the peconic bay shopper • preserving local...

————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • June 2012 —————————————————————2

publisher/editor — Michael P. Hagerman art department — Rita M. Hagerman [email protected] advertising sales — Amanda Czartosieski [email protected] office manager — Lori McKiernan: 631-765-3346 regular contributors — Gail F. Horton — Antonia Booth, Southold Town Historian — Daniel McCarthy

A division of: ACADEMY PRINTING SERVICES, INC.42 Horton Lane - POB 848, Southold NY 11971

— w w w . a c a d e m y p r i n t i n g s e r v i c e s . c o m —The Peconic Bay Shopper is published monthly eleven months each year. (There in no January issue.)

On our Cover....Dan McCarthy gives us a look at Cutchogue this month (story page 9). Our cover features a 1948 photo of the exterior of the Cutchogue Diner, courtesy of the Charles H. Meredith photo collection, Southold Historical Society. The 1962 Meredith photo below shows the Cutchogue Day Parade with a view of a DAR float. This photo is courtesy of the Southold Historical Society.

LOOKing for.......interior/exterior photos of the many soda fountains that went from River-head to Orient pre-1970s. So many drug stores and department stores had their wall of stools or booths where you could grab an ice cream float or sand-wich. No photos but great memories? Email them!

HELP WANTED: Looking for a person interested in selling adver-tising for this publication, covering the North Fork from Cutchogue west. Hours totally flexible. Publication is monthly (no January issue). Please stop in Academy Printing for more info or email: [email protected].

————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • June 2012 ————————————————————— 3

by Gail F. Horton

Pure, simple nostalgia washed over me when I opened the email attachment from my daughter that showed my twin grandsons, age three, frolicking in a large, cardboard box in their Brooklyn living room. Off the sofa they sprung into their new toy, heartily laughing with an expression of joy spread across their face as the box tumbled over upon impact and they rolled out onto the rug. I watched the minute and a half video over and over as the memories of The Rothman Box of my childhood seeped into my consciousness.

I couldn’t get the boxes out of my mind. The following day I ran into fellow classmate of the Southold High School Class of 1961, John Kramer, in Aldo’s Cafe in Greenport. I asked him if he remembered The Rothman Box. I knew he did because he grew up on Mechanic Street in Southold, his family owned Kramer’s Drug Store on the west of Roth-man’s Department Store, and the competition was hot when new boxes arrived. Proximity was in his favor since he had a clear view when Rothman’s took delivery of the large boxes that contained the new refrigerators and stoves and John had the opportunity to put in the first bid for the emptied shipping box. I lived on Horton’s Lane, a long block away, so my chances for first choice were more tenuous. A smile spread over John’s face in response to my query and the dreamy look of conjuring up pleasant memories appeared as he uttered “The Rothman Box.” Then he recalled the wonder-ful times of building forts and hideouts with the rest of the Mechanic Street Gang (classmate Randall Cummings also belonged to this group), carving windows for lookouts and doors in the cardboard walls. The Horton’s Lane Gang, George and Tom Terry and my brother Dan Fischer and I, were, as I mentioned before, were not so advantageously situated to spot the arrival of the boxes but sometimes Mr. Rothman would tell us when the new shipment would arrive and we would hustle down on the appointed time, to snag a mint box.

Ruth and David Rothman opened Rothmans Department Store in 1918 where they sold, as their slogan trumpeted “Everything nationally known as merchan-dise for the home and garden.” Located on the south side of Route 25 between Mechanic Street and Youngs Avenue, it was an important fixture in the small


Southold Hamlet shopping district similar to the Arcade Department Store in Greenport. After World War II electric refrigerators were greatly improved and gradually replaced ice boxes for cold food storage. Ron Rothman, current proprietor of Rothmans Department Store, related the following anecdote: “When the first boxed General Electric Refrigerator was being unloaded from the delivery truck in front of Rothman’s Department Store, Judge L. Baron Hill was driving by and noticed the box. He stopped and told the Rothmans “bring it up to my house.” And so they did. In 1964 the Rothmans bought the adjacent Charles F. Kramer Drug Store and expanded their offering of appli-ances and other merchandise. Rothmans is the oldest GE Distributor in the United States. When they first began manufacturing and selling appliances they were offering terms as low as a dollar a month. Ron reports that currently

Vera and Ben Bogaty and Sparky checking out the new box for comfort. June 2012 Abe and Ben Bogaty performing renovations. Greenport, NY, June 2012

GE is expanding into manufacturing front loading washing machines in the United States and will bring 400,000 jobs back to this country.

When Dave and Ruth’s son, Bob, married his Syracuse University classmate, Audrey, they returned to Southold and managed the business for the elder Rothmans when they retired. Meanwhile, when their children, Chuck, Ron, and Michael were older Audrey went back to school to complete her NYS Teaching Certification and taught in Oysterponds Elementary School from 1970 to 1990.

My sister, Peggy Murphy tells of the time they celebrated daughter Allison Dow’s birthday at Founders Landing, Southold and featured a row of Roth-


Rothmans Department Store looking east, circa 1950s. Photo courtesy of Ron Rothman. Dave Rothman in front of Rothmans Department Store outdoor display looking west. Kramer Drug Store building in the background, c. 1960s. Photo courtesy of Ron Rothman.

man Boxes up on the bluff that housed different games such as a bean bag toss and fishing for the party goers to enjoy. Ron and Marilyn Rothman created a Batman theme for son Gregory’s 7th or 8th birthday filling their living room with Bat Caves created from the famous boxes. Audrey Rothman told of put-ting boxes under the maple tree in their back yard and filling it with leaves so her sons could jump into it from the tree branches. Mike Hagerman, of Acad-emy Printing and The Peconic Bay Shopper reported that when he was young he

got inside his box and rolled down the big hill in front of the aforementioned Judge Hill’s home. Kids often just set off on their own, or in groups, to re-im-age a box to suit their fancy - and this task was seriously approached and the results very imaginative.

Smith Haven Mall appeared in Lake Grove in 1969 and its kind rapidly pro-liferated as did Big Box Stores and they changed the nature of the shopping


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Postcard of Charles F. Kramer Drug Store, circa 1950s by Milt Price. Courtesy of Gail F. Horton

culture. Cars and housing developments were more prevalent and these malls and stores, able to buy merchandise in bulk were able to sell goods at lower prices. Rothman’s, who once offered the com-munity the big box appliances scaled back and reinvented itself. It became, accord-ing to Ron Rothman a “small box store instead of a cavernous big box store.” Un-der his tutelage of over twenty years the store has developed an impressive line of guitars, musical equipment and repair and set up capability. Ron says, “I have more Martins, Taylor, and vintage gui-tars than anywhere else on Long Island. I make an effort to acquire them.” He is also an accomplished musician in the area of jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass and is moving into the field of classical music. He has also written a book, Harmony, The People’s Guitar. Dave Rothman, his grand-father, played the fiddle and his aunt Joan Brill, a Julliard Graduate, had a successful career as a pianist and, in the early years accompanied the North Fork Chorale.

The former Kramer building still houses CPA Michael Rothman’s firm and now features gallery, music and furniture sales. Ron is working at developing a multidisci-plinary art space within.

So, it is generally not possible for a kid nowadays to walk downtown and secure a prized big box. Usually the family totes them back from the strip mall or the big box store or the USPS, FedEx or UPS leaves them at their doorstep. There is no more competition to get a free Roth-man Box, someone has to buy something somewhere else. Time marches on but check out the following; it looks like the magic of The Rothman Box still prevails.

o

The following idea was submitted to the New York Times “The Innovation White Board” for innovations — whether a theo-retical invention, an ingenious reinven-tion of an ordinary item or a nifty idea — by submitting it online... And this one was one of the four chosen as a favorite and appeared in the June 3, 2012 New York Times Magazine on page 74:

Toddler Painting StationRecently, I offered my child a chance to paint.

I made a painting station in a large cardboard

box, and inside taped several paper cups to

hold different colors. If we painted on news-paper, the paper would have blown away. I was able to leave a 2.4-year-old painting alone. — Eric Wilhelm, Oakland, CA


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Front view of Rothmans Department Store, circa 1950s. Photo courtesy of Ron Rothman.

Response from Martha Stewart, Founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnime-dia and the author of “Martha’s American Food”:As a recent grandmother of two who also has rather fragile home interiors, I think I could use this idea to best advantage. Maybe it could be expanded to be able to be col-lapsible and folded so it could be stored when the children are absent.

o

Note to readers from the editor:If your memory holds any “box tales” please share them with us:

email: [email protected]: 631.765.3369

phone: 631.765.3346


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You’ll see that recognition of locations in Cutchogue have been entered here, incorporating data from both the Southold Free Library Whitaker Historical Collection and the Southold Historical Society. This is just a glimpse of the hamlet that includes the extensions of Nas-sau Point and New Suffolk. You are invited to visit both archives to learn more. It will be more than just a trivial pursuit. It was for me.

According to Cutchogue: Southold’s First Colony by Southold Town Historian Way-land Jefferson, Cutchogue caught the enthusiastic eye of leading founder and pio-neer of Southold, William Wells. Jefferson reminds us that Cutchogue is derived from the Indian word Ketchi-auke, meaning “the principle place.” The story goes that after 18 years of litigation between William Wells and the Town Fathers, Cutchogue was opened for settlement in 1667. William Wells had received Ketchi-auke from the Indians in settlement for his claim for oxen. How-ever, William Wells claimed the oxen were “stole by the heethen.” The Town Fa-thers did not deny the justice of his claim but had continually refused permission for another independent settlement within their bounds since they already had experience with the people of Hashamomoque, which had brought bad news. The Town Fathers declared a formal laying out of lots in the Cutchogue divi-sion in November 1661 and a year later owners’ names were posted on 44 lots for the Cutchogue “dividend.” William Wells was one such owner and he had three necks of land. They were named Quasha, Poole’s and Little Hog Neck. The majority of the Cutchogue settlers were of the second generation. Broad Field was ready for tillage and guaranteed the residents food while they were mak-ing their farms ready. Broad Field was the largest area of cleared land in the vicin-ity and was parceled out to the settlers in 20-acre lots. (In the first plantation of Southold, the Oldfield was divided into one and two-acre plots.) There was a good bay harbor at Robin’s Island Neck (New Suffolk) as well as a port at the Sound in the Duck Pond of today, and a water supply in the Town Pond at the foot of Manor Hill.

Land Ho! A Main Attractionby Dan McCarthy

Jefferson went on to say that a reason for coming to Cutchogue was economics. Only cleared land was taxed and in Cutchogue it would take several years for the collector to catch up with them even after the three-year tax-free period that was allowed by the New Haven Authorities. Tobacco farmers had already taken up the land at the extreme end of the North Fork, and farms occupied the two great areas of Greenport and East Mar-ion. Great Hogg Neck was officially reserved for the Indians. Even after a fence around Great Hogg Neck was built as specified by the Overseers, the Indians were not allowed to keep Great Hogg Neck. Broad Field offered surplus crops. Among some were corn, wheat and French wheat (barley), which was shipped across the Sound. Horses could be sold. Mrs. Mary Wells garnished the reputation of being the largest breeder of horses in the whole town and her descendants, the Fleets, continued that ongoing tradition. Leather and furs were shipped to the Mother Country. Rum and sugar were ex-changed with the West Indies as salt pork and apples were exported there. Mrs. Wells had 27 sheep in Cutchogue, Wayland Jefferson noted. The men in the 1600s were able to take their horses and go where they wanted. Perhaps even taking boats to sail away to Connecticut or even to make time to join in with the military force. A woman’s sole opportunity to see the world was on a Sunday going to Church at Southold where she might have the chance to speak with her relatives in the parent village after either listening to the Rev. Youngs or the Rev. Hobart. There was no interchange of news available for women. However, there was “a merry meeting of gossips at a woman’s lying-in” – or at a gossiping. Rosalind Case Newell of Peconic and her father went fishing on Peconic Bay. He would take her on a “launch” – “one of those first gasoline-engined open boats.” In those times, “Porgies, weakfish, kingfish and blowfish were plentiful.

Continued on page 14...


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