Hempstead Wedding

The Town of Hempstead is one of the three towns (otherwise known as civil townships) in Nassau County, New York, United States. There are twenty-two incorporated villages completely or partially in the town. Hempstead is the most populous town in the state and the nation with a population of 755,924 at the 2000 Census (estimated to be 751,276 in 2005). It is comparable in population to San Francisco or Jacksonville. It is larger than Boston, Baltimore, or Seattle. It occupies the southwest part of the county. If it was a city, it would be the 14th largest city in the nation.

There is also a village named Hempstead within the town.

The town was first settled around 1644. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut, a patent was issued by New Amsterdam after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives. The town may have been named for either Hemel Hempstead, England or the Dutch city of Heemstede.

During the American Revolution the Loyalists in the south and the American sympathizers in the north caused a split in 1784 into "North Hempstead" and "South Hempstead."