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(continued...) In 1925, the Massapequa Avenue School opened with five classrooms, five teachers and 100 students. It was the third school in the area, preceded by a one-room schoolhouse near Old Grace Church on Merrick Road and another built in 1852 on Wurtemburg Road. Most of the area now occupied by Massapequa Park was a wooded thicket in 1927 when some far-sighted and energetic young men saw great possibilities in the "wasteland" of scrub oak and brush. There was no Sunrise Highway, no Southern State Parkway, no Park Boulevard north of Clark, no railroad station. What was to become Massapequa Park was virtually inaccessible.  The real estate firm of Brady, Cryan & Colleran placed large ads in the New York City newspapers announcing free special trains from Penn Station to Massapequa, which had a station stop at the time. The builders improved and extended Park Boulevard from Merrick Road to well north of the railroad tracks. This enabled hired cars to bring the crowds that responded to the "day in the country" offer from the Massapequa station to the village-to-be. Actually, Massapequa Park's first day, November 6, 1927, was sunny, and prospective buyers walked along the lake to the Park. The records show that $131,000 worth of homesites and business lots were sold on this opening day. More than 900 people had come. For five years thereafter, every Sunday and holiday, special free trains were run from New York. Many times two trains a day were needed. On one occasion in May, 1929, 5,621 people visited Massapequa Park on four separate trains.
The founders of the Park envisioned a community of graceful homes. This objective is evidenced today by the many red brick houses along Tyrconnell Avenue, Glengariff Road and Avoca Avenue. When built, these houses sold for $8,950 and those in the Lincoln Avenue section for $7,950.
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