Fathers of the Five Towns: Harold and Sanford Jacobi

In the early Twentieth Century, the first wave of real estate development in Hewlett saw Carleton Macy's Hewlett Bay Park Corporation erect large homes in varied styles on five-acre plots in what is today the incorporated village of Hewlett Bay Park.  These served as seasonal homes, sometimes rented to other summer vacationers, if their owners planned on yachting at Newport rather than on the Long Island shore.  Most did not have heating plants and so were inhospitable during the colder months.

The area attracted a wealthy population to the area and, to accommodate their lifestyle, facilities like the Seawane Club, the Woodmere Club and the Inwood Club joined the Rockaway Hunting Club in providing recreational services to their clientele.  Mobster Arnold Rothstein opened a beachfront casino at Hewlett Harbor in 1916 and the area was well-known for rum-running in the 1920's.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many of the formerly wealthy landowners were forced to sell their property in the "country" and when money again became available, builders and speculators subdivided the large estates and sold them to the new middle class as well as the affluent who had retained their fortunes. 

Sanford Jacobi

Brothers Sanford (1879-1938) and Harold Jacobi (1884-1938), the founders of the Schenley Distillers Corporation, built homes in Hewlett Harbor during the 1930's, on property from several of the original Hewlett Bay Company properties.  With origins in Germany, their grandfather, Simon, (listed as a mohel in census records) emigrated to New Orleans before 1850.   After resettling in New York, the family returned to New Orleans, where Sanford was born.  Emile Jacobi, their father moved the family to Alabama, where the boys grew up.  By they had established themselves in the distilling industry. Their careers brought them to Chicago  and, eventually, New York.  After the  repeal of Prohibition, they became affiliated with the Schenley Products  Company, rising through the ranks to eventually found their own division.

Harold Jacobi house (photo courtesy of Cornell University,
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections)

Both brothers commissioned houses in Woodmere from designs by Olive Tjaden of Garden City one of only a handful of women who were licensed architects at that time. Harold Jacobi’s house, a Tudor mansion built in 1931, was the subject of a 1935 article in Good Housekeeping.  Attached to her copy of the article, Tjaden was quick to note that she was responsible for the design of the interior woodwork and several interior color schemes attributed to Mrs. Jacobi, in addition to the external features:

 “…[I] also designed the landscaping, which won the Herald Tribune prize.  The site was just a flat, bare several acres of land.  I brought up car loads of Rhodendron [sic] from source also special stone for waterfalls and picturesque pool.  Designed and built greenhouse and cutting gardens, along with new garage, potting rm. and living quarters above.”

Tjaden considered these houses among her major works.  Sanford’s house, built before 1935, was a white Georgian Colonial with extensive gardens.  In her notes, Tjaden describes 10,000 tulips which awaited the installation of statuary.  There was a separate building for the water pumping station which was used for the sprinkler and air conditioning systems.   Tjaden also designed more modest houses on Willow Road in Woodmere for Harold's two daughters.

In Although their principal residences were in Manhattan, both brothers were active in the Five Towns communities.  They were members of Temple Israel in Lawrence and the Woodmere and Inwood Country Clubs.   Since both he and son-in-law Arthur Marks were members of the Inwood Country Club, Harold was probably influential in commissioning Olive Tjaden as the architect  for the 1938 Inwood Beach Club.  Sanford was a Vice President and a Trustee of the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan.  And both families were active in many Jewish philanthropies.

Harold Jacobi and family
(photo courtesy of American Jewish Historical Society.
Center for Jewish History)

Tragically, Sanford Jacobi died at age 59 in November of 1938 and Harold died of a stroke at the age of 54 a little more than a month later on December 31.  Over 350 attended a memorial service at his home on Short Cut  Road.  Harold's wife, Freda also succumbed to a stroke in January 1939 at the age of 52.   Within a few years, their daughters relocated and the properties were sold. 

In 1941, the firm of Jaeger Brothers purchased both sites, which totaled about 20 acres, from the Jacobi estates.  Bordered on the North and South by East Rockaway Road and Everit Avenue and by Auerbach Avenue and Schenks Lane on the East and West, their development of forty homes was called The Birches at Hewlett Harbor The homes were built on plots which were a minimum of 1/3 acre and sold for between $16,500 and $25,000.

---

Further information:

• Guide to the Papers of the Jacobi-Schlossberg Family (American Jewish Historical Society. Center for Jewish History)
• Olive Tjaden Papers, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University.
• "350 Attend Rites for Harold Jacobi," The New York Times, January 3, 1939, p. 17.
• "Sanford Jacobi, 59, Schenley Official," The New York Times, November 29, 1938, p. 23.
• "Rites for Mrs. Jacobi," The New York Times, January 21, 1939, p. 15.
• "Schlossbergs Off for Southland," Newsday, September 11, 1941, p. 19.
• “Plan Fine Home Community on Hewlett Harbor Estate,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 27, 1941, p. 30.
  
  
  

Woodmere Kennel Club

 

The February 10th opening of the The Westminster Kennel Club 138th Annual Dog Show at Madison Square Garden brings to mind a little-known treasure of early 20th-century Woodmere -- The Woodmere Kennel Club.

The inhabitants of the Branch communities, home to the Rockaway Hunting Club since 1878, were avid canophiles -- much  like their modern counterparts.  Besides having family pets, many had their own kennels, as well as private stables, in what was then a very rural area.  Long Island dog enthusiasts formed local kennel clubs based on breed or locale and the Woodmere Kennel Club was one of the early clubs in the area.

The Woodmere Club had a small opening show on a rainy May 18th of 1913, but on June 28 of that year, a second show was held on the grounds adjoining the Broadway Central Hotel on Broadway in Woodmere (Rockaway News, July 2, 1913, p. 1). The two-hour long event was held in a tent with two rings.  Best in show was one by Sun of Llenrud, a nineteen-month old British-bred Pekingese owned by Mrs. A. McClure Halley of New York.

A Rockaway News article from June 21, 1913 lists prizes offered for the second event, including:

Bull Terriers:
Mr. Wex Jones offers $2.50 in gold for best brace of Bull Terriers.
Dr. A.C. Daniels offers twelve pounds Puppy Bread for the best puppy dog and twelve pounds for the best bitch.
Bulldogs:Mr. P. Seixas offers Set of Cuff Buttons for best Miniature Bulldog
Dr. A.C. Daniels offers a Mark Cross Safety Razer [sic] for best American bred dog or bitch.

Other classes included Irish Terriers, French Poodles, English Toy Spaniels, Children Classes, Scottish Terriers, Great Danes, Setters, Maltese Terriers, Pekingese Spaniels, Dachshunde, Collies, Toy Poodles.
To be shown by a "lady", the woman must be the dog's owner.

Within a few years, the shows had outgrown the Broadway Central Hotel.  In 1915, shows were held in the ballroom of the Nassau Hotel in Long Beach, the Hoffman House and the Hotel Gregorian (42 West 35th Street) in Manhattan.  The Club held shows at the Hotel Gregorian for many years.

On October 21, 1914, an unusual event was held at the Hotel Gregorian.  Billed as "Dogs in Toyland," the Woodmere Kennel Club held a special show for miniature breeds.  It seems that at a prior show there were issues between on of Charles Ludwig's Great Danes and a Pekingese. So large dogs were not invited to the next event.

In December, James R. Meade, a breeder from Brooklyn, resigned from the presidency of the club, which he had held for three years.    Over 100 members attended his farewell meeting, at which speeches were made and a silver loving cup was presented to Mr. Meade (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 22, 1914, p. 2)   Meade, who raised Boston Terriers and Pekingese, resigned his position so that he could devote time to showing his dogs.  One year later, tragedy hit when his entire kennel of Pekingese was lost to an unnamed epidemic.


The Club's new officers of 1914 were overwhelmingly women.  Mrs. M. C. McGlone was elected president; Mrs. J.L. Conklin, Mrs. H. Taylor and Mrs. E. Allis Cox, Vice Presidents;  Mrs. L. Shillings, Treasurer; George Heiline, Secretary.

A 1915 article in The New York Sun (June 27, 1915, p. 16) praises the Club for its activities in bring new breeders and amateurs into the world of dog fancying.  184 entries, a very large number for the time, were judged at one evening show.  In 1915, active members of the Club were working towards running dog shows under the American Kennel Club rules, and granting championship points through that organization.

In the 1930s and 40's local dogs such as the collies of Noranda Kennels, owned by Mrs. and Mrs. William H. Long Jr. of Hewlett Harbor (New York Times, February 2, 1941, p. S6; New York Herald Tribune, February 21, 1937, p.B9A), Hi-Wood Mike, a black Labrador Retriever owned by Mrs. John S. Williams of Hewlett (The New York Times, November 24, 1941, p. 23.) appear as winners of major shows throughout the nation. By that time, the Woodmere Kennel Club seems to have faded into oblivion.  As the "horsey set" moved to the North Shore of Long Island and the residential neighborhoods of the Five Towns no longer welcomed dog kennels, breeders moved farther out on the Island and organizations like the Long Island Kennel Club in Oyster Bay took in the members of many local clubs.

Further Information:

• "Pekingese is Winner at Dogs in Toyland," The Sun, October 25, 1914, p. 20.
• "Moshulu Bunk Best Dog," The New York Times, December 22, 1914.
• Westminster Kennel Club - History Overview

Pharmacies in The Branch

The winter months are commonly considered "flu season" in the United States.  Those at risk are advised to avail themselved of "flu shots", vaccinations have been readily available for the past sixty years and antibiotics have been available to combat secondary infections since the 1940s.  Only since the 1980's have strides been made in antiviral medications, which interfere with the life-cycle of the virus itself. 

The 1889 pandemic, known as the Russian Flu, began in Russia and spread rapidly throughout Europe. It reached North America in December 1889 and spread to Latin America and Asia in February 1890. About 1 million people died in this pandemic." The most infamous pandemic was “Spanish Flu” which affected large parts of the world population and is thought to have killed at least 40 million people in 1918-1919

One hundred years ago, medicine could only combat the symptoms of the disease.  The patient's own immune system did most of the work.  Although physicians were available in The Branch, most medicines were dispensed by pharmacists.  Since there was a ready supply of pharmacists from the New York College of Pharmacy (Columbia University) and the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, The Branch communities had many pharmacies.   What is of interest to this author, however, are the numbers of married couples, both registered pharmacists, who practiced in the area.

Woodmere Pharmacy
George A. Koch, postmaster of Woodsburgh and then Woodmere from 1897-1904, had a small apartment on the second floor of his drug store on the corner of Broadway and Irving Place, where he lived with his wife, Theresa.  Late one night  in August 1904, thieves broke into the store and dynamited the safe inside.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Koch came down armed -- he with a double barreled shotgun -- and engaged the thieves in an exchange of gunfire before they escaped with $750 worth of stamps and $300 in cash.  This was a repeat of an earlier, unsuccessful robbery attempt a month before.  In 1904, Koch sold his Woodmere location and opened a drug store in Far Rockaway, perhaps a more civilized area at the time.

Colonial Pharmacy, Woodmere
William Wisendanger
Estelle V. Wisendanger

William Wisendanger (born 1873; graduated BCP 1895) and his wife, Estelle (nee Vaughan, married 1898) owned and operated the Colonial Pharmacy, located at the corner of Broadway and Irving Place in Woodmere (the same corner if not the same location as the Woodmere Pharmacy).  William, a member of the German Apothocaries Society,  had owned the Rhinelander Pharmacy in Manhattan before moving to Woodmere.

It was Estelle, however, who was the family superstar.  Upon her graduation from NYCP in 1908, Estelle, who placed second in her class, had won the free scholarship prize offered by the Manhattan Pharmaceutical Association. An article in the July 1912 Pharmaceutical Era, highlighted Estelle's accomplishments:

Few women have been the recipient of more conspicuous honors than Mrs Wisendanger.  Her course as a student placed her in the ranks of the exceptional She graduated from Columbia University College of Pharmacy in New York City in the class of 1908 with honors She won the $100 prize for materia medica and pharmacognosy, also the alumni prize: a silver medal and the Kappa Psi gold medal which prize was never before won by a woman She was also the recipient of the Max J Breitenbach prize of $200 for the highest standing in both junior and senior years. Seldom indeed does any one student tower so continually above his or her compeers and her success is a matter of congratulation not only for the student herself but for the profession. Mrs Wisendanger is now a partner in the fine Colonial pharmacy, Woodmere, Long Island with her husband William Wisendanger,  Ph G.   She has full charge of the prescription department.  That a store equipped with the concentrated interest and ability of congenial co-workers should merit confidence and meet with financial success is a foregone conclusion.

By 1913, Estelle was elected president of the New York Women's Pharmaceutical Association and in July of 1914 was one of those on a 55-day European tour sponsored by the German Apothocaries Society when the German army mobilized.  The tour was cut short and the Americans were allowed to leave Germany.

Although she was still in Woodmere in 1935, Estelle Wisendanger is listed as a widow in the 1940 census and had moved to Monroe, NY.


Jennings Pharmacy, Lawrence 
Frank R. Jennings
Eliza  Jennings 

Jennings Pharmacy, c. 1912/ photo: Courtesy Linda Forand

Frank R. Jennings  (born 1877, NYCP 1896), worked with his father in Far Rockaway, until in 1899, when he got a job in Mianus, Connecticut.  In 1900, he married Eliza W. Pettit (born 1877), who became a certified pharmacist in 1904.
 
 Jennings was a member of the King's County Pharmaceutical Society (American Druggist, Jan-June 1908) and opened a new drug store in Lawrence in 1912.  (Druggists Circular, 12/1912). According to family members, it was located at the intersection of the Rockaway-Jamaica Turnpike and the Rockaway Road (today's Broadway) -- a crossroad which had been called "Jennings Corners" since the mid-19th Century.


Over the years, Jennings relocated his store to the corner of Central Avenue and Washington Avenue in Cedarhurst (right) and eventually to Broadway and Franklin Avenue in Hewlett. (Hays Directory, 1945)
After Frank's death, Eliza continued as a pharmacist until she was in her seventies.





Crosby Pharmacy
John D. Crosby
May V. Crosby

   
John D. Crosby was born on his father’s farm at Deerfield, N.Y., May 23, 1858, and attended local schools and theWhitestown Seminary. At the age of twenty-four he left home for Utica,NY, where he was employed in a drug store for three years, after which he came to Inwood, then called Westville.

November 20, 1880, Mr. Crosby married Miss May V. Craft (born 1868, NYCP 1890). Soon after their marriage in 1888, May began the study of pharmacy and graduated from the New York College in 1890. The Crosby Pharmacy was located on McNeil Avenue in Inwood with another location on Bayview Avenue in Lawrence. (1899 Trow's Directory)

When the community got a post office in 1889, Westville's name changed to Inwood.  John Crosby became the first postmaster of Inwood, with population of about eleven hundred. (Newtown Register, 1/14/1889). He remained in that position through World War I.

John D.Crosby is listed in 1904 as treasurer of the newly-formed Queens County Pharmaceutical Association, which boasted 25 members. (William Wisendanger is listed as President)  In March 1907, John Crosby and others listed at a dinner of the Long Island Botanical Association, an organization comprised of all the druggists on the Rockaway Peninsula.

In February 1914 (Pharmaceutical Era), May Crosby is listed as the corresponding secretary of the Women's Pharmaceutical Association of New York; Estelle Wisendanger is the President.)

In addition to pharmaceuticals and patent medicines, drug stores of the early 20th century had elaborate soda fountains.  An area like The Branch, which was noted for its summer tourism, would have been no exception.  An advertisement in the Evening Telegram of March 14, 1923 reports that the Crosby Pharmacy is one of several listed who just bought a NEW KNIGHT fountain and is selling it's old one.







Raeder's Pharmacy, Cedarhurst
Edward M. Raeder 

In addition to sodas, drug stores supplied postcards to the tourist trade.  Many which still exist on the collectibles market bear the name of Raeder's Pharmacy. 

An article in The Pharmaceutical Era, (1909, vol. 41, p. 436),   describes the pharmacy:

"Raeder's Pharmacy in the White Building,Cedarhurst, Long Island, which was recently opened is one of the finest on the Island." 

Edward M Raeder  born c.1878 (NYCP 1898) was the proprietor.


 Further Reading

• "Thieves blow open safe in post office," The New York Times, August 10, 1904, p. 12

• World Health Organization: Influenza
• CIPRAP: Influenza: Pandemic Influenza: Overview:  Historical Perspective

• Parsons, Henry Franklin. Report on the Influenza Epidemic of 1889-90. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1891.

• MacDonald, Ian. Betty O'Keefe. Dr. Fred and the Spanish Lady: Fighting the Killer Flu, Surrey, British Columbia : Heritage House, 2004.

  Crosby, Alfred W. America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1989, 2003.
  

  "Portrait and Biographical Record of Queens County (Long Island) New York"
  (Copyright 1896 by Chapman Publishing Company)

   

   

Woodmere Methodist Church

On Wednesday, June 27 the congregation of  the Woodmere-Lawrence United Methodist Church will meet in a service that will mark the end of almost 150 years of tradition.

At a meeting at the home of Singleton Brower on Friday, March 13, 1871 members of the Lawrence Methodist Church made the decision to establish a church in Samuel Wood's village of Woodsburgh,  A week later (Friday, March 20) the men met at the same home and elected a Board of Trustees.

The donation of property on Broadway was accepted, a building committee appointed and a drive for funds was started.  Twenty months later, on November 19, 1872, the new church building was dedicated. It was a humble house of God, 25x40 ft, costing $1,583.28 complete with pulpit Bible.       ("Woodmere Church 80 Years Old." Nassau Herald, March 9, 1951)

Methodist Church and Parsonage, c1906

According to a program produced for the congregation's 25th anniversary in 1897,

... work was initiated under the pastorate of Rev. C.P. Corner.  The church building was completed and dedicated in the Fall of '72, during the pastorate of Rev. E.K. Fanning.  The church was attached to the Rockaway and Foster's Meadow Circuit, and remained under the general supervision of the Mother Church until the Spring of '78, when she was set off as a separate charge, with a roll of 84 members and 11 probationers.

In the year 1889, under the pastorate of Rev. Alex. McNicholl, the church was enlarged and subsequent years has (sic) brought about other improvements.  In November '97, a fund was instituted for the purpose of purchasing lot and building a parsonage.  ..Notwithstanding los[s]es and removals the church has grown in membership from 84 to 122; and 169 have been baptized at her altars."

Woodmere Methodist Church & Thrift Shop (Photo: Five Towns Herald)

 The current brick building was erected in 1921 and the original church building was moved to the rear of the property.  The 1898 parsonage has been used as a thrift shop in recent years.

 Lawrence Methodist Church, built on the site of the 1831 McKendre's Chapel, closed its doors in 1976.  At that time  the two congregations merged under the name Woodmere-Lawrence United Methodist Church.  Through the efforts of local historians and genealogists, birth, marriage and cemetery records for many of the families that inhabited the Rockaways are preserved and available online.



More information:

•  Mayo, Amanda. "Landmark Woodmere Church Closing it's Doors,"   South Shore Standard, June 8, 2012.
•  "Woodmere-Lawrence Methodist Church may be closing," Five Towns Herald, March 15, 2012. 
•  Woodmere-Lawrence Methodist Church (Five Towns Patch listing)
•  Stained glass window created by Glenn Somers
• "Woodmere Church 80 years old."  Nassau Herald, March 9, 1951, page 1.
• 19th and Early 20th Century Woodsburgh Methodist Church Marriage Records (transcribed by Linda Clark)
• 19th and Early Twentieth Century Woodsburgh Methodist Church Baptismal Records  (transcribed by Linda Clark)
• Lawrence Methodist Church listings on Find-a-Grave.com

Local Street Names

Every village has a main street.  Some are actually called Main Street, some Broadway, others are completely different.  According to the U.S. Postal Service (MailPro -- November/December 2010), the top five most common street names are Main, Maple, 2nd, Oak, and Park.

Residential builders commonly used names of trees or flowers, states, political figures and even family members  as inspiration for the vast number of street names required to create communities. Many of the streets in the Five Towns were named for early residents of the communities which they helped to establish.  Here are a few of the street names and their origins:

•  Albro Lane - The Albro Farm appears on the 1891 Wolverton map between the Rockaway Hunting Club and Woodsburgh. George Albro listed his profession as "Oysterman" in the 1880 census.  His son Eugene is listed as an ice man on the 1900 census.
  
• Auerbach Lane  -  Joseph Auerbach, (1855-1944) attorney for the Hewlett Bay Company and original owner of Seawane, now the clubhouse of the Seawane Club.
• Brower Road, Brower's Point Branch - There were so many Browers in the mid-1800's that the area was known as "Brower's Point."
• Burton Avenue - Robert L. Burton made his fortune in textiles.  In 1901, he purchased the entire village of Woodsburgh from the estate of  Samuel Wood and began the development of his planned community of Woodmere.  He and his brother, John Howes Burton, were both members of the Rockaway Hunting Club and lived in Cedarhurst (later Lawrence).
• Combs Avenue - The Combs Family has a long history in the area. Alexander Combs is a major property owner on the 1906 Belcher-Hyde map of Woodmere.
• Conklin Avenue - Joseph Conklin's property is listed  on the 1873 and 1891 maps of Woodsburgh.
  
• Everit Avenue  -   Cousin and financial advisor of Carleton Macy, V. Everit Macy was a philanthropist and President of the Westchester Park Commission.  He owned a home in Hewlett Bay Park.
• Elinor Road - probably named for Elinor Stewart, wife of John Stewart, a Rockaway Hunting Club member and Hewlett Bay Park resident.
• Finucane Place  - Matthew Finucan owned the land on the 1873 Beers, Comstock and Cline map of Woodsburgh. Thomas Finucan owned local hotels at the turn-of-the century.  He was a colorful character. Contemporary newspaper articles trace his numerous lawsuits and assault bookings.
• Frost Lane - The Frost family owned land throughout the Branch.  C (Carman) Frost, a bayman,  is listed in the 1873 Beers, Comstock and Cline map of Hewletts as owning property on Broadway.
• William Gibson lent his own name to the residential area that he started building in 1925.  He named a series of streets after well-known liquor brands:  Haig Road, Dubonnet Road, Carstairs Road, Gordon Road and Wilson Road.
• Harris Avenue - Tracy Hyde Harris (c1864-1933), an attorney, lived in Hewlett Bay Park.
• Grant Park - a residential area developed after the Civil War.  Features streets named for Civil War Generals: Hancock Street, Slocum Street, Sheridan Avenue.
• Hartwell Place - Dr. John D. Hartwell (d.1902) was a respected physician.  He owned property next to Trinity Church on Broadway.
  
• Ike Place -  C. (Charles) Ike, a Woodsburgh property owner on the 1873 and 1891 maps, was a bayman, as were generations of his descendants.
• Johnson Place - Abraham Johnson, a carpenter and his son,Thomas Johnson, had a farm on the site of the current Woodmere Educational Complex.  Abraham Johnson helped to build the current Trinity-St. John's Church building.  Both are buried in the churchyard. 
• Keene Lane - James Keene and his son, Foxhall, were stock brokers and members of the Rockaway Hunting Club.  Foxhall Keene was an accomplished all-around sportsman. 
• Lefferts Road - named for Carleton Macy's wife, Helen Lefferts Macy.  
• Longworth Avenue - The Longworth Family have lived in the community for generations and had large amounts of land around Broadway in Hewlett at the turn of the 20th century. Daniel Longworth donated the land for the site of the first St. Joseph's Church.
• Macy Drive - Carleton Macy was the President of the Queens Borough Gas and Electric Company, and later was the President of the Hewlett Bay Company, which developed Hewlett Bay Park.  George's Creek (named for George Hewlett) was dredged to create Macy Channel in the hope of creating a direct waterway between Hewlett and Long Beach, deep enough to float large freighters." (Rockaway News, May 1910)
  
• Meadowview Avenue - actually overlooked the meadows owned by the Hewlett family prior to the construction of the Hewlett Bay Company homes.
  
• Neptune Avenue -  The 1873 Beers, Comstock and; Cline map of Hewletts shows Neptune Avenue intersecting Broadway at the site of the Neptune Hotel.
• Paine Road - led to the estate of Edward Paine, an investment banker and member of the Rockaway Hunting Club.
  
• Porter Place - H. Hobart Porter (1866-1947), mining engineer.  His large Tudor-style home, Lauderdale, still stands in Lawrence.
• Sage Lane - led to the property of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Sage in back Lawrence.
• Stevenson Road - Richard W. Stevenson was an attorney and  developer of Hewlett Bay Park, He was a partner of Joseph Auerbach in the purchase of the Hewlett family lands and their transfer to the Hewlett Bay Company.
• Veeder Lane - led to the estate of Paul Lansing Veeder (c1885-1942) Yale football star and coach. 
• Voss Avenue - William Voss, a stockbroker built his home, Merriefield,  in Hewlett Bay Park.  His sons were real estate brokers.  Franklin Voss was also an artist, specializing in equestrian scenes, while his sister, Jessie Voss Lewis, was a portrait painter.  The road to the homestead is now called Pleasant Place.
• Ward Place -The 1906 Belcher-Hyde map of Woodmere shows Thomas Ward's property bordering the estate of Dr. Hartwell and the property belonging to Trinity Church.
  
• White Lane- The White family made their fortune in recycling the carcasses of dead livestock from the streets of Brooklyn and transporting them to Barren Island for processing. They owned large tracts of property throughout Cedarhurst and Lawrence, but White Lane was the site of the family home.
  
• Wood Lane - Samuel Wood (c1795-1878) grew up on his father's farm in what would become Woodsburgh. He and his brothers were liquor importers; four bachelors who each left their property to their remaining brothers.  Samuel, the last remaining brother, used the money to buy up neighboring farms and build two hotels, the Woodsburgh Pavilion and the Neptune Hotel, and to establish the village of Woodsburgh as a resort community.

Further reading:

•  Morris, Joel J.  "Hewlett Bay Park: The Hunting Club Connection." The Nassau County Historical Society Journal, volume XLIX (1994), pp.15-26.
• The lives of many of those mentioned are documented in detail through various articles (marriage announcements, obituaries, etc. in The New York Times* (available through the Library's Proquest Historical Newspapers database*), census records (available through the Library's Heritage Quest* database), archival maps (available through the Library's Historic Map Works* database) and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (available online through the Brooklyn Public Library's web site)
•  Meyer, Milton S.  Village of Lawrence, N.Y. : a brief history of a Long Island community.  Lawrence, NY : Village of Lawrence, 1977.
• Vollono, Millicent.  The Five Towns.  Charleston, S.C. : Arcadia Press, 2010.

  *requires Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library card login

Libraries in the Five Towns

    The celebration of National Library Week (April 11-17) provides us with an opportunity to look at the beginnings of library service in the Five Towns.

The public library, open to all, is a relatively new concept, though centers for written knowledge existed as far back as 6,000 years ago in Egypt and Mesopotamia.  Written works were reserved for universities and governmental or religious institutions or private collections owned by individuals wealthy enough to afford them. 

 As scientific and  recreational reading became a popular diversions in the United States, private subscription libraries were created as means of sharing the substantial cost of books.  Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with establishing the first of America's public  libraries in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1731.  Funded privately, these voluntary libraries were dependent on good economic climates in order to thrive.  Proponents of public libraries realized that a stable economic base (i.e., tax-funded)  was necessary in order to ensure that these institutions could continue in good times and bad.  The movement grew in popularity throughout the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, as books became more affordable and education became a path to self-improvement and  advancement. 

The growth of public education in the early 20th Century combined with the growth of publishing in America to create an environment conducive to the establishment of  public libraries.  It was in this environment that the Peninsula Community Library opened its doors at 493 Central Avenue in Cedarhurst on April 23, 1930. 

  At the time, Queens Borough Public Library's Far Rockaway branch was the only library open to the community.  Two years prior, a referendum of School District 14 voters had rejected an article in the school budget which appropriated tax money to establish a free public library in the District. 

A small committee of determined women visited area libraries and explored possibilities for funding a library.  Their study showed that although the cost of founding and maintaining a library for the entire Five Towns population was prohibitive, the alternative of a children's library funded by subscription, was well within the reach of the community.  In 1930, attorney Cornelius Wickersham filed the papers for the registration of The Peninsula Community Library with the State of New York as a joint stock association, assuring that gifts to it would be tax free.

The Community Council of Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Inwood, Woodmere and Hewlett, headed by Mrs. F. Abbot Goodhue, was a local organization which promoted educational and character-building opportunities for the area's children.  It seemed a natural extension for the organization to lend its support to this project.

Books were purchased using funds from the memorial fund established in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Butler Olney, and enhanced by donations of money and goods from the community.  Subsequent funding from the Community Chest of the Five Towns supplemented the other gifts, membership fees, book rentals, and fines which the library generated.

Once community support and basic funding was assured, the committee looked for a librarian to develop the community's vision.  Miss Miriam Rowe, an experienced librarian from Massachusetts, agreed to relocate in  Cedarhurst.  For the next twenty years, she was the guiding spirit behind the Peninsula Community Library.

A room was rented in a block of stores at 493 Central Avenue.  Enhanced by handmade bookshelves and tables fabricated in Woodmere High School's wood shop, the library opened for business. The charge for withdrawing a book was five cents for two weeks (later increased to ten cents), and overdue books incurred a fine.  The first book taken out of the collection was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  By the end of the first month, the new collection totalled 2,253 titles and 300 children and young adults had received library cards.


In 1936,  sisters Florence, Grace and Maude White offered the Library a building on Cedarhurst Avenue as a new location.  They agreed to a rent of $65.00 per month but, more importantly, agreed to have it remodeled to the Directors' specifications.  Donations of landscaping by Allan Dalsimer and moving services from William Reilly kept the costs down.  Fred Rivera allowed the Library rent-free use of one of his stores on Broadway in Hewlett for a branch library which served the populations of Hewlett and Gibson.


Mrs. H. Hobart Porter contributed an "ancient" station wagon, which made weekly trips to inaccessible parts of Hewlett and Gibson and later served Cedarhurst and Woodmere areas as well.  Story hours at the library and the playground of the Number 2 School in Inwood attracted the younger population, while the Library Legionnaires, a service group of older students helped with maintenance and shelving.  In the next few years The Reading Club, The Garden Clubs, The Woodmere Music Club became active users of the Library's facilities.

In 1947, the voters of School District 14 once again voted on the establishment of a free library,  The project was approved and the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library opened, first in the Woodmere School and then in a house purchased from the Pearsall family on the current site of the Library.  Three years later, the voters of School District 15 also approved the establishment of a tax-based free library, and the Peninsula Public Library opened in 1951.

The assets of the Peninsula Community Library were distributed between the two collections and by August 1950, the legal process of dissolution of the community library had taken place.

The founding of the Nassau Library System in 1959 created a powerful information network which maximizes the effectiveness of each of the member libraries.   The popularity of the Hewlett-Woodmere and the Peninsula Public Libraries and the demand for their services has resulted in several expansions and renovations over the years.  As we celebrate National Library Week, those of us in the library community  thank our patrons for their continued support and look forward to a bright future of collaboration between the libraries and the communities that they serve.

For further information:

•  Blaine, Katherine W. and Rowe, Miriam. A Brief Account of the Peninsula Community Library....(requires Adobe Acrobat)
• Illustrated history of the American Library Association
• Library History Links from LibraryHistoryBuff.com 
• America's Most Amazing Libraries