Glen Cove is a city on the North Shore of Long Island and is one of two of Nassau County's five municipalities that is a city, rather than a town. In 1834 the town officially changed names from the unattractive Musketa Cove to its present name Glen Cove. From the 1680s up until the early 1900s, The Town of Oyster Bay had jurisdiction over the area until officially becoming an independent city in 1917. Glen Cove has its own police, fire protection, and emergency medical services. Both the fire department and emergency medical services are volunteer agencies. The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for the planning, coordination and response to natural and man-made emergencies that occur within the City of Glen Cove.
The City of Glen Cove was long hailed for its gleaming waterfront vistas making it an attractive location for the titans of industry who built large expansive and virtually secluded estates along its hilly inlands and rocky shorelines. What was once considered home to the Pratts and Woolworths with their rolling farm lands and private estates has become diverse residential communities comprised of single and multi-family homes along with a revitalized central business district.