Howard Kroplick steps down from town historian position

Teri West
Howard Kroplick with the Town of North Hempstead Board. (Photo courtesy of the Town of North Hempstead)

Howard Kroplick has resigned from his position as Town of North Hempstead historian, which he held for more than seven years.

The East Hills resident and president of the Roslyn Landmark Society cited a desire for an improved life balance as his reason for stepping down.

“For over seven years, it has been a real honor to work with you to preserve and restore the amazing history of our town,” Kroplick wrote in an email to the Town of North Hempstead staff on June 17.

He told Judi Bosworth on June 3 that he would be resigning.

“We are all indebted to Howard Kroplick for educating us about the intriguing history of our Town and for helping us to keep that history alive and relevant to today,” Bosworth said in a statement. “He will be greatly missed and we are so appreciative for all he has done for the Town and its residents.”

The town historian position is currently vacant, said a town spokesperson. The historian is responsible for conducting research related to projects and restorations, advising the Town Board on related matters and serving on the town’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Kroplick said two of his favorite accomplishments were bringing the Mackay Horse Statue into Roslyn’s Gerry Park and restoring Great Neck Plaza’s Allen Cemetery.

“I worked with the Allen family and had to really bring together the neighbors, Great Neck Plaza and the town,” Kroplick said.

The Town of North Hempstead gave Kroplick a cardboard imitation of a historic marker upon his resignation. (Photo courtesy of the Town of North Hempstead)

The town gave Kroplick a proclamation last Tuesday in honor of his work along with a cardboard cutout fashioned like a historic marker.

“At this location, Howard Kroplick served as the Town of North Hempstead’s Town Historian from 2012-2019, where he preserved, restored, and marked places of historical significance,” it reads.

Kroplick had three historic markers placed throughout the town, which alert the public to the historic significance of a landmark.

One was recently placed at the Roslyn Grist Mill, a site dating to the early 1700s that the Roslyn Landmark Society is leading the restoration of.

The restoration is planned to be a three-year project, which Kroplick is focusing much of his efforts on as the president of the society, a position he took on in September.

In 2016, Kroplick won the Edmund J. Winslow Local Government Historian Award for Excellence, which the Association of Public Historians of New York State presents to one historian annually.

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