Old Grace Church

 Local Episcopalian families living in South Oyster Bay began discussing the need for a church in 1844. Thomas Floyd-Jones donate the land to build the church. The exterior was made of clapboard with diamond shaped leaded glass windows. It cost $1300 to build at the time. In September of 1844 plans were approved to erect the first church building.  It was only 24 feet wide, 36 feet long, 16 feet ceilings and a brick foundation.

The first rector of the church was William A. Curtis at a salary of $300.00 a year. Grace Church was closed from Christmas to Easter of each year, as the handful of people who attended services went to New York or elsewhere during that time.  On July 9, 1846, the church was first used for services and the building was consecrated on April 13, 1847. In 1880, a gift of seven acres of land for a parsonage was given by John D. Jones in memory of his wife. What we call the Floyd-Jones House was built and placed where the new church now stands; the building was moved to its present location in the summer of 1957. The small building next to the old church was built a couple of years later. This building is called Wiley Hall in honor of Dr. William Wiley who was a Rector from 1890 until 1926. The church was enlarged in the early 1900s to fit 150 people. The clapboard was replaced with shingles and trim was added. 

In 1960, Grace Episcopal Church was built across the street and the Historical Society of the Massapequas rescued the Church. The Church was deconsecrated and retired in 1981. The church’s original Tiffany windows were removed and re-installed across the street. It was granted National Landmark Status in 1983.  

Old Grace Church is surrounded by the Floyd-Jones family cemetery and two other historical buildings; The Delancey Floyd-Jones Free Library and the Elbert Floyd-Jones Servants Cottage. Old Grace is open to the public on the third Sunday of each month from May through October from 11am through 1pm.

Sources:

Boyle, Chris. “Massapequa's Old Grace Church: A Long Island Landmark.” LongIsland.com, LongIsland.com, 9 Oct. 2019, https://www.longisland.com/news/10-09-19/massapequas-old-grace-church-a-long-island-landmark.html

“Grace Episcopal Church - Massapequa, NY: History.” Headerphoto, http://www.gracechurchmassapequa.org/about/history 

“Massapequa Historical Society - Historian's Message - History of Grace Church.” Historical Society of the Massapequas, https://www.massapequahistoricalsociety.org/history-of-grace-church.html

Kessler Glass

 In the mid 30's Warren Kessler had a store on West 23 Street where he assembled lamps. The business was known as Warlou, for Warren Louis Kessler. In 1938 he expanded the operation to manufacturing glass and relocated in Bethpage.

Warren was the eldest son of Austrian Immigrants. He brought many skilled craftsman from Czechoslovakia to produce the same high quality of glass that was the pride of Europe. Many of these craftsmen were housed in a home on Central Avenue and Broadway. In 1941 the factory was in full operation.

The manufacturing took place in Bethpage, while Warren lived in New York City, where the showroom was located on 57th Street near 3rd Avenue. Here Warren conducted business and entertained customers.

Herman Kessler was the genius behind the crafting of the intricate molds. Herman settled with his family in Bethpage and had "hands on" running of the business.

Kessler glass, not only adorned the embassies around the world, they were also purchased for Bloomingdales, Marshal Fields in Chicago, large hotels, movie companies and colleges. They were in full production for the demand of new home owners after World War II, for families needing traditional lamps. In 1960, a Kessler lamp would sell for $300.00.

Kessler closed its doors in the early 1980's.

 

Source:

“Kessler Glass Works.” Kessler Glass Works - Central Park Historical Society Encyclopedia, http://www.bethpagehistory.org/wiki/index.php?title=Kessler_Glass_Works

Garden City Hotel

 The Garden City Hotel was built by Alexander Turney Stewart and opened on July 30, 1874. It was a 20-room hotel at the time and cost $125,000. He managed the hotel until his death in 1876. His wife Cornelia inherited the hotel and ran it until her death in 1886. Her family created the Garden City Company to facilitate operations at the hotel. Corrnelia’s brother in-law was architect Stanford White and his firm McKim, Mead, and White were hired to redesign the hotel in the Dutch Colonial style. A cupola was built and the east and west wings were added at this time. This new version of the hotel opened in 1895 with rooms for 200 guests.

They built a nine-hole golf course in 1897. It eventually became the Garden City Golf Club. On September 7, 1899, the hotel burned to the ground. The hotel was rebuilt in the Georgian Revival Style and opened in 1901. In 1911, the hotel was expanded by adding to each wing.

The Knott Hotel Corporation purchased the hotel in 1948 and expanded and redecorated it. In 1965, the hotel was bought by builder Michael Forte for $2.6 million. When Forte purchased it, he planned to raze the hotel and build an apartment-hotel complex. This plan was rejected by the Village due to opposition from the residents. His other plan of a $35 million hotel and office complex was also rejected by the residents.

The hotel was closed down in 1971 due to lack of finances to keep it open. The hotel was torn down in 1973. The land was once more re-purchased and rebuilt. It opened on May 20, 1983. The Nelkin family owned the hotel from 1983 to 2012. The Fortuna Realty Group purchased the hotel in 2012. All the guest rooms and suites were redesigned at the time. It features 269 rooms with 16 suites and a private club.

 

Sources:

“Hotel in Long Island NY: About Us: The Garden City Hotel.” Garden City Hotel, https://www.gardencityhotel.com/our-hotel

Silver, Roy R. “Famed Garden City Hotel is Closing.” New York Times. July 16, 1971

Joseph Lloyd Manor

 Joseph Lloyd Manor was completed in 1767 in Lloyd Neck. It was a 3,000-acre provisioning plantation. The Manor supplied the Boston-based merchant family with cider, cordwood, and clay among other inventory. It wasn't until 1711 that the first Lloyd, Henry, took up residence. The interior elements of the house were designed by Connecticut born carpenter Abner Osborn.  He was recommended by Joseph's brother James and worked on the project with four apprentices.  They completed the exterior sheathing of the house as well as the doors, windows and interior paneling and molding

Jupiter Hammon, one of the first published African American writers, was one of the many people of African descent enslaved at the site. With the encouragement of the Lloyd family, Hammon learned to read and write and at the age of forty-nine, authored his first published poem in 1760. During his lifetime, Hammon authored numerous essays and poems that reflect his intelligence, deep Christian faith, and views concerning the social and moral conflicts of slavery and freedom in the early United States. The British occupied Joseph Lloyd Manor during the Revolutionary War and it is where Hammon authored his most significant works about the moral conflicts of slavery and freedom in the early United States.

Henry Lloyd IV would be the last member of the Lloyd family to own Joseph Lloyd Manor. He struggled financially, and in 1876, sold the house to James C. Townsend of Oyster Bay to pay off debts. In 1882, Anne Coleman Alden purchased the house. Alden's estate was sold in 1900 to William John Matheson. His daughter Anna and her husband Willis D. Wood moved into Joseph Lloyd Manor in 1905. Mrs. Wood rented the Joseph Lloyd Manor house to a number of tenants, among them Charles Lindbergh, who lived there with his family from February 1940 until August 1941. Finally, Mrs. Anna Matheson Wood gifted Joseph Lloyd Manor to the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities in 1968. Today, the Society is known as Preservation Long Island and continues to steward the house. The house was recognized as a Literary Landmark in 2020.

Sources:

“Joseph Lloyd House.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 June 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lloyd_House

 “Joseph Lloyd Manor.” Preservation Long Island, 13 May 2022, https://preservationlongisland.org/joseph-lloyd-manor

O'Connor-Arena, Melissa. “A New View - Lloyd Family Series (The Joseph Lloyd Manor).” Huntington, NY Patch, Patch, 12 Apr. 2010, https://patch.com/new-york/huntington/a-new-view-lloyd-family-series-the-joseph-lloyd-manor

Fitzmaurice Flying Field

Fitzmaurice Flying Field was open from 1929 to 1953 in Massapequa. Brady, Cryan, and Colleran bought large tracts of land north and south of the Long Island Rail Road east of the preserve. They advertised throughout Irish neighborhoods in New York City, enticing customers with inexpensive land and houses, open spaces, and easy access to New York City. The airfield was an added enticement to purchase homes in that area.

They settled on a location for their airfield, relying on the recommendations of famous aviatrix Elinor Smith, who selected the area bounded by Second Avenue on the east, Roosevelt Avenue on the west, Spruce Street on the north, and Smith Street on the south. The 21-acre field had two runways, the longer one only 1800 feet in length, which made it one of the smallest fields on Long Island.

The airfield was named after James Fitzmaurice, who had achieved fame as the commander of the Irish Air Corps after World War I and as one of the three-man crew that crossed the Atlantic from east to west in 1928, the first to perform that arduous feat.

Sometime during World War II, Ken Tyler, a Hollywood stunt pilot, bought the field and operated Tyler Flying Services. He sold it in 1947 to Tom Murphy Jr., who ran the Skywriting Corporation of America.

Massapequa Park developed quickly after World War II and the proximity of houses to the airfield spurred concern among its new neighbors, who became fearful of crashes and felt inconvenienced by planes taking off and landing so close to their backyards. The School Board also needed to build schools and the Field was a perfect location. After several months of negotiation, they signed a contract with Murphy, who agreed in April 1953 to accept $600,000 in exchange for the property. The board built Hawthorn School in 1954 at the southeast end of the field and McKenna Junior High School at the north end in 1958.

The Historical Society of the Massapequas highlighted Fitzmaurice Flying Field's importance by erecting a marker on Spruce Street, just east of Roosevelt Avenue, in 1995.

Sources:

-, George Kirchmann, et al. “Fitzmaurice Flying Field: Pt. 2.” Massapequa Observer, 23 Sept. 2015, https://nassauobserver.com/fitzmaurice-flying-field-pt-2/

Kirchmann, George. “Fitzmaurice Flying Field.” Massapequa, NY Patch, Patch, 8 Aug. 2013, https://patch.com/new-york/massapequa/fitzmaurice-flying-field

Benson House

 Benson House, now part of the Episcopal Church, was home to FBI agents and radio technicians who, posing as German spies, broadcast false intelligence to Germany from January 1942 to June 1945.   It was built in 1912 by Dr. Gabriel S. Owen as a summer house. Weeks after the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the FBI began using Benson House as a top-secret radio site transmitting and receiving encoded messages with German intelligence agents. The Germans believed they were communicating with their espionage agents operating in New York.  As cover for the operation, the FBI moved one of its agents, Donworth Johnson, and his family, into the house. Mrs. Johnson cooked meals for her husband and the other agents who worked on the second and third floors.

A cover story was developed that Johnson suffered from tuberculosis and was, therefore, deferred from military service. The house was outfitted by FBI technicians with several large shortwave radios and supporting equipment. Antennae were hidden in nearby trees and intruders were discouraged by Clifford, the agent’s german shepherd. The radio equipment drew enormous amounts of electricity and not wanting to attract undue attention from the local utility companies, agents powered their equipment using the engine from a Buick which they bolted to the basement floor. The car’s muffler was also used to dampen the sound of the engine.

In the summer of 1943, FBI transmissions from Benson House gave the Germans bogus information designed to freeze German forces in northwest Europe to prevent their redeployment to strengthen the Italian and Eastern Fronts. In 1944 and 1945, radio transmissions from Benson House fed the Germans a steady stream of truthful and false information to confuse the German military about the size and disposition of Allied forces in Great Britain, along with the time and place of the D-Day invasion The most significant World War II contributions was the receipt of a German message in April 1942 instructing its spies to obtain information about American atomic bomb development; an order that helped influence President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to pursue an atomic weapon.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

 

Sources:

Campdewolfe. “Benson House Listed on National Registry of Historic Places.” Camp DeWolfe, https://campdewolfe.org/wading-river-radio-station-at-benson-house-listed-on-national-register-of-historic-places

Phillips, Ted. “Benson House's Wartime Role as Li Espionage Post Remembered.” Newsday, Newsday, 8 June 2014, https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/benson-house-s-wartime-role-as-li-espionage-post-remembered-t81293

Valiquette, Joe. “Long Island Home's Secret Role in WWII Espionage Revealed.” NBC New York, NBC New York, 6 June 2014, https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/benson-house-long-island-fbi-wwii-intelligence-spying/2002799

Aviatrix Elinor Smith

 Elinor Smith was born on August 17, 1911 in Freeport.

In 1928, Elinor Smith, then 16, earned national recognition as the youngest pilot to receive a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Orville Wright signed her license.  On a dare that year, she flew a Waco 10 under all four of New York City's East River bridges; according to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, she is the only person ever to do so. That same year, Smith set a light plane altitude record of 11,889 feet, the first of many records she was to set during her career. In 1929 alone she set four world records.

In 1930, Elinor Smith was voted, "best female pilot" by her peers, a group that included Amelia Earhart. That same year, Smith set the women’s solo endurance record spending thirteen hours, sixteen minutes flying an open cockpit Brunner Winkle Bird over Roosevelt Field. In 1932, she set a straight-course speed record for women by zooming 229 mph.

She would become the first female test pilot for Fairchild Aviation Corp. and Bellanca Aircraft Corp., and as the first woman executive pilot for Irvin Air Chute Co., she demonstrated parachute drops. There were endorsements for motor oil and goggles, even a job with NBC Radio to cover air races

In October 1931, Smith attempting to stand in the cockpit while descending into Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field fell from the plane and was knocked unconscious. In September 1933, Smith nearly caused a collision after a sharp turn over Governors Island put her in the path of two planes. So, at 29, Smith retired to raise a family.  In 1934, she became the first woman to appear on a Wheaties cereal box.

In 2000, she was still breaking records at NASA's Ames Research Center with an all-woman crew. She took on NASA's Space Shuttle vertical motion simulator, and became the oldest pilot to succeed in a simulated shuttle landing. Her final cockpit time was spent in April, 2001, when, at 89, she flew a four-passenger plane while visiting NASA's Langley Research Center.

Smith died at the age of 98 in 2010.

Sources:

 Dunbar, Brian. “Elinor Smith: Born to Fly.” NASA, NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/elinor-smith.html

“Elinor Smith.” Cradle of Aviation Museum, https://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/history/women-in-aviation/elinor_smith.html

Kussin, Zachary. “How This Badass Pilot Paved the Way for Female Aviators.” New York Post, New York Post, 9 Oct. 2018, https://nypost.com/2018/10/08/how-this-badass-pilot-paved-the-way-for-female-aviators