125 Years Ago 1901
From The East Hampton Star, June 21
The men working on Culver’s bathing house sighted a sperm whale one day last week. It was going west and making such speed that no rally was made.
—
The Long Island Railroad Company proposes to extend its lines to the heart of Manhattan. The company is behind the Long Island Extension Railroad Company, articles incorporating which were filed with the Secretary of State in Albany Tuesday. The company seeks a charter and the right to construct tunnels from Long Island City under the East River to a point below Fiftieth Street, Manhattan, through which it is proposed to operate cars by electric motive power, connecting with the Long Island Railroad in Long Island City.
—
The Village Improvement society began on Tuesday the spraying of the elm trees for the eradication of insects. It was hoped that the spraying might be dispensed with this year on account of the expense of the work, but as the signs of the insects became visible the society lost no time in setting the spraying machine at work.
100 Years Ago 1926
From The East Hampton Star, June 18
Local real estate shows signs of life, after a lull of a couple of months. One big deal in East Hampton land was closed this week, and a still bigger one will probably be made public next week.
One hundred and five acres at Deep Hole, near Springs, has been sold by Lewis de Lancey Ward for his client, William Codling, this week. The buyer is not made public, but it is understood to have been purchased by a Florida syndicate.
—
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gosman Left on Friday for a motor trip through the Berkshires and the Adirondacks. They will also spend two weeks with Mrs. Gosman’s parents in Harrisville, N.Y.
—
Carl Fisher is sending his new speedboat, Little Shadow, to represent the United States in the international one and one-half liter motorboat contest for the Duke of York’s gold trophy. The races will be held from June 26 to June 30, on the Thames.
A picture of the pretty little craft, taken after its launching at Port Washington, is shown in the rotogravure section of Sunday’s New York Times. It is expected that, like the Fisher yacht Shadow K, it will fly the colors of the Montauk Beach Yacht Club.
75 Years Ago 1951
From The East Hampton Star, June 21
East Hampton’s parking and traffic problems are kept in mind by village officials and the Planning Board, and gradual progress is being made toward their solution. Shoppers along Main Street viewed with pleasure, this week, the opening of a greatly enlarged parking space next to the A&P building. This space, which will hold 50 to 75 cars, has been lent by the Long Island Lighting Company, absolutely free of charge, until such time as they get ready to build their projected building there.
—
With the summer season’s opening little over two weeks away, Philip Barry, Jr., executive director of the John Drew Theatre at Guild Hall, has announced his staff and the latest addition to the succession of stars and hit shows which he has planned for 1951.
Members of his staff will be: Victor Whitlock, Jr., director; Everett and Sally Dwight, stage managers; Matty and Kathryn Healy, box office; Alice Kelly, assistant stage manager; and Ann Robinson, executive secretary.
—
The new rectory for St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Amagansett is completed and will be occupied by the Rev. Melville Harcourt and his family this summer.
Over forty-five summer residents and local residents of Amagansett have contributed to construct and furnish the three-bedroom bungalow on the church’s property. It will be blessed by the Right Reverend James P. de Wolfe, Bishop of Long Island, on July 7.
50 Years Ago 1976
From The East Hampton Star, June 17
The East Hampton Town Board is moving ahead with the creation of a “senior citizen housing district,” but not as fast as the would-be developer of a senior citizen project in East Hampton had wished, nor as fast as neighbors of the proposed project had feared.
When it meets tomorrow morning, according to Supervisor Eugene Haas, the Board will pass a resolution scheduling a public hearing on the proposed housing district, probably — the date had not been definitely set by yesterday — to coincide with its meeting on July 16, or perhaps the one on July 2.
—
At least four cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the potentially lethal disease contracted through the bite of an infected tick, have been identified here within the past two weeks. Two of the victims are adults; two, children.
One man, William Parsons, 38, of New York City, apparently had a narrow brush with death from the disease, which doctors in New York did not recognize for what it really was until it was almost too late.
—
Admonishing the County Legislature for taking “hasty and inadequately considered action” in its approach to major energy problems, Suffolk County Executive John V.N. Klein last week vetoed a resolution that put the County in opposition to the choice of Jamesport as a site for two proposed nuclear power plants.
The Klein veto is being viewed as a setback to the bill’s supporters, who had hoped that, at the very least, the County Executive would allow the resolution to pass through without his endorsement and be entered into the record as the will and expression of the Legislature.
25 Years Ago 2001
From The East Hampton Star, June 21
Increasingly tough standards and flagging volunteerism have combined to make the switch to professional firefighters and emergency medical technicians a real possibility on Long Island, particularly in places like East Hampton where the high cost of living and a shortage of spare time are challenging the volunteer spirit.
—
Narrowed traffic lanes, snaking lines of cars, cement churners, earth movers, and hot tar. Add to the mix blocked driveways, broken gas and water mains, delays, and hot weather.
Like a gnawing, unappeasable toothache, the State Department of Transportation’s highway repaving job is prompting even the most even-tempered to lose their cool.
Work in recent weeks has torn up Route 27 from just west of East Hampton Village to Cranberry Hole Road in eastern Amagansett, with the predictable result that legions of slowed motorists, business owners citing lost sales, and residents, some literally losing sleep, have moved beyond teeth-gritting to the realm of choice expletives.
—
Twenty-one amateur radio clubs from all over Long Island will take part in a national field day, a sort of communications practice session, for 24 hours this weekend from the Hither Hills overlook in Montauk. Amateur radio operators licensed through the Federal Communications Commission perform a certain amount of public service in return, acting as a backup in emergencies during hurricanes or even during big athletic events.
One of the clubs from the East End is the Eastern Amateur Radio Society. One of its members, Burt Van Deusen, said that there are 500,000 “hams” in America, including American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
