The hamlet of St James was named for the Episcopal church of St James founded there in the mid 1800s. A US postal service was later established with the some name. The area was primarily farmland until the arrival of the Long Island Rail Road.

The arrival of the Long Island Rail Road in St James in 1873 allowed for easy access to and from New York City. Many rich New Yorkers bought "farms" and build mansions on the North Shore of Long Island. St James became a popular vacation spot for the stars of New York stage and screen. In the days before air conditioning the theaters closed for the summer and actors went on vacation. Summer residents included Irving Berlin, Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, George M. Cohan, William Collier, Buster Keaton, Myrna Loy, Ruth Roman, Lillian Russell, and others. Many local people were employed for services, construction, and as domestic and other help.

The Land family arrived in the area circa 1900 when Law Land and his sons worked as carpenters and later construction contractors.

The Goehles, on the other hand, emulated the wealthy and came to St James to escape the summer heat of the city. After WWII the family moved permanently to St. James and Frank Goehle commuted to the city.

Percy Land and Meta Petermann

Minnie Goehle and her daughter, Winifred Goehle Manion

Minnie Lindemann Goehle lived at or near the corner of 2nd Street and 6th Avenue, Saint James at her death in 1944.

See Peter Goehle and Minnie Lindemann Goehle for more information.

Frank Goehle and Isabelle Walsh

Bud Land and Agnes Goehle

Agnes thought him very conscientious as he was always out washing the widows or sweeping the sidewalk. Eventually she came into the store to buy some grass seed for the lawn of the cabin. Bud offered free delivery so that he could find out where she lived. Several weeks later he went by the cabin to make sure the grass was growing satisfactorily. He found some stiff competition for Agnes' affections as there were multiple of young men hanging around the Goehle porch flirting with "the Gorgeous Goehle Girls": Agnes, Isabelle, Peggie and Eileen.

For the first few years after their marriage, Bud and Agnes lived in Smithtown. Circa 1950 they moved to St James where they lived over Percy Land's hardware store on Lake Avenue. See Bud Land and Agnes Goehle for more general information on Bud and Agnes and/or Pictures and Maps of where Bud Land and Agnes Goehle lived in Smithtown and St James .

In the early spring of 1951 the family moved to New Jersey, where Bud and Agnes remained until their deaths.

Date unknown

After 1900 the center of the St James' small commercial district moved from Moriches Road to Lake Avenue. The post office, train station, elementary school and most of the business in town were on Lake Avenue.

Percy Land owned the hardware store and lumberyard on Lake Avenue from 1924 to ??. The lumberyard was behind and to the north of the store.

David Bauer says Pop Noffsinger bought the hardware store from Percy. The Noffsingers ran the hardware store until about 1996. It was then an antique store for a number of years.

This building on Lake Avenue (and the property around it) was bought by Percy Land in 1924. It was the "Hardware Store".

See Percy Land now or at the bottom of the page

The St James post office moved from Moriches Road to Lake Avenue in August 1913. It occupied the north side of the building.

"Lake Ave Looking North from RR Oct 1953"

To the right can be seen a small bit of the Harware store. To the left is the lawn of the Elementary School.

According to an article in the local paper called the "Times" and displayed in the newly renovated St James train station, the train ran from Newport to Port Jefferson starting in 1873.

The Goehles took the train from Manhattan to St. James in the summer time.

The Lands must have been moving back and forth from Hoboken to Smithtown (Hauppaugue) on the Ronkonkoma line. The Central Islip train station is just a few miles from their known address in 1900.

The House and Home Company and the Long Island Railroad promoted the area of St James south of the railroad tracks which was known as "boomer" town. A grid pattern of lots was started in this section that includes the numbered streets and avenues where the Goehles lived. House sold at $300, $400 and $500 dollars. The Goehles bought a lot and built a log cabin from a kit.

The growing population in this area after the turn of the century caused businesses to spring up near the railroad station and thus the hamlet of St James was formed.

A number of Germans, Norwegians and Swedes bought lots in "boomertown".

The card sent in 1909 (? Stamp is very light) was addressed to Mrs M Conklin at 4815 Osgood S, E. 242 St 243 St, N. Y. C. and reads

"Dear Mother,

This train is drawing near to L. I. C. to bring papa and you to St. James.

Ella"

R. R. Depot St James L I

R. R. Depot St James L I

August 2005

The Nissequogue Hotel, St. Jamse L I

Located on the corner of Lake Avenue and Railroad Avenue the Nissequogue Hotel was completed in 1905.

328 Lake Ave

Emil Riis was born in Switzerland circa 1876. He immigrated to the USA circa 1896. He was listed in the 1910 census occupation, barber, on Lake Avenue, St James. He died 19 August 1946 Brookhaven, New York.

1920 Census: Emil Riis, age 45, single, immigrated 1898 PA, born Switzerland, barber, own shop

In May 1925 Emil Riis of Smithtown was indicted for keeping a slot machine.

1930 Census: Lake Avenue St James, Emiel Riis, age 55, own $16,000, born Switzerland, immigrated 1896, proprietor, ice cream parlor

Notes:

• No one else in the building.
• No one else from Switzerland in the immediate area and only a hand full in Smithtown in General.

1935: December Emil Riis had been confined in the Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson for observation since July. He was convalescing from a fractured hip which occurred when he fell from a chair.

1935: December 20 - Gretchen Margensen took over the store formerly run by Emil Riis. She planned to continue selling newspapers, magazines, fine candy, stationary, and toys the Emil Riis was know to have carried.

The St. James fire volunteer department organized in 1909 as the Eagle Hook and Ladder Co. The fire house was on Woodlawn Ave.

In 1922 a new fire house was built at the intersection of Rt 25A and Lake Avenue at 533 North Country Road, St. James. Honorary Fire Chief Charles S Butler donated the land and fire house in the memory of his parents. The fire equipments consisted of one ford Model "T combination pump and ladder with 1,000 feet of hose . Over the years the fire department raised funds from a variety of fairs, dances and other entertainments. The fire house was enlarged in 1953.

The intersection of Lake Avenue, North Country Road(Route 25A) and Moriches Road.

The card is postmarked 1907.

At the turn of the last century the St James Hotel stood at the corner of Route 25A and Lake Avenue. It burned in December 1962.

St. James Episcopal Church, 490 Old Country Rd., St James.

Built in 1853 the church contains stained-glass windows by Tiffany, John LaFarge, and Stanford White.

The Stanford White window is dedicated to Charles Nicoll Clinch, a cousin of Stanford's wife, Bessie Smith.

Stanford White is buried in the cemetery.

"Not long after the erection of the church a post office was established to serve the communtiy. The post office was called St James and the name soon spread to the locality"

Smithtown Souvenir Program 1936

Another view

Another view

Carol wrote:

"My Irish came to NYC in the 1850s and ended up in Smithtown and St James by 1860. They left there for CT before 1899. They attended St James Episcopal Church and my great-great grandfather, John Gallagher, is buried in that cemetery. The family plot is right next to Stanford White's. I thought that kind of ironic.....someone as famous as White next to an Irish immigrant from the potato famine. There's a message there for sure."

St Philip and James was dedicated on September 5, 1909.

Old Church circa 1910

From, St Philip and James Parish Celebrates 75 years

Wedding of Frank and Flo Goehle

St Philip and James School, St James, Long Island, N.Y.

Sts Philip and James Catholic School was built in 1922.

The Smithtown Club at Edgewood ave and Fifty Acre Road, St. James opened in 1924. The club was the home of the Smithtown Hunt and Polo Club. It was also the home of an annual horse show.

In May 1906 the St James Post Office was robbed. The burglers broke in during the night or early morning and blew open the safe which contained some cash and stamps. The thieves took about $300 worth of stamps but left behind a "lump of cash". Some of the tools used to break into the building had been stolen from the nearby blacksmith shop of William Monahan a few hundred feet away. A horse and carriage belonging to C. Melville Smith, the father of the postmaster, G. Louie Smith, had also been stolen from his stables near the R. R. station. The rig was used by the bandits to make their escape. Track were located heading west but the night was stormy and rainy and the tracks soon washed away. No one appears to have heard anything. The postal authorities were notified.

The stolen horse was black with one white hind foot and a white star on its forehead. The carriage was an old side bar top buggy. The next day the horse wandered into town without the buggy. A new safe was purchased. No trace of the thieves was found.

Three months later another robbery attempt was made on September 17. The robbers entered though a window. The thieves stole a bale of hay from the nearby barn of Everett Smith, the owner of the nearby general store, with the intent of deadening the sound of the explosion. G. Louie Smith happened to pass by and heard a noise. He immediately awakened Everett Smith. Shots were fired in the direction of the building. The burglers escaped. Return railroad tickets from St. James to Northport were found on the floor.

In 1913 the Post oOffice moved to Lake Avenue.

St James Post Office - Times Union - 13 October 1906

St James General Store
Moriches Road
St James, Long Island, N.Y. 11780

This National Historic Landmark has been in continuous operation
since it was built in 1857 by Ebenezer Smith. Never modernized, it is
considered to be the most authentic general store in the United
States. It held St James' first post office. Open year round and still
offering for sale a line of baked goods, unusual dolls, handcrafts,
antiques and general merchandise

Not posted

St James General Store, Moriches & Harbor Hill Rds.

"Moriches Road heading West from General Store Oct 1953"

David B. a Smithtown historian wrote:

"The area where Moriches (Nissequogue) Road is was called HEAD OF THE HARBOR before the formation of either of the villages in that area (or even St. James) and the land along the channel to the harbor (Three Sisters Harbor) from Stony Brook was called by the native Americans there "Sherewogue".... which kind of means "the land in between" ...... and in between referring to between the stony brook and the Nissequogue river. Adam Smith dammed off the stony brook to create the "duck pond" and built the first grist mill there in 1699. This created the causeway that tied Stony Brook to Smithtown and the beginning of Shore Road (now Harbor Road) by the grist mill."

Kaiser House, St James

This house, located on the corner of Highland Avenue and Moriches Road, was bought by Isabelle and Frank Goehle in the early 1940s.

Posted 1912

William Collier's home was on Moriches Road

William Collier, known as Willie was a theater actor, silent film actor and playwright who "discovered" St James and introduced it to many of his actor friends including the likes of John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore.

Death certificate of Luise A collier age 38, November 8, 1909 M # 32457

William Collier died in Beverly Hills, California January 13, 1944 age 79. He was the step father of the actor William Collier Jr.

Over looking the St James Harbor, the Shore Inn was build about 1901 on the west side of Harbor Road just north of Thompsons' Landing.

The Shore Inn was owned by retired vaudevillians, Anthony and Sophie Farrell. Anthony Farrell, born in Canada was listed as an actor in Philadelphia in the 1880 census. In 1910 Anthony, hotelman, age 53, and his wife, Sophie, age 46, were listed on ---- Hollow Road in St James, with an adopted son, John Vanderhave, age 17. Anthony Farrell died in 1926. Sophie was listed in 1930 in Patchogue, Brookhaven Township, owning a home valued at $3,500.

Shore Inn, St. James

Sunshine Lodge Hobson Avenue, St. James

"North county road toward Stony Brook Oct 1953 Oct 1953"

"Heading down cordwood Path October 1953"

Cordwood Path runs from Moriches Road to the Stoney Brook Harbor.

"Entrance to Box Hill from Corwood intersection October 1953"

Box Hill was the estate of Bessie Smith and Stanford White.

Most of the large country estates of wealthy New Yorkers who came to the North Shore of Long Island for the summer were built or expanded in the late 1880s to 1929.

Posted 1915

This house, now known as Deepwells Farm Historic Park, is on North Country Road near the intersection of Moriches Road. Originaly built in 1845 by Joel L. G. Smith around 1905 it became the summer home of Supreme Court Justice, William J Gaynor, and his wife, Augusta. William Gaynor was elected mayor of New York in 1909.

Mayor William Gaynor was shot in the throat by a disgruntled ex-city employee named James Gallagher. On August 9, 1910 Mayor Gaynor was about to embark on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse bound from Hoboken, New Jersey to Europe for a four week vacation. As the mayor stood chatting with friends and associates a man approached from behind and fired three shots. One shot went "wild", one crazed the arm of William Edwards, the Commissioner of Street Cleaning and the other entered the back of the mayors throat and lodged directly behind his tonsils. Gaynor had only been in office for 7 months.

In response to the incident, New York State passes the Sullivan Law in 1911, requiring gun owners to get permits from the police department. The bullet remained lodged in Gaynor's throat because it was deemed safer than trying to remove it.

In 1913, three years after he was shot, William Jay Gaynor, age 65, who was a day out at sea aboard the ocean liner Baltic, collapsed and died when a coughing fit brought on by the bullet which was still lodged in his throat caused him to have a heart attack.

Mayor Gaynor moments before being shot, Review September 1910.

Reboul's from the harbor, St James, L. I.

Not posted

Woodcrest, the Homer Reboul Estate, Moriches Rd., Nissequogue (289 acres, 2 buildings, 2 structures) - built 1875 (?). Now on the National Register of Historic Places

Homer Reboul born circa 1851 in Astoria, Queens was the son of John B Reboul and Almira ___.

For more information on the Reboul Family go to Reboul

According to the 1950 tax map, James W Lane's estate was on the water at the end of Boney Lane overlooking Short Beach, Smithtown Park.

This mansion was originally build for William J Matherson (1857-1930). Dr. Matherson was a chemist who made his fortunes in the manufacture of synthetic dyes. He sold the property to Albert A Stewart a part owner of Barnum and Bailey and a friend of Mayor Gaynor. Albert Stewart died in the Titanic disaster of 1912. The property then went to James Warren Lane and his wife Eva Metcaff Bliss.

For more information on the Lane Family and the Lane House go to Lane

541 Long Beach Road, St James New York

Land of Clover - Also known as Lathrop Brown Estate Long Beach Rd., S side, Nissequogue (567 acres, 6 buildings, 1 structure) Architect - Brown, Archibald Architectural Style: Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Period of Significance: 1900-1924, Current Sub-function: School

Lathrop Brown (1883-1959) was a Harvard educated politician and real estate developer. The first records in St James for Lathrop Brown date to 1914.

Lathrop Brown and his family moved to California in 1946 where he became a cattle rancher and was elected to the sheriff's posse in 1947. His property in St James was not listed on the 1950 tax map of the area. The picture indicates that it was on the beach.

He died in Florida in 1959.

To see a picture of Lathrop Brown go to Find a Grave

The property is now the home of The Knox Boarding School who moved to that location in 1954.

For more information on the Brown Family go to Brown

"House built between 1712 and 1747 by Richard Smith, 2nd, for his son, Ebenezer. Now the residence of Mr. William H. Dixon"

Smithtown Souvenir Program 1936

The house located n smith Lane Nissequogue was was remolded in 1920 (or 1927) A new Kitchen, bathrooms and a large service wing was added. The old porch was removed and a new one a created. It was the residence of William H Dixon circa 1927 to at least 1936.

The Specs included: wood frame, exterior shingles, roof singles, widows wood double hung, floors maple, heating, low pressure steam one pipe system, Interior walls, living room finish hand plastered, oak ceiling beams, study, white pine book cases, dining room wood paneling to dado. Approximate cubic footage: 52,780

William H. Dixon born 16 August 1877 Graduated Columbia 1900. William H. Dixon married Josephine Theodora Williams at Grace Church in NYC in January 1900. They divorced in 1905. She married Cicil A. Campell. He married Harriett Hall Hazard in Providence in June 1914.

William H Dixon and Josephine had two children: Barbara and W. Palmer born 1902, graduated Harvard 1925.

The 1930 census listed William H and Harriet Dixon with seven servants on on a private road in the Nissequogue. Value of the house $40,000. William H Dixon died at his home in St. James in July 1936. At his death age 66 in 1868 W. Palmer Dixon maintained a house in St. James.

" Archibald Graham House built in 1910. Archibald Graham was a famous golfer, won the 1900, 1903, 1906 opens, and built that house with the winning money. It is concrete block construction.

I own that home since 1993. In 1924, it was remodeled when sold to Alice McLean, of the English Family.

The white garage in the back ground was previously the horse stable in the 1910 picture.

The 1950 tax maps lists Prescott B. Huntington on the west side of the Harbor.

"The house attributed to Mrs. Huntington, who was Prescott Huntington's mother, sits atop the hill overlooking the pond on Moriches Road, across from Cordwood Path. The landscape is now fully overgrown with second growth."

Richard Smith, January 2006

The Huntingtons and Smiths are related as Mrs. Huntington's mother was a daughter of Judge John Lawrence Smith who was the younger brother of my great great grandfather Edward Henry Smith.

Richard Smith, January 2006

Rassapeague Also known as Francis C. Huntington and Susan Butler Huntington Estate Long Beach Rd., S side, Nissequogue, Architect, builder, or engineer: Ford, Butler, and Oliver, Unknown, Architectural Style: Italianate, Late Victorian, Colonial Revival, Area of Significance: Architecture, Social History, Entertainment/Recreation, Period of Significance: 1850-1874, 1875-1899, 1900-1924

For more information on the Huntington family go to Huntington

"S" Bacon may be in error. At the approximate time of the photo the property belonged to George Wood Bacon an industrialist.

The 1950 tax maps lists F. M. Bacon and George W. Bacon, both on the harbor in Head of the Harbor. F. M. Bacon III was a financier.

July 2007 Warren C. Hubbs emailed:

"From what I know of it, Sidney Bacon lived in this house in the 50s... and could be earlier AND later. The exact dates he* lived there are not known by me."

George W Bacon was the son of Josiah Bacon and Caroline Wood Bacon, born in Greenwich, Cumberland, Co New Jersey May 6, 1869.

*In September Katherine Finger wrote to say that Sidney Bacon was female. She was born in 1935 - the daughter of F. M. Bacon and Tonie Frissell. See SIDNEY STAFFORD Obituary

For more information on the Bacon family go to Bacon

"The photo must be close to a hundred years ago. It was built by a member of the Smith family, Capt. Obadiah Smith, who at one point sold off some of the land to the Demato family who build a house on it."

Doug Dahlgard, January 2006

William Gleichmann, age 73, a native of Brooklyn, died in July 1939 after an 8 week illness. He had been president of the Fulton Storage Company in Brooklyn. His son William Gleichmann junior had died only 3 day earlier. William Glichmann senior had formerly had a summer home in St. James and also had homes in Garden City, Coral Gables, Fla., and Charleston Lake, Ontariom Canada. He was survived by a widow, Eva. and four daughters

Square House, Rassapeaque, St James, Long Island

Not posted

Originally the the Thomas S. Seabury estate. In 1879 it was bought by John Ruszits. Later it was owned by Francis Cleveland Huntington (1865-1916).

In 1923 and 1924 Camp Rassapeaque was run on this property. The Outlook, vol 137, 1924 contained an ad for a school at Square House, St. James, Long Island

"SQUARE HOUSE SAINT JAMES. LONG ISLAND Fifty miles from New York North Shore Sound. One-hundred acres field and woodland. All year normal, happy outdoor life for boys under 17. Expert individual teaching."

Unfortunately, this lovely old house was destroyed by fire in December 2011.

Nissequogue history, up in flames

.......

A fire on Friday, Dec. 30, burned the 22-room, Victorian-style house to the ground.

......

The Rassapeague property, an estate off Long Beach Road in Nissequogue, was built in 1865, registered a historical landmark in 1993 and had been occupied by generations of Smithtown families.

.......

The property's history starts with a letter. Thomas Shepard Seabury, the nephew of famous Setauket painter William Sydney Mount, wrote to his uncle in the mid 1800s, informing him he would cease taking painting lessons from him in order to start a plantation business. He built a house on the Rassapeague property and maintained a vineyard there.

According to a document from the Smithtown Historical Society, John Ruszits bought the estate in 1881 and improved the vineyard by creating a winery, noted for its Rassapeague claret, a type of wine.

In 1906 Huntington's great-grandmother, Cornelia Butler, bought the 96-acre property when it was back on the market. Her son, Lawrence Butler, Huntington's great-uncle, was the architect who built a wing to the house in 1915, according to documents.

(Frank) Huntington's father, Prescott, took over the property in 1930, and lived there with his wife and five children.

See Nissequogue history, up in flames for the full story.

No Wallen listed in St James in 1920 or 1930 Census

"Buller" is a misprinted on the card. The name should be "Butler". Other printings of the same image show the spelling as BUTLER.

Lawrence Butler was the son of Prescott Butler.

For more information on the Butler family go to Butler

As pointed out to me by Peter Alsen in June 2011 this was not the property known as Bytharbor (the home of Prescott Butler)

In February 2017 David Bauer wrote:

The Butlers built their house on the west side of Cordwood Path and Stanford White converted the Carmen farm house on the east side of Cordwood Path.

Where Cordwood and Moriches meet, there are two pillared entrance ways. The one to the left is to "By Tharbor" and the one to the right is to "Box Hill".

The miss-printed postcard is of the ballroom/etc. that was part of the Butler family estate. Technically it is "part" of BY THARBOR but is not the "house".

I have attached the picture from your site as well as a BING MAPS current view of the estate. The building in your postcard picture is the building in the lower middle of the aerial view with the columned porches now removed (as it is now a private home on its own).

The estate home is seen more toward the top left of the aerial view.

The Butlers bought up a lot of land in the area. There were three children.....Lawrence, Susan and Charles. Lawrence was an architect as you know but he bought Timothy house on North Country Road with its farm land extending all the way back to the corner of Fifty Acre and Moriches Roads. This is where he had "Fifty Acre Field"....his polo field.

Charles was a lawyer and had the land to the south of Moriches Road for his Branglebrink Farms Dairy and feed his cows on the grass on the infield of the race track/polo field that was on the west side of Fifty Acre extending almost to the corner at Edgewood Avenue.

Susan married Francis Huntington and lived at Square House (or Rassapeaque) by Long Beach on the northwest side of the harbor.

I understand that after Prescott Butler's death, Lawrence Butler was "running" BY THARBOR and that might be why the postcard attributes the structure to him rather than his father.

That structure in the picture is from after the first burned down. Lawrence Butler then paid to have natural gas and public water run the length of Fifty Acre Road....up through his brothers dairy and across the street to BY THARBOR to have a hydrant right there on the grounds. The rest of the village residents had wells until about 20 years ago.

Photo courtesy of David Bauer 2017

The famous architect, Stanford White, of the firm McKim and White, married Bessie Smith, of Smithtown.

Bessie was the daughter of Judge J Lawrence Smith of Smithtown. Her siblings included, Carnelia (Mrs. Prescott Butler), Ella (Mrs. Devereau Emmet) and a brother, James Clinch Smith. James Clinch Smith was a principle heir to A. T. Stewart and inherited $3,000,000 from that estate. A T Stewart was a department store magnate who had an estate called Garden City in Hampstead Plains. Bessie and Stanford bought Box Hill in St James in 1892 across the road from Bessie's sister, Cornelia (Nellie) Smith, and her husband Prescott Hall Butler.

Nellie and Prescott Butler had started to build Bytharbor on a property overlooking the Long Island Harbor in Head of the Harbor in 1878. Over the years McKim and White enlarged Bytharbor and built numerous out buildings.

Devereux Emmet (1862-1934) was married to another Smith sister, Ella. The Emmets owned Sherrewogue, the 1688 homestead of Adam Smith, located a few miles away across the St James Harbor from the Butlers and Whites. In 1895 Stanford White remodeled and enlarged the Emmet home with great respect to the original architecture. Devereux Emmet was also and architect and designed some of Long Island most classic golf courses.

Sherrewogue, the former estate of Devereux Emmet and Ella B Smith Emmet, is located on Harbor Rd. It was originally a farmhouse built about 1689. Additions were made in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. The house was expanded by Stanford White in 1895 for Ella Smith Emmet and her husband, Devereux Emmet. Ella Smith Emmet was the sister of Stanford White's wife.

Devereux Emmet (1863-1934) was a golf course designer who designed, among other courses, the Green course at Bethpage.

According to Tish Goehle, the estate passed into the hands of New York socialite, Francis Bacon and his wife, Toni Frissill. Toni (Antoinette) Frissill Bacon (1907-1988) a fashion photographer (known for posing her ball gown clad models in outdoor settings) married Francis M Bacon 3rd. Toni Frissell died in the St James Nursing Home April 20, 1988.

Tish Goehle's mother worked as a cook on the Bacon Estate

"At the time my mother worked for Bacon my brother and I briefly resided at Sherrewogue before moving to my mother's home on Maple Ave in Smithtown in 1946. I always remember the pond in front of the house."

Sherrewogue

"Residence of Francis McNeil Bacon, 3rd. Built in 1689 by Adam Smith, second son of Richard Smith, the Patentee.

This old colonial homestead remained continously in the Smith family until 1935. From 1890 until 1934 it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Devereux Emmet, Mrs. Emmet being a descendant of the "Bull Rider".

The photograph was taken in 1927 by E. H. Hoppe of London England and was published in his book "Romantic America". "

Smithtown Souvenir Program 1936

The House and Garden Sherrewogue

The New End of the House, Sherrewogue

The New Living-Room, Sherrewogue

The Chimney-Piece in the Living-Room, Sherrewogue

The first floor of the house included:

• Dining Room 19' by 21'
• Library 20' x 20'
• Billard Room 18'x 20'
• Living Room 31'x 23'
• Kitchen, pantry, scullery, storerooms

"At the end of the living room terminating the house is a broad window, and then the large piazza facing the bay and, a quarter of a mile beyond, the wooded shore of Long Island sound."

"The billiard-room, library, hall and dining room, and the service parts, make up the old house. The living-room and porch are entirely new. The second floor of the house has bedrooms, baths, and dressing room; the service wing and attic are reserved for the servants. Throughout, the wood work is painted white, the cornice, the trim and them mouldings, most especially the mantel in the living room, are most refined in feeling of their detail. The library bookcases, with their cupboards below and heavy munitioned glass doors above, running all the way to the cornice, are copied from the Mount Vernon library."

House & Garden, Volume 3, 1903

Old Field, the home of Francis L Steeken was featured in HOUSE AND GARDEN of January 1923. The house was build in 1920 (Long Island country houses and their architects, 1860-1940 By Robert B. MacKay, Anthony K. Baker, Carol A. Traynor) The property was later owned by Fred W. Gurney. Located on Dodge Lane in Setauket, the house is currently the home of Maryville Convent.

"The home of Francis L Steken, St. James, Long Island, is a rare example of authentic Italian Architecture placed in an American setting. In every detail—the roof, the disposition of the widows, the character of the walls—its origin is evident. Henry Corse Jr of Butler & Corse was the architect."

The living room, which is as authentic as the exterior, is finished in an austere Italian manner. A gallery runs along one end, with steps leading down to the level of the floor. Rich color is found in this floor of rough textured orange-brown tiles."

I cannot find much on Francis L Steeken. He was on the honor roll at Poly Prep in Brooklyn in 1903.

Court Yard

There used to be a Polo Field and horse race track on the corner of Fifty Acre Road and Edgewood Avenue.

It was part of a country club that included and mansion with stables in a horse shoe shape to the left and a caretakers house that was adjacent to a farm and then the Smithtown Schools old administration building access drive (now Nessaquake Middle School). The caretaker's house was called "The Hudson House". The Mansion burned in the early 1960's and was finally burned down completely by the St. James Fire Department in about 1964. It had been owned by Mrs. Wood who was the mother of Charles and Bruce Edgar. The stables were torn down in the late 1990's (I believe it was) for a housing development.

Getting back to the Polo fields and race track.....When the club was running as a club there would be events including horse shows. Below is a clip of an article on this from the early part of last century:

SMITHTOWN HORSE SHOW.; Fine Day Brings Out Society to St. James's Polo Field.

September 12, 1915, Page 14,

ST. JAMES, L.I., Sept. 11. -- Society was well represented today at the annual Smithtown Horse Show held on the St. James polo field. It was an excellent day for the show, and only one slight accident marred the exhibition when Harvey S. Ladow was thrown. A feature of the show was the commissary wagon shown by Lawrence Smith, who buys horses in this country for the Allies.

When there were events at the club, Mrs. Wood would have her son and his friends act as hat check boys or valets. The high society folks showed up with exotic cars that sometimes the boys did not know how to drive. As I'm told, they would take the keys and wait for the people to go inside. Then they would limp and lurch the cars around back where they would practice driving them on the polo field and track until they were good at it so when they had to bring the cars up to the people it was nice and smooth.

I also heard stories of some "racing" that went on with the faster cars on the horse track. Mrs. Wood was never told about this of course. My dad was checking hats and coats so would not have any knowledge of that first hand.

I was born and raised on Fifty Acre Road and while reading about the "polo Grounds" remembered that when the Clubhouse burned down, my father purchased the front pillars and they now stand in front of our old home. I don't have an address, but it is in the almost exact middle of the road on the right side coming from Edgewood avenue. If you drive the road, you can see the 3 story house with 4 large pillars on the front porch.

Another bit of my history, the Lawrence Butler house was owned by Chandler and Lois Matthews when I was a child and I spent almost all of my time there. When you write about parties at the house, I remember riding my tricycle and bicycle in the ball room. There was a huge moose over the fireplace and I remember one of the "boys" hit a home run and smashed the moose in the jaw. Pretty funny, but boy did we get in trouble! I understand most of the house and the ballroom were all torn down. Bummer. Nice website! It brought back many great memories. I lived on Fifty Acre Road from 1951 until my Dad remarried in 1962 and we moved to Old Field Point. My Mom's Dad owned the Smithtown Messenger. Thanks for the memories!

In February 2011 Dorothy Secor wrote to me about her uncle, John Hewitt (1875-1969) who headed the one man police force for Head of The Harbor.

Capt. John Hewitt retired at age 71 in 1950 after 20 years on the force. Capt. Hewitt was a former New York City detective and the first one man police force for Head of the Harbor. He lived on Highland Ave. in St James.

"Hewitt became the Head of the Harbor cops after serving 26 years as a detective in New York's Second Division. The incorporated village was founded in 1928 and hired its first policeman two years later."

"Hewitt has been on call seven days a week and has been required to patrol 10 miles of roadway with its 300 residents daily."

From a news clipping shared by Dorothy Secor February, 2011.

According to his WWI Draft Registration JOhn Hewitt was born March 8, 1876.

King Pedlar, a photographer and local Long Island Historian. worked as a psychiatric aide at the Kings Park mental hospital and lived on the grounds for 31 years. He wrote in November 2007 to share some information on Smithtown and Central Islip.

Kings Park Heritage Museum Pictures and More — Kings Park

by Goeffrey K Fleming

A fun collection of images of St James, its people and places is available for sale online