Historical Time line East Rockaway

Page 6 LYNBROOK/EAST ROCKAWAY GUIDE

EAST ROCKAWAY HISTORICAL TIMELINE

•1643

Governer of Manthattans granted land to the colonists from Hempstead harbor due east to a tree adjoining the land of Robert Williams.

•1665

Adam Smith gave Thomas Statham “five acars of meadow at Near Rockaway.”

•1776

East Rockaway created a school; however, not all children attended.

•1783

Near Rockaway prospered during the American Revolution.

•1800

White Cannon Inn opened. It burned down in 1950.

•1818

Robert Davison acquired the Haviland Gristmill, which operated until 1920.

•1837

Mexico Shipwreck — one month later, Near Rockaway residents again responded a shipwreck, which had 115 casualties. Coffins and burial plots were made, and money for internment in the Old Sand Hole Cemetery was raised.

•1873

Bethany Church was built, and itinerant ministers came to preach, marry and bury residents.

•1882

Charles Davison bought out the grist and lumber interests of Oliver Davison.

•1661

A fence granted by town resolution extended the growing of salt hay to be grown from Near Rockaway as far west as Jamaica Bay.

•1776

Richard Hewlett, a Tory, plotted to kidnap George Washington and assassinate his chief officers.

•1783

Richard Hewlett was asked by Great Britain to command a fleet of ships, which sailed for Nova Scotia and became a haven for Loyalists.

•1793

The Schooner Experiment sailed from Near Rockaway to Cadiz Spain; Oliver Hewlett was the master.

•1812

Near Rockaway was an important trading center during the War of 1812.

•1836

Bristol Shipwreck — Near Rockaway residents responded to assist after a disastrous wreck took the lives of 100 people.

•1869

Post office was opened, and East Rockaway came into existence.

•1880

Long Island Rail Road came to East Rockaway. Trains were called “huckleberries” because they were so slow that people could get off the train and pick huckleberries.

•1893

The East Rockaway Fire Department was incorporated.

•1906

East Rockaway Library was created.

•1919

East Rockaway women Irene, Susan and Amelia Davison worked to attain the right of women to vote.

•1934

East Rockaway High school was built because Rockville Centre and Lynbrook would no longer accepted students from East Rockaway.

•1965

Rebuilt Grist Mill opened as a museum in Memorial Park.

•1995

The Haviland Davison Mill and Tootsie returned to East Rockaway after being restored from the fire.

•2017

Delamater Denton’s house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A Look through the years

Courtesy Historical Society of East Rockaway and Lynbrook East Rockaway’s gristmill was built in 1689.

•1900

The Village of East Rockaway was incorporated.

•1910

Henri Charpentier opened his original Henri Restaurant on Scranton Avenue.

•1925

The East Rockaway Police Department organized and then disbanded in 1939.

•1963

Grist Mill bought for $1 by village officials.

•1990

Arson destroyed the Grist Mill Museum and Tootsie, a hand pumper that had been purchased in 1893.

•1998

The Haviland Davison Grist mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

•2019

The Grist Mill Museum celebrated its 50th annual Huckleberry Frolic in 2019. Started in 1969, the Frolic has been a village staple and raises money for the Grist Mill Museum