I was searching through some old photos and stumbled upon this old 8" x 10" photo of the Class of 1984 from 5th Avenue Elementary School in East Nothport, NY. Can you find me? I could still name a couple of dozen kids in this photo but I won't embarrass them. I know one is now in advertising, another is now an architect, and one became a country music singer. I wonder what happened to the rest of them. If you found this post from a google search and you're in the photo, please post a reply.

Labels: flashback, Long_Island

The Guinness Book of World Records recently named Alia Sabur as the youngest college professor in the history of the world. She was hired as a physics and math instructor in the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in South Korea - before her 18th birthday. The previous record was held by a student of physicist Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin, who set the mark in 1717. The reason this story caught my eye is that Alia Sabur is from Northport, New York!

(Patty is from Northport and I am from East Northport.)

Labels: Long_Island

I've previously blogged about my historic 1946 Town of Huntington Planning Map. Today I learned about Yahoo's new Map Mixer application, which overlays uploaded maps over the ones found on Yahoo. Naturally I tried it out with my 1946 map to share with others. Aside from progress in general, it's pretty cool to fiddle with the layer opacity and have line up (mostly) with the modern map and see how the paths of some roads have been changed over time.

Labels: cool, internet, Long_Island

In addition to showcasing the 1946 Huntington Planing Map I blogged about yesterday, I'll also take this opportunity to point out some other historical writings I'm proud to have contributed to Wikipedia.

A few months ago I accidentally discovered an amazing online resource called Northern New York Historical Newspapers. This website has digitally scanned hundreds of old newspapers and made them available in searchable PDF format. Although the olden-day typography causes problems with the text recognition software, you are able to find "today's news" from 140 years in the past - like a time machine.

Before the Press Republican, Plattsburgh, New York was covered by a newspaper known as the Plattsburgh Sentinel (1866-1931). Since I went to school at SUNY Plattsburgh, I decided to check out the headlines from the day my alma mater was founded. (Yes, this is where I got much of my information for my previous blog post on SUNY Plattsburgh Trivia.) I was surprised to find that the date on SUNY Plattsburgh's official logo was actually a year earlier than the school really opened. After that it became a history treasure hunt and I eventually contributed my research to Wikipedia. Here's an excerpt from the History of SUNY Plattsburgh:

... On January 26, 1929, a great fire completely destroyed the Plattsburgh Normal School. The fire started in the boiler room on a cold Saturday morning. Aided by high winds, the entire structure was fully engulfed in flames within a half-hour. Six children were rescued from the school by faculty members.

Classes resumed the following Wednesday at City Hall in downtown. By June of 1930 plans were presented for a new structure to replace Normal Hall. The new building would be twice as long and boast three times the capacity of the original building. ...

So it began with the history of SUNY Plattsburgh but I soon realized that the quaint, picturesque, harbor side town of Northport, New York (next to where I grew up on Long Island) had a rich history that was also being ignored by Wikipedia. So I found reliable sources and composed the History of Northport, New York. Here's an excerpt:

... By 1837 the village finally became known as Northport, although the village was not formally incorporated until 1894. The reason for this name was never officially documented but coincides with the rapid growth of port-related industries. By 1840 the region had shifted away from its farming roots as shipbuilding became the community's primary industry. Northport's shipbuilding boon lasted a half-century, but waned in the late 1800's as steel-hulled ships began replacing the wooden vessels produced in the village. ...

Since my hometown of East Northport shared so much history with neighboring Northport, it was only natural for me also write the History of East Northport, New York. Although the history isn't nearly as rich, one interesting thing I discovered was the little known fact as to why the town was named East Northport even though it actually located south of Northport. Here's an excerpt:

... In 1868 the Long Island Railroad opened a station within the village of Northport. However, just a few years later the LIRR decided to move the Northport station to a new location in Larkfield to facilitate further railway extension to Port Jefferson. The new railway station located at Larkfield Road and Bellerose Avenue opened on January 13, 1873. Although the station retained the name of Northport, train conductors would refer to it as "East of Northport" because the station was located east of the railway junction which used to direct trains north to the old station located in the village of Northport. Despite the fact that East Northport is actually south of Northport, the area became known thereafter as East Northport. The Larkfield Post Office formerly changed its name to East Northport in 1910. ...

Labels: history, internet, Long_Island, Plattsburgh

I'm a regular contributer to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. I have well over 700 edits to my credit. I own an old 1946 town planning map from Huntington, New York which I considered historically significant enough to warrant an article on Wikipedia. The map shows Long Island right before the post-World War II population explosion that transformed it from rural farmland into an endless sea of housing developments and shopping malls. In addition, it also shows a proposal for a highway that would have cut right through northern Long Island, but was never built. Other Wikipedians agreed that the map was significant enough so I uploaded a scanned copy of the map and created a new article about it.

The article remained on Wikipedia for nearly a year before somebody pointed out a nearly unknown rule that the subject of an article can't be its own citation source. (Although, how else can you demonstrate the significance of any document without referencing the document itself?) After some debate the article was removed from Wikipedia, but the uploaded digital file of the map was allowed to remain as a historical document.

Since my intention was always to share the map with others who may find it interesting, I've created a new page on my own website for the 1946 Huntington Planning Map. Enjoy.

Labels: history, internet, Long_Island