125 Years Ago 1901
From The East Hampton Star, February 1
The Rev. John D. Stokes, in his sermon on Sunday morning last, paid a glowing tribute to the memory of Queen Victoria of England. He referred to numerous instances when she had saved this nation from war. It was her hand which stayed the frantic efforts of British politicians to have England recognize the Southern Confederacy at the time of the Rebellion. He drew lessons from the noble and womanly life of the Queen and said that her influence for good had been felt the world over.
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We think East Hampton, for the past few years, has ranked first among the villages of eastern Long Island in its rate of growth, and it is holding that position this year. East Hampton is bound to grow in spite of everything.
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Supervisor Miller has found an old account book which is supposed to have belonged to a miller who ran a grist mill in East Hampton, as the peculiar entries denote. The oldest entry bears date of 1766, the particular account reading, “William Miller, Dr., to John Hand.” The John Hand mentioned, it is said, is an ancestor of Supervisor Griffing, of Shelter Island. The entries in the book are written in lead pencil and ink, and the book is in a good state of preservation. The latest entry bears a date of 1872.
100 Years Ago 1926
From The East Hampton Star, January 29
Mrs. Edwin Sherrill brought into the Star office, this week, a most interesting page from the New York World of November 22, 1899, entitled: “Women Rule 3,500; Men Have No Say — Gentler Sex Let the Husbands and Brothers Run East Hampton 250 Years, but They Failed.”
Below that heading are the pictures of Mrs. B.H. Van Scoy, at that time secretary of the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society, and Mrs. E.H. Dayton, its president.
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I.Y. Halsey attended the Brooklyn Auto Show last week. This makes the third motor convention that Mr. Halsey has attended within the space of one month. First there was the Dodge Brothers’ convention at Detroit, then the New York Automobile Show and the last one in Brooklyn.
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A dispatch to the Brooklyn Eagle from Havana, Cuba, states: Edward T. Huntting, associated with the Long Island Lumber Company in East Hampton, is at the Sevilla Biltmore Hotel for a month’s sojourn. Much of his time is spent with Dayton Hedges, also from Long Island.
75 Years Ago 1951
From The East Hampton Star, February 1
Ninety Guild Hall junior members (of the high school group) enjoyed a Juke Box Jamboree at Guild Hall on Saturday, Jan. 27. The following disc jockeys, representing each of the four classes of high school, took charge of the evening:
For the freshman class, David Rattray who, according to the committee, did an outstanding job. He read an amusing, original poem about David Leddy and his pugilistic career. Featured performer on his program was Miss Rose Mary Ilaria, who did a song and dance routine to the tune of “The Old Apple Tree.”
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Mr. and Mrs. Forest Dominy and Mr. and Mrs. George Dyckman, who are spending some time in St. Petersburg, Fla., write that it has been rather cold there. On Jan. 27 they saw a baseball game played by two teams of men whose ages ranged from 75 to 86 years. They played seven innings, score 16-7, a very good game. Mr. Dominy writes that they play Tuesday and Saturday mornings. The party of East Hampton people also went to see Elmer, Elsie and Beauregard, a bull, cow and calf on exhibition on the Recreation Pier at St. Petersburg.
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Amagansett
A group of 40 young people enjoyed themselves at a teenage party in the Parish House Thursday night. Due to the change of date, E.V. Parsons postponed until February 9th the showing of his colored pictures as previously announced. Bruce Bistrian showed two short movies instead. Folk and ballroom dancing followed, after which refreshments were served.
50 Years Ago 1976
From The East Hampton Star, January 29
As it was a year ago, the New York Ocean Science Laboratory, the marine science research and educational institution in Montauk, has been threatened with a substantial cutback in funds by Governor Hugh Carey.
According to published reports last week, the Governor has recommended that the State Legislature reduce its appropriation to the Lab in fiscal 1976-77 from $750,000 to $350,000, and that this appropriation, which makes up about half the NYOSL budget, be transferred from the administration of the State University to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
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Gurney’s Inn, the huge resort complex spreading over nine residentially zoned acres of Montauk oceanfront, was praised as a boon to local employment and denounced as an “environmental disaster” in the course of a public hearing Tuesday night on its request to be allowed to finish building a $1,500,000 “health spa.”
Plans for the “spa” will apparently not be affected by the County Industrial Development Agency’s announcement this week that, according to its bond counsel, Gurney’s is not eligible for $1,500,000 in tax-free bonding after all.
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A general shortage of salt, the only chemical permitted for use, hampered the removal of snow and ice from highways on the East End last week. Six and a half inches of snow in less than three days, winds up to 65 miles per hour, and bitter cold created serious problems for motorists and those responsible for the roads they drive on, but the salt shortage was called the chief culprit.
25 Years Ago 2001
From The East Hampton Star, February 1
East Hampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman acknowledged on Tuesday that the town and Suffolk County are on the verge of a deal to buy the development rights to a 42.2-acre parcel of farmland on Long Lane that is owned by the Schwenk family.
Meanwhile, Jan Furman, the East Hampton superintendent of schools, said the school district, which had been considering the parcel as a possible site for additional athletic fields, is looking elsewhere.
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With construction of a new breakwater in Sag Harbor due to begin this spring, the question of what archaeological treasures might be lost in the process is being raised — perhaps too late.
“We burnt all the coasting vessels which was all loaded and laid along side the wharf, and a store that was 60 feet long that stood on the wharf.” So wrote Christopher Vail, a Sag Harbor resident serving in a company of soldiers from the village during the Revolutionary War. His diary records the year as 1778, on a day when three British merchant ships were burned in place at Sag Harbor’s wharf.
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East Hampton is a slightly more fabulous place to be this week thanks to five tons of vintage clothing that were set out for the taking at the town dump.
Like prospectors digging for gold, those who had been tipped off to the bonanza tore through boxes of musty Victorian dresses, disco shirts, seersucker suits, baseball uniforms, elegant gowns with silver sequins, a handmade purple suede hippie outfit, and bathing suits from the 1940s.
