Posts Tagged:local history

Throwback Thursday — Montauk’s Air Force Station

Throwback Thursday — Montauk’s Air Force Station

The Montauk Air Force Station operated from 1951 to 1981. Previously, the property had been used as a World War II coastal defense station disguised as a coastal fishing village. Subsequently, most was absorbed into Camp Hero State Park or used by the town for affordable housing. Originally from Pennsylvania, Ed Crasky had served as… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – And Now for Something Completely Different

Throwback Thursday – And Now for Something Completely Different

We’re trying something different for this week’s Throwback Thursday — sharing a photograph from our archives that we don’t know much about and asking for your help in identifying or recollecting the people, places, and stories behind the image.  What we do know is that this photograph is of a Montauk Community Church variety/talent show,… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Dialing MP

Throwback Thursday – Dialing MP

  Montaukers of a certain age may recollect some of the people and places in this chamber directory. They might even remember using a two-letter telephone exchange prefix: MP for Montauk Point, for example. The directory comes from a collection of printed materials and ephemera promoting Montauk restaurants, hotels, and the Montauk Chamber of Commerce… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Happiness is…

Throwback Thursday – Happiness is…

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. — Anatole France, 19th-century French poet, novelist, and journalist Clearly in agreement are more than 70 people who sent in photos of their “babies” for a Montauk Library community slideshow called “Pets of Montauk.” Dogs frolicking on the beach, cats curled on… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Holiday Cheer

Throwback Thursday – Holiday Cheer

A nasty horse named Humpty Dumpty gets a kick out of throwing riders. A bathtub morphs into a UFO and lifts off. A little girl wins a baby elephant in a mail-in coupon contest. A surfcaster hooks a mermaid off Montauk Point. The imagination of the illustrator Frank Borth extended all the way from drawing… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Happy Turkey Trot!

Throwback Thursday – Happy Turkey Trot!

It draws at least 1,000 people today, but the Thanksgiving Day Run for Fun started in 1976 with John Keeshan and only a handful of other runners bounding from the Plaza to Deep Hollow Ranch on Thanksgiving morning. “Over the years, it grew and … after a while, we ended up with a couple of… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Leisurama

Much as they like to talk about real estate, most people in Montauk these days wouldn’t be referencing a 750-or-more-square-foot house with no AC or winter insulation on a 7,500-square-foot piece of property. The product of a late 1950s collaboration, the 200 or so prefab summer residences were designed by Andrew Geller and Raymond Loewy… Read more »

Throwback Thursday — The Big One

Throwback Thursday — The Big One

“Mrs. Gunnar Strandberg, whose husband was employed at the Willard restaurant, was helping him put boards over the restaurant windows when the storm struck. Unable to get back to her house in the village until the hurricane abated, she was greatly concerned for the safety of her two-year-old infant, who was alone there.” “As soon… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – The Great Eastern

What fishermen know as Great Eastern Rock off Montauk Point was named for a massive iron ocean liner that struck it on August 27, 1862. The “Great” in Great Eastern was no joke. The transatlantic British steamship measured 693 feet long by 120 feet wide and was designed to carry 4,000 passengers. Also known as… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Down to the Wire

Throwback Thursday – Down to the Wire

Who doesn’t love that first glimpse of blue ocean as you enter Montauk where the old and new highways meet? Billboards like those in this photograph no longer welcome motorists, having been banished in the 1970s. But utility poles have been another story, growing in number and lingering and looming across the landscape. Thanks to… Read more »