125 Years Ago 1897
From The East Hampton Star, October 15
David Fithian’s purchase of property on Buell’s lane has just been recorded at the County clerk’s office as follows: James E. Gay to David A. Fithian, 3-4 acres south side Buell’s lane, $2,150.
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The big undertaking of building a road from the railway station at Montauk directly over one of the highest hills which form the range east of the depot is progressing rapidly. The cut through the top of the hill has banks on either side twenty-seven feet high. In order to preserve the natural beauty of the place as much as possible these banks will be graded and grassed over. The work is under the supervision of Robert Baldwin, a brother of President Baldwin and superintendent of the Montauk Company. Mr. Baldwin lives in a little car neatly and comfortably fitted up and in close proximity to the works.
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LeRoy Edwards has bought the building north of the post office of Wines & Carter, and will move it to a site on the other side of the road. He will continue the business conducted in the building the past summer, that of bicycles, sundries, etc.
100 Years Ago 1922
From The East Hampton Star, October 13
What proved to be one of the most enjoyable events of the fall season was the dance party given Thursday evening by Frank B. Wiborg and his daughter, Miss Mary Hoyt Wiborg, at their beautiful summer home on the Dunes, when they had as their special guests the members of Edwin C. Halsey Post, No. 700, American Legion. Besides the members of the Legion and their wives and friends were many guests of Mr. and Miss Wiborg, making the total number present nearly two hundred and fifty.
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Seven or eight baymen were arraigned before Justice Edwards last Sunday charged with violating section 316 of the Conservation Law, dredging between sunset and sunrise, and taking oysters from the legally planted oyster beds owned by Gardiner & Grimshaw in Gardiner’s bay. Four of the men pled guilty and were given fines of various amounts. Three of the baymen, namely, Joseph Hardy, John Davis, and Frank Rouney, all of Greenport, pled not guilty and their cases were set down for Wednesday morning, at 10 o’clock.
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Great improvements are being made to Long Wharf by the Long Island Railroad. The present trestle supporting tracks upon which cars are carried on the wharf will be entirely removed. Master carpenter C.W. Wright with a gang of men is here and will drive a double row of piling on the west side of the pier. In between this a rock and cinder fill will be made and tracks laid at surface level. The work will keep the mechanics busy from two to three months.
75 Years Ago 1947
From The East Hampton Star, October 16
Mrs. J. Edward Gay Jr. will be hostess to Guild Hall members at the first in a series of informal “At Home” days on Sunday afternoon, October 19. Tea and coffee will be served in the Moran Gallery from 4 to 6 o’clock.
At 5 o’clock Dorothy Quick, authoress and poetess, will read poems from her new book, “Variations on a Theme,” which was published Sept. 15. It is a collection of her best work of the past five years. Miss Quick has had several books of poetry published in the past and has also written many short stories and novels.
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Summer Colony
Mrs. Frederick H. Ecker is chairman of the benefit committee of the Quaker Emergency Service, and Josiah P. Marvel, former East Hampton summer resident, is its vice chairman. The service is sponsoring a Chardin to Cezanne benefit exhibition in the Arnold Seligmann-Helft Galleries, New York, from October 22 through November 22.
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The Long Island Forum for October has an article by Esther Penny Boutcher, “Three Indian Legends.” It begins by quoting that clause in deeds which specifies that the party of the second part agrees “to quietly enjoy” the said acres; and affirms that Long Island property owners’ quiet enjoyment must entail a backward look at the original owner, the Indian, not the warlike, eagle-bonneted Sioux but the more tractable and domestic Algonquin who was well-dressed, well-fed and well-housed with materials found abundantly and readily at hand.
50 Years Ago 1972
From The East Hampton Star, October 12
The East Hampton Town Board held an unmomentous meeting on Friday morning to consider the scarcity of scallops and, during a lengthy but inconclusive public hearing, an application to dredge beneath a small portion of Lake Montauk. The Board did not discuss Councilman Henry A. Mund’s proposal for a “planned residence district” and will not, said supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr., until it holds a public hearing on the matter. This has not yet been scheduled.
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The Long Island Rail Road’s 7:05 p.m. “Cannonball” will not be traveling to New York on winter Sundays. Its recent omission has aroused alarm in some quarters; “it is evident,” protested one railroad enthusiast, “the Rail Road is out to cut first-class service to the area.” Other trains, however, will run at 4:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.
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East Hampton Town’s Supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr. unveiled Tuesday a tentative 1973 Town budget of $2,474,561.60, but noted that the figure was subject to change before adoption.
The Supervisor said that copies of the preliminary budget would be available to the public “by Nov. 2, at the latest.” A public hearing on the proposed budget must be held by Nov. 9, and the budget must be adopted by Nov. 20, under new regulations instituted by New York State Comptroller Arthur Levitt.
25 Years Ago 1997
From The East Hampton Star, October 16
Well over 100 anti-abortion advocates organized by the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre stood across Hampton Road from Hampton Gynecology and Obstetrics Saturday, chanting “Hail Marys” for the unborn and carrying banners calling for a boycott of the Southampton doctors. On the lawn in front of the clinic, half as many pro-choice activists took part in a counterdemonstration.
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There was some uncertainty 50 years ago, as the 300th anniversary of the founding of East Hampton approached, about just when the great event should properly be observed.
Going by the earliest entry in the town records (except for one involving Gardiner’s Island), the tercentenary would come the following year, 1948. On the other hand, the 19th century historian Henry P. Hedges, and his definitive “History of East Hampton,” had pronounced the date of settlement to be 1649. If that were so, the ceremonies would have to be put off a year.
Who was right?
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Paul Forsberg has vowed to continue his fledgling casino cruises despite being pushed farther offshore
— from 3 to 12 miles — on Friday, following a ruling by the top Federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.
“We’re going to 12 miles. We had 55 people on Saturday night. The weather has been great. It was beautiful over the weekend,” Captain Forsberg said Monday.
