Huntington, as hereby
continued, and the said special commissioner of the town of Babylon, to prepare
an accurate statement of the said debts, bonds and obligations, and of the
maturity or time and times of the payment thereof, so far as the same can be
ascertained by them from the records and papers in the town clerk's office, or
otherwise, and to classify them in accordance with the apportionment hereby
directed, so that each will bear its
[Other assets apportioned.]
§8.
The rights, credits and assets of the said town of Huntington, other than the
real and personal estate hereinbefore mentioned, are hereby apportioned between
the said town of Babylon and the town of Huntington, as hereby continued,
according to the rule of apportionment above prescribed in respect to the town
debts.
[State and county taxes, how levied.]
§9.
The supervisors of Suffolk county shall, in the state and annual tax levies,
assess, levy and collect against the taxable property, real and personal, of
the said town of Babylon, the proportion of the State and county taxes to be
borne by said town according to law, and shall issue their warrant for the
collection of such taxes to the collector of the town of Babylon, who shall
collect the same and make return and payment thereof, in the same manner as is
provided by law for collections, returns and payments by town collectors.
[Expenses of maps, etc.]
§10.
The expense of the necessary surveys and maps, and all other necessary charges
and expense incurred and to be incurred in the division of said town of
Huntington, shall be a charge upon and paid by the town of Babylon and the town
of Huntington are hereby continued in the proportion heretofore prescribed for
the apportionment of the town debts; and such charges and expenses shall be
audited by the board of town auditors of each of said towns.
[Not to affect town officers.]
§11.
Nothing in this act shall affect the rights or abridge the term of office of
any town officer in either of said towns of Huntington or Babylon; the
territorial jurisdiction of such officers, other than justices of the peace,
shall not extend beyond the limits of the town in which they shall reside,
after the divisions thereof made by this act.
§12.
All acts inconsistent with the provisions of this
§13. This act shall take effect immediately.
Transcribed from Laws of the State of New York, passed at the Ninety-Fifth Session of the Legislature, begun January second, and ended May Fourteenth, 1872, in the City of Albany, Vol. 1, V.W.M. Brown, Publisher, 1872.
 |
Published
the year after the creation of the Town of Babylon, this map marks the border
between the Towns of Babylon and Huntington with a bold red line. As detailed
in the 1872 legislation, the boundary is one-mile north of the Long Island Rail
Road Main Line, across the Town. Atlas
of Long Island, NY published by Beers, Comstock
& Cline, 1873. |
