125 Years Ago 1897
From The East Hampton Star, January 8
On Monday night about forty invited friends gathered at George Schenck’s home and enjoyed a pleasant evening of social amusement. There were games, singing, recitations, etc. Mrs. Schenck served refreshments and the gaieties did not cease until a late hour.
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Mr. Sing Low, of China, was in town this week prospecting for a location for a Chinese laundry. It is said he will establish himself on Newtown lane in the spring.
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Messrs. George and John Hand have begun making extensive improvements upon their house, the old Beecher place. A large two-story addition will be built on to the rear, the old projection on the north side will be moved away, and a new piazza will be built across the front of the house. The inside of the building will be supplied with a full line of sanitary plumbing, including bath room, closets, stationary tubs, etc.
100 Years Ago 1922
From The East Hampton Star, January 6
The dates for Farmers’ Week at Cornell have been set for February 13-18 and plans for the program are well along. The college has had evidence, further, that the people of the state are already making their plans to attend.
The Suffolk County Farm Bureau is asking the local committees throughout the county to co-operate in getting information as to Farmers’ Week before the farmers in their local communities.
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Upon the islands which cluster around the eastern coast of the new world lie many large rocks or boulders which scientific men tell us were deposited there during the period of the glacial drift. This is particularly so upon the island of Mattawauke, or Long Island, which the Indian legend informs us was once connected with the main coast by a rocky causeway that at one time encircled the sound, making it an inland sea.
But many, many years ago, long before the coming of the white man, the barriers were broken through during a terrific storm of the sea and so, after a course of long years, gradually washed away.
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Fred Latham, sixty-five, a former resident of Orient, didn’t have to wait until Christmas to hold a celebration at his home. He has become the father of twin boys and everyone thereabouts is extending congratulations. Mr. Latham now lives in Greenport. Children are no novelty to him, as the two new arrivals bring his total up to 16.
75 Years Ago 1947
From The East Hampton Star, January 9
The Board of Managers of the East Hampton Free Library announces that the newly built room to house additional Long Island historical material from the Pennypacker Collection will be named in memory of Mrs. Gertrude Mumford, mother of Dorothy Quick (Mrs. John Adams Mayer), who was the largest single donor to the Building Fund. The Board decided the matter by asking donors to vote, each dollar’s donation representing one vote.
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The Guild Hall Winter Committee has announced that it plans to sponsor a course in ballroom dancing, especially designed for beginners, which will probably begin this month, and will meet weekly in the Moran Gallery. Mrs. John Helmuth has agreed to instruct the class.
Before making definite plans, it will be necessary to find out how many people would be interested in such a course of instruction. A nominal fee would be charged and the minimum age set at 12 years.
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This week, ending the busiest holidays of all year, brought considerable traveling to and from Montauk. Johnny Pfund, U.S. Army, home on furlough, pulled in several days before the departures of Frank, Gloria and Pat Tilden, Frank Tuma Jr., Tom Ringwood, and Frank Pitts, giving them all time to exchange greetings before the latter group returned to their schools. Eva McDonald left this mid-week to spend two weeks at New Bedford, Mass., as did Joe Cook, who left on the same train, bound for sunny Florida, where he will work during the winter season.
50 Years Ago 1972
From The East Hampton Star, January 6
Sag Harbor’s monthly agony surpassed expectations when that Village’s Board met Tuesday night.
First it was the New York State mandate to construct a sewage treatment plant for waste that has for years flowed from Main Street and Division Street businesses through two sewers that open into Shelter Island Sound.
Then there was flak from those opposed to the Board’s seeming determination not to hold the Old Whalers’ Festival this year. And finally — the straw that broke the camel’s back — it was revealed that as of Tuesday morning Sag Harbor residents have been locked out of their sanitary landfill by its operator, Southampton Town.
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Montauk
The Montauk Golf and Racquet Club saw the New Year in with a party for 180 guests. John Bladt, manager, prepared a Scandinavian buffet, and a breakfast was also served in the early hours. Bob Alexander and his band played for dancing until 4 a.m.
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Salaries for East Hampton Town officials and employees were set and new appointments to various town agencies made at the Town Board’s 1972 organizational meeting on Monday.
Supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr., who forwent his accustomed New Year’s report on town government, welcomed a new member to the board, Councilman Richard F. White Jr. of Montauk. Mr. White, a Republican, won last November the seat formerly occupied by Frank Borth, who did not run for reelection.
25 Years Ago 1997
From The East Hampton Star, January 9
It’s official: The East Hampton Town Natural Resources Department will now have under its wing the environmental protection office and the Town Shellfish Hatchery.
The Town Board’s Republican majority had announced its intention to make the move — and to bring the buildings and grounds, and street lighting, crews under the Parks Department — a couple of months ago, when the board was putting together its 1997 operating budget. The abolishment of the recycling coordinator’s job was announced then as well.
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Why is seafood so expensive? It’s a question often asked these days, and one that requires a complicated answer. Despite popular opinion, fish are not expensive because retailers are gouging the consumer nor because fishermen are greedy. Most are not. But the old law of supply and demand has had a few new wrinkles.
Consumer preference for a relatively small number of species has kept the price for these species high, especially in an era of depleted fish stocks and resultant stringent regulation. Mandated openings and closings to protect popular fisheries have added a layer of unnatural seasons of abundance and paucity to nature’s own cycles.
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Burton Lane, whose tunes for Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies became classics and whose Amagansett house was a gathering place for talent, fun, and evening singalongs for more than 20 years, died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 84.
His wife, Lynn, said he had died of a stroke, “at home and in his own bed.”
A composer whose career spanned six decades from the early 1930s, Mr. Lane wrote the music for “Finian’s Rainbow” and “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.”
