125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, February 3
Bismark’s Iron Nerve
Was the result of his splendid health. Indomitable will and tremendous energy are not found where Stomach, Liver, Kidneys, and Bowels are out of order. If you want these qualities and the success they bring, use Dr. King’s New Life Pills. They develop every power of brain and body. Only 25c at W.F. Muchmore’s, East Hampton, and A.T. Brown’s, Sag Harbor.
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C.R. Smith will sing one of his popular topical songs at the entertainment to be given by the Clinton Dramatic Association on Feb. 16th and 17th.
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The concert given by the East Hampton orchestra last Friday evening was not largely attended, but was fully appreciated by those who heard it. The programme was a very pleasing one, and many who then heard the orchestra for the first time were surprised to hear such excellent playing by our band of young musicians. The recitations by Miss Sadie Conklin and Miss Bessie Gay were heartily applauded. The orchestra netted only four dollars.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, February 1
The large barn and outbuildings at Charles C. Miller’s farm, Green River, Springs, were burned to the ground last Sunday night, and all of his stock, numbering two horses and three cows, perished in the flames.
The fire was discovered by Mrs. Miller at about 7:45 o’clock, as she was sitting in her home with her husband. The house stands on the main road, three or four hundred feet from the barns. She noticed sparks flying past the window and exclaimed that the chimney must be on fire.
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As a result of several months of investigation and study by experts of the Post Office Department, the Postmaster General has issued the first definite, concise and complete program that has ever been put out by the department for the mailing, transmission and delivery of newspapers.
This order is most important. It is far reaching. It gives the same expedition to newspapers as is accorded to first class mail.
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One of the largest fraternal parties of the winter was held at Odd Fellows’ Hall, Tuesday night, when District Deputy Louis Holtje and staff of Fire Island Lodge, Bay Shore, installed the officers of Hampton Lodge, East Hampton, and officers of the Southampton and Sag Harbor lodges at the same time. In the party with Mr. Holtje were eighteen men from Bay Shore. A large delegation from Southampton was present and, including the local Odd Fellows, the party numbered about 150.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, February 3
The East Hampton Town Post, American Legion, at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday night, by a substantial majority vote, gave the go-ahead signal to start construction of its new headquarters at the corner of Montauk Highway and Abraham’s Path, Amagansett. The Post has been in possession of this five-acre property for over a year.
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The work of “demilitarizing” the four 16-inch guns installed at Camp Hero, Montauk, during 1942 is coming to a close as workmen under contractor Pete Bistrian, of Amagansett, prepare the last loads of metal for gondola car shipment out of Montauk. Mr. Bistrian is working under a contract with a scrap metal dealer who has a number of contracts with the government. In addition to the demolition work at Montauk, Bistrian is tearing down two 6-inch guns at Fort Wright, Fishers Island.
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National Boy Scout Week is from February 6 to 12 and local troops have planned several events, including a court of honor at Montauk for District 5 on Friday, February 11. Mayor Judson L. Banister has announced that on Saturday, February 12, the Boy Scouts of East Hampton will take over the village government, and on that day scouts will handle all the various offices of the village.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, January 31
Kenneth Wessberg, an East Hampton businessman who has been serving on the Village Zoning Board of Appeals and the Town Planning Board, was elected chairman of the local Republican Committee at a meeting Sunday at the Huntting Inn. Mr. Wessberg succeeds Francis Smith, who failed in an attempt at re-election as Town Highway Superintendent last fall and whose resignation as chairman was accepted Sunday.
Mr. Wessberg will share the leadership with Assembly Speaker Perry B. Duryea Jr. of Montauk, who has been called co-chairman but is now being designated as deputy chairman.
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In a startling development last week, the owner of an erosion-threatened home off Beach Lane, Wainscott, was arrested at the direction of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office on felony charges of attempted arson and conspiracy to commit arson.
The arrest resulted apparently from two conversations with a suspected loan shark and gunrunner, during which plans were laid to burn down the three-story beachfront home and collect $240,000 in fire insurance.
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A concert of gospel music and spirituals that will illustrate the process that takes place in “gospelizing” hymns, and the differences between hymns, gospel songs, and spirituals, will be conducted at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church by the Rev. James Johnson on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 4:30 p.m.
The concert-demonstration is being sponsored by the Choral Society of the Hamptons and the South Fork Chamber Orchestra. Members of the chorus, who will rehearse with Reverend Johnson at the Church tonight, will sing spirituals such as “Ain’t Got Time to Die” and “There Is a Balm in Gilead” as the Reverend Johnson weaves the musical program with an informal lecture.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, February 4
There hadn’t been so many people at the Montauk Firehouse since the last time the Fire Department was giving away money, at its annual Big Bucks lottery. Nearly 400 residents filled the firehouse on Jan. 27 to hear more about mining the Montauk landfill and the big bucks that it will cost East Hampton Town taxpayers.
For four hours, engineers and lawyers who have worked for years on a plan to reclaim the 15.5-acre landfill by mining out the recyclables, removing the garbage, and reusing the soil sparred with a group of residents who formed recently to stop the project.
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Now it is illegal for boaters to discharge even treated sewage into the harbors, creeks, and bays of East Hampton.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency made it official last Thursday by seconding state approval of the town’s preparations to have its waters designated a Federal no-discharge zone. East Hampton is the first of the five East End towns on the Peconic Estuary to obtain no-discharge status.
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The 44 families chosen so far to live in the East Hampton Housing Authority’s newly completed Accabonac Highway complex started moving in at 8 a.m. on Monday.
“They’re all saying, I’m so happy, I’m so excited, I’m so nervous. I tell them, I know exactly how you feel,” said Rosemary Hawkins, a tenant who sat in her car every night for months to keep vandals off the construction site and was later hired to be the superintendent.
