In 2019, we had the honor of interviewing two World
War II veterans. Sharing these interviews in honor of the anniversary of D-Day.
edward
dionian
August 10, 1921 - August 3, 2021
Interviewed July 18, 2019
https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15281coll40/id/409/rec/4
SALVATORE CITRANO
SEPTEMBER 30,1925 – MAY 3, 2021
INTERVIEWED JULY 9, 2019
https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15281coll40/id/362/rec/2
Originally created as a Life Saving Service Station, St. Andrew’s Church was saved in 1879 by five families. The founders, Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas, William S. Hoyt, C. Wyllys Betts, Frederic H. Betts, and Dr. Albert H. Buck, changed the name, by resolution, to Saint Andrew’s Dune Church in 1884. To this day, the church interior includes passages of scripture that remind parishioners of the building’s original purpose. For 141 years, the church has been open for sixteen weeks during the summer season.
The church was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York in 1854 as a free church. The Shields on the wall have been given in memory of deceased Trustees, whereas the Memorial Tablets are devoted to family members and distinguished former parishioners. The American flag at the altar has only 45 stars because it was a service flag from returning soldiers of World War I.
The stained-glass windows range from breathtaking opalescent-glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge to Pre-Raphaelite-inspired panels by the British firm Heaton, Butler & Bayne to lushly floral windows by Bostonian Wilbur Herbert Burnham, and Stephen Hannock’s opalescent-glass landscape window, installed in 2020
In September of 1938, a hurricane slammed into the East Coast. It passed directly over the church and the church was almost completely wiped out. Many pews and the organ were washed into Lake Agawam across the street and several stained-glass windows were lost, including two of the eleven original signed Tiffany windows.
In 1995, the church was moved slightly to the north and west and placed on a new foundation.
The land surrounding the Dune Church represents some of the last surviving dunescape in the Village of Southampton. The grounds of the church are planted under the direction of the Southampton Garden Club.
Source:
“History.” St. Andrew’s Dune Church, www.standrewsdunechurch.com/history. Accessed 23 May 2025.
This was from the July 17, 1952 Farmingdale Post. On June 28, 1952, opening ceremonies were held,
starting with a parade. The teams were organized into Major and Minor Leagues.
About 200 boys signed up that year, with four teams in the Major League and four
teams in the Minor League. Republic Aviation sponsored a team and lent the
services of their recreation director Oscar Frowein.
The league caught on immediately and in the years
1962-1964, 2,400 boys enrolled in the program. In 1954, a second league was
formed, known as the American League. The original group was known as the
National League. Shortly after, both leagues were expanded from four teams each
to six teams. A third league was formed in 1956. There were 18 teams total in
the group. There were also 18 teams in the “AAA” group and Class A group.
By 1967, two programs were designated for specific age
ranges. The Pony group consisted of 13 & 14-year-olds, while the Colt group
consisted of 15 &16-year olds. The group that controls the leagues was
re-named the Farmingdale Baseball League Inc.
There
are also five Softball Leagues starting with Farm for 5& 6 and 7 & 8-year
olds and then Girls Minors, Girls Majors, Girls Seniors, and Girls
Inter-League. There is also a special league called the Greendogs. The
Greendogs are comprised each year of a select group of ballplayers who not only
excel on the baseball diamond, but have also shown outstanding sportsmanship,
determination, and a true commitment to the game. The Baseball groups range from
7-13-year olds and the Softball groups range from 8-16-year olds.
Sources:
“Farmingdale Baseball
League.” https://fdalebaseball.com
“Little League.” Farmingdale
Post. May 29, 1952
“Little League Season Will Open
Officially on June 28.” Farmingdale Post. June 12, 1952
Coindre Hall was originally known as West Neck Farm when it was created. It was established as a country home for George McKesson Brown and his wife Pearl, who commuted from New York City where they owned a pharmaceutical company. The Brown’s became year-round residents during World War I.
The estate was a manor of approximately 135 acres between Huntington Harbor and Southdown Road. It contained numerous buildings including a farm house, a garage complex, the Gate House, the Boat House, the Water Tower, the Ice House, and the Main House. All of the buildings on the Estate were linked to the Main House by a complete telephone system. On several occasions, the Estate, particularly the Water Tower, was used by movie studios in filming silent movies.
The Main House itself was modeled after a chateau in the south of France. Within the Main House, there was an indoor “plunge” pool and a walk-in refrigerator in the basement. The chandelier in the center of the spiral staircase is a copy of one that hung in the New York State House in Albany
The ice in the ice room was harvested from the pond behind the Boat House each winter and stored in the Ice House on the west side of the pond. The ice was then brought up to the ice room in the basement of the Main House as needed. In 1932, Mr. Brown’s wealth had diminished mainly because of income and real estate taxes. He broke up the estate and began selling off portions of the property.
In 1939, the Brown’s moved into the Gate House and the northeast 34 acres on which the Main House was situated was sold to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. After some renovations, the Brothers named the building Coindre Hall after the founder of their order and opened it as boarding school for young boys. After 30 years, the school eventually went bankrupt.
The building was occupied by two other schools for a short time each, but both also went bankrupt. Coindre Hall was acquired by Suffolk County in 1972, but it was neglected until it was dedicated into a County Historical Trust. In 1991, the Alliance for the Preservation of Coindre Hall Park was organized to preserve, protect and restore this property. It is not only known as a local landmark, but is also listed in the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places. In 1995, the mansion was officially designated “The Museum of Long Island’s Gold Coast”.
Source:
“The Chateau at Coindre Hall.” Huntington Public Schools, www.hufsd.edu/assets/pdfs/community/local/2012/local_town_historical_coindre_hall.pdf. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.
This is from the March 23, 1932 Farmingdale Post. Charles Schmidt opened the hardware store in 1915, in the old John Duryea building on the
corner of Main and Front Streets. The building was then moved to 208 Main
Street. The store closed its doors in 2008. The store provided building
materials, hardware, garden supplies, and more.
You can see a brush from the store as well as other Main Street memorabilia in our Local History display case for all of April.
The story of the St. James General Store with the Smith family. In the early 1840's, Ebenezer Smith, a descendant of Richard "Bull" Smith, lived within a hamlet of Smithtown known as Sherawogge. Ebenezer headed for the West for a few years. Having some success there, Ebenezer returned to Long Island to build a General Store in 1857. By that time, the name of Sherawogge was changed to St. James in honor of the local Episcopal Church.
The heart of the business district was on Moriches Road from its intersection with Three Sisters Road south to North Country Road. At this site, Ebenezer conducted his business until the St. James General Store, now the hub of the community, was inherited by Everett Smith, son of Ebenezer.
Here, the residents purchased yard goods, kitchen wares, medicine, shoes, horse medicine, tobacco, groceries, hardware, and more. Since the Post Office was located within this store, it became a central meeting place where the townfolk gathered to wait for the mail, to catch up on the local gossip and to keep in touch with the world.
There were parties, dances and seasonal celebrations held in a large room upstairs. When the first telephone in the village was installed in the store, the establishment became even more of a community center.
The old store ledgers show the names of William Gaynor, Mayor of New York; Stanford White, world famous architect; Frank McNish, Lionel Barrymore, Virginia Lee and Joe Flynn. Later these early stars and personalities were followed by others such as Ethel and John Barrymore, Lillian Russel, Maud Adams, Buster Keaton, Myrna Loy, Ruth Roman, Irving Berlin and Heavyweight Champion James J. Corbett.
As the calendar drifted from the 1800's to the 1900's, Everett Smith, Ebenezer's son, still ran the store. There is a story that Everett Smith, as a courtesy, stepped outside to deliver mail to women on horseback who did not want to dismount their horses and come into the store. After a while, he tired of dashing in and out of the store. He posted a sign stating "people on horseback must enter store for mail." One day, a women entered the store for her mail - on horseback.
In July of 1990 the 133 year-old general store was purchased in a joint preservation effort between Suffolk County and New York State. The state bestowed a $110,000 grant to make the purchase possible.
Throughout the years the old store has resisted the changes of progress. It is unchanged structurally since 1894. The original counters and cases, the post office, coffee grinder, tea canisters, pot belly stove, barrels, old checkerboard, and many other items remain to permit visitors to look at the Long Island of the Nineteenth Century.
The St. James General Store is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source:
“St. James General Store.” Suffolk County Government, www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Parks/Historic-Sites/St-James-General-Store. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
John Allen was born in Cheltingham, England in 1836. His family moved to America in 1840. They lived in Pennsylvania and then Brooklyn before settling in Farmingdale in 1858. He married Mary Pilkington in 1860.
He enlisted August 19, 1862 and went to fight in the Civil War as a member of Company “E”, 127th Regiment. He was mustered in on September 8, 1862 with the 127th Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry. He served as a private in Company E. He was attached to the 7th Corps, Division of Virginia and was part of the siege of Suffolk and the Six Peninsula Campaign. His outfit moved to Maryland and followed General Lee into South Carolina where they took part in the siege of Charleston and the taking of Fort Sumpter. He mustered out with his company on June 30, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina.
While he was fighting, his wife saved up and bought them their home in Farmingdale as a surprise upon his return. John Allen was involved in the bakery business for 50 years. The first shop was in his home on Front Street before he moved the shop to Main Street around where 246 Main Street is now.
He was appointed postmaster in 1897.
His son, Ellsworth Allen, also was postmaster. He laid the cornerstone in the first Episcopal Church in Farmingdale and was one of the organizers of the Farmingdale Fire Department. He was also a member of the Board of Education. He was a member of the H. B. Knickerbocker Post #743.
John Allen died in 1925.
Sources:
Allen, John. “Minute of History: Life of an Early Resident of Farmingdale.” Farmingdale Observer. July 27, 2001
"John Allen 1836-1925." Farmingdale Post. July 31, 1925
Junior Historical Society of Farmingdale. Farmingdale's Story: Farms to Flight. The Society, 1956
New York State Military Museum
Bayberry Land in Southampton was owned by Charles Hamilton and Pauline Sabin. It was designed by Cross & Cross in conjunction with the landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin. Sabin was at one time president and later chairman of the Guaranty Trust Company.
The 314-acre country estate eventually included eight buildings: the manor house, the main garage with chauffeur’s apartment, a gate house, the caretaker’s cottage, a greenhouse, the hunting lodge, a stable, and a two-car garage with pump house. Cross & Cross designed the buildings in a style meant to emulate an English country manor. The interior of the Manor House included 28 rooms, 11 baths, and 11 bedrooms. The house was completed in 1919, and to celebrate, the Sabins held a housewarming dinner and dance.
Mr. Sabin had a private drive connecting the Manor with the National Golf Links. Other sports included hunting, polo, and walking over Bayberry Land’s extensive grounds. Closer to the Manor, the great lawn itself provided level ground for croquet, and there were tennis courts on its eastern edge. Marian Cruger Coffin Coffin surrounded the Manor with a great lawn and four distinct gardens: the Italianate garden, the rose garden, the tritoma walk, and the sundial garden. On the bay side of the house, Coffin laid out the great lawn enclosed by waist-high walls. The great lawn provided an unbroken line of sight to the bay from within the house. Coffin designed a “wild” seaside garden to the east of the great lawn.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No.3 purchased Bayberry Land in 1949 to serve as a convalescent home for electrical workers. Motivated by the growing emphasis on education in the American labor movement, the IBEW added an Educational Center for workers in 1957 and a summer camp for children in 1971. Between 1969 and 1994, the Union built numerous buildings on the estate, including five buildings containing 65 motel-style rooms, an administrative building, a camp latrine, a camp kitchen, an arts and crafts building, three swimming pools (with decks, patios and storage structures), numerous camp dwellings, a camp administration building and infirmary, a basketball court, an archery range, two tennis courts, a volleyball court, a large group picnic area, two changing rooms, and an outdoor shower.
In 2001, the IBEW sold Bayberry Land to Michael C. Pascucci of Sebonac Neck Holdings, LLC, to be developed into an 18-hole golf course. Pascucci engaged Hall of Fame golfer and noted designer Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, one of the most sought-after young architects in the world, to collaborate on the project. The course opened in 2006.
Sources:
“Bayberry Land.” Southampton Government, www.southamptontownny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1213/Bayberry-Land-Brochure-PDF. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025
L., Zach. “Bayberry Land.” Old Long Island, www.oldlongisland.com/2010/04/bayberry-land.html. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025
Artist Edward Lange was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1846.,Edward’s father, Gustav Georg, owned a print shop and published a number of popular volumes on German history and scenic landscapes.
He emigrated with his family from Germany to New York in the 1860s. He headed towards Commack, where his father held title to one hundred forty-eight acres of land along Cedar Road. Within ten months, Lange married Sarah Cornelia (Nellie) Denton. Following the birth of their first child in 1872, Edward acquired the title to the Commack property from his father. He spent the next seventeen years in Elwood, raising a family with Nellie and painting the surrounding landscape.
During the early 1870s, Lange focused primarily on painting house portraits. Over the course of the 1870s, Lange increasingly incorporated gouache onto his palette. Between 1880 and 1881, Lange flourished as an artist. He created some of his most recognizable artworks today during this time, including Brown Brothers Huntington Pottery, Lower Main Street, Northport, and Panorama View of Huntington from Woolsey Avenue. After nearly twenty years living and working on Long Island, Lange moved to Olympia, Washington with his family. Two large panoramas of Roslyn were likely two of the last major works the artist completed before leaving New York.
Edward Lange died in 1912.
Sources:
Fedoryk, Peter. “About the Artist.” The Art of Edward Lange, edwardlange.omeka.net/about-the-artist. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025
“Land by Hand: Edward Lange’s Long Island.” The Long Island Museum, longislandmuseum.org/exhibition/land-by-hand-edward-langes-long-island/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025
