125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, August 17
A United States Standard Company voting machine has been on exhibition at Van Scoy & Dayton’s store this week. It was examined by a large number of people, and all, without exception, pronounced it to be a perfect machine. It is impossible for the voter to cast a defective ballot with the machine. It is already in use in twenty-four cities and towns in this state.
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Owing to the crowds of people who patronize the Maidstone bathing houses, A.H. Culver, the proprietor, has been obliged to erect a small building with twelve additional bath rooms.
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Don’t forget the fair to be given by the M.E. church for the benefit of the church building fund, at Clinton Hall, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and evenings next. All Aid Society members and friends are requested to send cake, as no soliciting has been done. All articles for the fair should be sent in either to-morrow or Monday.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, August 14
The Garden Club of East Hampton held its annual flower show in Clinton Hall on Tuesday afternoon and evening, August 11, from 3 to 10 o’clock. As in former years this was an event that brought many interested spectators from this and neighboring villages. Unfortunately the heavy rains of the past week had played havoc with the gardens and many members say their intended entries were laid in ruins.
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Fresh fish from Montauk any day in the year right out of your own pantry is a novelty and luxury for the near future, if the plans of a company of capitalists do not miscarry.
Already a large fish packing plant is well on its way to completion at Fort Pond Bay. There two big buildings, each of them being 100 feet long by eighty-five feet wide, are nearly finished, and the necessary machinery for packing fish will soon be installed.
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Society and lovers of dogs were out in full force last Saturday, when the Consolidated Hamptons Dog Show was held on the grounds of the Meadow Club, Southampton. A large tent was used to shelter the dogs, but the judging was done in the open, and was watched by large crowds of interested exhibitors and spectators.
The best dog in the show was a Sealyham terrier, owned by C.M. Hamilton of Connecticut.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, August 17
In a move to expand its student body, the School of Nursing of the Southampton Hospital will inaugurate its first scholarship plan with the coming September class, it was announced yesterday.
Mrs. Ethel G. Prince, executive secretary of the Nurses Association of the Counties of Long Island Inc., also announced the results of a recent survey of scholarships and loan funds available in the 21 schools of nursing on Long Island.
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Fishing the new tuna grounds off Watch Hill, R.I., for the first time Monday, Mrs. Farrington not only brought to gaff the first tuna ever caught on 24 thread line on this new spot for Montauk fishermen, but also broke her own Ladies 24 thread tuna record by one pound, and brought the title from Nova Scotia to Montauk. The 674 pounder was boated on 24 thread Ashaway line, 16 ounce Tycoon Rod and 12-0 Vom Hofe reel.
Capt. Stuart, who fishes from Fishangri-la, was trying to take the day off to install two new motors in his boat, but Mrs. Farrington inveigled him to go on one motor, and he operated the boat so well that this big fish was conquered on the lightest line which is used.
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The annual men’s invitation golf tournament for the Maidstone Bowl at the Maidstone Club will take place this week-end; about 180 men have accepted the club’s invitation to compete; qualifying rounds will be played tomorrow. The men’s dinner at the club, on the eve of the actual play, takes place tomorrow night; play in the tournament is Saturday and Sunday.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, August 14
Fallout from what one local fish market bitterly called “a very ill-advised press release” has been drifting through the commercial fishing industry here this week, and, with a little assist from consumers, taking its toll in varying degrees upon retail sales of striped bass.
On Aug. 7, the State Department of Environmental Conservation warned that “until further information is available, striped bass should be avoided,” stating that samples of the fish had yielded an unsafe concentration — over five parts per million — of PCB, or polychlorinated biphenyl.
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Tuesday night’s public meeting found the East Hampton Town Trustees still struggling against what they see as the usurpation of their jurisdiction by larger and stronger agencies; still grappling with problems of public access to those Town waters which have become virtually inaccessible; still weighing the pros and cons of dredging; still seeking to establish workable rules to control the use and/or abuse of Town waters by transients; and still trying to be fair but firm landlords.
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In a hitherto unpublicized effort to forestall criticism from irate local residents over limited parking facilities at the Atlantic Avenue, Amagansett, Town beach, the East Hampton Town Board has begun keeping count of the number and classification of cars using the parking lot there.
No more than 100 spaces in the 350-car lot are to be allotted to “fee-paying” cars before 11:45 a.m. on any day, according to parks committee chairman Richard White. After that time, as people begin leaving the beach, they will be let in on an available-space basis, with stickered cars having precedence as long as the lot is crowded.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, August 17
“This is the dangerous part of the summer for West Nile virus and I am very concerned about the wild bird populations,” Ward Stone, New York State’s wildlife pathologist, told The Star yesterday.
Since May 22, when the West Nile virus claimed the year’s first crow, nearly 20 different varieties of birds — 213 of them in 27 counties as of yesterday — have tested positive for the virus.
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Within the next few days, East Hampton Town will have a place to call its own on the World Wide Web. The town’s first official site is awaiting only a few photographs, including Supervisor Jay Schneiderman’s, and a final reading before it goes online.
The site’s chief architect, William Sagal of Amagansett, a Web developer and computer consultant who owns HamptonsWorld.com, designed and built it without charge. Councilwoman Diana Weir suggested much of its content, along with Hugh King, a retired Springs School teacher and student of local history.
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Evidence of how the South Fork has changed over the last decade is found along the back roads between Sagaponack and Southampton, where horse pastures have replaced cultivated fields, modest farm stands have become bustling markets, and uninterrupted lines of cars are commonplace.
Once secret shortcuts that provided a scenic respite from traffic on the Montauk Highway, field-fringed Scuttlehole, Head of Pond, Seven Ponds, and Lower Seven Roads are abuzz with heavy traffic much of the week.
