[An earlier version of this article was published in the "Copiague Weekely" newspaper, around 2008.]
The south shore of Long Island has had an
irresistible lure for centuries, and the southern border of Copiague has been
no different. The advent of the railroad
at the end of the 19th Century, drew many to the south shore of
Babylon Town, particularly Babylon Village and Amityville, during the height of
the summer resort era. By the early part
of the 20th Century, however, the resort boom had ended and the
nation was entrenched in World War I.
A time of widespread economic prosperity
followed World War I and ushered in the “Jazz Age” and the “Roaring
Twenties.” In contrast to the rigid
Victorian Era that preceded the war, the post-war years marked the change to a
“modern” and technological way of life, one dependent on automobiles, radios,
and electrical appliances. Recreation
and amusement were prized – movies (color films and “talkies” were introduced),
music (Jazz, Big Band), art (Art Deco), and dancing (Fox Trot, Tango,
Charleston).
Returning World War I soldiers had money to
spend and home ownership was on the rise; they bought homes with progressive
conveniences – vacuum cleaners, washing machines, refrigerators. A growing priority was to own your OWN
home. Even for those who did not own a
year-round home, summer homes became an “affordable luxury.” To many New York City residents, Long
Island’s south shore was far enough from the City to “get away from it all,”
yet close enough for a reasonable sojourn.
The fruits of Copiague’s marshlands were ripe for cultivation.
Copiague – Open
for Development
In her 1980 article entitled “Along the
Waterfront,” Elodie Dibbins described the scene of Copiague’s waterfront as one
that “remained largely untouched and undeveloped until the boom years of the
1920’s. Most of the eight hundred
residents of this tiny hamlet preferred to live inland; away from the
mosquitoes and close to the stores and railroad station.” Ms. Dibbins continued by revealing,
“Outsiders took a different view [of Copiague’s waterfront]. If existing waterways were extended and new
canals dredged, the sand could be used as fill for the low-lying land. Miles of bulkheading would keep each
commodity in its newly assigned place, and be perfect for docking the boats of
new homeowners.”[ii]
For visionary developers, Copiague’s
waterfront was a blank slate on which they could create charming, rural housing
developments – a dream for many American at the time. No less than six ambitious Copiague
developments debuted during the 1920s, including Amity Harbor, American Venice,
Hawkins Estate, Shore Acres, Deauville Gardens, and Amity Gardens. Each development promised new homes with
modern conveniences, and easy access to the bay, the railroad and Merrick Road
(Montauk Highway). In the 1920s, Merrick
Road was still often referred to as South Country Road.
Copiague’s bay front is comprised of three
natural necks: Copiague Neck, Great Neck, and Half Neck. Half Neck, the western most, became Amity
Harbor, the dream of George J. Brown, a real estate developer from New York
City. Brown reportedly purchased the
undeveloped property from Jerry Johnson in 1925. The acreage had previously been used for plantings
of corn and potatoes, cow pasture, and hunting grounds. Long before that, it was land purchased in
1657 by Jonas Wood of Huntington from Chief Wyandance, Sachem of Montauk, and
Keetoseethok, Sachem of Secatogue – a “Half Neck of Meadow.”
Coming to the United States as a teenager, George J. Brown was born in Russia,[iii] and spent his entire career in real estate. Brown’s other development properties included New York City’s Flushing Manor, Belleclare Gardens and Bronx Shores, but it appears that it was Amity Harbor that garnered the most publicity and attention. While George J. Brown, the chief spokesperson for the project, is credited with much of the community’s development, at least three other entities were involved in the real estate venture: the Amity Harbor Corporation, of which Brown was the President, the Stewart Development Corp., who was listed as the property developer in many advertisements, and the E. A. White Organization.
Amity Harbor –
A Select Community
An early advertising brochure for Amity
Harbor described the budding community as,
“A select community – exclusive, but not
expensive – … created and maintained for nice people. The houses are well built and contain 7 rooms
of good size, fully equipped with modern improvements. You can keep your car in your own garage and
your boat in back of your house.”
Streets and canals were laid out in an
alphabetical fashion. On the west side,
Albert Road preceded Barry Road, which came before Cape Road, and so on. Between the streets the canals were similarly
labeled – Alabama Lagoon, Belgrade, Chelsea, Dryden, to name a few. The east side followed suit: Anita Place,
Baltic Place, Charleston Drive – right down to Kerrigan Road. A planned drawbridge connecting the southern
ends of Western Concourse and Eastern Concourse never came to fruition, but the
layout of the streets and canals designed by Brown remain virtually unchanged.
In the center of the community, where a
community house and lighthouse-styled tower once stood, was George Brown Plaza,
a fitting designation to honor the developer who reportedly remained a notable
fixture in the neighborhood. He was
often seen driving through the “Harbor” in his large Packard touring car.
Prospective land purchasers could travel to
Amityville by railroad for free, where they were greeted by sales
representatives and taken to the development.
A large tent, which acted as the sales office, was erected on the
property. Visitors could enjoy lunch at
the community house. An advertisement
for an August 1926 opening fete, dubbed “Mardi Gras,” boasted: “Barbecue, Boat
Rides, Bathing, Brass Band, Fireworks, Refreshments, Kiddies’ Playgrounds –
Everything Absolutely Free! – No Cost to You – We Pay the Fare – An Ideal
Outing, Bring the Family.”[iv]
Just imagine, a hot, sticky August in New
York City, when residential air conditioning was not commonplace, and you are
offered a free train trip to the “country-side,” along the cool shores of the
Great South Bay. It does not sound like
a bad deal, but then there are no reports of the “hard-sell” sales pitch.
The Amityville
Record reported that the Amity Harbor development played host to 5,000
people during the celebrations held each Sunday in August 1926. Harry A. Schroeder, the Amity Harbor property
manager, was quoted as saying, “Amityville in its entirety is invited to be our
guest.” Promoters predicted that the
celebrations would “bring together out-of-town buyers and their future
neighbors.”[v]
Access to boating and boat storage were
prominent features in Brown’s promotions of Amity Harbor. Brown billed the community as “a home for the
white-collar man with a car in the front and a boat in the rear.”
“Amityville Will Mingle at Amity Harbors Sunday. Yachtsmen have been invited to bring
their boats into the basin, explore it, look and see whether it is really 14
feet deep and moor their craft off the Amity Harbor Yacht Club building for
their own pleasure and the decorative effect…. The basin is 3,600 feet long and
100 feet wide.”[vi]
“GARAGE FOR BOATS. To suit the particular needs of residents of Amity Harbor … Most of the lots in Amity Harbor have frontages not only on a street but also on the lagoons which cut through the property. In many cases, those who are building intend to use boats and, according to Mr. Brown, his newly designed structure will have room for both cars and boats.”[vii]
“AMITY
HARBORS PROGRESS. The Western
Concourse, 100 feet wide, was finished yesterday … where 16 boathouses, free to
all, are in readiness.”[viii]
A year later, in the summer of 1927, Brown
had reportedly built 19 homes in the Amity Harbor development – one two-family
house and the others, one-family; built on plots of 40 x 100 feet. Brown announced plans to build at least 100
homes that year. [ix] Progress was also being made on the roads and
sidewalks:
“RUSH
AMITY HARBOR WORK – Attempt is Being Made to Pave Streets Before Year is Over.
Contractors are working on a double
shift on the property in an attempt to have streets laid and paved before the
year is over … These include Buchanan Avenue, as far as North Plaza; Coolidge
Avenue, Dawes Avenue, George Brown Plaza and Merrick Road. Thirty miles of
sidewalks will have been laid when the paving is completed.”[x]
Reports of the community’s development
continued through 1929, and give us a glimpse at the completed construction:
“BUILDING
AT AMITY HARBOR. The Amity Harbor
Corporation [is building] six dwellings to be rendered fireproof and damp-proof
by a product made of pre-cast reinforced concrete. These homes are being erected on the north
side of Barry Road, fronting on the Belgrade Lagoon, a wide canal, which runs
into Great South Bay.”[xi]
“AMITY
HARBOR PROGRESS – Thirty-six New Dwellings Completed and Occupied. Thirty-six new house[s] have recently been
completed at Amity Harbor, L.I., and are all occupied [and] several new places
are under construction …. About $1,000,000 has been spent on improvements.”[xii]
It is difficult to track the exact number
of houses built during those first few years and it seems that the figures
reported in newspapers, including The New
York Times, must be taken with a grain of salt. In 1927, the Amity Harbor Corporation
predicted that they would construct 100 homes that year. However, by August 1929, only 36 homes had
been completed. Announcements of
additional homes and bungalows were reported throughout 1930 and 1931, with no
specific numbers. While these reports
are helpful in tracing the progress of Amity Harbor, it must be remembered that
many reports were merely promotional tactics designed to keep the public
interested in the development.
The transformation of land from scrub oak
and farmland to tidy streets for homes and recreation must have been an overwhelming
task. Attracting buyers with speculation
of progress rather than the finish product is difficult, but it is equally hard
to finance progress without purchasers – a vicious cycle and one that created
the need to keep the development newsworthy.
It appears that it was quite common for
newspaper articles to include the names of new home and lot purchasers in Amity
Harbor. Whether this was initiated by
the homeowners or the development company is unknown but such reports do offer
an opportunity to follow continued improvements in the community:
“Two families, the first to have
moved in on the many properties … are now occupying their homes on Amity Harbor
property. They are Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Weber, from Glendale, and Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Schiller, from New York.” [xiii]
“SITES
BOUGHT IN AMITY HARBOR. Bungalow
sites in Amity Harbor have been sold by the George J. Brown Organization to William
Boschen, Ernest Leins, August F. Dush, Daniel McCarron, John Weydig, Henry W.
Poit, Edward Fitzsimmons and Mrs. Margauerite E. McGuire. C.R. Parliman and Edwin Mayer have organized
the Amity Beach and Yacht Club in the development.”[xiv]
The 1920s was a decade of great progress for American women. While not a remarkable subject today, the following headlines were apparently noteworthy:
“WOMAN
BUYS AT AMITYVILLE. At Amity Harbor,
L.I., Margaret A. Allrict of Jamaica, brought two lots on the south side of
Felix Place, west of Jarvis Avenue.”[xv]
“GOLD
STAR MOTHERS TO BUILD SOON. The Gold
Star Mothers Society of the Bronx, which purchased recently a plot 100 by 100
feet at the corner of Wilson and India Streets in Amity Harbor, will erect a
clubhouse on the site soon. The building
will conform in architecture to the $50,000 community house just completed
there.”[xvi] [Formed as a national organization in 1928,
the Gold Star Mothers Club is an association of American women who have lost
children serving in the United States Armed Forces.]
No doubt, such announcements were an
invitation for other women to view Amity Harbor as an appropriate investment.
There are many accounts of stucco-covered
homes in Amity Harbor, though no reports have been found of specific
model-types and designs. By January
1932, the Amity Harbor Corporation was urging would-be buyers to “Buy Your Own
Summer Home with your Vacation Money” – a four room and bath bungalow for
$2,377, which included a 40 x 100 foot plot.
Later that same month, George J. Brown announced that his organizations
had plans to build 50 houses in “the lower priced field.” Presumably, these economical residences were
those advertised as summer homes.
Although many of the south shore
developments would remain summer retreats for many homeowners until after World
War II, the comfort of these communities did encourage many residents to
establish themselves year-round. In
fact, in June 1933, it was reported that there were more than 100 homes in
Amity Harbor, and many residents enjoyed year-round occupancy. That same month, Brown announced that the
six-year-old development would be “officially opened” June 4, 1933. Why exactly the development was not
“officially” opened until 1933 is a mystery, but it appears that Mr. Brown had
a head for publicity. Perhaps, the
completion of 100 homes, those that had been predicted in 1927, was the impetus
for celebration – a goal achieved.
Local Benefits
of Development
The influx of new housing and increased tax
revenue brought a windfall to local residents and school districts. In 1926, The
Amityville Record enthusiastically reported, “A reappraisal of the land
embraced in the five Copiague real estate developments is largely responsible
for an increase of 132 percent in the assessed valuation of the Copiague School
District … [The new tax] rate will be lower than it was before the district
floated a $70,000 bond issue to build its new brick school [the Great Neck Road
Elementary School, constructed in 1925].”
The
Record clarified, “Of the
five real estate developments in Copiague, four lie wholly within
Copiague. These are Hawkins Estate,
Amity Harbor, American Venice and Amity Gardens. The fifth is the Deauville Gardens
development, a small part of which lies in Amityville village.” These
properties had previously been carried as low value farm and meadow lands on
the assessment rolls, with the exception of Hawkins Estate, which had been a private
residence owned by William Hawkins. The
filing of development maps with the County Clerk upgraded the land values, and
increased revenues. “In this way,” The Record stated, “the burden of
taxation in Copiague will now be distributed more equitably, in the opinion of
many home owners there.”[xvii]
Two years later, property values continued
to increase, raising the profiles of Copiague’s many developments. E. A. White, President of the E. A. White
organization, with which Brown was reportedly affiliated, discussing the
reduction of taxes in certain areas of Long Island, announced, “Copiague has
made a big increase in valuations.
Approximately $1,000,000 was added last year, and now Copiague realty is
valued at only $815,000 less than Lindenhurst.
Copiague’s total jumped from about $1,800,000 to $3,045,938, an increase
of nearly 70 percent.”[xviii] White credited Copiague’s growth to the many
real estate developments, including Amity Harbor.
Community
Landmarks and “All Sand”
Built in 1928, at a cost of $50,000, the
Amity Harbor Yacht Club had a variety of uses.
In later years the Clubhouse was described as a two-story stucco
building that acted as the center of community affairs, with a large fireplace
and a marble staircase. In 1966, Mrs.
Carlton Yackal, an early resident, gave these recollections about the “Club”
and the surrounding area: “I remember Amity Harbor as of [1930]. Those things that stand out in my mind are:
the Club … run by Horace Smith, with miniature golf on the front lawn, tennis
in the back, pony rides, ballet lessons, games inside on rainy days if we
behaved ourselves, dog shows once a year judged by Mr. Lowenstein, a dog
fancier, costume parties and dances for the adults. By the main lagoon was a
playground, tower inside of which candy was sold with a very scary trip up to
the top, a diving board, boat house with row boats and canoe at our disposal,
and watermelon eating picnics … the most carefree and fun-filled summers any
child could wish for.”[xix] Other
residents described the early years of the community as “all sand” with no more
than three houses on each street. An
equally idyllic contrast from city-life.
Despite the economic depression in the
early 1930s, Amity Harbor continued to expand.
However, it may not have expanded enough to keep the project
afloat. It has been reported that Brown
hit some difficult times during Depression.
After selling off property at reduced prices, he had to relinquish a
93-acre parcel of land between Kerrigan Road and the Great South Bay to satisfy
unpaid Town taxes.
Brown’s uncultivated 93-acre tract remained
untouched for decades, until the Town of Babylon developed the acreage as a
local park. Named Tanner Park after an
active member of Copiague’s civic affairs, Richard Tanner, the park remains the
largest of all the parks in Babylon Town.
The majestic Clubhouse on George Brown
Plaza was a center of community affairs in the early years of Amity Harbor, but
it too was sold. Reportedly, the clubhouse
was used as a girls’ school for a time in the mid to late 1930s, but by 1940 it
was vacant. During World War II, the former
Clubhouse was converted to house 30 female engineers working at the Grumman
airplane plant in Farmingdale. The first
of many such housing arrangements made in the Babylon Town area.
By 1947, the Clubhouse was billing itself
as “Beautiful Amity Harbor Lodge – Now Open to the Public.” By the 1950s, it became Athenian Gardens
Restaurant, which was destroyed by fire in the mid-1960s. After the blaze, the building was boarded up
for three years until a new investor rebuilt it as Michael’s Pier 3. Michael’s Pier 3 appears to have been the
building’s longest occupant. But that
too did not last. Pier 3 closed in 1992.
A 55-foot lighthouse was erected near the boat basin at the north end of the Grand Lagoon in the late 1920s. Visitors could climb to the top for a bird’s eye view of the Great South Bay. The lighthouse was a majestic landmark in the community for decades, until it was destroyed by a hurricane. The hurricane that toppled the soaring structure is yet to be identified. Few, if any, current residents lived in Amity Harbor at the time of that storm. Residents who moved to Amity Harbor in the mid-1960s report that the lighthouse was already gone before they arrived, although a low footprint of the structure remained until it too fell waste to Hurricane Gloria, in 1985.
An Active Civic
Association
Formed in 1934 and incorporated in 1937, the Amity Harbor Civic Association is the oldest continuously active civic association in New York State. A 1977 membership booklet detailed many of the Association’s achievements on behalf of the community and historical highlights, including:
Water Service:
“In the early days of Amity Harbor, homes north of George Brown Plaza were
serviced by private wells, whereas those in the southern areas did not have
drinkable water. Their water as obtained
each day by children’s wagons, from a public hand pump across from the
[Clubhouse].”
Postal Delivery:
“In the late 40’s, the Association worked with the Postal Service to [initiate]
home deliveries in our area. Volunteeer
committees mapped the Harbor to establish house numbers. Prior to this, mail was held at the Post
Office and eventually delivered to rural mail boxes at the end of each street.”
Tanner Park Airport:
“What is now Tanner Park and which was previously a tranquil beach meadow was
not too long ago, contemplated as a private airport. Largely through the intervention of the
Association, this disconcerting proposal was defeated.”
Club House:
After many years of planning, the Association successfully negotiated for the
donation of a suitable parcel. “Card
parties, bazaars and dances provided funds for the preliminary financing of
this project. Members who were attorneys,
construction workers, just plain volunteers, contributed their time and talents
to this project – the combined continuing efforts have satisfied the
mortgage.”
A Final Note
This article is not intended to be a
“complete” history of Amity Harbor, but a glimpse at its inception and early
development.
More than 80 years have passed since George
J. Brown revealed his vision of Amity Harbor.
But how long can a vision last before it must be revised to meet the changing
needs of the community? The homes may be
different, its original landmarks are gone, however, like any neighborhood, it
is the contributions of its residents that make Amity Harbor what it is and it
will be up to them to compose the legacy of its future.
The research for this article was an enlightening
excursion into the history of not only Amity Harbor but all of Copiague. One piece of the community’s history leads to
another and will undoubtedly lead to further discoveries along the way. While much of the research for this article
was obtain through traditional print sources, nothing can compare with
first-hand accounts and discussions with community residents. Many thanks to Ralph T. Nocerino and Andy
D’Ambrosio of the Amity Harbor Civic Association for what will surely be the
first of many meetings to reveal Copiague’s history.
[i] "
[ii] Dibbins, Elodie.
"Along the Waterfront." A Backward Glance (1980): 95-97.
[iii] “George J. Brown, Pioneer
In Long Island Real Estate,” Newsday,
21 Jan 1955, p. 109.
[iv] "
[v] "Amityville Will
Mingle at Amity Harbors Sunday." The
Amityville Record 13 Aug 1926: 1.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] "Garage For
Boats." The New York Times 8 Aug
1926: RE2.
[viii] "Amity Harbors
Progress." The Amityville Record
27 Aug 1926: 1.
[ix] "To Erect 100
Homes." The New York Times 28
Aug 1927: RE1.
[x] "
[xi] "Building at
[xii] "
[xiii] "Amity Harbors
Progress." The Amityville Record
27 Aug 1926: 1.
[xiv] "Sites Bought in
[xv] "Woman Buys at
Amityville." The New York Times 6
Aug 1927: 24.
[xvi] "Gold Star Mothers
to Build Soon." The New York Times
15 Sept 1929: RE2.
[xvii] “Values Jumped in
[xviii] "Realty Operations
Lower L.I. Tax Rate." The New York
Times 13 May 1928: 168.
[xix] Baldwin, May C. "