125 Years Ago 1898
From The East Hampton Star, September 16
In our last issue we reprinted an item from a Brooklyn paper, stating that Lion Gardiner, Jr., of Gardiner’s Island, had a narrow escape from drowning. Mr. Gardiner informs us that the whole item was a pure fabrication. We are glad to learn that no such accident occurred, but we are sorry that we were taken in by the Brooklyn paper.
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Hubbard Corwin came home from Camp Wikoff Monday night with a Mauser rifle, which had been captured from the Spaniards in Cuba. Mr. Corwin purchased the rifle of a private in the detention camp, together with a number of Mauser cartridges.
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Mr. Van Vleck, janitor at the Maidstone Club, while lighting a match on Monday night, set fire to the inside of his flannel shirt sleeve, and before he could extinguish the blaze, his hand was quite badly burned.
100 Years Ago 1923
From The East Hampton Star, September 14
The carnival given last week by the Masonic Club of East Hampton ended Saturday night with a grand finale. Fortunately for the Masons the rain held off until late in the evening. About 11 o’clock, with one of the largest crowds of the week spending their money freely on the grounds, the rain began to fall. It rained hard for a few minutes and then let up. The people scattered right and left and sought shelter under the tents and on the merry-go-round. The shower did not last long, however, and at 11:30 the winners of the popularity contest, tombola, and Dodge car contest were announced.
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Many new features and many new exhibitors will mark the seventy-first annual exhibition of the Suffolk County Agricultural Society to be held September 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 in Riverhead. Five big days and each one bigger and better than ever is the promise of the management which has been at work for months selecting the best attractions in the market and securing the better class of exhibits.
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The Garden Club of East Hampton held its annual dahlia show at Clinton Academy Tuesday afternoon and evening of this week. The exhibits of table decorations, arrangements and single dahlias were reviewed and admired by many summer and permanent residents of the village during the show.
By popular vote Mrs. Samuel Ordway won blue ribbon for the most attractive luncheon table and flower decorations. Mrs. Clarence T. Alcott’s table won second prize and Mrs. James L. Ogden’s third. Mr. Buek had a table in the show which was not in the competition but was greatly admired.
75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, September 16
On Monday, September 20th from 8-10 p.m. in the Session House the Congregation of the First Presbyterian Church will honor the Rev. Francis Kinsler and family with a farewell reception at which time members and friends will have an opportunity to bid them good-bye. Mr. Kinsler has received official word that he and his family are to sail from San Francisco on September 30th aboard the Army Transport General Altman enroute to Korea. The departure of the Kinslers is not entirely unexpected since earlier in the summer Mr. Kinsler informed the Session of the Church that if an anticipated call to mission work in Korea should come that he would accept.
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Tomorrow evening at 8:45 p.m. there will be an informal program of music and poetry in the Moran Gallery, arranged by Guild Hall especially for its members. It will feature Leland Brock, pianist; Robert Chisholm, baritone; and Dorothy Quick, poetess.
Following the program there will be a reception in honor of the artists, arranged for Guild Hall by Mrs. Edward Moran.
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Zoning action for Amagansett proceeded one step further last week with the appointment of a five-man temporary committee to define the area to be zoned, it was announced by Mrs. David U. Snyder, president of the Amagansett Village Improvement Society. On the committee are Edmond Borgia Butler, chairman, Bart C. Hadel, Charles Ward Hall, Lewis S. Parsons and Ray Prohaska.
Decision to act on zoning was taken by a unanimous vote of a large crowd present at the AVIS meeting on August 23rd which was open to the public and was attended by the East Hampton Town Board. Petitions containing the resolution have been circulated throughout the Village for signatures of those favoring zoning action.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, September 13
A first step in buying 1,400 feet of oceanfront property in Montauk and a final step in paying for another 1,460 feet of oceanfront property there, acquired in 1971, were taken by the East Hampton Town Board at its meeting Friday. The Board also proceeded toward acquiring a half-acre, triangular parcel at the intersection of Cranberry Hole Road and the Montauk Highway, Amagansett; moved to thwart the Argyle Land Company’s construction, reportedly without permits, of bath houses and tennis courts at Fort Pond Bay, Montauk; and engaged in rambling disputes with several spectators.
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Montauk
Christopher Walsh celebrated his seventh birthday with a party on Saturday at his Hudson Road home.
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Elizabeth Duncan used to be of the opinion that Anita Zahn, one of her pupils at the Duncan School for the Equal Education of Mind and Body, could not become a professional dancer because she was “too intellectual.”
Miss Zahn, who at one time had her own concert dance group and has taught in New York and East Hampton for many years, is in fact the only one of the original Duncan students who has carried on the teachings of Duncan dance, formulated by Isadora Duncan and espoused by her elder and adoring sister, Elizabeth.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, September 17
The release of the Starr report on Friday and President Clinton’s tearful request for forgiveness at a White House prayer breakfast that same morning has received a mostly muted response from members of the East End clergy.
Most of the ministers interviewed said the report’s long-expected revelation that the President had engaged in sexual misconduct with an intern, Monica Lewinsky, and then tried to cover it up, played only a peripheral part in their sermons, although all said they found the disclosures troubling.
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Southampton Hospital’s board of directors Monday disclosed a deficit over three years of $48.7 million, far exceeding what most observers had anticipated.
“Massive mismanagement” of the hospital’s finances was responsible, according to R. Peter Sullivan, the board’s chairman, including “what appeared to be a financial reporting system that attempted to put the best possible face on every aspect of operational performance by overstating revenues and deferring expenses.”
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Ask South Fork business owners how they fared this summer, and most likely they will say it was a good deal better than last summer. And last summer, they’ll probably recall, was the best ever.
Frank D’Angelo, owner of Emporium Hardware in Sag Harbor, estimated sales were up 20 percent this season over last. And last year’s were up as well, compared to the miserable summer of 1996, when things were, in Mr. D’Angelo’s words, “not so good.”
