Syosset Scrapbook Part One

A Syosset Scrapbook

Part One

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Look for the

signs to see the latest additions, as of May 23, 2007.

Listen to the late Joseph Boslet Jr., interviewed by Isabel Goldenkoff at the Syosset Public Library, as he reminisces about old Syosset. We placed excerpts from this 1991 tape throughout Scrapbook. You may have to temporarily disable your firewall in order to access the sound files.
Look for the signs. If you live in Syosset, visit the library to borrow the entire tape and tapes featuring other longtime Syosset residents. If you wish to listen to the tapes in the library, call the library first to see if they have a tape player; otherwise bring your own.

Click on small pictures below to see larger images.
Then, click the back button or back arrow at the top of your screen to return to this page.

This postcard was sold in November, 2000 on eBay (for around $44!). The train station
is on the right, the old hotel which later became Boslet's Restaurant is on the far left.
(photo by George Edward VanSise)

In 1924, Syosset had a population of 1,435. "This scattered community is located in the midst of a fine farming country and the land is the most fertile land in Nassau County. To the north of the station and on the wooded hills many luxurious country homes have been built. While Syosset at the present time is not developed very extensively in the way of suburban homes, that is accounted for by the fact that the farmland is too valuable to be disposed of for development purposes, but it is only a question of time when it will be transposed into a beautiful home community—the natural beauty of the country in this section making it ideal for this purpose. The village now has a Union Church, two schools, motorized fire department, macadam roads, and electric light." Long Island, The Sunrise Homeland, 1926

William J. Knettel, Florist, c. 1899
Mr. Knettel is on left.
(photo by George Edward VanSise postcard courtesy of Leone Knettel Taylor)

Spreer's Hotel on Jackson Avenue, early 1900s
(photo courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

Left, aerial view of Syosset, early 1900s
(photo from Frederick Ruther, Long Island To-Day, 1909)
Center and right, early postcards: "Greetings from Syosset, LI"

May's Corner, Jackson Avenue and Convent Road;
general store operated by Theodore and Georgiana May
from the early 20th century to c. 1940
later Moran and Kyle's Syosset Inn, 1940s; Kyle and Moran's, 1950s
Mr. May's sister was Flora May VanSise, wife of S. Franklin VanSise, of VanSise Farms.
(postcard courtesy of Diane Oley)

St. Mary of the Angels Home on Convent Road, founded 1894

Letter from St. Mary's to Roulston's Grocery Store, Jackson Ave., Feb. 11, 1946,
probably containing an order
(image by Tom Montalbano)

The Schenck cemetery behind St. Mary's, 2002
The center stone reads: "Nelson Schenck, Died July 23, 1852, Age 19 yrs, 2 mos, 7days."
Right, a partial rendering: "...And hope you'll comfort him..."
There were forty-four burials from 1821 to 1897, including members of the Schenck , Baldwin, Ellison, Lewis, Marshall, McElvey, Van Sise and Wanser families.
(photos by Tom Montalbano)

The Cheshire family cemetery on Ira Road, 2001 and 2003
Located on the farm of Abram Cheshire, there were twelve burials from 1852 to 1897, including members of the Cheshire, Bedell, Schenck and Wood families.

Jericho Turnpike, early 1900s
(from Frederick Ruther, Long Island To-Day, 1909)

VanSise store in 1908, north of the Split Rock-Berry Hill fork
It also housed the post office beginning in 1857.
(photo courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

Old carpenter shop, pre-1915
Probably on the old Horton property near what is now
Horton Place and Berry Hill Road.
(photo by George Edward VanSise)

Wedding c. 1916
Left, Helena Kwiatkowski, groom Kazmier Gurney (Gorny, Garney),
bride Josephine Kacmarska, Anna Petrowski;
Right, Anna Petrowski and unidentified gentleman
They are standing in front of what was to become 14 Roosevelt Street (Avenue),
the site of Syosset's first library, the Kiwanis Community Library, in 1958.
(photos courtesy of the Wencko and Kwiatkowski families)

Wedding c. 1916
Anna Petrowski, unidentified, Josephine Gurney (Gorney, Garney),
Mary S. (nee Bagenski) Wencko
Queens Street is in back of them and Roosevelt Street (Avenue) is to the left.
The corner behind this group would be where the Syosset Post Office is today.
(photo courtesy of the Wencko and Kwiatkowski families)

Philip Livingston Jones' Venture Farm Jerseys ad, 1918
"Registered, tuberculin tested animals of all ages
and both sexes always for sale"

Advertisement for the Syosset Game Farm
Pheasants, cranes, turkeys, ducks, and geese were sold,
probably primarily to the large estates.

Left, W. Wilton Wood (lumber, lime, cement, farm tools), 110 Jackson Avenue The sterling silver shovel displayed was used by the Duke of Windsor to plant a tree on the Burden Estate, Muttontown Road, in 1924.
Right, 110 Jackson Ave in 2001

J. Watson Webb's horse stables, c. 1924
Webb was a world-famous left-handed polo player
His estate later became the Tinker estate.

Handwritten on back: "Syosset Well Drillers, Syosset, NY.
Method used by Sy Well Drillers to create water supply."

Syosset water tower, Convent Road, late 1930s and 1964
When it was erected c. 1932, it was the world's second largest water tower,
at 1,500,000-gallon capacity, supported by 20 columns, 78 feet in diameter, and approximately 175 feet high.

Mildred Knettel and Dot VanSise, February 7, 1932
after purchasing their coats in New York City
The water tower is already up.
(image courtesy of Diane Oley)

Jericho Water District structure, c. 1930s, adjacent to the tower,
now used for chemical storage

Pond on Cold Spring Road early 1900s (photo from Frederick Ruther, Long Island To-Day, 1909) and in July, 2000
(referred to as both Cheshire and Pelican ponds)

Left, "The Lake, Syosset, Long Island" by George Edward VanSise;
Center, "The Pond, Syosset, Long Island, N.Y.";
Right, "The Picturesque Pond, Syosset, Long Island, N.Y."

c. 1930: The Clarence Van Cott farm
"...at the sharp "S" curve on Split Rock Road, east side, before 25A. Loaded for market with potatoes and cabbage. The truck has solid rubber tires and no doors. The cow, horse, three men and three bottles of beer. In 1930 Clarence would have been 28 years old and I think he is the man in the middle."
Florence Kwiatkowski Sendrowski
(images courtesy of Mary Wencko Gaida)

VanSise Farms on South Woods Road and Jericho Turnpike
On right, 1947, with owner S. Franklin VanSise and Darrin Marie Tollin, grandniece of his wife, Flora May VanSise.
((image on right, courtesy of Karrin Marie Tollin Werrenrath)

1930s: Left, downtown area;
Boslet's Restaurant is to the right of utility pole near the center of picture; to the left is Thomas Roulston's Grocery Store and Janke's Syosset Meat Market.
Center, view of town from the railroad tracks;
Right, Weinstock's "This is a picture of the store where I bought these cards. The Honor Roll is right to the left of the store. The main road through the village is to the left too but you can't see any more of the stores in the picture." Mildred Knettel Vanstane to her husband, Forrest Vanstane, during World War II.
(postcards left and right, courtesy of Diane Vanstane Oley)

Junction of Split Rock and Berry Hill Roads, 1930s

Left and center: Syosset Memorial Park at junction of Split Rock and Berry Hill Roads
The park was dismantled in the 1940s; the World War I monument was moved
and the cannon was sold for scrap metal.
Right: Later version of monument, Memorial Day, 1959
(photo postcards left and center, courtesy of Leone Knettel Taylor)

1937: Leone Knettel and Evelyn (Evvie) Diel walking south on Jackson Avenue

Daniel Lynch's Berry Hill Service Station, built in 1938
(photo on right, courtesy of Sally Anne Lynch)

Left, the original Krebs and Schulz Syosset Garage, c. 1930s;
center, the new Krebs and Schulz Syosset Garage under construction;
Right, the new Syosset Garage at night c. 1937
(center and right photos, courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

K&S (Krebs and Schulz) Transportation Corp., advertisement, 1962

Al Peters' service station, 7 Jackson Ave., c. 1950s

Group in Syosset, c. 1940s
Left, Edward McAuliffe, second from left;
Right, Edward McAuliffe. left

A man with two horses is plowing to clear the property for building at
4 Walker Avenue in 1940. The road behind him is Jackson Avenue;
in the background is the Jackson Farms' potato field.
(photo courtesy of Douglas Baird)

Guests at Douglas Baird's birthday party
Picture taken in front of the Baird play house at 4 Walker Ave., 1945 or 1946
Front row: Robin Boslet, Jean Olsen from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, George Hvidsten, Douglas Baird;
Back row: Joyce Wicks, Ruth Monilaws, Robert Olsen from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
(image courtesy of Douglas Baird)

Meadowbrook Road, 1941: Nellie Nowak Boslet with carriage;
Berry Hill Road and Sparks' Woods are in the background.

Fred's Barber Shop, est. 1939
Danny Pepe, Charlie Rella and Fred Maimone

Another view of Fred's

Tony Maimone, Fred's son, at Fred's in 1984
(photo by Ken Spencer, The Newsday Magazine, May 6, 1984)

Left, Rella's Produce Market, 1940, Gordon McAuliffe and Charlie Rella;
Center, Gordon and unidentified friend;
Right, Charlie Diel, who was an integral part of the Syosset scene in the '30s, '40s and '50s

Uprooted tree (on Jackson Avenue?), 1944

Left, looking northeast: Locust Grove School in lower right;
Dawes Ave. in foreground, then Beatrice Ave. and Albert Ave; c. 1945
Right, looking northwest: Locust Grove School, on Humphrey Drive, lower left

Hicksville Air Park on Robbins Lane, 1947
The aerial photos above by Bob Boslet may
have been taken from a plane flown out of this airport.
Click on the picture to read about it.
The site is now an industrial park, probably on Aerial Way.
(from Images of America: Long Island Airports,
by Joshua Stoff, courtesy of Rich Schaetzl)

Bottom of Muttontown Road, junction of Split Rock
and Berry Hill Roads to their left, c. 1949
Irene Sekelsky & Florence M. Kwiatkowski
(photo courtesy of the Kwiatkowski family)

Birthday party in Locust Grove, 1950, and thank you note
Seated on ground: Robin Boslet (partially obscured), Pam Boslet, Louraine Yoepp,
Judy Egge?
Back row: Clara Yoepp, Maureen Raynor?, Myrna Belowitz?, Karen Egge?,
Jeanette Watson? (partially obscured)

Greenway Circle, Summer of '52:
Dan L., Johnnie Delin, Larry Ebel, Ron Burckley, Steve Zajac

Sledding on Hofgren's Hill, January 1957
Left, unidentified, Mike Hofgren, Pete Eriksen, Ron Burckley (partially obscured);
Right, Mike Hofgren and Ron Burckley
(photos courtesy of Priscilla Thralls King)

"Chicken fights" on Hofgren's Hill, c. 1957
Left, Randy Chapman, bottom, Dennis Gormely, top;
Right, Randy, left bottom, Dennis, right top
(photos courtesy of Priscilla Thralls King)

Syosset's Thomas Flower Mart, Long Island's most famous chrysanthemum farm
1958: Left, Art Thomas and Charlie Lewis with begonias
Right, information on Lecture re Tuberous Begonias

Left, Delin's mom in front of Rege' Hair Styling on Ira Road
Right, 1962 advertisement

Rege' Hair Styling on Ira Road, 1959 advertisement

View of triangle, Jackson Avenue and Cold Spring Road, c. 1953
(photo courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

Left, going north on Jackson Avenue c. 1954
The red barn on the right was Nichols Bros. Hardware.
(photo courtesy of Tom Montalbano)
Right, advertisement for Nichols Bros., 1962

Beney Funeral Home, 79 Berry Hill Road, and Mr. Egbert J. Beney's antique automobile,
a 1922 Oldsmobile Touring Car

1947
Left, Theodore Galiza
Right, with his friends, Duke and Buttons
(photos courtesy of Sally Anne Lynch)

Left, Galiza's Stables, riding ticket, 1957
Right, Tricia Boslet in the ring at Galiza's Stables, Fall '63

Invitation to a 1992 Galiza Stables reunion
The card on the front (left) is c. 1960s.
(courtesy of Maureen Boslet O'Brien)

Galiza's was sold in 1972 and converted to senior housing, seen in this 2003 photo.

Hand-held advertising fan given away by Syosset Coal, c. 1950
(images courtesy of Larry Chernow)

Young's Coal towers undergoing demolition, c. 1957,
on the future site of the Big Apple Supermarket, Ira Road

These Carvel stores are similar to the one on Jericho Turnpike in the '50s, which still exists today.
(photos courtesy of the Carvel Corporation)

Carvel on Jericho Turnpike, 1956 advertisement

Terence Meehan on Berry Hill Road, August 1956
(courtesy of Terence Meehan)

Underhill Boulevard under construction;
after completion, this road was used as a drag strip (Pam's dad, Syosset's usually-staid postmaster, took Pam on her first over-100 MPH ride in the Triumph below on Underhill Boulevard.)

Left, Pam and Bob Boslet Jr. with Bob's 1952 TR2, Summer, 1958;
Right, the same TR2 in June, 1959. Please drive safely.

Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Underhill Boulevard, September 29, 1958
A. Holly Patterson, Nassau County Executive, is at the podium. On the right: Lewis Waters, former Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor; John C. Schulz, Chamber of Commerce President; unidentified; A. Holly Patterson; John J. Burns, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor; Abby Katzman, Syosset attorney

Singer Manufacturing Co., Underhill Blvd., 1961
(photo courtesy of The Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection: LC-G613-77329-A)
Singer Company envelope, postmarked August 8, 1969,
advertising Elvis Presley in concert August 17, 1969 on NBC-TV, sponsored by Singer

Fairchild Camera and Instrument Co., 1953
(photo courtesy of The Library of Congress, Prints and
Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection:
LC-G613-64662)

Arthur S. Underhill farm in Syosset
from a 1958 Dime Savings Bank calendar
The artist is Tschamber.

The barns in this c. '70s photo of the Powell Farm at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration
were originally on the Arthur S. Underhill farm in Syosset.
(August Viemeister, An Architectural Journey through Long Island,
Kennikat Press Corp., Port Washington, N.Y./London, 1974)

The Syosset Theatre, OPENING SOON!
"Designed for 1980 rather than 1956"

The United Syosset Aid program received
the opening day proceeds of the new Syosset Theatre.
Left, the agreement signing:
Standing, Edmund Roel (Joint Civic Council president), Ted Allen (Syosset Theatre),
John Schulz (Chamber of Commerce president), William Ferris (Rotary Club), Abby Katzman (Lions Club president), Michael Dane (Kiwanis) and John Martin (Island Federal Savings and Loan Association).
Seated, Honorable Cortland A. Johnson, Justice of the Supreme Court.

Syosset Cinerama
The Syosset Theatre opened Nov. 20, 1956; it re-opened June 26th 1959 as the first purposely built 70mm Cinerama theatre in America. It had 1450 seats, an 18 m screen and Ashcraft Super Cinex arcs. The theatre closed and was torn down in the early 90s.
(photo on left courtesy of Roland Lataille;
photo on right courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

Poster advertising Windjammer, shown in Cinemiracle, Syosset Theatre, c. 1959

Syosset Theatre presents
How the West Was Won, 1963

Syosset Theatre presents Funny Girl, 1968
Die-cut folding promotional piece

The Syosset Theatre in 1957
Top center, the lobby; top right, snack bar;
Bottom right, the projection room; bottom center and right, the women's lounge
(images courtesy of Tom Montalbano)

Ticket with photo for the opening of the UA Cinema 150 on Jericho Turnpike c. 1969
It was recently demolished.
(images courtesy of Robert Weisgerber)

Left, Split Rock Road (taken from Split Rock School), 1957
Right, Cold Spring Road, c. 1960
(photo on right, courtesy of Diane Oley)

Looking up Dawes Avenue from Jackson Avenue after the blizzard of 1960
The Mihaly house is on the left.
(image courtesy of Charles Weidig)

Crest Manufacturing Co. on Underhill Boulevard, postcard postmarked 1965;
old faucet washer tin from Crest
It became Crest/Good Mfg. Co. in 1963.

Left, full of customers; center, long view;
Right, Evelyn Stephenson (Clara's mom) ringing up candy sales

Syosset Sweet Shop by Lauren Weidenman, SHS Class of '75, 1973
(image courtesy of Leslie Weidenman)

The famous "Seth and Pete" graffiti written
on the Ira Rd. wall of the shopping center on Jackson Ave.
Seth is the late Seth Bier; Pete is Pete Ziegler.
"SETH + PETE" was written in the early '60s;
"WHO ARE" and "ARE BURNT" were added later.
(1997 image, just before erasure, courtesy of Tom Montalbano)