EAST MEADOW Its PAST and PRESENT
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EAST MEADOW Its PAST and PRESENT REF 974.721 E Carman-Lowden Homestead EastMeadow. This aerial view taken around 1910 shows the estate of the late Mrs. Adolph Ladenburg in the Salisbury area. The house is now owned by F. Wm. Boelson of Boelson Drive. WHAT AND WHERE IS EAST MEADOW? EAST MEADOW ... a community of 8.? square miles about 25 miles from Manhattan ... it is the home of more than 54,000 people. I t is bounded on the west by Meadowbrook Parkway and Merrick Avenue; on the north by Old Country Road and the Oyster Bay town line; on the east by Newbridge Road and the Wantagh Parkway; and on the south by North Jerusalem Road, Ennabrook Avenue, Bellmore Avenue and North Jerusalem Avenue. JUN 0 7 1994 . I 3 1299 9541 EAST MEADOW Its PAST and PRESENT 1658-1976 A PUBLICATION of the East Meadow Public Library made possible by a grant from THE SEAMEN'S BANK FOR SAVINGS Going to church in East Meadow, back before the turn of the century was almost a community project. This old print shows a large group of farm people boarding a horse-pulled sled at the old Community Methodist Church. CONTENTS FOREWORD 5 IN THE BEGINNING 6 SHEEP RAISING 7-9 HORSE RACING 9 ROADS 9-11 HOME 11 CARMAN FAMILY 11-13 THE REVOLUTION 12-13 FIRST FAMILIES 13 BARNUM FAMILY 14-16 RAILROADS 16 BLIZZARD OF 1888 16 BELMONT ESTATE 17 VANDERBILT CUP RACES 17 MEADOW BROOK HUNT CLUB 18 NOON-SCHULTZE-HOEFFNER HOTEL 17 & 19 EAST MEADOW SCHOOLS 19 EARLY HISTORY 19-26 MODERN SCHOOL EXPANSION 26-29 MODERN EAST 29 HOUSES OF WORSHIP 29-31 COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS 31 GOVERNMENT & SERVICES 31-33 COUNTY SERVICES LOCATED IN EAST MEADOW 33-35 PUBLIC LIBRARY 36-37 BICENTENNIAL LEGACY 37 EAST MEADOW FIRE DEPARTMENT 39-41 ORAL HISTORY 42-43 LOWDEN FAMILY, FISH FAMILY, HOEFFNER FAMILY 42 STRINGHAM, FAMILY, ROTTKAMP FAMILY, SCHNEIDER FAMILY, DeMONACO FAMILY, McCORMICK FAMILY, BOELSON FAMILY 43 SOURCES OF MATERIAL Inside Back Cover CREDITS & THANKS Inside Back Cover FOREWORD WITHOUT THE COOPERATION and WE ESPECIALLY thank our interest of so many members 1 ibrary director Norman M. of the East Meadow community, Seldes and The Seaman's this "gently'' revised edition Bank for Savings ... without of the Mary Louise Clarke them, the publication of historical book on East Mea- this much-needed history dow would not have been poss- would not have been possi- ible. ble. WITH A DEADLINE hovering over SPECIAL THANKS to our sole us, there was not enough time volunteer, Audrey Fixell, to see and talk to everyone who assisted us so con- as we had planned. We manag- scientiously and enthusi- ed to see as many people as astically in our Oral His- we could. We hope the history tory(see back of book) of East Meadow will become an project. We acknowledge ongoing project ... and possi- all others in the back of bly from all of this ... an this book ... there are so East Meadow Historical So- many of you! ciety will be formed. This was the dream of the late WE DEDICATE this book to Semon Springer who was the the East Meadow community unofficial East Meadow his- .... but, primarily to the torian. We incorporated por- late Mary Louise Clarke tions of his unpublished his- and the late Semon Springer, tory of East Meadow into this the two historians, who current booklet. His original began i t a 1 1 ! manuscript is on file in the East Meadow Library's Refer- ence department for those who would 1 ike to read it. Carman-Lowden homestead on Hempstead Turnpike around 1910. 5 In The Beginning ... FIRST LET US TAKE a brief ing up numerous sand bars lies wholly on the Plains. look at Long Island topo- and jutting 11 necks 11 of land. Only the western boundary graphy. During the glacial Sometimes narrow protecting ... which is the Meadow period, the edge of the sand 11 islands 11 appeared, Brook ... has a fringe of glacier which covered all which aided the main shore natural trees. Thus East New England ended about mid- in res'isting the constant Meadow•s physical aspects way down the width of Long battering of the ocean storms. were set centuries before Island. All along the nor- any recorded history of its thern shore from Brooklyn WHEN THE GLACIAL inhabitants. to Montauk Point glacial period ended we find Long heavings and pressures lsland 1 s physical features dumped rocks and boulders, had set. The north shore•s THE FIRST 200 YEARS which are the exact forma- rocky hills held clay soil tion as those found in the and water enough to give 1658 -1858 middle New England states. food and moisture to the Thus were formed the bluffs thick forest which soon cov- THE HISTORY of Hemp- along Long Island Sound,pro- ered them. The flat sandy stead Town covers more than bably the Sound itself, the plains were a different 300 years. In 1643 a group rolling and sometimes steep story. Water quickly drain- of colonists crossed Long hills of the north shore. ed away, making large tree Island Sound from Connecti- Alternate melting and free- life difficult to support. cut and selected a new home zing of the edge of the These plains developed into site which they bought from glacier gradually formed a level meadows covered with the Indians, naming it large flat plain of sandy some shrubby brush, much Hempstead Town, after their out-washings of these rocks. pasture grass and many wild birthplace in England. In During the ages this spread flowers. Whole sections 1644, Gov. Kieft gave these farther south. The ocean were carpeted with the colonists a ••patent••, thus also did its part by throw- 11 Plains Violets•• ... beauti- establishing their title ful lavender violets with to the land. At this time deep golden throats. Wild Hempstead Town•s extended flower books identify them from ••sea to Sea••, that is, as 11 Bird 1 s Foot Violets•• from the Sound to the Ocean. because of the deeply cut The 17,000 acres of plains- leaves, unlike the smooth land around the frontier round leaves of ordinary settlement of Hempstead violets. Clumps of these were held as common pas- are occasion a 11 y s t i 1 1 tures and meadowland. found in vacant lots. The brooks which rose near the foot of the north hills flowed south across the plains. Bordering these watercourses were found sturdy trees. East Meadow 6 IN 1655, one Thomas large stream with wide mar- ownership of the Pla i ns. No langdon reported to the shy borders. In a few years person whatsover might plant Hempstead Town Meeting that there were 168 cows in the or plow within "ye cowes he had surveyed the East East Herd cared for by Ray- walks" in East Meadow. Water- Meadow and found it suitable nor and Jacocks. ing places for the stock were for the grazing and watering of utmost importance ... hav- of cattle. He advised that FOR THE NEXT 200 ing to be kept clean and ac- efforts be made to exter- years in Town Meeting there cessible at all times. Fences minate the wild beasts which were frequent discussions bordering the Plains must be preyed on cattle, and that and regulations of all prob- kept repaired to keep cattle cowherders (cowboys?) be lems relating to the pas- out of the farms, yet fences hired to care for the cattle. turing of stock and common must not be built across used On the l0th day of April 1658, fifteen years after the settlement of Hempstead, an agreement was made at the annual Town Meeting between the townspeople and William Jacocks and Edward Raynor to drive the cows to the East Meadow. The men drove the cows out daily one-half hour after sunrise and returned them one-half hour before sunset, being careful "to water ye cows at seasonable times of ye day." For their services, between May 11th and August 10th, the cow- keepers were paid in butter, grain and wampum to the value of 12 silver shillings weekly, payable "before ye 15th day of February next." The cowkeepers earned their pay for they were kept con- stantly alert by the possi- bility of losing cattle or paying for property damage. An ever present danger was of miring in the East Meadow Swamp. Although providing water for the cattle the Meadow Brook was then a 7 roads. "Fence Viewers" were placed a bounty on wolves, all summer, with shepherds elected annually to travel "20 shi 11 ings for ki 11 ing a constantly tending them. The throughout the town to en- grown wolf, 10s for a half- town board regulated the du- force fencing regulations. grown wolf, to a Christian ties and pay of the shepherds, These men were paid $1.00 per ... an Indian receives 12s the sections of the Plains day when carrying out official and 6s ." Guns were frequent- where sheep might graze, and business. If swine or hogs ran ly set in the outlying most important, the time and upon the commons, a $5.00 fine woods at night, but for rules of "sheep parting." was imposed for each offense. fear of injuring a person The early town records show had to be removed by day. THE TOWN RECORDS of the respective wealth of the Only after a generation of August 22, 1791 read ... "A farmers by relating for in- vigilant wolf extermina- joint committee of the towns stance ..... tion were East Meadow and of Oyster Bay, South Hempstead the other plains safe for and North Hempstead do agree John Rhodes hath two gates.