*In 1953, the U.S. Navy acquired 4,000 acres in Calverton and leased it to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Co. The aviation giant spent several decades assembling planes there for the Navy, including the Tomcat and E-2C Hawkeye. In a downsizing of its Long Island operations, Grumman in 1995 shut down its Calverton plant, which once employed 3,000.
