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Long Island Aircraft Manufacturers (Images of Aviation)
by Joshua StoffSignificant aircraft manufacturing began on Long Island in the early 20th century and boomed during the war years. Long Islanders helped transform aviation from a dangerous sport to a viable means of transportation, while also producing a large portion of the nation's aerial arsenal in times of war. From the first frail biplanes to the warbirds of World War II and the sleek fighters of the jet age, aviation companies on Long Island helped make aviation the integral part of our world that it is today. During the 20th century, over 70 firms came to build aircraft on Long Island. Some of these firms lasted for decades and became famed builders of historic aircraft, such as Grumman, Republic, Curtiss, Fairchild, and Sikorsky.
Long Island Airports (Images of America)
by Joshua StoffLong Island is a natural airfield. The central area of Long Island's Nassau County--known as the Hempstead Plains--is the only natural prairie east of the Allegheny Mountains. The island itself is ideally placed at the eastern edge of the United States, adjacent to its most populous city. In fact, nowhere else in America has so much aviation activity been confined to such a relatively small geographic area. The many record-setting and historic flights and the aviation companies that were developed here have helped place Long Island on the aviation map. Through one hundred years of aviation history, Long Island has been home to eighty airfields. From military airfields to seaplane bases and commercial airports, the island has had more airports than any other place of similar geographic proportion in America. Most have vanished without a trace, but a handful remains. Long Island Airports is the first book to document the pictorial history of these airports and airfields.
Long Island City in 1776: The Revolution Comes to Queens (Military)
by Richard Melnick1775 belonged to Boston but after April of 1776, the Revolutionary War's focus became New York City and the highly strategic Long Island, from Brooklyn's terminal moraine high ground to Queens's Hell Gate. 1776 was the year when revolution came to Long Island, and in particualr the future Long Island City. The failures, defeats and eventual occupation of the area at the hands of the British forged the resolve and strength of character that would later ensure Patriot victories on distant battlegrounds throughout the rest of the colonies. The British did not evacuate western Queens county until November of 1783, but the events of 1776 would not soon be forgotten during the seven long years of occupation afterword. Join author Richard Melnick as he charts the military, political and cultural history 1776 in Long Island City.
Long Island Food: A History from Family Farms & Oysters to Craft Spirits (American Palate)
by T. W. BarrittBeyond its crowded highways, Long Island serves up a plentiful, eclectic bounty with a side of history. Enticing appetites from Nassau to Montauk, food writer and Long Island native T.W. Barritt explores how immigrant families built a still thriving agricultural community, producing everything from crunchy pickles and hearty potatoes to succulent Long Island duckling. Experience the rise and fall of Long Island's bustling oyster industry and its reemergence today. And meet the modern-day pioneers--in community agriculture, wine, cheese, fine dining and craft spirits--who are reinventing Long Island's food landscape and shaping a delicious future.
Long Island Freemasons (Images of America)
by Ron SeifriedThe first Masonic lodge in what is today Nassau and Suffolk Counties was constituted in 1793. For over 200 years, more than 70 lodges were founded and flourished in various locations from Amagansett to Great Neck. For the first time, some of the secrets of the Masonic fraternity are revealed in this book. Recovered from dusty lodge attics and closets, this selection of long-forgotten photographs and artifacts gives the readers a brief glimpse of what was taking place behind the closed doors of their local lodge. Long Island was the Masonic home of Theodore Roosevelt of Oyster Bay and, 30 years later, was honored by a visit to the Huntington Masonic lodge by his fifth cousin and fellow Mason Franklin D. Roosevelt. Masons continue to support the community through charitable endeavors, including the Masonic Medical Research Institute, Masonic Safety Identification Programs, Shriners Hospitals, and many more.
Long Island Golf (Images of America)
by Phil CarlucciWhen the European sport of golf found its way to Long Island and took root in the Hamptons at Shinnecock Hills in 1891, its journey across the Atlantic served as the opening drive of a recreational era that now spans three centuries. Home to more than 130 golf courses, the area boasts prestigious American clubs overlooking picturesque Atlantic bays and inlets, along with public layouts climbing and descending the region's sloping terrain. Long Island is home to the most popular municipal golf facility in the country, the centerpiece of which is Bethpage Black, "the People's Country Club." Celebrated architects like A.W. Tillinghast, Devereux Emmet, Seth Raynor, and C.B. Macdonald built many of Long Island's famous courses, which have challenged the brightest of golf's stars. International tournaments and star-studded exhibitions have all been decided on Long Island turf, helping it grow into one of the world's most prominent golf settings.
Long Island High School Sports (Images of Sports)
by Christopher R. VaccaroFor nearly 120 years, Long Island has fielded high school sports teams. In that span, numerous local athletes rose to the highest level, dynasties were built, legends were made, and the nation's largest island was filled with captivating athletic stories and sports lore that will live forever. Long Island High School Sports strings together a pictorial history of Long Island's oldest, most famous, and well-respected teams, coaches, and athletes.
Long Island Italian Americans: History, Heritage and Tradition (American Heritage)
by Salvatore J. LaguminaFor Italian immigrants and their descendants, moving from "the city" out to Long Island was more than a change of address. It signaled that the family had achieved the American dream, and in turn, elements of Italian values and culture are visible all over the island. Italians helped to build Long Island, whether as laborers or as contractors, such as the Castagnas. They brought their culinary traditions and opened markets, such as the still family-owned Iavarone Brothers Foods and restaurants, including New Hyde Park's Umberto's. Italians' industrialism helped them thrive in fields as diverse as medicine, politics, acting and winemaking and importing (including the nationally recognized Banfi label). Join author Salvatore J. LaGumina to discover the remarkable contributions and vibrant culture of Italians and Italian-Americans on Long Island.
Long Island Italians (Images of America)
by Salvatore J. LaguminaIn America "the streets were paved with gold." That was the mistaken notion of many an immigrant to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. On Long Island, deluded sojourners from Italy were to find that in fact there were few streets and that they themselves were to be the ones to build them.Covering more than a century of history, Long Island Italians depicts the transition of urban Italians as they moved increasingly from the city to the suburbs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. They were attracted to Long Island by economic opportunity, the availability of arable land, home ownership possibilities, and alternatives to harsh city life. There, they became the largest of all ethnic groups, with more Americans of Italian descent living in one concentrated area than anywhere besides Italy. The Italian American presence is a continuing phenomenon, today comprising about 25 percent of the total population of Long Island. Long Island Italians graphically illustrates that Italian laborwas vital to the development of Long Island roads, agriculture, railroads, and industry. By the early twentieth century, Italians made up the bulk of the work force. The book goes beyond the laborers to show also the warmth of Italian family life, the strength of the social organizations, and the rise of the politicians.
Long Island Migrant Labor Camps: Dust for Blood
by Mark A TorresThe little-known history of the Suffolk County camps where migrant workers lived in squalor during and after WWII—includes photos. During World War II, a group of potato farmers opened the first migrant labor camp in Suffolk County to house farmworkers from Jamaica. Over the next twenty years, more than one hundred camps of various sizes would be built throughout the region. Thousands of migrant workers lured by promises of good wages and decent housing flocked to Eastern Long Island, where they were often cheated out of pay and housed in deadly slum-like conditions. Preyed on by corrupt camp operators and entrapped in a feudal system that left them mired in debt, laborers, whether Jamaican or Mexican, Polish or Chinese, struggled and, in some cases, perished in the shadow of New York&’s affluence. In this book Mark A. Torres reveals the dreadful history of Long Island&’s migrant labor camps from their inception to their peak in 1960—and their steady decline in the following decades. &“I urge folks to read this book.&” —Fire Island News
Long Island Motor Parkway, The (Images of America)
by Howard Kroplick Al VelocciA forerunner of the modern highway system, the Long Island Motor Parkway was constructed during the advent of the automobile and at a pivotal time in American history. Following a spectator death during the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race, the concept for a privately owned speedway on Long Island was developed by William K. Vanderbilt Jr. and his business associates. It would be the first highway built exclusively for the automobile. Vanderbilt's dream was to build a safe, smooth, police-free road without speed limits where he could conduct his beloved automobile races without spectators running onto the course. Features such as the use of reinforced concrete, bridges to eliminate grade crossings, banked curves, guardrails, and landscaping were all pioneered for the parkway. Reflecting its poor profitability and the availability of free state-built public parkways, the historic 48-mile Long Island Motor Parkway closed on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938.
Long Island Oddities: Curious Locales, Unusual Occurrences, and Unlikely Urban Adventures (American Legends)
by John Leita Laura LeitaLong Island's history is well known, but often overlooked are the island's unique and bizarre stories and treasures--the most interesting locations and darkest legends. From hidden haunts and legends like the Indian Princess of Lake Ronkonkoma to well-known events like the Amityville Horror House murders, this collection chronicles the tales of restless spirits, unrequited loves and otherworldly visits that riddle the island. There is much to be seen along the roadside, too, including the beloved Big Duck, the Riverhead Indian and even the grave site of Nixon's dog, Checkers. Through history, pictures and the personal experiences of a ten-year endeavor, authors John and Laura Leita brings to life Long Island's abandoned structures, including psychiatric hospitals and other ruins waiting to be rediscovered. Join the Leitas as they go in search of the delightfully quirky side of Long Island.
Long Island Rail Road Stations
by David D. Morrison Valerie PakalukChartered in 1834 to provide a route between New York City and Boston, the Long Island Rail Road ran from the Brooklyn waterfront through the center of Long Island to Greenport. The railroad served the agricultural market on Long Island until branches and competing lines eventually developed on the north and south shores of the island and several hundred passenger stations were built. After Penn Station was opened in 1910, the number of passengers commuting between Manhattan and Long Island began to multiply. Today, one hundred twenty-five stations serve the Long Island Rail Road. Long Island Rail Road Stations contains vintage postcards of the old Penn Station, which was demolished in the mid-1960s; the Grand Stairway at the Forest Hills Station, where Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous unification speech on July 4, 1917; and the Amagansett station building, where Nazi spies boarded a train bound for New York City on June 13, 1942. Many of the historic stations featured in this book have been preserved by local preservation groups, while others have been replaced with modern buildings to accommodate the passengers who commute on the nation's largest commuter railroad.
Long Island Rail Road: Babylon Branch (Images of Rail)
by David D. MorrisonThe Long Island Rail Road is the oldest railroad in the country still operating under its original name. It is the busiest railroad in North America, with 90 million annual riders on 735 trains covering 11 different branches. The Babylon Branch, which serves 15 stations from Valley Stream to Babylon, carries 18 million annual riders over its 20-mile right-of-way. The branch has been totally electrified since 1925 and has not had any street crossings at grade since 1979. There are three signal towers and four junctions for other branches on this line. Two railroad museums are housed in former branch station buildings, those being Wantagh and Lindenhurst.
Long Island Rail Road: Morris Park Shops (Images of Rail)
by David D. MorrisonDavid D. Morrison, retired Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) branch line manager and railroad historian, has compiled rare photographs to showcase the shops that power the LIRR, the busiest railroad in North America. The LIRR provides passenger rail service from Midtown Manhattan to to the far ends of Long Island at Greenport and Montauk. A vast operation such as this requires a huge fleet of locomotives and cars. The reliability of the fleet rests mainly upon the shop maintenance facility. The Morris Park Shops, opened in 1889 and closed in the early 2000s, provided over a century of maintenance and repair service, allowing the LIRR to develop and expand through the years. The complexity of the shop facility, from the days of steam locomotives to multiple-unit electric cars and diesel locomotives, is a fascinating chapter in LIRR history.
Long Island Rail Road: Port Jefferson Branch
by David Keller David D. MorrisonThe Long Island Rail Road is the oldest railroad in the country still operating under its original name. As the busiest railroad in North America, it carries 265,000 customers each weekday aboard 735 trains on 11 different branches. The Port Jefferson Branch serves 10 stations from Hicksville to Port Jefferson and carries nearly 20 percent of the railroad's passenger traffic over its 32 miles of track. Hicksville Station is the site of the October 8, 1955, "End of Steam Ceremony," when steam locomotives were retired from service. The oldest surviving station building constructed by the Long Island Rail Road is on this branch at St. James. Between 1895 and 1938, the branch extended 10 miles east to Wading River. The branch was not electrified until 1970 and that was only to Huntington Station, east of which is served by diesel and dual-mode locomotives.
Long Island Railroad, The: 1925-1975
by David Keller Steven LynchChartered on April 24, 1834, as a route from Brooklyn to Boston, the Long Island Rail Road commenced in 1836 with service between Brooklyn and Jamaica, New York. The railroad has linked Long Island and New York City through several periods of increasing immigration and population beginning in the 1880s. Farmers and fishermen have depended on the railroad for their livelihood, and every summer thousands of tourists flock to Long Island beaches on the Long Island Rail Road. It is still the nation's largest commuter railroad, transporting an average of over two hundred fifty thousand commuters daily. The Long Island Rail Road: 1925-1975 offers a behind-the-scenes look at freight and passenger activities and the people who worked on the railroad. These one-of-a-kind photographs depict structures no longer in use, such as towers, water tanks, and crossing shanties, as well as electric motive power and other facets of a working railroad.
Long Island and the Civil War: Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties During the War Between the States (Civil War Series)
by Harrison Hunt Bill BleyerAlthough no battles were fought on Long Island, the Civil War deeply affected all of its residents. More than three thousand men--white and black--from current-day Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties answered the call to preserve the Union. While Confederate ships lurked within eight miles of Montauk Point, camps in Mineola and Willets Point trained regiments. Local women raised thousands of dollars for Union hospitals, and Long Island companies manufactured uniforms, drums and medicines for the army. At the same time, a little-remembered draft riot occurred in Jamaica in 1863. Local authors Harrison Hunt and Bill Bleyer explore this fascinating story, from the 1860 presidential campaign that polarized the region to the wartime experiences of Long Islanders on the battlefield and at home.
Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics: Station of Intolerance
by Mark A. TorresA Dark History Revealed In the early twentieth century, eugenics was at the forefront of scientific discourse in the quest to understand human genetics. On Long Island and throughout the nation, eugenicists were granted unfettered access to conduct experiments on prisoners, psychiatric patients, Coney Island circus performers and more, all in an effort to legitimize a false science. The origins of the eugenics movement can be found within the Eugenics Record Office, an otherwise nondescript two-and-a-half-story administrative building at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, under the direction of Charles Benedict Davenport from 1910 to 1939. The work conducted there directly led to the forced sterilization of thousands of American citizens and the passage of anti-immigration laws and sparked a deadly global movement. Author Mark Torres explores the local characters, influences, landmarks and ghastly consequences that emanated from this small Long Island facility for decades and spread throughout the world.
Long Island and the Sea: A Maritime History
by Bill BleyerFor more than five centuries, the waterways surrounding Long Island have profoundly shaped its history. Familiar subjects of lighthouses, shipwrecks and whaling are found alongside oft-forgotten history such as Pan-American flying boats landing in Manhasset Bay in the early days of transatlantic flight. From the British blockade and skirmishes during the American Revolution to the sinking of merchant vessels by Germany in World War II, the sea brought wars to these shores. Gold Coast millionaires commuted in high-speed yachts to Manhattan offices as the island's wealth grew. Historian Bill Bleyer reveals Long Island's nautical bonds from the Native Americans to current efforts to preserve the region's maritime heritage.
Long Island and the Woman Suffrage Movement
by Antonia PetrashAn account of how the women’s rights movement found fertile ground on Long Island and succeeded thanks to the suffragettes’ classic grassroots campaign. For seventy-two years, American women fought for the right to vote, and many remarkable ladies on Long Island worked tirelessly during this important civil rights movement. The colorful—and exceedingly wealthy—Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was undoubtedly the island’s most outspoken and controversial advocate for woman suffrage. Ida Bunce Sammis, vigorous in her efforts, became one of the first women elected to the New York legislature. Well-known Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, worked with countless other famous and ordinary Long Islanders to make her mother’s quest a reality. Author Antonia Petrash tells the story of these and other women’s struggle to secure the right to vote for themselves, their daughters and future generations of Long Island women.
Long Island's Gold Coast Elite & the Great War
by Richard F WelchAt the outbreak of World War I, the Gold Coast of Long Island was home to the most concentrated combination of financial, political and social clout in the country. Bankers, movie producers, society glitterati, government officials and an ex-president mobilized to arrange massive loans, send supplies and advocate for the Allied cause. The efforts undercut the Wilson administration's official policy of neutrality and set the country on a course to war with Germany. Members of the activist families--including Morgans, Davisons, Phippses, Martins, Hitchcocks, Stimsons and Roosevelts--served in key positions or fought at the front. Historian Richard F. Welch reveals how a potent combination of ethno-sociological solidarity, clear-eyed geopolitical calculation and financial self-interest inspired the North Shore elite to pressure the nation into war.
Long Island's North Fork (Images of America)
by Maria Orlando PietromonacoBoasting a verdant landscape and miles of silky white beaches, Long Island's North Fork remains a natural paradise. Escaping the urbanization that overspread much of Long Island in the early 1900s, the rural villages survived on farming, fishing, shipbuilding, and maritime trading. Loyal residents have preserved the North Fork's rich heritage and tranquil pace of life. Thus, agriculture still thrives and boats continue to cruise the crystal-clear waters.Long Island's North Fork explores the past through the eyes of those who lived in the rustic countryside. It is a treasury of photographs, many taken by professionals, others from selected family albums and collections.
Long Island's Vanished Heiress: The Unsolved Alice Parsons Kidnapping (True Crime)
by Steven C. DrielakA new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents—includes photos. When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island&’s wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons&’s husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents—and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.
Long Island: A Novel
by Colm ToibinOPRAH&’S BOOK CLUB PICK * Named a Most Anticipated Book by The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Good Housekeeping, and more.From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín&’s most popular work twenty years later.Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony&’s parents, a huge extended family that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades. One day, when Tony is at his job and Eilis is in her home office doing her accounting, an Irishman comes to the door asking for her by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony&’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis&’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín&’s novel so riveting.Long Island is about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis&’ life are thunderous and dangerous, and there&’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she&’d lost.