Port Washington’s early shoreline

Continued from Page S72 few years. However in 1900, the hotel was sold for the last time, and for more than 60 years, would be known far and wide as Bradley’s.

Let me give you a sense of where you are. Remember that Sunset Park, where the Sousa Bandshell is today, was made years later from landfill. But its not here yet. The Town Dock would be built a few years after this photograph was taken. Take a look:

According to reports, John Bradley always wanted a restaurant on the shore and the Bradley’s thrived under his stewardship. New York’s high society and politicians alike became regular customers, including the Vanderbilts, the Astors, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker, prize fighter Jack Dempsey, Broadway legend George M. Cohan, humorist Will Rogers and many others. The Bradley family reach stretched beyond the hotel, constructing the Bradley Building where Brothers All Market stood for several decades at 83 Main Street. Later, the Bradley family bought and developed property across from the train station and John’s two children, Herbert and Irma had avenues named for them. They ran the hotel after their father’s death in 1943, finally selling the aging restaurant in 1959.

The hotel finally caught fire in February, 1962, ending almost a century of the finest dining and hospitality ever seen in these parts.

Information and photos provided by Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society. www.cowneck.org

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