William Trist Bailey was a land developer who founded the community of Bayswater in Far Rockaway. He purchased the land 1878 and turned Bayswater into a fashionable residential neighborhood. Two Bayswater streets were named for him: Trist Place and Bailey Court. He built the Bayswater Hotel which led him to bankruptcy in 1905. He was sued by his wife for $50,000 in 1888, claiming she loaned him the money to purchase the hotel. He and his wife were separated for many years.

Bailey also had many real estate holdings throughout Long Island.