Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society

Historical Vignettes

THE CENTRAL BRANCH: FARMINGDALE'S OTHER RAIL LINE

Farmingdale residents are likely more familiar with the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road than the Central Branch. After all, Farmingdale Station, now almost 115 years old, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on the Main Line, which first served Farmingdale in 1841.The "Main Line" designation derived from its being the route to Boston, with ferry service linking Greenport to Connecticut.

But what is the story of the single track rail line which forms the southern boundary of the Village of Farmingdale? It was originally built as part of the Central Railroad of Long Island in the early 1870's by Alexander T. Stewart, the wealthy merchant who developed Garden City. Its Farmingdale station was located on the east side of Main Street, a short distance south of Fulton Street, and was later known as South Farmingdale Station after becoming part of the LIRR.

The Central's route from Flushing included, among several others, station stops at Garden City, Hempstead, Island Trees (Hicksville), Farmingdale, Breslau (Lindenhurst), and Babylon. It crossed the LIRR at Bethpage Junction, still an active division point, just west of Merritts Road. In its early days in the 1870s, the Central Railroad provided Farmingdale with seven daily trains, as opposed to just two for the LIRR. The station agent was the son of W. C. Dupignac, whose hotel was located just north of the Central's station in Farmingdale.

A spur of the Central line ran from Bethpage Junction up to the Nassau Brick Works in what is now Old Bethpage. The bricks were transported by rail to Garden City to build A. T. Stewart's planned community. Part of the right-of-way after World War II became Thomas Powell Boulevard, named after Farmingdale's founding settler.

By 1881 the Central Railroad was acquired by the Long Island Rail Road. Some of the lines the LIRR swallowed during this time of consolidation were just village-to-village routes, but the Central was a major acquisition.

The Central Branch was to figure in railroad and bicycle history on June 30, 1899, when Charles "Mile-A-Minute" Murphy pedaled a bicycle behind a LIRR train for a measured mile in 57.8 seconds southeast of Farmingdale.

Today the Central Branch continues to serve the LIRR by enabling diesel-powered trains to bypass the heavily trafficked section of electrified track of the South Shore Line west of Babylon. Heading eastward, these trains use the Main Line to Bethpage Junction, then connect to the South Shore Line via the Central Branch.

The whistles of the diesel locomotives on the Central Branch approaching the grade crossings at Staples and South Main Streets help to recall an era almost 140 years ago when Farmingdale residents had two railroads vying to serve them!

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOAKUM

A name that is familiar to longtime Farmingdale residents is also significant in the two southernmost counties of Texas --- Hidalgo and Cameron --- along the Rio Grande River which forms the boundary with Mexico. The name is that of Benjamin Franklin Yoakum.

Why the relationship? Yoakum was born in Texas in 1859. As a young man he became a railroad worker serving on a surveying team as the network of rails expanded in the post-Civil War era. His energy and skill brought him a rapid rise through the managerial ranks, and while still in his twenties he became an officer of a major railroad. When the St. Louis and San Francisco (Frisco Line).

Railroad merged with the Rock Island Line in 1905 to form a 17,000 mile network, it was Yoakum who was named chairman of the executive committee. At the time, it was the largest system under single management in railroad history.

In addition to his railroading expertise, Yoakum was an able recruiter, for he attracted skilled farmers to the areas opened by his rail lines, provided them with artesian wells, and taught them citrus farming. That is why it has been said that "South Texas was built by Yoakum's genius".

In 1907 Yoakum moved to New York City to take a position in the world of banking. There he lived in a town house, but still favoring the openness of a rural area, he purchased a country estate in Farmingdale --- a spread of 1100 acres lying along the northern border of the recently formed village. (Farmingdale was incorporated in 1904.)

In Farmingdale Yoakum raised prize cattle and high quality fruit and vegetables. Once a year he would hold his "farm dinner" for village residents, proudly telling them, "Everything was raised right on this place", as he greeted his neighbors gathered around the tables. Mr. Yoakum was especially generous to the Farmingdale Fire Department and to the caddies of his golf course, for whom he built a clubhouse.

The Lenox Hills Golf Course which Mr. Yoakum established on his estate proved to be an omen of things to come. Following his death in 1929, the northern portion of the estate became the core property of the new Bethpage State Park, in which a total of five eighteen-hole golf courses were built. The southern portion, lying within the Village of Farmingdale, was developed by homebuilders, beginning in the 1930s, as the Lenox Hills area.

Two thousand miles away, in south Texas, Benjamin Franklin Yoakum is still perhaps remembered as the man who brought the railroad, water, and citrus farming. In Farmingdale, his adopted community, he is remembered as the generous, kindly estate owner whose legacy is Bethpage State Park and the stately Lenox Hills section of the Village of Farmingdale.

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NAZARETH TRADE SCHOOL

Occasionally longtime residents of Farmingdale are questioned for information on "the orphanage that used to be in town". The institution in question was the Nazareth Trade School, which opened in 1900 and closed in 1940. The "trade school" as it was known locally, was located on the site now occupied by the Howitt Middle School, but the three-story structure faced Conklin Street, rather than Van Cott or Grant Avenues as do the Howitt buildings.

The Sisters of St. Dominic, who staffed the orphanage throughout its forty years, provided an elementary education to the boys who were residents there. Older youths were offered instruction in practical trades such as shoe repair, carpentry, and printing, as well as courses in agriculture and horticulture. Local townspeople usually taught these vocational courses.

To most Farmingdale residents of that time, the presence of the orphanage was most evident on days of parades, as the institution had a highly regarded marching band, outfitted in military- style uniforms. These band members spread Farmingdale's name widely as they marched in competitions on their way to several New York State championships.

After the orphanage closed, the main building was used for preparing aircraft plant workers to take their places on assembly lines in local aircraft factories during World War II. In 1946 the voters of the Farmingdale school district approved purchase of the site. Before its demolition however, the old orphanage had one last life, as the temporary location of the new Technology Department of what is now Farmingdale State College.

Today, there are still some reminders of "the trade school" in the Farmingdale area. In the lobby of the original 1953 wing of the Howitt School on Van Cott Avenue stands the bell and cornerstone of Nazareth Trade School. In Conklin Hall of Farmingdale State College, a commemorative brick from the old orphanage provides a link to the Technology Department's origins in 1946. The finest memorial for Nazareth Trade School, however, is reflected in the lives of the men, who despite unfortunate family circumstances in early life have lived successful and productive lives stemming from values nurtured during their years in Farmingdale at Nazareth Trade School.

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THE CROSS-ISLAND TROLLEY LINE, 1909-1919

Late summer 2009 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the trolley era in the Farmingdale area. A grand parade and an all-day celebration heralded the start of trolley service on the Cross-Island Line on August 25, 1909, with a sandlot baseball game, a vaudeville show and a community ball.

The first two decades of the twentieth century were the heyday for electric powered trolleys, or street cars, in this country. Ownership of private cars was not widespread until the 1920s, so trolleys filled a vital need. It has been said that one could travel from the East Coast as far west as Milwaukee by interurban trolleys in the World War I era, provided one had the time and patience to change lines repeatedly.

Although it operated for just over ten years, 1909-1919, the story of the Cross-Island Trolley Line forms a colorful chapter in Farmingdale's history. The line ran north to Halesite and south to Amityville, with a major transfer point at the Farmingdale LIRR station. A two-story tower was added to the west end of the 1896 structure in 1909 to house electrical equipment needed to power the trolleys. Ceramic insulators are still visible on the north side of the tower.

The Cross-Island Trolley connected three stations and lines of the Long Island Rail Road: Huntington on the Port Jefferson line, Farmingdale on the Main Line, and Amityville on the Babylon-Montauk Line. The trolley line in Farmingdale came south from Halesite on Broad Hollow Road (now Route 110), and swung west on Conklin Street into the Village of Farmingdale. On Conklin Street, just east of where the telephone building now stands, the track turned north into a dead-end spur which served the railroad station at Depot Avenue. Trolleys then continued back to Conklin, turning south on Main Street, and leaving the village at a crossing of the LIRR Central Branch on their way to Amityville.

One of the dozen or so passing sidings on the single track line was located at Staples and Main Streets in South Farmingdale. The eighteen and one-half mile line was divided into six zones, each with a nickel fare, so one could ride the whole route for thirty cents. The scheduled running time between the end points was 76 minutes.

The aging of the line's equipment, the difficulty in maintaining the right-of way, the loss of a U.S. Mail contact, and the increasingly successful encroachment of unlicensed jitney operators all took their toll on the Cross-Island Line. On September 23, 1919 after the schedule for the day was completed, the line was shut down.

So ended Farmingdale's trolley era. In their time, the trolleys helped area residents to shop, go to work, attend religious services, and even to attend the new Farmingdale High School, which opened with a ninth grade in September 1913. Although some complained about its service for a variety of reasons, the Cross-Island Line filled a needed role in its time.

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THE WAY IT WAS

The Theaters of Main Street

The Village of Farmingdale has had at least four theaters during its history. The first was the Farmingdale Opera House built by Adam Heiselmann in 1909. This large frame building, which stood at the corner of Main and Richard Streets opposite Main Street School, was also known as the Heiselmann Opera House. The term "opera house" was common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century throughout the United States. Most, like Heiselmann’s staged far more touring vaudeville programs than operas. Unlike the later theaters, Heiselmann^’s staged live entertainment; the other three were motion picture theaters. The opera house eventually became a factory before being razed.

Farmingdale had two movie theaters, the Unqua and the Strand, which dated back to the silent film era. The Unqua stood on the east side of Main Street a few shops north of Conklin Street. It was originally a primitive shed-like structure, but was later remodeled into a traditional movie theater. The Strand, whose structure still stands, was on Main Street near the corner of Prospect Street. Both survived into the era of "talkies," which began in 1927.

The Farmingdale Theater, built adjacent to the Strand at the corner of Main and Prospect Streets, opened in early 1942 only weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This beautifully appointed theater suffered a fire in 1950 but was quickly rebuilt. Like many movie theaters across the nation, the Farmingdale eventually succumbed to cable TV, rental movies on VCR's, and multi-screen entertainment complexes. It closed in 1984 and was remodeled. A tradition dating back over three quarters of a century of "going to the show" on Main Street closed with it.