125 Years Ago
1899
From The East Hampton Star, September 1
Great as was the success of East Hampton’s celebration, with its well-managed parade and beautiful decorations, its music and fine speaking, and its crowds of strangers, the one really inspiring spectacle was witnessed on the previous day by a comparatively small number of people.
The splendid ninety-foot “stick” with its fifty-foot top-mast, which together were to make the tallest flag staff on Long Island, had finished its journey from Oregon on Monday. Teams had hauled them from the station to the village green. To most people the raising of the flag was the event, but to the fortunate few who lived near enough to see what was going on, the raising of the pole was more exciting, more fascinating, far the finer spectacle in every way.
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“Song of East Hampton” by Robert Underwood Johnson
Merry are Maidstone moors, boys, happy is Hampton dune. The moon’s soft light be yours, boys, on misty nights of June. And when the far midsummer star is sparkling through the elm. Let youth be at the prow, boys, and pleasure at the helm.
Merry is Maidstone beach, boys, happy is Hampton lane. And the word of each to each, boys, shall banish gloom and pain. Oh, swift the flight of summer bright when joy is at the flood. And the postman’s cheery gallop, boys, makes rhyme within the blood.
100 Years Ago
1924
From The East Hampton Star, August 29
A party was playing at the Maidstone Golf links Friday afternoon, when a high-powered motor car came down Dunemere lane and turned into Egypt. The car was making such a noise that the golfing party were attracted by it. They thought it was an airplane coming. When the driver, Henry Rea, son of the late Samuel Rea, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., came to the end of the road near the beach he swerved his car around and headed into the Club driveway and then turned suddenly onto the green. The players and caddy had to jump for their lives.
Although Mr. Rea was to appear before a Judge Monday evening at 7:30, when those interested in the case appeared in court they found that Rea had pleaded guilty and paid a $25 fine and returned to his summer home at Southampton. Many were incensed about this, but it seems that when one charged with an offense pleads guilty the case can be heard even before the hour set.
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It was a storm that will be remembered by the residents of East Hampton for years and the story of which will be repeated and repeated to the coming generations as the years go by. Damages reached thousands of dollars, a 110-foot boat washed ashore at Montauk, sweeping a half-dozen boats along with it. Hundreds watched huge waves roll in at the bathing beach where safety lines and barrels were washed ashore. Most of the Three Mile Harbor boats were also washed ashore.
75 Years Ago
1949
From The East Hampton Star, September 1
The Suffolk County Health Department reported 31 new cases of polio for the week ending August 27th. This week was three more than the previous week. The cases reported this week raises the total for the month to 76 and brings the total for the year to 109. There were no cases here.
The number of fatalities for the year was 6. This is a ratio of 1 death to 15 cases with August onsets. This compares favorably with Nassau County, which reported a ratio of 1 death to 14 cases whose onsets occurred in August.
Commissioner of Health Dr. Philip J. Rafle stated today in response to numerous queries relative to the advisability of postponing the opening of schools in Suffolk County that the opening of public and private schools should not be delayed. It has been shown that the postponement of the opening of schools has not affected the course of outbreaks of polio.
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That section of East Hampton including Egypt Lane, and from Huntington Lane to the Montauk Highway leading to Amagansett, was without water for four hours on Sunday night. The Home Water Co. president, the company plumber and several helpers worked until after midnight as the result of a hit-and-run driver’s knocking over a hydrant, which broke off below the ground. The hydrant was in front of the Wilfrid Wood house on Egypt Lane, which was flooded.
50 Years Ago
1974
From The East Hampton Star, August 29
Charges and countercharges went flying through the political air this week, with several local officials getting hit by the flak.
On Monday, Everett McNab, Suffolk County’s Republican Commissioner of Elections, called upon the District Attorney and the East Hampton police to make “a full investigation” of the 227 persons who registered to vote here in June and July, and for a “door-to-door check of all registrants in the Town of East Hampton.”
His demand was issued following discussion with Kenneth Wessberg, GOP Town chairman here, who last week charged that Supervisor Judith Hope, a Democrat, has misled the voting public in a June column in the Star urging people to register.
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A moderate-size right whale, pursued by Newsday as relentlessly as Ahab, got as far east as Bridgehampton early this week in a leisurely cruise along Long Island’s South Shore. Then, apparently tiring of all the publicity, the beast disappeared.
The whale, said to be 35 feet long and 40,000 pounds, was first seen off the New Jersey coast, in late July. He crossed New York Bight in early August, and has been making his slow way east.
25 Years Ago
1999
From The East Hampton Star, September 2
The President and Mrs. Clinton managed to squeeze in almost as much fund-raising, golf, and brief public appearances on the South Fork over the weekend as they did during last summer’s visit, even though they delayed their visit three hours to pop up to Westchester and contemplate buying a house.
The First Couple’s 42-hour presence here netted the Democratic Party and Mrs. Clinton’s Senate Exploratory Committee some $1.7 million in donations, and created barely a ripple of traffic or trouble.
Many who paid $250 to attend Saturday night’s party at East Hampton Airport, however, found the entertainment of comedian Jon Stewart and musician Wyclef Jean inappropriate.
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To cut down on the odor emanating from the tank at the town’s sewage treatment plant, “We probably designed the Cadillac of odor control,” Councilman Peter Hammerle said at an East Hampton Town Board meeting Tuesday. The lowest bid for the covers came in at $270,000. Because the town engineer’s estimate of the expense was far lower, the town has borrowed only $150,000 for the project.
And so, as the town prepares to borrow an additional $120,000 to make up the difference, officials are beginning to wonder if the headaches and expense that come with running the facility are worth it.
The additional debt could result in higher fees for the septic companies that use the facility. Debt and other problems at the plant, however, have prompted the town to consider privatizing it to some degree.
