|
|
Timeline of
Town of Huntington
History |
| |
 |
| |
Portrait of a Small Town II |
| |
|
| |
|
|
| 1646 |
First deed with the Indians for Land in the Huntington Area made toTheophililus Eaton, Governor of New Haven. The tract of land known as "Eaton's Neck". |
1653 |
April 2: First purchase [see Indian Deed 1653] of land from the Matinecock, establishing the Town of Huntington
(Town governed by a “New England” style Town meeting) |
| |
The OLD FIRST PURCHASE TREATY 1653 has been signed
Consider the following possibility...
What might the "chief" of the
Matinecocks have said
if he came to the future and saw all the changes that had occurredin the area he called his home. [see "I LIVED HERE"]
|
1654 |
Treaty with the Indians for tract of land known as Lloyd’s Neck. Ownership between Oyster Bay/Huntington in litigation until 1886.In 1886 by Act of the State Legislature, Lloyd’s Neck became part of the Town of Huntington |
1656 |
July 30: Second purchase of land from the Matinecock, adding eastern portion of Huntington |
1657 |
First school established; Jonas Holdsworth, teacher |
1658 |
Old First Church founded, the oldest religious institution in Huntington(Rev. William Leverich, the first minister from 1658-1669, was also Huntington’s first miller) Thomas Powell began service as the first recorder (Town Clerk) |
1660 |
Joseph Jennings selected as town’s first marshal.
Jonas Holdsworth first to be referred to as “Clerke for Town and Corte” (previously known as a Recorder |
1663 |
April 6: John Lome (Lum or Lume) chosen as the first constable |
1694 |
John Adams served as the first Town Supervisor 1694-1699 For a list of Huntington Town Supervisors [see page 112 of Portrait of a Small Town II. ] |
1715 |
Old First Church constructed new meeting house at current location (125 Main St.) |
1730 |
Suydam Homestead built at 1 Fort Salonga Road in Centerport |
1740 |
The Arsenal (Job Sammis House) was built at 425 Park Avenue by Joseph Wickes as a farm building for grain storage. It was later converted to a residence and sold to Job Sammis. He agreed to let the Huntington Militia use it as an arsenal in 1775/1776 around the time of the Battle of Long Island. The building was purchased and restored by the Town of Huntington in 1974. |
1748 |
St. John’s Episcopal Church built on East Street (now Park Ave.) in Huntington |
1750 |
David Conklin Farmhouse built at 2 High Street in Huntington. It remained in the Conklin family until 1911 when it was deeded to the Huntington Historical Society which had formed eight years earlier.
John Gardiner Famhouse build in Greenlawn in 1750s |
1752 |
Tide mill built by Dr. Zophar Platt, first physician in Huntington |
1759 |
June 29: Town’s first public library formed with 115 books, 39 members, and Rev. Ebenezer Prime as the “Library Keeper;” library dissolved in 1768, but re-established intermittently in 1801, 1817, 1843, & 1869 |
1761 |
Country’s first publication of poems by an African American – Lloyd family slave Jupiter Hammon |
1762 |
The last “Indian Deed” with the Matinecock settles lingering questions about prior purchases of Indian lands |
1774 |
June 21: Huntington Declaration of Rights adopted |
1776 |
July 22: Declaration of Independence read on the Village Green; Huntington Liberty Flag first raised
Aug.22-29: Huntington members of the Suffolk Co. Militia participated in the Battle of Long Island, a British victory; the original Huntington Liberty Flag is captured by the Hessians
Sept. 1: Occupation of Huntington by British began; it would last until March 1783.
Mid-Sept.: Capt. Nathan Hale landed on the shore of Huntington Bay at the start of his tragic Spy mission; captured just a few days later, he was executed in New York City on Sept. 22, |
| 1781 |
July 12: A combined force of French and American vessels and infantry sailed across Long Island Sound and unsuccessfully attacked Fort Franklin on Lloyd’s Neck
Oct. 2-3: 100 American soldiers crossed Long Island Sound and launched a successful early morning raid on British Fort Slongo ( Salonga) Sgt. Elijah Churchill, who led the charge, was wounded and became the first recipient of General Washington’s newly created Badge of Military Merit, now known as the Purple Heart. |
1782 |
Nov. 16: Col. Benjamin Thompson, an American loyalist in charge of British troops, orders the Old First Church demolished and uses the lumber to build Fort Golgotha on the Town Burying Ground on Main Street |
1783 |
March: British occupation of Huntington ends; Fort Golgotha is torn down by residents |
1784 |
Old First Presbyterian Church is rebuilt on its 1715 site |
1786 |
First Huntington slave freed by decree in his owner’s will |
1790 |
April 23: President Washington had dinner at Platt’s Tavern on the SE corner of Main St. and Park Ave. in Huntington during his April 20-24 tour of Long Island (Huntington’s population was 2,000) |
1798 |
Eaton’s Neck Lighthouse built. |
1795 |
Dr. Daniel Whitehead Kissam built his house at 424 Park Avenue in Huntington. |
1799 |
NY State adopts Manumission Act with procedure for owners, prior to their death, to voluntarily free slaves |
1800 |
First Huntington slave freed under the NY State Manumission Act |
| 1810 |
Census records Huntington’s population as 4,424 |
| 1811 |
December 21 - one of the worst snow storms to assault Long Island |
1816 |
First organized fire department formed
1816-20 Cold Spring Harbor woolen mills built; one for carding and spinning, and one for weaving and fulling.
The Year Without a Summer. A year of unusually altrnating periods of warmth and bitter cold in every month of that year. |
1819 |
Walt Whitman, America's greatest poet, born in small farmhouse in West Hills area of Huntington. |
1827 |
Slavery abolished in New York State |
1828 |
Huntington Methodist Church purchased property on Main St. in Huntington and began construction |
1835 |
St. John’s Episcopal Church built in Cold Spring Harbor by Oliver Smith Sammis, builder & architect |
1836 |
July 18: First whaling voyage from Cold Spring Harbor began with the sailing of the Monmouth
Universalist Church first established at 6 Nassau Rd., Huntington |
1838 |
Walt Whitman began publishing The Long-Islander |
| 1839 |
John Wood’s General Store ledger records coal shipment unloaded in Huntington, marking the beginning of the Town’s transition from cord wood to this new energy source |
1842 |
Cold Spring Harbor Methodist Church is established (merged with Huntington Methodist Church in 1975) |
1843 |
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the Town’s first African American church, is established |
1844 |
West Hills Methodist Church established |
1847 |
Cold Spring Harbor Baptist Church established |
1849 |
Roman Catholic Church in West Neck established on the present site of St. Patrick’s Cemetery (burned down in 1867 and rebuilt on SE corner of Anderson Place and Main St., renamed as St. Patrick’s Church) |
1851 |
Huntington Rural Cemetery is established |
1852 |
Steamboats sailed from Lloyd’s dock, Cold Spring Harbor |
1857 |
Huntington Harbor Lighthouse formerly known as the Lloyd Harbor Lighthouse was built in 1857
on the tip of Lloyd’s Neck in Huntington Bay. A new lighthouse was rebuilt in 1912 and fully
automated in 1949. After years of neglect, the Coast Guard planned to demolish the station in
1967 but local protests saved the structure. Today, the group known as the Huntington
Lighthouse Preservation Society conducts tours of the historic lighthouse. |
1858 |
October: The Alice departs Cold Spring Harbor on the last whaling voyage from this port
First Huntington Union Free School completed; 26 graduates in first class |
1862 |
June: The Alice returns to Cold Spring Harbor ending the last whaling voyage from this port
Aug. 16: Answering President Lincoln’s July 1 call for additional troops during the Civil War, Hewitt J.Long & George S. Sammis begin mustering Company E of the 127th Regiment in Huntington |
| 1864 |
Central (Second) Presbyterian Church established |
1868 |
Jan. 13: Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) begins service to Huntington
Fayette Gould, first woman to be elected Town Clerk
Huntington Baptist Church established |
1872 |
March 13: NY State Legislature passed act authorizing separation of the southern portion of the Town to form the new Town of Babylon; Huntington’s Board of Trustees implemented land transfer on Jan. 3, 1873
NY State abolished the separate office of “Trustee,” transfering Town governance to a six- member Town Board (Supervisor, Town Clerk, and four justices of the peace.)
First Presbyterian Church of Greenlawn established
The family of Simon Hirschfeld became the first Jewish family to settle in Huntington |
1875 |
January: Mrs. Mary Talmadge starts Huntington Library Association; opens library May 17th in Issac Adam’s store with Miss Mina Downs as first librarian.
First Presbyterian Church of Greenlawn established |
1879 |
1879(86?) December: Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Association formed; Association’s new building constructed at 228 Main St. (Huntington) opens in 1893(1892?) as Town’s first dedicated library building |
1880 |
The Town Lockup building is completed. It was located on the west side on New York Avenue...north of 25A...near Gibson Avenue. |
| 1885 |
25 Huntington subscribers petitioned for telephone switchboard |
1887 |
First volume of Huntington Town records is compiled, transcribed and published by Charles R. Street. Street's daughter Naiomi did most of the transcribing work.. The job of duplicating the town records was enormous due the errors in spelling in the old records.
Edward Thompson, James Cockcroft and a third partner founded the American and English Encyclopedia of Law in Northport. For many years, they produced the preeminent legal publications in the nation. |
1888 |
Blizzard of '88- creates havoc on Long Island |
| 1890 |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory began its history in 1890 as an extension of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences |
| 1892 |
Soldiers and Sailors Museum built...served as the Huntington Library until 1958 |
1893 |
Huntington Gas and Electric received permit to install electricity |
1894 |
Village of Northport is incorporated
May 15-Old First Church purchases land in "Fairground"(Huntington Station) for "the sum of forty five dollars" to construct a chapel. for the convenience of the parishioners in the Huntington Station area. |
1898 |
Electric trolley line established in Huntington
Burrwood, Walter Jennings estate built in Cold Spring Harbor. |
1899 |
Samuel Ballton is acclaimed as “Greenlawn’s Pickle King” for growing 1.5 million pickles in one season |
1903 |
Huntington Historical Society founded on the occasion of Huntington’s 250th Anniversary
Highhold Estate built in West Hills by Henry L. Stimson, an Ivy league educated lawyer who served under five Presidents, both Republican and Democrat, between 1911 and 1945. He served as Secretary of War from 1940-1945 and made the recommendation to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. He died in 1950 at his estate, which later became West Hills County Park.
Huntington Sewing & Trade School built. One of America's first vocational schools. |
1906 |
Huntington Jewish Center, Huntington’s first synagogue, established |
1908 |
First Vanderbilt Cup Race for autos on the new Vanderbilt Parkway
Huntington’s first public park and beach (Halesite Park) opened
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church established |
1909 |
In 1909-10, New York Avenue was bridged by the railroad and became an underpass. A new
station was built again on the north side of the tracks but this time east of New York Avenue on
its present site.(see Huntington Station History) |
| 1910 |
First Huntington Town Hall constructed for this purpose is built at 227 Main St., Huntington
William K. Vanderbilt II begins construction of “Eagle’s Nest” estate in Centerport (completed 1935)
Evergreen Baptist Church established
|
| 1911 |
Ferguson's Castle "The Monastery" built on East Shore Road in Huntington
H. Bellas Hess Estate built in Huntington Station
Booker T. Washington bought a summer home in Fort Salonga and spent several summers there.
|
| 1912 |
New lighthouse rebuilt in Huntington Bay
A French château home constructed in 1912 for pharmaceutical magnate George McKesson Brown. Later the Brothers of the Sacred Heart bought this property to establish a boarding school and summer retreat called Coindre Hall. |
1913 |
John Trainer, Huntington’s first regular policeman is hired
St. Hugh of Lincoln Church established |
1914 |
St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Northport established |
1915 |
Joseph Cantrell built and sold the forerunner of the station wagon, a “depot wagon” |
1916 |
Huntington Hospital built on land donated by Cornelia Prime |
1917 |
The Long-Islander reported 26 men responded to Pres. Wilson’s call to serve in U.S. Naval Reserve.
New York Ave. is paved from the Train Station to Main St., becoming the Town’s first paved road
Women in the Trade School canning kitchen put up 5,000 jars of fruit & vegetables for the war effort
Whitewood Point built by Stanford White in Lloyd's Neck |
1918 |
Rosemary Farm Roland Conklin Estate built in Lloyd Harbor on 440 West Neck Road. Presently the home of the Seminary of the Imaculate Conception. |
1919 |
OHEKA CASTLE home of Otto Kahn built It originally had 127 rooms and occupied 109,000 square feet of space, making it the second largest private residence in the United States (after the Biltmore Estate in NC) . |
1920 |
Census records Huntington’s population as 13,893
Hecksher Museum of Art-August Heckscher dedicates and opens to the public his new art museum in Heckscher Park |
1921 |
Caumsett, [Marshall Field lll's estate] was built in Lloyd's Neck |
1924 |
Village of Huntington Bay is incorporated |
1925 |
Village of Asharoken is incorporated
Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce founded. |
1926 |
Bethany Presbysterian Church established in Huntington Station |
1927 |
Flinsch/Eberstadt estate (Target Rock Farm) built in Lloyd's Neck |
1938 |
Bertha Rembaugh served as Huntington’s first woman Justice of the Peace [1938-1945]
September 21- Hurricane known as "The Long Island Express" sweeps the Island at great loss of life and property damage. The storm crossed the Sound to Connecticut where the death toll and property damage was much greater.
Arthur Dove (1880-1946) and Helen Torr (1886-1967) pioneers of American abstract painting, lived in a cottage in Centerport together.
Charles Robertson estate built in Lloyd Harbor. Charles Robertson's estate is now the Banbury Center, a small conference center, of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
|
| 1940s |
Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote and published "The Little Prince" in Northport |
1942 |
Whaling Museum Society opens Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum on present site at 279 Main St. |
1946 |
Unitarian Church of Northport established |
1947 |
George Grosz, leading German Dada artist, moves to Huntington and begins teaching at the Huntington Township Art League. |
1949 |
Richard H. Robertson hired as Huntington's first black policeman; serves with the Huntington Police Dept. until 1960 when it is merged into the Suffolk County Police Dept. (SCPD); retires from SCPD in 1970 as Sgt. |
1950 |
Census records Huntington’s population as 47,506
Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum opens to the general public on his former estate, “Eagles Nest” |
1952 |
Temple Beth El established |
1953 |
West Hill Baptist Church established
Huntington celebrates its 300th Anniversary |
1955 |
Congregational Church of Huntington established in Centerport |
1956 |
St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church established in Greenlawn |
1957 |
First Church of Christ, Scientist established |
| 1960 |
Jan. 1: Huntington Police Department merges into the newly created
Suffolk County Police Department
Census records Huntington’s population as 126,000
|
1962 |
Walt Whitman Mall is the first enclosed mall located on Long Island
Ruth F. Corcoran served as Huntington’s first woman to be elected to the Town Board 1962-1965
Eva Gatling hired as Director of Heckscher Museum of Art , one of the first women to direct an art museum.
The Long Island Expressway crossed the Nassau-Suffolk border, ending at EXIT 49 (NY 110) in Melville. |
1964 |
John Coltrane, famous American jazz musician, became a resident of Dix Hills until his death in 1967. He composed his greatest work "A Love Supreme", at this location. |
1966 |
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church established in Centerport |
1966 |
Summer Arts Festival tradition began with first concert held on the steps of the Hecksher Museum. Concerts in the park expanded to a full season of performances by local and nationally known artists on the modernized Chapin Rainbow Stage of 1979. |
1968 |
Bill Hoest creates "The Lockhorns" |
1970s |
Cinema Arts Centre, culturally and politically, has been at or near the center of life on Long Island since its founding. It occupied two or three other locations before convincing the Town to let them into the prior school building they now call home. |
1974 |
IMAC began it's existence in Huntington through a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, as the first non-profit Media Arts Center on Long Island. In 1976 it moved to Bayville and then back to Huntington in 1983 to occupy an original vaudeville house of the 1920's (the theater has been a cultural pillar for the Huntington area over the years.) |
1980 |
Census records Huntington’s population as 201,512 |
1981 |
Jo-ann Raia elected Town Clerk to be the longest serving woman town clerk in Huntington History.
Harry Chapin singer/songwriter, was killed on Long Island Expressway accident on a day he was scheduled to give a concert in Nassau County’s Eisenhower Park. He won fame for his recordings of Cats in the Cradle, Taxi, and other anthems of the 60s and 70s, sunk his roots in Huntington Bay. |
1993 |
Frank Petrone is first elected to a four-year term as Town Supervisor. His re-elections to the same position has made him the longest serving supervisor in Town History. |
1999 |
Big H Shopping Center redeveloped. |
2000 |
Census records Huntington’s population as 195,289 |
2003 |
Huntington celebrates its 350th anniversary |
2009 |
Dec 22- Huntington residents vote NO to the Ward System of electing Councilmen/women in the Town |
.
|
|
