Skip to main content

Gardiner’s Buffalo and Barns, 1893-1904

Thu, 07/25/2024 - 08:40

Item of the Week
From the East Hampton Library
Long Island Collection

This photograph, which was lent to the Long Island Collection for digitization, shows David J. Gardiner’s livestock in front of his barns. Gardiner (1840-1924) sold his proprietorship of Gardiner’s Island to his brother, John Lion Gardiner, and lived in the Gardiner Brown House, at 95 Main Street in East Hampton Village, with these barns on the property.

David’s land holdings were among the most extensive in East Hampton, his property stretching from Main Street back to the railroad station. He operated several businesses, including the East Hampton Lumber & Coal Company, and he maintained a strong interest in farming and horse breeding.

Gardiner’s buffaloes were a local novelty. Some of his herd came back from the West with him, and some were given to him in March of 1893 by Austin Corbin (1827-1896), robber baron and president of the Long Island Rail Road, from Corbin’s game preserve in New Hampshire. Gardiner tried to mate the buffaloes with local cattle, producing a mule-like breed called a cattalo. Gardiner’s buffalo experiment ended in 1904, with his remaining cattaloes donated to the Bronx Zoo.

After David Gardiner died in 1924, his nephew Winthrop Gardiner Sr. (1887-1970) inherited the Gardiner Brown House and undertook important renovations to the property, which mainly relied on well water, with minimal heating. Winthrop Gardiner moved the house significantly back from the street as part of his renovations.

In 1928, at least one of the barns from the property was moved down Main Street and Newtown Lane to 4 Fresno Place, where it still stands. At this site, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps show that the property was owned by the Barns family between 1929 and 1957 and used for their masonry business. 

In 1962, Bruce Collins bought the property from Robert S. Barns, a builder, in the interest of expanding operation space for his family’s oil business, Collins Fuel Inc. The barns and the property where they stand on Fresno Place are now for sale.

Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is head of collection for the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.

Villages

L.V.I.S. Fair Is Set for Saturday

The Ladies Village Improvement Society’s annual fair happens on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and this year’s “is bigger than ever,” the society says. Not only will the carousel be back, but the Playland area for kids will be expanded. There will be face painting, a roving magician, a bubble artist, and pony rides for the little ones. 

Jun 12, 2025

Montauk Chemists Opens, Minus Pharmacy

Frank Calvo, the longtime pharmacist at White’s Drug and Department Store, which closed on Oct. 31, has opened Montauk Chemists on Main Street and is selling over-the-counter merchandise including vitamins and self-care products. One week after an inspection of the store’s pharmacy, however, he is still awaiting New York State approval to operate it. 

Jun 12, 2025

Slow Start at New Gosman’s

In some ways, Gosman’s Dock, one of Montauk’s few remaining family-owned and operated businesses until its October 2024 sale, closely resembles the complex of restaurants and shops long revered by locals and visitors alike. In other ways, though, it is markedly different under its new ownership. 

Jun 12, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.