125 Years Ago 1901
From The East Hampton Star, May 10
Some slight showers are probable today followed by clearing weather tonight and some quite cool weather and perhaps frost Saturday night. Sunday should be a fine day, but wet weather will return Monday or Tuesday, followed by four days of fair weather. If you think this is all moonshine, watch the weather bureau forecasts for the next seven days and see who makes the most bullseyes.
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The ice wagons, the newly painted grocery, and butcher and fruit wagons now to be seen on the street give the place a decided summer appearance.
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At the last meeting of the Village Improvement society a request was received from the East Hampton band for the society to erect a band stand on the handsome green at the South End of the village, in which the band might give weekly concerts. The society voted not to comply with the request.
100 Years Ago 1926
From The East Hampton Star, May 7
“There she blows!”
The old familiar call boomed out from the deck of the Mary A. Edwards, Captain “Bert” Edwards, master, as a fine sixty-foot right whale swam right under his bow off Amagansett, Tuesday morning.
Captain Bert was tending his fishing traps. He had just cast anchor, when the sea beast went right between the cable and the ship’s bow. Along came Captain E.J. Edwards fifteen minutes later, in the Elizabeth Edwards.
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Work was started today on the foundation for an office building of seven stories for the Carl G. Fisher corporation at Montauk. This building will be an absolutely fire-proof concrete structure and will be first class in every respect. The location will be near the site of the old Navy buildings near Fort Pond bay. Undoubtedly the entire building will be occupied by Carl Fisher and his subsidiary organizations.
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East Hampton requires high tension electric service.
One cannot realize the growth East Hampton is experiencing without taking a bird’s eye view of the entire village. Five and six new homes have sprung up on some of our streets over the winter, namely on Toilsome lane, David’s lane, the Dunes, Sherrill road, Osborne lane and North Main street, which have three each. Dunemere, Egypt, Hither and Lily Pond lanes have their quota. New fronts are constantly appearing in the business zone.
To meet this growth, the East Hampton Electric Light Company has a corps of engineers working out plans to supply electric service.
75 Years Ago 1951
From The East Hampton Star, May 10
High powered, low-slung foreign racing sports cars are being tuned up throughout the United States for the coming Third Annual Bridgehampton L.I. Sports Car Road Races to be held Saturday, June 9th. The all-day event will have five races, beginning at 10 a.m., over a four-mile circuit of country roads just outside Bridgehampton.
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Mrs. Juan T. Trippe presided at Monday’s Ladies’ Village Improvement Society meeting held at the home of Mrs. E. Hollingsworth Siter. The re-opening of the society’s Main Street shop — the Bargain Box — for the season, and plans for the summer Fair at the old Mulford Homestead, occupied much of the society’s attention.
Mrs. A. Wallace Chauncey reported that the new, larger Bargain Box is well stocked with consignments. The articles, representing home industries in this and neighboring villages, are beautiful and varied. The shop took in $90 on the opening day.
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The Maidstone Club is making preparations for the season, which promises to be a very busy one. Both of the club’s golf courses open this coming Saturday, May 12, and the locker room will then be available. Jack Ross and Teddy Halvorsen will have charge of the golf. Ernest Clark is putting the tennis courts into commission; play will also begin there this coming weekend.
Sandwiches and coffee will be served at the clubhouse the weekend of May 19; and beginning Saturday, May 26, week-end and holiday luncheons will be served in the main clubhouse under the supervision of the steward, Vincent Marchetti.
50 Years Ago 1976
From The East Hampton Star, May 6
The South Fork Transportation Task Force, a committee pondering alternatives to the State’s defunct bypass project, was asked last Thursday by East Hampton Town Supervisor Eugene Haas, who has proposed that the Town build its own bypass, whether it would mind if he appointed a committee of his own to chart a route for his project. His idea went over like that proverbially inefficient mode of transportation, the lead balloon.
A slightly faster alternative, the Long Island Rail Road, was discussed by an urbane Metropolitan Transportation Authority official earlier in the meeting. He referred to “modest improvements in running time” and predicted that the railroad would really get better when the bond market does.
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East Hampton High School’s young and spunky tennis team appears headed for the League title. Matches this week and the beginning of next will decide whether Bonac can maintain the number-one spot it secured after victories over Westhampton and Riverhead last week. At the end of the week, Westhampton, Stony Brook, and Miller Place were tied for second.
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East Hampton Town officials and members of the Citizens Task Force on the Economy, established by the Town Board just about a year ago, were to have met privately Monday night to discuss a 36-page report — a copy of which The Star obtained this week — that recommends in cautious language policies for limited growth.
At the outset, the report, in a section titled “Long Term Goals and Priorities,” states: “The economic development of East Hampton over the next ten years should recognize, and not disrupt, the unique resources which East Hampton offers.”
25 Years Ago 2001
From The East Hampton Star, May 10
Pesticides have been detected in almost a quarter of the 104 private wells tested in the past year in East Hampton Town by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.
Responding to requests from homeowners, the department tested wells in Sag Harbor, Amagansett, Montauk, Wainscott, and East Hampton between March of last year and March 2001. None of the wells in Montauk or Sag Harbor were found to contain pesticides, but pesticides were detected in half the 26 Wainscott wells.
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Those who support the town’s purchase of development rights to the Schwenk farmland on Long Lane, East Hampton, others concerned about the use of pesticides on that land, and a group that wants the town to buy the property for a community organic farm brought the debate back to East Hampton Town Hall on Friday, proving once again that sentiments run deep on all sides.
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Jim Gordy stood between the Ridley’s 1,500 horses, her twin, brand-spanking-new, white turbo-charged diesel engines, and he beamed.
The bright white of the 87-foot Coast Guard cutter’s main engines matched that of her generators. The light from the engine room’s fluorescent ceiling fixtures reflected off these, off the engine room’s aluminum diamond-plated deck, off the glass faces of numerous gauges. The glare seemed to coalesce in Chief Gordy’s smile as he guided a visitor through the Ridley’s nether realm on Friday.
