Few villages on
Long Island had a stranger beginning than Patchogue had.
After this land
was purchased in 1664 by Gov. Winthrop of Connecticut it lay
undeveloped for many years. This consisted of nine necks of land,
and two were sold in 1749 to John Brewster and Thomas Strong. In
1752 Humphrey Avery of New London, Conn. purchased the other seven
necks for about 2600 pounds. In 1756 he was in need of money and
received permission from the Governor and General Assembly to sell
his tract of land by lottery. There were 8000 lottery tickets
issued and it was such a success that Avery was able to pay off his
debts and buy back a part of the land, on which one of his
descendants is now living and conducting a nursery.
According to Ross’
history a mill was built on the Patchogue River before 1750. The
stream was considered so valuable for this purpose that other mills
for grinding grain were soon built on it, and were later devoted to
more important industries.
First Factory
The first factory in Patchogue was a paper mill
built in 1798 near the site of the lace mill. This mill was owned
by Jonas Wicks, who made strawboard and wrapping paper. It was
destroyed by fire in 1850.
About 1800 a
cotton twine mill was located just to the west of the paper mill and
owned by Frederick Odell, who sold it to Justus Roe of Setauket, on
of Washington’s spies during the Revolution. In later years this
mill was rebuilt and formed a part of the early lace mill.
John E Roe had a
twine mill on Swan Creek on the east side of the same dam on which
the Swezet grist mill stood until it was destroyed by fire several
years ago.
In 1880 John S
Havens, owner of the west mill, leased it to Carlslow, Henderson &
Co, of Scotland, who began the manufacture of crinoline. Later they
imported lace curtains and bleached and finished them. In 1890 the
mill was sold to the Patchogue Lace Mfg. Co.
In 1822 Daniel
Haff owned a two story woolen mill which stood on the site of the
old electric light plant at the Patchogue Lake dam, near the present
lace mill. The farmers for miles around brought their wool to this
mill to be carded, spun, and woven into blankets of cloth. Another
mill was located on the old dam across Tuttle’s Creek at West Lake.
At Canaan Lake there was an old paper mill owned by John S Havens,
which burned down many years ago.
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding was an important industry in
Patchogue about 1850, and probably did more towards building up the
village than any other industry. In 1869 Edwin Baily started the
lumber business of E Bailey & Sons which employed about 300 men for
many years.
In 1878 Justus
Roe, great grandson of Capt. Austin Roe began the manufacture of
steel tapes and reels for surveyors use, which is still an important
business in Patchogue.
The first church
in Brookhaven town was the old “town church” built in Setauket in
1670, and as the settlements on the south side around Mastic and
South Haven grew after 1700 the need for a church nearer by was
felt, so about 1740 a Presbyterian church was built at South Haven,
which was the only church on the south side of the town until the
Congregational church was built in Patchogue on the east corner of
Main Street and Waverly Ave. in 1794. This meeting house was built
jointly by the Methodist and the Congregational Society. The
Methodist church was organized in 1791 and the Congregational church
in 1793, and the building was used by both churches until 1820, when
the Methodists sold their interest to the Congregational church.
For several years they had no church building but in 1833 they built
a new church in the same neighborhood which they used until 1854,
when they sold it to the Catholics. A new Methodist church was
built about this time on the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and
Church Street. The present church was built in 1891, when the
parish was 100 years old.
Stage Coach Stop
Roe’s hotel was a
famous stopping place over a hundred years ago when the stage
coaches traveled through the Island, and was a half way station
between Sag Harbor and Brooklyn. It was built in 1810 by Justus
Roe, and many well known men enjoyed the hospitality of this old
inn. It was under the management of Austin Roe, who was the son of
the original proprietor, that this famous old hostlery attained its
greatest popularity. Uncle Austin, as he was called, was known to
about everyone throughout the Island.
In the early years
the mail was carried through the Island by post riders on horseback
once a week and in later years by stage coach. In 1830 mail was
dispatched from New York for Islip, Patchogue, Moriches and Sag
Harbor and the Hamptons every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 am.
When the railroad
was opened through to Greenport on the main line it was a time of
great rejoicing by the inhabitants. The long looked for iron horse
had finally come, and a trip to the city that had taken two or three
days by stage coach now only took three hours. For several years
Medford was the station for Patchogue and nearby south side
villages, and Chauncey Chichester of Center Moriches operated a
stage that met the trains at Medford and carried the mail to
Patchogue and the villages east to East Moriches. The mail was all
put in one bag and at each post office he waited until the
postmaster sorted out the mail for that office, and then the bag was
relocked and he went on to the next post office. A post office was
established at Patchogue in 1803 with Nathan Mulford as the first
postmaster.
1759 School
District
Patchogue had a
school district as early as 1795 but the town was not divided into
school districts until 1813 by the vote of the people at a town
meeting held at Coram. In that year Patchogue was a small village
and Ocean Avenue was a lane with bars across it and was called
“Slippery Lane.” Main Street was known as Fulton Street. In1852
there were 609 children of school age and later on four school
districts were consolidated and in 1871 a schoolhouse was built on
the east side of Ocean Ave. just north of the railroad tracts.
The railroad was
not opened to Patchogue until 1868, which was the terminal until
1881 when it was extended to Eastport to connect with the line from
Manorville to the Hamptons and Sag Harbor.
During the
Revolution Patchogue together with all Long Island was in the hands
of the British soldiers for the seven long years until peace was
declared, and life was made miserable for those living on the
Island. Many of them fled to Connecticut to escape the British.
The Presbyterian churches at Setauket and South Haven were used by
the British as barracks and horse stables, and the farms taken over
and property destroyed.