{ title: 'The leader. (Freeport, N.Y.) 1941-1987, October 19, 1972, Page 19, Image 19', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn95071064/1972-10-19/ed-1/seq-19/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn95071064/1972-10-19/ed-1/seq-19.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn95071064/1972-10-19/ed-1/seq-19/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn95071064/1972-10-19/ed-1/seq-19/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Freeport Memorial Library
’ i.-T'.Vv ~0j*72 i s 3 s S diestras feLi^ts rflu^out 'eseiited raised a favorite ed to be i>f Ibose ^ t in the Inn one eat: Per sia and iniptano 8 fVank nue who B aeriai ! Eddie le whole iM ary\ w boat ear Curt is Smith tb Reien f actor nd Sam iho.show lie. They jffman’s ns took i, .Creig of Stone oadway Arms” ccHirse, hus the itowfaat 7: of its a :By U837 Raynortowh had two -general stores, the larger one belonging to ,RUey Raynor, and John Mead and located tm jpihe Stv' between Church and Main. On the n p i^w e st comer of Main and Broadway. :(then known as Crooked .Rd.) was-tbe Benjamin Smith hotel, and a big *‘n ! ^ t out” in those days c o n s i s t of a dance at this hosterly with music {H'ovid^ by Uie most popular fiddler of day, a gentleman known to us only as “Colored Townsend.” 'Hie interior of the village had a lot more ponds and lakes in it than we toow today, when we have only Milbum Pond at the High Schpti and a Freeport River, much shorter than it used to be, on the eastern boundary. Many residents remember the “Kissing Bridge” that carried Seaman Ave. across one of the many streams around the turn of the century, and also Crystal Lake Hotel stood for many years. The Hrst post office in the village where the elegant Qystal Lake was opened in 1858- previously, residents picked up their mail at a govemnient office in Merrick. And after much discussion, the South Side Railroad finally cam e to Freeport in 1868. Before this, the stagecoach was the only means of public passenger transportation through Freeport, with a stop at Smith’s on Babylon Turnpike. ■ The railroad gave impetus to business and the village began to grow, to the point in 1892 where incorporation was voted, as described elsewhere. ‘Hie first policeman was ap- pointed April 7,1893; oil lamps lit the streets by June, 1894 and electric lighto were soon’ voted, with, the Rrst arc Ught turned on May 25, 1898. Tliat was the year NEW EQUIPMENT. This volunteer Freeport Rre Department menv ber in 1895 looks as proud of Hose Company #3'$ horse-drawn truck as today's Department is of the Village's new lime—green snorkel. Just think boys, the m ^ r i t y of firemen those days RAN to too fire. . (Continued from Fugo 1) for i;(eirm XpolM ut I’erripp-ifrom the ^ ; . m t t e a t e e n c e p f M d o ^ , m a i i f l M . w ^ in the hard labor must go into tlie job; 1900s; meeting trolley con- FaOd,mranwhile,mustgoonthe necUons from Hempstead, the table.; W hat m o re, available city and F r e ^ r t , including the sustenance did thesetUeri have local so-called Toonerville than seafood? So thqr ctobbed, 'Irollcy which oiet trains. The fished, and dug for clams or ferryboats stimulated viats to oysters. Salt hay; idenUful in the Gordon Ellison's Seaside Hotel wetlands, was an ideal food for with its restaurant aiid dance cattle they were lucky enough to fioOr, and Gould's Hotel nearer own. Since a - dammed-Up the POintXookout daidi; High Hill millpond was needed for a ' ' ' ' - - - gristmill, miners sought sites close to streanos. Several popular hotels at or near, the waterfront in the lOOOs capitalized on summertime at tractions; The Crystal Hake House at Grove SL and Southside Ave. had accommodations for 150; the Norwood towered above the Casino Pool on Casino St., and the Grove P ark (later Impmial) Hotel, now an apartment house, was' surrounded by beautiful trees on Rose St. The nearness of Main St. to Freeport Creek helped lure patrons to Scott's Hma (started i i g :t RACE DAY, The South Shore Yacht Club, Freeport, has been the center of nautical activities since 1909. I #*»»#»»»*»»»*#»*#»»##»#**#**»***#*»***********#»*#♦»»#■ ;A D S ^ , The troUey circuit to ^ ^ i c a ’ Phone FR 8-3133 or bring or mail your ad to our office: 24 S. Grove SLi Freeport Local fat^: $2.00 for 20 words, i Phone ads are accepted. Payments must be received i : by Tues. noon prior to publication. about 1837) below'Atlantic Ave., wiUi its beach and pond. Snider's, further south, bad a baseball diamond. John W. Whaley, father of Ihing W hal^, ran a hotel, restaurant and Rshing station where Main SL ended north of E ^ t Bedell St., close to bis oyster dock and coal y a ^ O l d - t i m e r s recall the ir swimming hole in Freeport Creek below Raynor S t Little girls learned to “dog paddle” across the stream . The creek’s narrowness at that lime is revealed by an incidrat that may have occurred more than once. A boat owner, finding his craft helplessly aground in low tide, got an assist from the miller upstream. Gates of the millpond dam were sehdii^ a was completed in 1905 and the Post Office started free delivery in Noy. 1907. ' :In the meantime, banks had been started, new businesses ; sprang up, the school population was growing so fast they couldn’t keep up with the demand for classroom space, and Freeport was in the middle of a ‘‘boom” when it was known far and wide as a leading summer resort as well as a desirable residential community. A booklet put out by the Long Island Railroad (which had taken over the South Shore line) in 1904 calls Freeport “ a live town of 3.000 inhabitants on Hempstead Bay.” Fifty-eight years ago there were 18 trains each way between Freeport and New York or Brooklyn on we^-days and seven each way Sundays. Eighteen hotels, boarding houses or “cottages” were listed, of which three were reached by s t e a m ^ t from Freeport. The Woodcleft Inn and Crystal Lake Hotel had 125 rooms each at $10 per wedt and up and the Grove P ark Hotel had ^ rooms. Pdnt Lookout Hoteli -at $14-21 per week, ad vertised such at^ctioDS as 11 cents per day conmutatioh to New Yo^k,'stages meeting all trains,and still water bathii^;/M ating and fishing, a v to i ^ .M c ii ig pavilion, iriOiard Woodcleft Inn had course, and. there v i r ^ ; ^ ^ a F r e c ^ r t Golf Club in tfibse flays. 1922 the Memorial Library wasj .opened, in! 1923 the cor ners tonew a s laid for the hew Municipal. Building nml in 1931 tiRT-Monicipai Stadium was opened; the Elks Club and the Post Office vrere other impraing buildings of about that time. Home building had its biggest spiul after Wcvld War U. (now part of Jones Beach State Park), along with Dick’s Beach back of a wide channel named Foreside, attracted bathero. The Ughts Club, an actors' group, loved the waterfront so much that its clubhouse w as built on Fairview Place just east of St. Marie’s Ave. Afljatont to the building was an athletic field where members enjoyed themselves, often with local residents watching. The club also helped Freeport in a more far- reaching way. Consisting largely of vaudeviUians, the L i ^ ts Oub gave tremendous publicity to this village all over^the United States in remarks made during (heir stage shows, helping to focus attention on this community and its waterfront. Two other places that put a “fun city” labd on Freeport were Playland Park amusement park in the ’20s and Municipal Stadium, which in the early ’3(ts started midget auto races, now mostly replaced with stock car competition. Playland Park attracted crowds southeast of Front and Grove Sts. Outdoor swimming in adjacent waters, a huge s c ^ c railway, the Whip, other thrilling rides, etc., were Huyler Ellison Sr. headed the cor poration which owned the nine- acre grounds* a t a time when AtkV their m o o n l it sail. Although our village’s in corporated area did not extend to the bay until 1930, residents loved to visit the ocean at Point bidl^ngs on the^penlni^'-brt- ween Hudson Ave. and South Grove St. Huyler Ellison Sr managed some 50 cashiers when business rose to a peak before the '30s Great Depression. HISTORIC FREEPORT 1870 MAPS NOW AVAILABLE...... SPECIAL TO LEADER READERS As a community teryice for its readers. THE LEADER is making wailable parchment re- productioru of the fa mous 1870 Been Atlas . . maps of old Freeport ^ g .Village rod toe V n pert of toe Tovro of Hempstaad. One price for b o th — iutt $4 plus 24# tax. r tie town map te printed in three ol-' tractive colon, and m eaturn 11K x 24\^ the Freeport map It id _ two colon. untTimat- J . ureylB lt'* 71\.’Perfect _ frsmirtg. gifts, or to add to family col- ' ieetiont. Fill o u t coupon 'rod mail it todayl Village of Freeport j VES, SEND ME { ■ NAME _________ South Hempttaad Town ) MAP SETS @ $4 (plus 24^ NYS Tax) j ! lAODRESS^ _21P CODE . { m a il t o . THE LEADER, 22 South Grow S t, Freeport 11520| THREE SUNS’ CHARTER FISHING MOONLIGHT SAILS CAPT. MANNY . 35 Fourth SL Vallqf Streani 516425-2222 Sails from Restaurant Dock 771 S. 9th SI LindenhuisL N.Y. SALVAGE HULLS CLEANED DIVERS FOR HIRE CALL JIAA 8 2 5 r 2 2 2 2 o r ED G E 1-5313 PR O P S CH A N G E D
