Mastic Peninsula Historical Society

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Start Native American tribes (the Algonquin) flourish on Long Island.
1600
European explorers arrive in the “New Land”, Henry Hudson arrives at Long Island in 1609. The Dutch settle the western end, while the British settle in the eastern regions.
1640 Americas Colonial whaling industry begins on the shores of Long Island in the area of Southampton. Soon after, Brookhaven settlers would hunt and process whales of the shore of Fireplace (now known as Brookhaven Hamlet).
Colonial Era Whaling Illustration
1655
Brookhaven township is established by a small group of English settlers and the whaling industry promotes growth.  “Old Town Road”, likely a native American trail, is created to move settlers from Setauket south through Coram and ends in FirePlace (now Brookhaven Hamlet) just to the west of the Mastic Salt Hay fields.
1657
Richard Woodhull makes the first purchase of land on behalf of the town from local Native Americans. The purchase covers two necks of land on the Mastic Peninsula.
1664
The "Old Purchase at South” was made from Tobaccos, a chief of the Unchechaug Indians, which included the western part of South Haven, Brookhaven and Bellport. This was purchased from the Indians for four coats and about $16 in cash, and the deed is still among the town papers at Brookhaven Town Hall. In addition to getting hay in this part of the town, men came here from the north side settlements to go whaling at an early date, as the oil could be used in their lamps and whalebone was a versatile material. –Thomas R Bayles
1691
On May 25, 1691 Col. William "Tangier" Smith purchased from the Indian, John Mayhew, the enormous acreage, later to be known as the Manor of St. George. 
1700
William "Tangier" Smith sets aside 175 acres of the land occupied by the Unkechaug Indians on the west side of the Mastic (Forge) River at Poosepatuck Creek to be theirs for the annual rent of two ears of corn. The Poosepatuck Indian Reservation is still in existence today, however it has shrunk to 55 acres due to unscrupulous land dealings by early officials. –by Van R. Field Illustrated History of Moriches Bay Area
1705
Major William Henry Smith, 2nd eldest son, inherits The Manor of St. George upon the death of William "Tangier" Smith. The Setauket estate known as St. George Manor is inherited by his eldest son Colonel Henry Smith.
1709
The Manor House at St. George is built for William Henry Smith. The original Patent was granted in 1693. The house would later be seized by the British during the American Revolution. The British were defeated there in 1780 by Col. Benjamin Talmadge. The Smith family returned to the Manor after the war. The Manor in all its splendor still exists today as a museum and is open for weekend tours between May and October.

Manor of St. George
1717
The Old South Haven Presbyterian Church is established and attended through the years by area residents such as the Floyds, General Nathaniel Woodhull, Judge William Smith and Colonel Josiah Smith. The church would later be moved in 1960 to its current location at the corner of South Country Road and Beaver Dam Road in Brookhaven.

       Southaven Church 
1718
Richard Floyd ll purchases over 4400 acres of property from William Tangier Smith of the Manor of St. George. The property stretched six miles north from Moriches Bay and approximately one mile west from the Mastic or Forge River. It included use rights for the Great South Beach on what is now known as Fire Island. Richard Floyd II gave this property to his youngest son, Nicoll Floyd (1703-1755).
1722
Famous Revolutionary Patriot Nathaniel Woodhull is born at the first Richard Woodhull estate, located between Hemlock and Daisy Drive on the south side of Neighborhood Road (destroyed by fire April 5, 1784...Ken Spooner). A second home (pictured below) would be built by his wife at the corner of Corn Ct. and Washington Drive.

2nd Woodhull homestead
1724
Nicoll Floyd, Father of William Floyd, moves onto the property and builds the first part of the estate, also referred to as "The Old Mastic House". The original home was a two story, six room shingled wood frame house. He developed the land into a prosperous plantation, using both slave and free laborers to raise grain, flax, sheep and cattle.
William Floyd Estate "old Mastic house"
1734
William Floyd, delegate and signer of the Declaration of Independence, is born on December 17th in Brookhaven, NY.
1738
Construction of the first road through Mastic is complete and leads to the Manor of St. George. This same road would later be used by Col. Benjamin Talmadge during the raid on the Manor House and is currently refurred to as the "Talmadge Trail". Part of this trail would become Smith Road which heads
south through Shirley.

Manor of St. George
1743
On the death of Major William Henry Smith in 1743, his eldest surviving son, Judge William Smith, inherited the Mastic estate.
1755
William Floyd inherits the Mastic Plantation at the young age of 20 from his father, Nicoll Floyd.
1761
Richard Floyd Mansion, known as "Pattersquas", and property consisting of approximately 3000 acres is established. The property would later become the estate of Dr. Roberts and eventually purchased by Dr. Frank Calabro Sr., then becoming the Bayview Hospital in the late 1940's (see 1946).

Richard Floyd Mansion
1776
William Floyd, a member of the Continental Congress, signs the Declaration of Independence on August 2nd, and will not be able to return to his estate for another 7 years. The British seize his home and property after defeating the colonial army during the Battle of Long Island.

William Floyd Signature Portrait of William Floyd
Nathaniel Woodhull is captured by the British and dies from his wounds at the house depicted below which was located in the Dutch village of New Utrecht, now Brooklyn. He is buried at his home in Mastic.

British attack on Nathaniel Woodhull Nicasius di Sille house
1779
Richard Floyd (British Loyalist), relocates to New Brunswick, Canada in October as England lost the Revolutionary War.
1780
The Battle of Mastic, using whale boat warfare. On November 21, 1780, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge and his dragoons, 80 strong, rowed across the Long Island Sound under cover of darkness from Fairfield, Conneticut to Mt. Sinai, New York. The next day they proceeded due south to the Mastic Peninsula, captured and burned down the Manor of St. George, which the British had turned into a fort. On their march back with captured soldiers, Tallmadge stopped in Coram and ordered the burning of 300 tons of hay which the British had been stockpiling for the winter. They then returned to Connecticut.
Battle at Manor of St. George

Samuel Carmen Sr. purchases the mills along the lower Carmans River and later opened a store, tavern and Inn. Over the course of the next century, the Carman family became quite wealthy and influental, and , by the mid-1800s, owned much of the land on the west side of Carmans River. Sam Carman Jr. had 12 children; in the 1840s, one of them, Joseph Henry, was given about 30-acres that included Squassux Landing. -Marty Vanlith
Carman's Tavern and Inn  overhead view of Caman's Mill
1783
After suffering much damage from the British occupation, William Floyd returns to Mastic to rebuild his estate.

On May 3, Gen. George Washington presented the "Badge of Military Merit" (later to become the Purple Heart) to Sgt. Elijah Churchil of the Continental Army citing him for gallantry in action in November of 1780 at Fort St. George (Manor of St. George) in Mastic.

Military Merit - Purple Heart
1784
The original Woodhull Estate, believed to have been located between Hemlock and Daisy Drive in Mastic Beach, is destroyed by fire during the month of April. It would later be rebuilt by his widow Ruth Woodhull at the corner of Corn Ct. and Washington Drive in Mastic Beach and is the structure commonly pictured in Postcards like the one below. The second estate house was demolished in the 1930's. (see 1938 and 2013).

Ruth Woodhull Estate at Corn Ct., Mastic Beach

The Richard Floyd estate, known as Pattersquas, was conveyed by the Commission of Forfeited Estates to Benjamin Floyd, his brother, and then eventually winds up in the hands of William Tangier Smith, owner of the Manor of St. George.
1789
William Floyd elected to the First United States Congress (1789-1791).
1790
Dr. Daniel Robert who had married into the Tangier Smith Family, moves into the Richard Floyd Estate and begins running the Pattersquas property farm. In October 1779, Richard Floyd (British Loyalist), relocates to New Brunswick, Canada, as England lost the Revolutionary War.

Dr. Daniel Roberts
1791
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, good friends of William Floyd, visit his estate.
1803
At age 63, William Floyd leaves Long Island with his family to establish a new home in Westernville, New York. Upon his death in 1821, he leaves the Mastic Property to his son Nicoll Floyd, II.

Westernville Homestead
1813
The Brookhaven Township is divided into school districts for the various villages and hamlets .....Thomas R. Bayles, History of Patchogue
1827
The Moriches Post Office was established with James M. Fanning as postmaster. Originally located in a hotel conducted by the Fannings, it would later be moved to the country store of Edmund Hallock (shown below) in 1837.

Moriches Post Office

The Suffolk Club (now Southaven County Park) is formed by Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren and others. The property is first leased then purchased from the Carman Family and utilized as a private hunting and fishing preserve located just north of the "goin-over" (wooden bridge over the Carmans or Conneticut river) and running to the area known as Yaphank.

Postcard of Suffolk Club Lodge
1830
The Floyd-Murray House (aka the Petty House), located on the north side of Montauk Hwy, at the Southport Shopping Center, is recognied as an area residence that provided shelter for William Floyd Estate workers. In July of 2012 the house was declared a landmark by the Town of Brookhaven. Efforts are being made to have NYS and the federal govt recognize the house as a landmark.

Floyd-Murray House
1834
The first one room school opened in Moriches on the North side of what is now Montauk Hwy, just one mile east of the Forge River. Later, in 1884 a second schoolhouse replaced the original (Rita Rech).

2one room school house            
1835
The Roberts Family, in-laws of the Smiths, take ownership of the Richard Floyd Pattersquas estate with the drafting of a formal deed which is held privately and not filed until the year 1883.
1841
Nicoll Floyd moves in with daughter Catherine Floyd in the Nicoll Floyd homestead located just north of the William Floyd Estate (old Mastic house). This was just 10 years prior to his death in 1851. The homestead, called "Taupeonk", was located just south of Moss Lots. Currently a private residence.

Nicoll Floyd Homestead      Nicoll Floyd (1762 - 1852)
1842
John Gelston Floyd, grandson of Colonel William Floyd, returns to Mastic to run the William Floyd Estate and also serving as a Suffolk County Judge and New York Senator. By 1854, he had already begun selling off parts of land holdings surrounding the estate grounds.

John Gelston Floyd
1849
Moriches Life Saving Station established, one of three on Fire Island in this area (see entries for 1871 and 1872). These stations were built to make water rescues when ships ran aground in the surf or off shore. This station served until 1954. The photo below is the "SS Oregon" which went down off Fire Island in 1886.

The Ship "Bessie White"     CG Life Saving Station
1862
The Great Fire of 1862 started in Smithtown, burned south to the Moriches Bay, and caused severe damage to local area property.
1871
Forge River Life Saving Station established on Fire Island opposite the mouth of the Forge River. Existed until 1948. The ship the Charlie Hickman ran aground in 1884 one half mile east of this life saving station. The rescues were handled by all three life saving stations.

Forge River Life Saving Station  Forge Life Saving Station
1872
Smith Point Life Saving Station established on Fire Island opposite Smith Point. Existed until 1937. The photo below is the "Bessie White" which ran aground off Smith point in the 1922. The Smith Point Station was not in service at this time. The crew managed to launch life boats and were able to make it to shore.
CG Tower at Smith Point  The "Bessie White"  CG Station Servicemen
1880
The large and extravagant estate known as "Moss Lots" is built by William Buck Dana for his wife Kitty Floyd Dana. William Dana was a lawyer and instrumental in dividing up the Floyd Property among his five children. The estate was located in the section now known as Old Mastic (east end of Riverside Dr. and the southern end of Ocean View Dr.) and given historic status by the Town of Brookhaven.
Moss Lots

August Floyd homestead established
...located in the Ospey Point area (end of Wavecrest Dr., Mastic Beach)

August Floyd Estate
1881
The South Side Railroad (now the LIRR) comes to Mastic with a station put in on the east side of Mastic Road and remained there until 1960 when the station was moved to Shirley. You can see how stuned the trees are in the background, the result of the great fire of 1862.

Mastic Rail Road Station
1896
On October 9th, Walter T. Shirley, real estate developer, is born in Brooklyn, New York. Later, in the 1930's, he would develop the community of Shirley, L.I., named after himself.
Walter T. Smith

Frank and Hannah Lawrence buy 225 acres located in Mastic Beach between Pattersquas and Odells creek, which became known as the Lawrence Estate.

1911
Tolfree Estate (Island View Manor), built by Fred J. Quimby as a spec house for his ill fated Tangier development. It was used by a Rose Quinby until the early 1920's when the Smiths repossessed the land they sold to Quinby's Tangier Manor Corporation. It was soon resold in 1922 to Edward and Aline Tolfree. The estate was purchased by the Cutro Family after World War II and used as a night club where such celebrities as Tony Bennet (pictured below) would appear in the early 1950s

 Tolfree Estate  Tony Bennet

Real Estate investor/developer Fred Quinby has first wooden Tangier Bridge built to cross from Smith Point to Fire Island

wood bridge    wood bridge

.
1912
Author Henry Lanier purchased the Richard Floyd Estate also known as Pattersquas and "Doctors Point". Henry was the son of poet Sydney Lanier and the first person outside the Floyd and Robert's families to own the Pattersquas estate.
1916
J.F. Knapp buys property from the Lawrence Family that would become known as the Knapp Estate and Mansion. The estate was located south of Neighborhood Rd and east of Pattersquash Creek in Mastic Beach. It would later be purchased by St. Jude's church in 1950, destroyed by fire in 1959.

Knapp Estate

1917
The Third Unit of the Aerial Coast Patrol was established at the Knapp Estate in Mastic Beach.

newspaper article image    newspaper article image

Camp Upton, pictured below, was built in 1917 as an induction and training facility for new soldiers who were to fight in World War I. The camp was named after Major General Emory Upton, a Union General in the Civil War. In 1944, Camp upton was used as a  hospital to treat wounded veterans of the war. It also served as a Prisoner of War Camp, when in May of 1945, 500 German prisoners were sent to Camp Upton.


1918
Walter T. Shirley is stationed at Camp Upton during World War I, and gets his first glimpse of the land he would later purchase and develop.

Joseph Allen Titmus and Josiah Smith Robert established the "Swift Stream Duck Farm" on both sides of the Forge River in Mastic and Moriches.

Swift Stream Duck Farm  Swift Stream Duck Farm   
1919
Jurgeliewicz Family Duck farm on Barnes Road is established, one of several duck farms in the area.
1920
Radio broadcasting takes off and a transmitter is stationed at Radio Point in Moriches. The golden age of radio, circa the 1920s, brought an early radio station to the east end of Smith Street in East Moriches. Run by the Independence Wireless Co., the station housed a spark transmitter used to communicated with ships off shore.
....Newsday, February 22, 1988

Anson W. Hard purchased the outstanding shares in the Suffolk Club (now Southaven Park) from the other members, and used the property as a private estate. After WW I, Anson's son Kenneth established a hunting and fishing lodge, known as the Suffolk Lodge Game Preserve. It later became Suffolk County's first public park, Southaven County Park. Anson Hard pictured below fishing in the Carman's River on the Hard Estate, circa 1925..courtesy of SouthavenBrookhaven.org



Moriches Grammar School established (currently known as the Little Red School House). Elementary school students from our area attended this first multiroom school. High School students would attend the Center Moriches High School.

Moriches Grammar School   Little Red School House
1920s
Mastic Park from Montauk Highway to the bay developed by Arthur and Warren Smedback and the Brooklyn Citizen.

Mastic Park Advertisement  mastic cottage   Mastic cottage 

Mastic Park General Store & Post Office is built. Originally owned by the Napolitano family, it would later be sold to Hans Anderson and then to Walter McLeans. The business would later be known as "McLeans Market" in the 50s and 60s. Building still remains as a spanish market and is located at corner of Herkimer St. and Montauk Highway.

Mastic Park General Store

Smith Point Beach used for several desert films. Desert movies were made wildly popular in the 1920s. by Rudolf Valentino's portrayal of The Sheik (1921) & sequel Son of the Sheik (1926). The 1910 bridge's construction that allowed cameras, camels and crew to cross the narrow bay, was supervised by local resident Michael Gillispie of Tangier (now Shirley) for Quinby's Tangier Development Company. According to historian Van Field, it was mainly the movie companies who kept repairing the bridge when it would get torn up by winter ice ....Ken Spooner

desert film image
1922
Texaco Gas Station owned by Lewis Parr opens (now Mastic Liquors).

Texaco Gas Station


1925
Mastic Fire Department established. It was organized by Russell Ferrer, Anthony Tebbens, Harold Lukert, Joseph Titmus and Thomas Eyton-Jones (1st Chief, in photo with white hat).
Mastic Fire Dept     Mastic Fire Dept

1926
Brooklyn Citizen purchases the J.B. Lawrence estate and it's subdivided into lots for sale to the public.

Brooklyn Citizen Advertisement
1927
Mastic Beach Property Owners (MBPOA) Clubhouse was built by Arthur Tebbins. In 1928, Mortimer Wahl became the first President of the MBPOA.

MBPOA buiding

The 15 room Mastic Beach Hotel is built just behind the MBPO Clubhouse by Paul Schulte.

Mastic Beach Hotel

The Smadback Brothers purchase the Pattersquas Estate and property from Josephine Lanier.

Tangier Bridge destroyed by ice flows. Hedges Hotel pictured across the bay, was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.

Tangier Bridge  Hedges Hotel
1928Mortimer Wahl became the 1st President of the MBPOA.
1930
Home Guardian sells the Pattersquas Mansion to Playwright John Howard Lawson.

Tombstones in the Lane Family Cemetery, located on the north side of Montauk Hwy at Titmus Drive in Mastic, are moved to the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in East Moriches. The exact spot where the Lane Cemetery was located is still being investigated.


Lane Family Tombstones at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Center Moriches
1933
Paul Schulte's Tavern opens with the end of prohibition and is situated along side his corner market. The tavern itself is a converted barn from the Knapp Estate.

Schulte's Tavern

1935
Mastic Beach Fire Department is established, and headed by Jules Jacobs.

MB Fire Dept
1936
St. Andrew's Church is established in Mastic Beach.

St. Andrew's Church
1937
Brookhaven Town Police established with a 4th precinct office located in Center Moriches and patrolled the Mastic Peninsula. Their service ended in 1959 with the establishment of the Suffolk County Police Department in 1960.

Brookhaven Town Police

1938
The 2nd General Woodhull homestead is torn down on Memorial Day by Willie Schluder. Some of the wood would be used in construction of a home in the Hamptons.

Nathaniel Woodhull homestead

The Hurricane of 1938 causes massive flooding, death and destruction to the Mastic-Shirley area.

damaged home  Schulte's Tavern flooded


Successful Investment Banker Maurice Wertheim purchases 1800 acres of property straddling the Carmens River as a private hunting reserve and for waterfowl conservation. He calls the property "Stealaway" (now known as the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge).

Maurice Wertheim

J.F. Knapp sells his estate to Home Guardian thereby allowing the Neighborhood Road (originally called Birch Road) to connect the East and West parts of Mastic Beach. The sections sold by Knapp would be listed as 9 and 10. ...Ken Spooner
1940
The Mastic Beach Property Owners Association (MBPOA) is formerly established on July 30th. A deed was filed by the Home Guardian Company and the MBPOA  giving over ownership of all land assets for $1.
1941
The area of "Tangiers" (later becomes Shirley) is divided into quarter acre plots and sold as Summer retreats for the working classes of New York City. Mastic Beach already has over 1000 property owners and a Summer population of over 4000 residents. By 1950, Walter T. Shirley had owned more than 1000 acres of property.

shirley real estate road side sign  shirley model home
1944
Mastic Flight Strip (now Brookhaven-Calabro Airport) built to provide logistical support for the U.S. Army Corp. Title of the airport was transferred to New York State after the war. In 1961 the airport was acquired by the Town of Brookhaven. It was later renamed in honor of Dr. Frank Calabro, an important figure in the airport's development. Dr. Calabro and his wife Ruth were tragically killed in a plane crash in 1991.
Newsday Article/Photo
1945
Mastic Atheletic Club (aka MACs). The first organized baseball club in the Mastics. Founded by Ernest Stanzoni (kneeling on left). The team played in The Western Suffolk Baseball League. (note: Carl Yazstremski played in that league before going on to the Boston Red Sox.)

Mastic Athletic Club
1946
The Arthur H. Clune American Legion Post 1533 was formed. Named for Arthur H. Clune, a decorated WWII veteran who was killed at the age of 24 or 25 in an MVA on Mastic Beach Rd. just north of the legion clubhouse. The first commander of the legion was George Barnes Sr.

Dr. Frank Calabro purchases the Pattersquas Estate Mansion (originally the estate of Richard Floyd) and turns it into the Bayview Hospital.

Bayview Hospital

Pat Messinetti and Mike Dipierro's Texaco gas station built at five corners intersection in Mastic Beach.

Texaco Gas Station - Mastic Beach
1947
Maurice Wertheim donates approximately 2000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The property becomes the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge.

Wertheim Wildlife Refuge Sign   

Joseph Allen Titmus, a prominent area resident, dies on August 27th. Joseph A.
Titmus, aged 57, a trustee of Brookhaven town and recent  Republican  nominee for a
post on the Board of assessors. Born in New York he moved over 40  years ago to
Mastic where he was engaged in duck raising. He was a partner in the Swift Stream
farms,  Inc., Moriches.
 
1949
St. Jude's Roman Catholic Church is established in Mastic Beach.
St Judes Church
1952
William Floyd School opened on Lexington Rd. in Shirley on Land donated to the school district by Walter T. Shirley. 401 students K thru 8 attended. The building became the Jr. and Sr. High School in 1960 after the opening of the Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School.

William Floyd School
1953
Shirley Drive-In (pictured below) opens. It was located at the commercial property now called SouthPort shopping center. Prior to the development of the Drive-In by Walter T. Shirley, it was used as a horse training facility with a track and stables.

Shirley Drive In
1956
Mastic Beach Hebrew Center established.

Mastic Beach Hebrew Center
1958
Carman's Mill torn down to make way for the Sunrise Highway extension. Located just below the mill pond at Southaven Park.

2Carman's Mill

Yuma Athletic Club founded. When Mike Figluizzi, the founder of the Yuma Athletic Club, was growing up in New York City in the 1930's and 40's, a group of local men provided him and his friends with baseballs and bats so they could play, and possibly stay out of trouble. During that time one of the men went on a trip to Yuma, AZ. Mike never forgot the generosity of those men and decided Yuma was a fitting name for the athletic club he was starting to honor the memory of the men who were so generous.

YUMA Logo
1959
The Knapp Manion burns to the ground in February of 1959.

Smith Point Bridge officially opened on July 4th.

Smith Point Bridge
1960
On January 1st the new Suffolk County Police Department was formed and covered the 6 western townships of Suffolk County including the Town of Brookhaven. Police protection in this area was previously provided by the Brookhaven Town Police, which was dissolved in 1959.

Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School opened on Francis Landau Place in Shirley. 
Woodhull Elementery
1961
The Mastic Sports Club was founded in 1961 by Fred Wesemann and Chuck Zeigler. The club still provides exposure to baseball and other sports for hundreds of local youth.

mastic sports logo
1964
Smith Point County Park opens on Fire Island.

Fire Island National Seashore was established as a unit of the National Park Service on September 11, 1964. Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a 26-mile section of Fire Island, an approximately 30 mile long barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York State's Suffolk County.
1965
The William Floyd Estate is authorized to become an addition to the Fire Island National Seashore. The estate contains the ancestral house, grounds, and cemetery of the William Floyd family. William Floyd, a Revolutionary War General, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in the house in 1734.
1966
The new William Floyd High School opened on Mastic Beach Rd. in Mastic Beach. The original high school on Lexington Rd. became the William Floyd Elementary School.

William Floyd HS 1966
1969
Moss Lots, a large and extravagant home on the Dana Estate property, now called Old Mastic, burns to the ground on September 5th of that year.
1974
The Mastics - Moriches - Shirley Community Library is established.
1975
Tangier Smith Elementary and Moriches Elementary Schools opened. Tangier Smith is located in the school complex south of the high school. Moriches Elementary is on Montauk Hwy. in Moriches behind the Little Red School House (Moriches Grammar School).

Tangier Smith Elementary School  Moriches Elementary School
1976
William Paca Middle School opened in the school complex between the high school and the Tangier Smith Elementary School.

William Paca Middle School
1977
The family of William Floyd donates the entire house and its contents to the National Park Service and transfers the remainder of the property in 1991.
1979
John S. Hobart Elementary School opened on Meadowmere Ave. in Shirley on property just East and South of the original high school.

John S. Hobart Elementary School
1980
Old Mastic receives Historic District designation from the Town of Brookhaven.
1986 
The Bayview Hospital (Richard Floyd Estate) is destroyed by arson in February.
1996
On July 17th, at approximately 8:45 p.m., TWA Flight 800 while in route to France with 230 passengers on board, explodes over the Atlantic a few miles off the coast of the Moriches Bay Communities. An extensive investigation ensued.

jet aircraft debri
1998
The new 7th Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department is established on the East End of Brookhaven Town. This area had originally been part of the 5th Precinct located in Patchogue. The Precinct is located in North Shirley just off the William Floyd Parkway.

SCPD 7th Precinct

The new war memorial is installed. Located on Montauk Highway near Herkimer Street intersection. Plaques at ground level memorialize the three Mastic residents that died in battle.

Mastic War Memorial     monument 3      monument plaque 2    monument plaque 1                
 1999
The Mastic Peninsula Historical Society founded by Rita Rech with the help of Edward Romaine.

MPHS LOGO

A large addition to the William Floyd High School opens, deemed necessary due to the large increases in the student population.

WFSD HS new wing
2003
The William Floyd Middle School opened on Moriches Middle Island Rd in Moriches. It was built as a secondary Middle School for students grades 6 thru 8.

William Floyd Middle School
2004
TWA Flight 800 Memorial at Smith Point County Park beach opens to the public on July 4th.

TWA Flight 800 memorial
2007
War Memorial at William Floyd High School is dedicated on May 10th, in honor of Leslie Bernstein, Thomas Wilwerth, and Paulo Marko Pacificador, former students at William Floyd.

William Floyd High School War Memorial
2009
Montauk Highway Project is started in April to enhance traffic flow, reduce gridlock and improve safety along a nearly two-mile stretch of Montauk Highway between Shirley and Mastic.  The project ran from William Floyd Parkway to just east of Mastic Rd. in Mastic. New curbs and sidewalks on both sides of the roadway were part of the project and trees were also planted along the entire length. The project took almost two years to complete.
2010  
Mastic Beach becomes an incorporated village.

Mastic Beach Village Emblem
2011
Jurgeliewicz Duck Farm closes in August, the last of what was once a strong and thriving industry for the area.

Tropical Storm Irene travels over Long Island on August 29th and causes major wind and flood damage to the tri-hamlet area.
2012
Tropical Storm Sandy causes severe flood damage and destruction to homes across the tri-hamlet area.

Floyd-Murray House receives historic landmark status from the Town of Brookhaven.
2013
Wood from General Woodhull's home which was sent to the Hamptons (see 1938 entry) was returned to the Village of Mastic Beach to be reused in a visitor's center.

William Floyd Statue Dedication at the new Tri-Hamlet Village Square on December 13th. The Statue was originally located at the Mastics - Moriches - Shirley Community Library at the front
north west corner facing Roberts Road. Originally designed and built by local resident Santo Matarazzo (1928-2008).

William Floyd Statue Dedication at new Tri-Hamlet Village Square  William Floyd Statue Dedication
                             William Floyd Statue at new location                                                                                   closeup of plaques at the foot of statue
2015Suffolk County and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)  purchase, rehabilitate and preserve 62 wetlands parcels along the shores of Mastic Beach.
2016Mastic Beach votes to dissolve village in November elections
Residents hold up signs regarding village vote

2017Village of Mastic Beach officially closes its doors on Friday, December 29th after an earlier election was held to dissolve the municipality.



AMF Shirley Lanes bowling facility closes in August.

2018Mastic Beach Volunteer Ambulance Company opens new 9.5 million facillity on Neighborhood Rd. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in September with operations starting in October

.
2019Voters approve new Mastic - Shirley Sewer District referendum.




Mastics - Moriches - Shirley Library announces purchase of the Mastic Beach Village faciility located on Neighborhood Rd during the month of May, with plans to operate a branch library,

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Credits:

Copywrite 2013 by the Mastic Peninsula Historical Society

Design by:

Brad Shupe, MMSCL*/MPHS**

Compilation by:

Brad Shupe, MMSCL/MPHS

Richard Oldham, MPHS

* Mastics Moriches Shirley Community Library

** Mastic Peninsula Historical Society

Special Thanks to the following people/organizations:

·         Ken Spooner

·        Marty Van Lith

·        Southaven Historical Society

·        Mastics – Moriches – Shirley Community Library

·        Suffolk County Historical Society

·        Brookhaven Free Library

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All content provided on this Community Timeline page is for informational purposes only. The Mastic Peninsula Historical Society will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The MPHS will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions are subject to change at any time with or without notice.

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