Like the rest of the Brookville area, what is now the Village of Old Brookville was part of mid-17th Century land purchases from the Matinecock Indians by Oyster Bay Town and early settlers in the Cedar Swamp territory east of Hempstead Harbor. English and Dutch farmers were the first white inhabitants. By the mid-1800s, their descendants were selling much of their corn to a starch factory in nearby Glen Cove, where the manufacturing residue was excellent cattle fodder coveted by farmers from miles around.
