125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, February 23
For some years we have maintained that East Hampton is destined to become the leading summer resort on Long Island. Now here is a straw that shows which way the wind is blowing, from the Southampton Press:
“According to the Star, the Village Improvement Society of East Hampton has appointed a committee to lay a crosswalk across the Main street in that place. East Hampton certainly leads Southampton in the matter of good roads and crosswalks — here we have neither, and if we do not wake up soon we will find that we have lost our claim as to being the ‘Newport of Long Island.’ ”
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The long talked of breakwater for Sag Harbor has now taken a more definite shape than ever before. For years efforts have been made to get legislation on this matter without avail, ante-election promises of politicians and legislators alike proving of little value after election.
Congressman Scudder, however, is an exception, and last Wednesday he introduced in Congress making an appropriation of $72,000 for the construction of a breakwater in Sag Harbor. If the bill passes the money is to be expended by the Secretary of War for the construction of a breakwater pursuant to the estimate and plans made by Major H.M. Adams.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, February 20
Closed since the disarmament conference, the torpedo testing station of the E.W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, located in Sag Harbor, put on a force of men this month to prepare for trials of torpedoes to be conducted here during the season of 1925.
George Carey of Sag Harbor, superintendent of the Harbor station, is getting ready for commission torpedo launches; motors that have been in storage are being installed in the boats at the Bliss basin on the west side of Long Wharf. As soon as the boats are ready the mooring anchors of the torpedo firing boat Emblane, now in the winter quarters in Greenport, will be swept for in Gardiner’s Bay.
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The Long Island State Park Commission is exceeding its constitutional authority and trying to set a precedent that threatens the home of every property owner in the state, according to Assemblyman John Boyle, Jr., of Huntington, who attacks the right of the Commission to appropriate private property for park purposes. The Assemblyman declares that the bond act of $15,000,000 for State parks specifically states that all land shall be taken by condemnation, and further that it strictly forbids the seizure of land by appropriation. His statement follows:
“The Commission is really seeking to establish that Long Island property is no longer held by its owners in fee simple, but rather is subject to the superior suzerainty of the Commission.”
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, February 23
Sayville residents were treated to quite a sight this week when they had a single engine plane perched up in a tree until a L.I. Lighting Company crew came to the plane’s rescue. The plane, a Luscombe two-seater owned by the Kollsman Instrument Company of Syosset, was badly damaged. The plane was piloted by Dell Waters, 30 years old, of Mineola, who escaped with a few minor scratches.
Waters was flying alone from Danbury, Conn., to Roosevelt Field, L.I., when he lost his way and ran out of fuel. When the plane came to rest in the darkness one wing was on the ground and the other was entangled in L.I. Lighting Co. wires. The pilot reached the ground by climbing down a wing.
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Three thousand four-week-old broilers died Tuesday in a fire which destroyed a large brooder house owned by Martin Maurer, of Flanders, L.I. Mr. Mauer estimated the loss of the young chickens and the 200-foot brooder house at $15,000 to $18,000.
The fire, which was discovered at 8:30 a.m., was thought to have been started by an overheated coal stove. Volunteer firemen from Riverhead and neighboring communities used ten fire trucks to battle the blaze and were able to prevent its spreading to nine other buildings on the poultry farm.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, February 20
According to George Semerjian, the tycoon, the rumors that he is planning to make Fort Pond Bay at Montauk a deep-water port for cargo ships are nothing but rumors. A man with three aliases had suggested that he join in a “lightering operation” there, he said Monday, but “I told him I was not interested unless he came up with a firm proposal” and financing, and the man has since vanished.
He had also talked with a Stony Brook travel agent who wanted to dock cruise ships in the Bay — “a great idea,” he commented — but this plan was “not in the staging phase — just a conversation.” He had no definite plans for his 580 acres, he maintained, other than to build 1,070 houses when he finishes suing East Hampton Town.
The travel agent, Dale Kirkpatrick, said that he hoped to bring a small cruise shop to Montauk in the spring of 1976. He has been offered a docking place, he said, but he would not identify it.
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Sixteen Long Island Trees, five in Suffolk County, have been included as national record-holders in a registry compiled by the American Forestry Association. While no East Hampton trees figured in the national ranking, a red mulberry west of 149 Main Street was given belated recognition as the largest of its species in New York by the State Environmental Conservation Department in its recent who’s who of State trees.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, February 24
In the wake of an emotional meeting last Thursday, where opponents of a plan to extend the State Pine Barrens Protection Act to East Hampton outnumbered supporters, Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said yesterday the town would not be able to create an acceptable map of property to be preserved before the April 1 deadline necessary for action this year.
“I think everybody realizes the hope of having a map that could go to the Legislature for this legislative session is unrealistic,” Mr. Schneiderman said. The Supervisor said he was moving ahead with plans to update East Hampton’s Comprehensive Plan and would ask the Town Board next week to consider hiring a hydrologist to do an updated study of the town’s aquifers, or underground areas where water collects.
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The Department of Energy has recommended that the Peconic River be dammed a section at a time, and the bottom sediment removed, in order to rid the shoreline and headwaters of pollution caused by Brookhaven National Laboratory over the past 50 years.
The sediment would be dried and taken to disposal sites licensed for such materials. Environmental groups, however, have thus far opposed the idea. The cleanup plan focuses specifically on the northeastern section of the lab’s property, which includes the sewage treatment plant. Tests done in the early ’90s have shown that contaminants from the plant include heavy metals such as mercury, copper, and silver, as well as pesticides, P.C.B.s, and radioactive waste.
