125 Years Ago 1896
From The East Hampton Star, December 4
On Friday last, our baker, Mr. Williams, drove his wagon all day in his shirt sleeves. The thermometer registered high up in the sixties. Early Monday morning four or five inches of snow covered the ground. Monday night the Mercury dropped below freezing, and by Wednesday morning two inches of ice had formed. The boys were skating on the pond Wednesday and Thursday. Altogether, the first week of December gave us a good taste of winter.
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Mr. Samuel Hedges attended the Live Stock Show at Madison Square Garden on Friday and Saturday of last week.
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Reserved seats for Miss Vandelia Varnum's lecture "Who Pays the Freight?" go on sale at Muchmore's drug store on Wednesday morning next. We trust that there will be a good advance sale of seats, so that the expenses of the lecture, at least, may be met. From the personal recommendation of Miss Varnum given us by Col. Copeland last winter, we feel confident that all who hear her will be abundantly satisfied.
100 Years Ago 1921
From The East Hampton Star, December 2
The tax warrant for the town of East Hampton has been completed and turned over to Tax Receiver Miller, who publishes the official notice in this issue of The Star.
The budget is about $20,000 less than it was two years ago, this amount being just the difference between the amount set aside for maintenance of highways that year and this.
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The annual Christmas Sale of the L.V.I.S. will be held at the residence of Mrs. E.H. Dayton on the afternoon of Thursday, December 8, at 3 o'clock. Each member is asked to donate to the sale. The public is cordially invited. — Adv.
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So important is the development of civil aviation considered by most of the countries abroad that those governments give to private concerns their full co-operation and assistance.
At the present time it is possible to travel by air between all the principal cities of Europe at a cost which makes aviation a serious competitor of the railroads. Between London and Paris, for instance, there are three British and two French air lines, operating daily services at a cost of approximately $18 per passenger, and so safe has this method of travel become that I understand the insurance rate by air is less than by surface craft.
75 Years Ago 1946
From The East Hampton Star, December 5
The Ladies' Village Improvement Society met on Monday afternoon in Guild Hall, with about 25 members present. Mrs. A. Victor Amann, vice-president, presided. Reports were read by the secretary, Mrs. Robert Cheney, and Mrs. Thomas Manson, the treasurer.
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It was reported that the Board of Directors, at a special meeting on Nov. 12, had recommended that work to combat erosion on the banks of Town Pond be undertaken; and that the idea of special drainage or sprinkling arrangements for the Village Green be laid on the table as too expensive at the present time.
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The Ladies Auxiliary of the V.F.W. wishes to express its thanks to all who so generously contributed to the Christmas package drive for disabled veterans in hospitals. Additional contributions have been received from Thomas Robinson, Mrs. Leroy King, Troop 6, Girl Scouts under the leadership of Miss Rosemary Henderson, Mrs. John Grant, Mrs. Frank Jewels.
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The fact that Juan T. Trippe, president of Pan American World Airways, is an East Hampton summer resident has made us perhaps more air-minded than residents of the average country town. Mr. Trippe has summered here since boyhood, he has traveled back and forth between New York and Greenwich, Conn. and East Hampton a great deal in his own plane, years ago, when private plane travel was something unusual. He gave a group of East Hampton men, one at a time, their first plane ride, from his Apaguogue Road home, before World War II.
50 Years Ago 1971
From The East Hampton Star, December 2
Getting a head start on summer, East Hampton Supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr. has appointed a committee of two Town Board members to work up new and more effective "grouper" control laws. "Groupers," or group renters, are a seasonal phenomenon: they are individuals who buy "shares" in a single-family dwelling for occupancy during the summer.
For the past two years, East Hampton has had on the books laws designed to control group renting and its spinoff: noise, traffic congestion and sanitary problems, but the more permanent of the Town's citizenry have complained that the laws are inadequate and are not enforced.
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Montauk Fish Notes
The cod are coming into local waters and the striped bass are still heavy, according to reports from the Marine Basin and others. Monday was an excellent day at the Inlet. Over 400 pounds of fish were taken by two anglers, using diamond jigs.
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The East Hampton Historical Society, which operates Clinton Academy, the Old Mulford Farm, and the Town Marine Museum at Amagansett, has embarked upon a $10,000 fund-raising campaign.
"During the past year or so our resources have been substantially depleted by reason of major items of repair," Robert C. Osborne, Society president, said. He said that other projects needed doing, and pointed out that the expenditures were not covered by dues, contributions, or admission charges.
25 Years Ago 1996
From The East Hampton Star, December 5
If it had been up to the voters in East Hampton Town, Nora Bredes would be going to work on Capitol Hill in January.
According to the Suffolk County Board of Elections, across the entire First Congressional District, from Montauk to Smithtown, the Republican incumbent, Congressman Michael P. Forbes, had a nearly 10 percent lead over his Democratic challenger. Not so in East Hampton, where County Legislator Bredes took almost 53 percent of the 9,204 votes cast, compared to Mr. Forbes's 47 percent.
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A year ago, Matthew Grady was talking about raising money for an East End AIDS hospice for the dying. These days he also talks about how to help people who only recently seemed resigned to death, but now may have a reprieve.
Mr. Grady heads the East End AIDS Wellness Project, an educational and support agency. In recent years he has fought the good fight on behalf of continued state-subsidized drug treatment for people with AIDS, local support of the East End AIDS Clinic at Goodfriend Park in East Hampton, and federal Ryan White Act monies for prevention programs in schools and among minority populations here.
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Dan Flavin, whose radical fluorescent light sculptures are familiar to museum-goers worldwide, died at Central Suffolk Hospital on Friday of complications from diabetes. The artist, who lived on Beach Lane in Wainscott, was 63.
His minimalist works — he was perhaps the first artist to construct sculptures using electric light — arose from his Abstract Expressionist background, using simple construction, large scale, and saturated color.
While Mr. Flavin's work has mainly been exhibited in major museums and galleries, since 1983 East Enders have had a chance to see it on permanent display in Bridgehampton, at the branch of the Dia Art foundation, on Corwith Avenue.
