Could everyone write one simple essay about something that once happened in Saltaire…that they saw or were a part of…and put it on one big website? Somebody should collect a lot of stories before we all forget. Otherwise it is like a line in “On The Beach” : The history of the war that now would never be written.” -(JO'H)

Thursday, December 31, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT SUPPOSE THEY HAD A CENTENNIAL AND NOBODY CARED????





THE YEAR 2010 MARKS THE START OF THE SECOND CENTURY OF SALTAIRE. YET NOBODY EVER CELEBRATED ITS CENTENNIAL IN 2009.
COLLECTIVE AMNESIA?


IN CASE ANYONE FORGOT, THINGS STARTED UP IN 1910:




"IT HAS OFTEN BEEN SAID THAT 1910 MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE HISTORY OF OUR COMMUNITY. FOR IN September OF THAT YEAR, THE ORGANIZERS OF THE FIRE ISLAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY GAVE THE NAME OF SALTAIRE TO THAT PART OF THE GREAT SOUTH BEACH WHICH HAD BEEN DESIGNATED AS THE FIFTH LOT OF THE PARTITION OF 1878."


---Francis V. Goggins, "The Great South Beach Before 1910," in History of the Incorporated Village of Saltaire, Fire Island, N.Y., by Ruth Bryan Dobie, Saltaire Village Historian.


Even though the first Saltaire houses were not built until 1911 (Goggins, supra), there was plenty of speculative buying in 1910. See The South Shore News for December 30 1910:
----South Shore News, Dec. 30, 1910
We need lots of research for Saltaire38.blogspot.com. Was Saltaire in the early days a boondoggle? Why were there repeated auctions for the land? Why were virtually all the houses built along the ocean washed away well before 1938? Does anyone know when they first got electricity in Saltaire? How about telephones? Where was the casino? What happened to the houses adjacent to the Casino? How many homes still have old gas lines used for lighting? Did anyone know that an explosion in the acetylene gas shed blew a worker through the wall?
Like, if we don't do it, nobody will.
Anyone plan any commemorations?
Does anyone care?


Frank Mina cares:

According to "Mother Knows Best", electricity was installed in Saltaire during the winter of 1937-38. Their house (n/w/c/ West & Lighthouse) had power for the summer of '38 and they got rid of the kerosene lamps. They never had acetylene in their neck of the woods, but she used to meet the freight boat to buy kerosene and haul it back to the farthest reaches of the Village-- female child labor, oh my! That summer, my grandfather had Mike Coffey install windows to enclose the front porch and he purchased a new green electic stove. The family went to the beach the weekend before the hurricane and Poppy agreed to pay Mike, mom thinks $190, for the windows the following weekend. Well, he did pay Mike although the house was gone. They rented the Marschalk house on Broadway for the summer of 39 and perchased the McKevitt house in April of 1940. All the acetylene fixtures were there, although the plant was long gone.Patterson told me of the "explosion" of the acetylene plant and that a worker had been "blown out of the shed, but not seriousy hurt. When the plant was dismantled, a section of the big tank was used to pour the base for the new flagpole at 4 Bay Prom. The pole was one of the topmasts of the Hugomont. Since the house originally belonged to Loucks. President of the FIBDC, I guess he had the pull.

Jim & Derf,Correction: "Hougomont" (You can always pull the pix from my website for nostalgia, even if you used it before).Addendum: The anchor in front of our house is also shown in the photo.The casino is shown clearly if you enlarge the photo of the 1928 auction. It occupied the entire block between Broadway and Neptune. You can see the distintive "Hilton" house to the east and the shelter over Broadway to the west. According to mom, the casino did not burn down, but had become dilapidated and was further damaged in '38. She believes that it was demolished but that the debris may have been burned at the site.I remember our phones being installed as a teenager. I'm sure we had one of the first because it allowed my grandfather to stay in touch with his hospitals (and lengthen his vacations) We had Fire Island 4-5999R Party Code 8. No dials, just the switch-hook to get the operator. And you knew every busy-body on your party line.


January 2, 2010 3:21 PM

January 2, 2010 4:35 PM




8 comments:

Derf said...

Jim,

Why is the sand purple?

jimmy said...

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/purple+haze_20071539.html

Derf said...

Excuse me while I kiss this guy?

jimmy said...

Maybe we will have to change the song to:



http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/prince/purple+rain_20111285.html


or maybe to:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of fragmites,
For purple sand dune majesties
Above the Great South Bay!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to purple sea!

Capt. Frank Mina said...

According to "Mother Knows Best", electricity was installed in Saltaire during the winter of 1937-38. Their house (n/w/c/ West & Lighthouse) had power for the summer of '38 and they got rid of the kerosene lamps. They never had acetylene in their neck of the woods, but she used to meet the freight boat to buy kerosene and haul it back to the farthest reaches of the Village-- female child labor, oh my! That summer, my grandfather had Mike Coffey install windows to enclose the front porch and he purchased a new green electic stove. The family went to the beach the weekend before the hurricane and Poppy agreed to pay Mike, mom thinks $190, for the windows the following weekend. Well, he did pay Mike although the house was gone. They rented the Marschalk house on Broadway for the summer of 39 and perchased the McKevitt house in April of 1940. All the acetylene fixtures were there, although the plant was long gone.

Patterson told me of the "explosion" of the acetylene plant and that a worker had been "blown out of the shed, but not seriousy hurt. When the plant was dismantled, a section of the big tank was used to pour the base for the new flagpole at 4 Bay Prom. The pole was one of the topmasts of the Hugomont. Since the house originally belonged to Loucks. President of the FIBDC, I guess he had the pull.

Capt. Frank Mina said...

Jim & Derf,
Correction: "Hougomont" (You can always pull the pix from my website for nostalgia, even if you used it before).

Addendum: The anchor in front of our house is also shown in the photo.

The casino is shown clearly if you enlarge the photo of the 1928 auction. It occupied the entire block between Broadway and Neptune. You can see the distintive "Hilton" house to the east and the shelter over Broadway to the west. According to mom, the casino did not burn down, but had become dilapidated and was further damaged in '38. She believes that it was demolished but that the debris may have been burned at the site.

I remember our phones being installed as a teenager. I'm sure we had one of the first because it allowed my grandfather to stay in touch with his hospitals (and lengthen his vacations) We had Fire Island 4-5999R Party Code 8. No dials, just the switch-hook to get the operator. And you knew every busy-body on your party line.

Anonymous said...

It is a little known fact that Benjamin Franklin carried out his experiments with electricy(flying a kite with a metal key in an electical storm) from what is now called Wright Field. Electricty itself was introduced to Saltaire by Captain Baldwin who caught "electric" catfish and rays. He cleverly attached wire to the electrified fish and WHA-LAH!! let there be light. After Capt Baldwins death the village contracted with LIPA to "rewire" the village with a more modern and reliable means of generating electrical power.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure many will doubt the truth to my story about Capt Baldwin.
I'm sure that many current Saltairians know very little about Capt Baldwin. He was a very learned man and the breadth of his knowledge about fish and fishing dated back to antiquity. The ancient Egyptians some 5000 years ago knew about the forces of electricity generated by some fish. Capt Baldwin knew this and he was additionally aware of studies that ancient Roman, Greek, and Arab naturalists performed on electric rays and catfish. He was an early advocate of aquatic farming and actually raised many of the electric rays in a pond that used to be adjacent to Clam Cove.