125 Years Ago 1898
From The East Hampton Star, November 4
The young people of East Hampton will give a dance in Clinton Hall on Thanksgiving night. Messrs. Koerner, Gerard and Mills, of Patchogue, will furnish music. All members of both the old and new East Hampton social clubs are invited to be present.
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Lisburg’s chrysanthemum show is attracting a large number of people to his greenhouses on Newtown lane. The people not only come from all parts of the village, but from Amagansett, Bridge Hampton, Sag Harbor and Southampton. The exhibit this year contains many new varieties, one of which is the Admiral Dewey. Mr. Lisburg’s daughter, Miss Elizabeth, won a prize for suggesting the name for this flower.
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Two men stood at the gate of the union school yard on Monday noon and gave out advertising cards for Townsend Scudder, democratic candidate for member of Congress, and all the scholars went home with a brand new pencil declaring that they “must vote for Scudder.”
100 Years Ago 1923
From The East Hampton Star, November 2
The reception and dance given by Frank B. Wiborg and his daughter, Miss Mary Hoyt Wiborg, at their home on the dunes last Saturday night was one of the most important social events of the mid-fall season, there being over 200 guests present, including members of Edwin C. Halsey Post, American Legion, for whom the party was really given, and many of the prominent residents of the summer colony and village.
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Montauk Point, thrusting its bleak promontory out against the battering, pounding ceaseless winter’s storms, presents a very different picture in December, January, February and March, the winter months, when compared with its calm summer surroundings of a few months ago. No white-winged yachts spread sails to the breeze; no tiny motor boats drive to and fro under the shadow of the lighthouse tower, frowning in bands of black and white from its lofty base, down upon the boisterous sea; the Fort Pond and North Bar fishermen, for the most part, have closed their season and returned to their homes at East Hampton, Amagansett, Orient, East Marion and Greenport, seeking a more congenial environment.
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The children about town had a grand time Hallowe’en night, playing the usual pranks that one always expects but which come uninvited and without warning. One may be quietly seated reading the evening paper, when all at once a handful of corn, thrown by some mischievous lad, comes with a crash against the nearest window, causing one to jump nearly out of one’s skin. Or perhaps it is part of the fence being removed by a more malicious group of youngsters.
75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, November 4
In spite of nearly perfect Republican weather, voting in East Hampton on Tuesday was not quite as heavy as anticipated, although well over 3,000 votes were cast. The polls opened at six and remained open until nine. Voting up until noon was light, but picked up during the lunch hour.
Voting was heaviest in East Hampton, District No. 8 (Guild Hall), where Thomas E. Dewey received 465 votes and Harry S. Truman 106, and in East Hampton, District No. 5 (IOOF Hall), where Dewey received 424 votes and Truman 142.
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Of the many men who decided to start their own businesses after the war, George Schulte in East Hampton is an outstanding example of one who actually went through with the plans. His new furniture repair and refinishing business in the former Gay Paint Shop is a veritable hive of activity these days. Mr. Schulte, Walter Babinski and Nelson Smith, Jr. are working steadily at an ever-increasing collection of furniture which each day is brought to them for various repair and remodeling jobs.
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Within the memory of many present day residents of East Hampton, there were two public schools in our village, the Hook School, which stood near where the Methodist Church now stands, and the South End School, which stood on Woods Lane right next to the house now owned by Mr. and Mrs. E.T. Dayton. In addition there were, at one time or another, private schools for those who felt that neither public school was adequate.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, November 1
Alleging there was “an organized plot to win the Town of East Hampton election on Nov. 6,” in an “Operation Take-over,” Suffolk’s Republican Elections Commissioner, Everett F. McNab, threw an unusual press release into the local campaign late Tuesday afternoon that threatened to cause all-out war.
In reaction, East Hampton Town Democratic chairman, Judith Hope, who is the Democratic candidate for Supervisor, called for Mr. McNab’s immediate dismissal and said she would ask the Election Frauds Bureau of the State Attorney General’s Department to place a representative at the Board of Elections office in Yaphank at once and to station investigators at every polling place in Town on Nov. 6.
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A musical version of “Aladdin,” as adapted by Sir Richard Burton from “The Arabian Nights,” will be performed by the Prince Street Players Ltd. of Manhattan at Guild Hall this weekend, the second in a series of Saturday afternoon programs for children.
The production, which makes use of some of the devices of Chinese theater such as masks, gongs, rattles, and drums, will begin at 2 p.m.
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East Hampton has so many writers — and artists — now, that it is well-nigh impossible to keep up with their output, let alone that of writers in or about the rest of Long Island. We try, but that’s the best we can do.
As one of our most respected residents once said, when running for Town office: “Get my name in the paper. Call me . . . but get my name in!”
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, November 5
“Backlash” was the Election Night buzz word.
Pundits and major party supporters watching the often surprising results pour in said it was backlash from Monica-gate that drove far more Democrats to the polls nationally than were projected, and it was backlash from Senator Alphonse D’Amato’s campaign tactics that drove him out of the office he has held for 18 years.
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Voters in all five East End towns gave a solid seal of approval Tuesday to a 2-percent real estate transfer tax that is expected to raise nearly $120 million to preserve farmland, open space, and historic places in the region over the next 12 years.
The support came despite an all-out advertising effort to quash the transfer tax that was heavily supported by the New York State Association of Realtors.
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Even with a biting wind and colder-than-normal temperatures, the warmth of the human spirit prevailed on Friday as dozens of East End residents showed up for a candlelight vigil to honor two victims of recent bias attacks.
Carrying candles and quietly singing and chanting, more than 100 people from various walks of life and more than a dozen East End organizations gathered on the lawn of Hook Mill in East Hampton to listen to speeches promoting tolerance and condemning bias in every guise.
