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1909: The Year Huntington Grew Up
By:
Claudia S. Fortunato
There are key years in
Huntington’s history which mark a significant change in its character—1909 was
one of them. It was during this year that life in Huntington shifted from a
community of people growing up on the family farm and living in a kind of
isolation, to a full fledged town whose people’s lives began to more closely
resemble city life and whose world grew to include much more than the family
farm. At the turn of the century, families began moving closer to the center of
Town, and community life and interaction increased. New schools were built, new
services were provided, and improved technology linked Huntington to Manhattan
and to the South
Shore. “The simple, slow pace of rural life was surely passing as the
sophisticated, complex forces that were to mold the Twentieth Century pushed on
stage.”[1]
And so Huntington grew up in 1909, and started its evolution into the
cosmopolitan that it is a century later.
The New Train Depot
At the beginning of the twentieth century only a handful of
commuters began their journey into New York City from the Huntington Train
Station. But in 1909, the Long Island Rail Road undertook massive system-wide
improvements, including the construction of a new depot in Huntington, that
helped to increase daily ridership from dozens to hundreds a day in the 1920s
and to thousands a day now.
The Long
Island Rail Road, founded in 1834 to provide a rail link from New York City to
Boston, had arrived in Huntington in 1867. The station was located on the west
side of New York Avenue in a sparsely settled area two miles south of the
Huntington business district. Over the years, a thriving commercial district
separate from Huntington village grew up around the station.
In 1900,
the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased a controlling interest in the LIRR, as part
of a joint plan to provide direct access to Manhattan. With an infusion of new
money after the merger, the Long Island Rail Road undertook system-wide capital
improvements including the construction of Pennsylvania Station (which opened on
September 8, 1910); direct access to Manhattan via tunnels under the East River;
electrification of all trains west of Jamaica; and the elimination of grade
crossings.
The
improvements, with a price tag of over $50 million (the equivalent of over one
billion dollars today), included $100,000 in improvements in the area around
Huntington Station. The local projects included building a new brick and stucco
station house on the east side of New York Avenue; eliminating the grade
crossing at New York Avenue by lowering the roadbed; and extending the existing
trolley line (which then ran from Halesite to the train depot) down to
Amityville. The extended trolley line would be powered by electricity carried
35 miles from Long Island City to a transformer located east of the new station
house.
In
January 1909, the railroad unveiled plans for the new Huntington train station,
which carried a price tag of $20,000 and featured a gambrel roof with dormers in
both the front and back and two large columned porticos on either side of the
waiting room. The new station included direct access from the train to the
trolley, which looped into the station on the north side of the tracks, east of
the station house.
The new,
improved service was greeted with anticipation that Huntington, which would now
be just a fifty-minute train ride from the big, new terminal in Manhattan, would
become “one of the most important towns on Long Island.” The Long-Islander
predicted that the improvements would “give Long Island by far the greatest boom
in its history.” “The magnificent new depot in Manhattan now nearing completion
will in itself be a big advertisement for Long Island right in the heart of the
commercial centre of the Western hemisphere,” The Long Islander also
predicted.
Huntington’s new station house was opened to the public on October 21, 1909.
Although a “beautiful grove of big trees [had] been so wisely preserved at the
northerly end of the tract,” the railroad did not have any plans for landscaping
the one and half acre station grounds. Beautification of the grounds was left
up to the community.
“The
railroad depot and grounds are the first things that greet the eye of the
stranger entering a village or city and the last thing upon leaving and the
impression gained by the visitor from the appearances of the railroad station
goes far towards forming his idea as to the character of the community,” The
Long-Islander explained. Moreover, properly designed and maintained grounds
“will give an added dignity and sense of culture and refinement to the town.”
An attractive station “also means better conditions in other ways and a pride in
the maintenance of the reputation of the place and the better preservation of
law and order.”
The
railroad graded the property and provided topsoil and fertilizer. The
Huntington Association, a group of Huntington’s wealthy summer residents,
spearheaded a fund raising drive to underwrite the plantings. Laurel and other
attractive shrubbery were planted and “evergreens . . . set out so as to cut off
the view of any unsightly buildings.”
Two years
after the new depot was completed, the name of the surrounding community was
officially changed from “Fairgrounds” to “Huntington Station.” A decade later
over 500 commuters a month traveled from Huntington.
A century after
their construction, the magnificent terminal in Manhattan is just a memory
(having been demolished in 1963), but Huntington’s modest station house
continues to serve local commuters.
The Cross Island Trolley
East-west transport was not the only route to transform in 1909; the
north- south course was transformed as well. The Huntington Railroad, started
in 1887 by local businessmen, was originally a horse drawn railroad that ran
between the train depot to the harbor in Halesite. In 1909, after the Long
Island Rail Road took over ownership and electrified the line, it was extended
and became a Cross Island Trolley, running from Halesite to Amityville along
what is now Route 110.
A committee was assembled and charged with planning a grand
celebration for the opening of the trolley line. According to The
Long-Islander, “the completion of this trans-island road [is] one of the
most important events in the history of this section,” because of “the linking
together of the three large and rapidly growing villages of Huntington,
Farmingdale, and Amityville with a united population of not far from 10,000….”
Surrounding villages would benefit from the trolley as well, and it was decided
that all three major towns would work together to plan the festivities for
August 25, 1909, making it a celebration that would stretch along the whole
line.
The Long Island
Rail Road, the parent company of the Huntington Railroad, supplied ten cars for
the day and waived all fees. Beginning in Amityville at 9:30am, the Queen of
the Carnival, chosen by public vote and accompanied by four young women from
each village, set out on the first car along with ticket holders for the night’s
gala event planned at the Chateau des Beaux Arts in Huntington Bay. After
stopping in Farmingdale for a luncheon, the Queen traveled through Melville and
Huntington Station, and into Huntington village. Athletic competitions were
held on Main Street, an equestrian parade made its way through town, along with
a fire department parade with representatives from each of the companies along
the Wading River branch of the LIRR. The main event, however, was the
automobile parade, with prizes given out for the best decorations. Finally, the
celebration wrapped up with speeches in front of the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
Building and a trip to the Harbor. Once the trolley reached the water, the
Queen, her attendants, and the tickets holders, were transferred to a steamer
and carried out into the Bay where they were delivered at the Chateau des Beaux
Arts. The day’s celebration closed with music, dancing, food, and fireworks!
Ironically, despite the fanfare and excitement associated with the opening of
the Cross Island Trolley, it only ran across the Island for ten years, when
service to Amityville was abandoned, and instead terminated at Melville. The
entire route closed just eight years after that on August 15, 1927 when buses
took over the route.
To
accommodate the trolley, the LIRR tracks over New York Avenue were raised four
feet and the road was lowered. At the same time, there was a movement for the
widening, straightening, and the grade lowering of New York Avenue between the
train depot and the Harbor. The residents felt that increased carriage and
automobile traffic made this a necessity. Additionally, they wanted an
eight-foot sidewalk on the easterly side of the trolley line. According to
The Long-Islander, by December 10, 1909 a committee had been formed and
plans for the road’s improvement were being made. At the same time, work
commenced on the Long Island Motor Parkway, and the Cross Island State Road that
would become Route 110 in 1909 as well, linking Huntington to the rest of the
Island in even more ways. Plans were also being made for a ferry to Norwalk, CT
to run regularly through the summer season, giving people from the mainland
access to Huntington Harbor and all it had to offer.
Town Hall
With more
and more people able to travel here via train, trolley, ferry, or road
Huntington needed to provide new and improved services to its residents and
visitors. The first, and perhaps most pressing issue, was building a place
where all of the Town’s official business could be done in one place, with a
substantial jail on the first floor, and a court room on the second floor. A
petition was filed with the Town Clerk’s office in March, and the Huntington
Board of Trade was given the go-ahead and funding to secure a site and erect a
Town Hall building. Dr. Oliver L. Jones offered the town free of cost a site
just west of the Trade School, across from the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
Building, on the corner of Main Street and Stewart Avenue, and although there
were other sites in consideration, this location was chosen. Wanser & Lewis was
awarded the contract for the erection of the new building, with a winning bid of
$15,966.93, and Peabody & Wilson were chosen as the architects. The design
called for all exposed work on the building face to be brick, and all stone work
on the outside to be light marble. All exterior woodwork would be cypress, and
all interior work would be oak. A clock donated by Miss Cornelia Prime sits
atop the cupola built for this purpose, and which still works today. Although
it boasts an impressive façade, the building is rather small. Less than 25
years after it was built, an article from The Long-Islander of June 17,
1932 reported a proposal to build a new Town Hall to help alleviate the
unemployment situation in the Town, and as a result of complaints of
overcrowding. This issue was revisited in 1958, and Town Hall finally moved
into larger quarters, the old high school building, in 1979.
The New High School
In 1909, however, that
old high school building was brand new and just built. Costing $105,000, the
new building was promised to be one of the best modern built school house in the
state outside of the cities, according to The Long-Islander. Therefore,
the accommodations and equipment for laboratory work, manual training and trade
school work, drawing and other necessary departments of a modern curriculum were
the primary focus. The new building had a gymnasium, library, and botany room
as well as three floors of classrooms and offices, (though the auditorium was
not built until 1928). The school had two curriculums: one for those who planned
to attend college, and one for those who did not. In February of 1909, the
alumni and other “generously minded citizens” were asked to make donations
towards furnishing the new school. Unfortunately construction delays prevented
the building from opening in time for the September 1909 school term, but by
Thanksgiving the building was completed. A picture of the old Huntington
Academy was hung in the new building, and the small bell from the old school
house was retrieved from the firehouse, after 50 years residence there, and was
also housed at the new school. The fire department inscribed the bell with the
years it served for fire duty as well as the time it called the children to the
old Academy.
The official dedication
was held on February 1, 1910 in the new assembly room on the second floor of the
building, and was attended by over 600 people. Gifts from alumni and citizens
were received including the furnishing for the gymnasium by Miss Cornelia Prime,
(who also donated $5000 to the construction), and a Steinway Piano by Dr. G. H.
Carter, and a flag from Ringham & Campbell. Speeches were made, a history of
education in Huntington given, and music was played. The next morning 380
students walked through the doors for the first time. The number of students
grew until 1958, when it had far exceeded the 600-person capacity. Overcrowding
had become such a problem that yet another new and modern high school was
constructed.
Fire and Police
The changes in Huntington
meant that not just a New Town Hall and a new high school were required, but
changes needed to be made in the fire and police departments as well. In June
of 1909 Huntington residents began to look into the matter of organizing a
police district in all the areas of the Town of Huntington, excluding the
incorporated village of Northport. According to The Long-Islander it was
felt that three or four mounted policeman, stationed at some central point
connected by telephone with every section, could preserve good order and give
fair protection to our citizens from rowdies or bands of suburban thieves and
robbers. It took four years to get done, but the Huntington Police Department
was founded in 1913.
Although Huntington had
three fire districts already, in 1909 there was a feeling that they needed to
consolidate in order to maximize efficiency. Competing fire departments would
arrive at the scene of a fire, and get so involved in squabbling over whose fire
it was that the fire would rage for an extended amount of time. It was felt
that one central headquarters building was required, with smaller satellite
stations placed around the Town. Despite this movement, Halesite, Huntington,
and Huntington Station, then Fairground, remain separate fire districts today.
But in 1911 the Huntington Fire Department did construct a new station house on
Main Street, a block west of the new Town Hall.
Remembering The Past
As much as Huntington was
changing and growing, it’s forward thinking residents were also interested in
preserving the past. In light of the enormous changes overtaking their
community, it is not surprising that many Huntingtonians paused to look pack and
preserve the Town’s past. The Huntington Historical Society has been founded in
1903 as an outgrowth of the Town’s celebration of its 250th
Anniversary. The Huntington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution was
inaugurated on March 5th, 1909, at a banquet held at the Masonic
Hall. The 75 members of the Ketewamoke Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, established in 1907, gave the event. The same year, the DAR
presented the Town Board with a tablet, to be placed in the Village Green,
intended to memorialize the historical identification of the area and mark it
for generations to come.
E. B. Dusenberry was
another Huntington resident interested in preserving the history of Huntington.
In 1909, he began to publish the names, dates, and information of all the people
buried in the Old Burying Ground behind the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
Building. These records, supplemented by Margaret Metcalf, are still used by
the Town Historian’s office as the primary archives for that cemetery’s data.
The Huntington Historical
Society, founded in 1903, continued its mission to preserve Huntington’s
history, through its collection and its activities. Their collection of
antiques, household furniture, books, and pamphlets had grown so much after only
six years, that the Society did not have enough space to exhibit it all. Yet
they continued to request more donations—none too small, none too large. In the
December 10, 1909 Long- Islander they beseeched people, “Will you not
look through your attic and probably you will find some one thing that you can
loan or contribute….” The Society wasn’t just receiving donations, but they
were also making contributions, and in September 1909 they placed a tablet in
the Old Burying Ground, Huntington’s first public burial place, with information
about the Revolutionary War history of the cemetery. The members of the
Huntington Historical Society also attempted to purchase the Walt Whitman
Birthplace that same year when it was put to auction. Unfortunately their bid
of $500 did not exceed half the value of the property, although a memorial
boulder was placed at the door of the house by the Huntington Historical
Society, then called the Colonial Society of Huntington.
Conclusion
Movements to preserve Huntington’s rich history
withstanding, all of the changes that took place in 1909 definitely made it a
year of significant transition. Perhaps the August 6, 1909 Long Islander
said it best: “Huntington of today is not the Huntington of yesterday. New
interests, new necessities, and new enterprises grow daily with the growth of
the population. Not so very many years ago the children of Huntington all lived
in houses, which were big open yards and fields. The woods had not been cut
down and houses had not sprung up in the night in the open fields where children
roamed and gathered wild flowers. The boys could go swimming at any point along
the shorefront. It was all theirs. Today there are children in Huntington who
on hot summer days have no place to play but the sun-baked streets.”
Huntington had grown up in 1909, and changed
from a farm village to a busy town. Similar laments were no doubt heard in 1959
as well as today. It is only through the lens of time that we can truly
appreciate watershed years—years when life really did change. Nineteen hundred
and nine was one such year in the life of Town Huntington.
All photographs in this article are part of the
Huntington Historical Society’s Photograph Collection. If you are interested in
any of these images, or of any other images of Huntington, please call Karen
Martin at 631-427-7045 x406 or visit the Archives on Wednesdays & Thursdays from
1-4pm. The Archives are located in the Society’s headquarters at the Huntington
Trade School at 209 Main Street in Huntington Village.
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