Dear Commackians and Friends of the Commack PublicSchools,

It is with great pride in the Commack community thatwe have been celebrating one hundred years of public education in Commack. The vision of those who preceded us and your unerring commitment to quality education have made it possible for us to realize one hundred years of excellence in teaching and learning. Ouracademic community perpetuates this heritage and trustthrough vigorous reinforcement of the highest standards for student success. This comrnemorative centennial publication will provide you with a capsule history of our growth and accomplishments.

It is only right that we recognize the Boards of Education, pastand present, for their guidance and leadership. Also, members of theCentennial Omnibus Committee and all of the Centennial sub-committee members are to be commended for their selfless dedication to this memorable year of special events. Finally, sincereappreciation is extended to all members of our greater school community who provided support through their participation and generous giving of donations, personal resources, and caring spirit.

Please accept this commemorative history of the Commack PublicSchools as a memento of this capstone year, and a thank you for allthat you have done to cherish the past, secure the present, and endowthe future. I am deeply honored to serve as the Superintendent of thisexceptionally fine school district on the cusp of the twenty-first century.It is my hope that you will enjoy this interesting story of Commack'sfirst one hundred years.

Sincerely,

James H. Hunderfund, Ed.D.Superintendent of Schools

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A Message from the

Board of Education

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The Board of Education ispleased to present you with thiscentennial history of theCommack Public Schools. Weare proud to honor our history andsalute our administrators, teachers, staff, students, and community as we celebrate pastand present in Commack.

We have chosen Tess Falcetta as the honorary chairperson of the Commack Centennial. Tess has served for twenty-fouryears as an advisor and guide to so many trustees. Without doubt, noone represents the Commack spirit we so cherish more than TessFalcetta. Tess' character, conscience, unerring sense of the public trust,style, and elegance remains an enduring example of service to us all.

We thank our own Brad Harris, teacher and historian, author ofCommack's centennial history for his profound scholarship and research.We acknowledge Hilda Hass, and the Commack Historical Committee fortheir invaluable personal assistance and custody of our treasuredarchives. We graciously thank all the committees and volunteers, as wellas the corporate and personal donors who have made this great centennial remembrance and celebration a reality. Without each andevery one of you it would not have been possible.

Finally, we dedicate this book to the teachers and administrators ofthe Commack Public Schools who each day give their very best to ourchildren and parents. We are so very fortunate to live in this place namedComac "a beautiful place" by the Native Americans who preceded us.Hopefully, our contributions will continue to make Commack a beautifulplace to live as we bring the district forward into the twenty-first century.

Sincerely,

Mr. Peter WunschPresident Board of Education

Mr. John PelanVice President

Mrs. Joan S. BosiniusTrustee

Mrs. Mary Jo MascielloTrustee

Mr. Thomas L. TorneeTrustee

A Message from the Superintendent

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Comac, a Rural Village at the Turn of the Century...

Too often, Commack has been called a split community that lacks anidentity of its own. With half of its residents living within the political jurisdictionof Smithtown and the other half living within the political jurisdiction ofHuntington, the community has no political unity. It has no downtown, no cen-ter, and is nothing more than one sprawling shopping center after another.Commack has no history of its own, no sense of community and no identity.These are the things that people say about Commack, but nothing could be fur-ther from the truth.

Commack, or “Comac” (pronounced “comic”) as it was spelled at theturn of the century, was a small country village that straddled theSmithtown/Huntington town line. Located in the little hollow created by thegently rolling hills that surrounded the intersection of Jericho Turnpike andComac/Townline Road, it was a “cross-roads” that stretched out to the north,south, east and west from “Comac Corners.”

Comac had two hotels, a general store, a candy store, a large central-ly located school building, a wheelwright shop, a blacksmith, a butcher shop, aMethodist church, a Presbyterian church, a cabinet maker, sawmills, race-tracks, and many large homes and farms. Comac also had its share ofwealthy and influential residents. Comac at the turn of the century was a thriv-ing, bustling, little village that had a sizeable population and a history that wasalready over two hundred years old.

Although the remnants of Comac’s past have been all but obliterated bythe intrusion of modern suburbia, an identity and a sense of communitysurvives in today's Commack. It survives primarily because of the unity and

communality brought to the residents ofCommack by its school system, a school district that now has a history thatstretches back over a hundred years of time.

In the Beginning...

In the beginning, there were two small school districts that ser-viced the Comac area. South of Jericho Turnpike was School District #18while north of Jericho Turnpike was School District #10. Each of theseschool districts straddled the town line so that part of each district was inSmithtown and part was in Huntington. Each district had its own one-roomschoolhouse, its own trustee, and each employed a teacher. Since bothschoolhouses were less than two miles apart, and both districts were fac-ing increased enrollments, it seemed reasonable to consolidate the twosmall districts into one larger district.

In 1899, the school districts petitioned the School Commissioner ofthe 2nd District of Suffolk County for consolidation. The Commissioner,who at the time was Charles W. Fordham, granted their petition and onOctober 12, 1899, created a new consolidated school district that was tobe known as School District # 10 of the Town of Huntington. In this way,Comac School District # 10 was born.

Two days later, on October 14, 1899, a special school meeting wasconvened in Burr’s Hall on Burr Road in northern Comac. At 8 p.m. thatevening, the legal voters of the district gathered to consider three importantquestions: 1) the election of three Trustees for the District, 2) the selectionof the building site for a new schoolhouse, and 3) the building and financ-ing of a new schoolhouse. Fifty voters, both men and women, attendedthis meeting and elected Herbert J. Harned, Carll S. Burr, Jr., and John C.Hubbs as the new District’s Trustees who, in effect, became the firstComac Board of Education. They also then voted to approve the purchase

Comac Corners: Apartial view ofComac Cornerslooking west downJericho Turnpike.The Comac Hotelcan be seen on theleft and the ComacGeneral Store is onthe right. Furtherwest along the northside of JerichoTurnpike is Mrs.Ketcham's candystore and a numberof other homes.Notice the windmillthat towers over thegeneral store.Postcard courtesy ofJoel Streich.

The Comac GeneralStore: Across the streetfrom the hotel, on thenorthwest corner of thecrossroads was theComac General Store.The above photographwas taken around 1905at a time when FrankOtten owned and oper-ated the store. At thattime the store alsoserved as the local postoffice. Photo courtesy ofthe Smithtown HistoricalSociety.

of a 1/2 acre parcel of property on Jericho Turnpike for $500, andauthorized the bonding of $3500 to pay the cost of building a newschoolhouse and fencing the property. (It is interesting to note that

women who were prop-erty owners were rec-ognized as “legal vot-ers” at this meeting ata time when womenwere denied the rightto vote in nationalelections.)

The construc-tion of a new school-house was begunimmediately on thecrest of the hill on thesouthwest corner ofJericho Turnpike andComac Road. Itoccupied the spotwhere the MarionCarll School wouldlater be built. Thenew schoolhousewas known as theFrame School andwas considerablylarger than the oldone-room school-

houses. The name of thebuilding came from the fact that the school was a two-story, wood-

en frame structure.The building had an entranceway that led into an interior

vestibule that probably contained a coatroom for the students and per-haps an office for the principal. Beyond the vestibule was one largeclassroom. The vestibule must also have had a stairway that led to thesecond floor where there was a library that could double as an assem-bly hall, and an additional large classroom.

According to Howard Moreland, who attended this schoolwhen he was a boy growing up in Comac, there were two classroomsin the building, one downstairs and one upstairs. The school served

grades 1-8and theclasseswere divid-ed so thatone teacherworked withthe firstthroughfourthgraders,whileanotherteacherworked with the fifth through eighth graders.Frequently there were only two teachers in the school becausethere were not that many students who finished seventh andeighth grades. Howard Moreland attended this school until theeighth grade.

Howard Moreland was one of the few people whoknew anything at all about this school, and when he passedaway a few years ago, we lost the opportunity to learn more ofthis school from someone who had actually attended it as achild. But school board minutes, from 1899 to 1924, show thatover the course of the 25 years that the building was used, anumber of renovations and improvements were made. Thefloors were oiled, the building painted, a fire escape wasadded, storm windows were installed, a storm shed was builtfor the entrance, a flag pole was erected, and in 1919, insidetoilets were installed. The days of using the outhouse wereover. In 1922, the L.I. Lighting Company brought electricity tothe school. This made it possible to replace the coal furnacewith an oil burner to heat the school. School board memberswere making every effort to stay up with the rapid pace ofchange in the world about them.

The Comac that Howard Moreland knew as a boy wasvastly different from the Commack that we know today. Comacat the turn of century was a little country village that was sur-rounded by extensive farmlands and open fields. The heart ofthe village was to be found at the crossroads of JerichoTurnpike and Comac/Townline Road. On the southwest corner

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The Comac FrameSchool: Erected in1899, the Frame Schoolwas built on the samesite where the MarionCarll School was laterbuilt.

The Comac Hotel, c.1908-1910: Althoughthe building waslater renovated andits exterior modified,the hotel stood atComac Corners untilit was torn down in1965. Today this cor-ner is occupied bythe Goodyear TireCenter. Photo cour-tesy of theSmithtown HistoricalSociety.

of this intersection stood the Comac Hotel. The photo-graph on page 3 shows the Comac Hotel as it lookedaround 1908-1910. The dirt road in the foreground of thephotograph is Jericho Turnpike, and judging from the ruts

in the road, the touring car occupants must have had a bumpyride. The barn pictured in this photograph was on farm propertythat occupied the southeast corner of the intersection.

Across the street from the hotel, on the northwest cornerof the crossroads was the Comac General Store. The photographon page 2 was taken around 1905 at a time when F.A.Otten ownedand operated the store. At that time the store also served as the

local post office and it was where folkspurchased dry goods and picked up themail. There aren't many people left inCommack who remember this store otherthan Henry Shea, who grew up inComac. His father used to purchase gasfor the family car at this store. Henryremembered that his father used to drawgas from a fifty gallon drum alongside thestore. His father would fill up a gallonmeasure from this drum, and then hewould carefully strain the gas through achamois and pour the gas into the tank ofthe family car. This was done to removewater from the gasoline. Although Henryremembered his father laboring to fill thefamily car with gas, he didn’t have anymemories of the interior of the store.Unfortunately, not much is known aboutthe early history of this store. It is knownthat this store was previously owned bygenerations of the Whitman family and forthat reason, the little hollow at the cross-

roads had long been known as Whitman’s Hollow.Across Townline Road from the store, on the northeast cor-

ner of the crossroads, was a vacant lot. Just before the turn of thecentury, a hotel was also to be found at this location. TheGoldsmith family owned and operated this hotel in 1895.

Apparently ahotel had beenoperated fromthis corner for along time. Thebuilding wasoriginallyknown as theWoodhullTavern andthe east wingof the build-ing, the small wing of thehotel seen in the photograph, was said to have datedback to the 1770's. It was in this building that Comac's first schooldistrict was organized in 1814. The Goldsmith hotel burned to theground in 1895 and Comac lost this historic landmark.

Just up Jericho Turnpike, about 200' west of the GeneralStore on the north side of the road, was one store in Comac thatevery kid knew about, Mrs. Ketcham's Store. This little store, whichsold ice cream and candy, was a great place for any kid who had apenny in his pocket and was looking for a place to spend it. Ithelped that it was conveniently located near the Frame School.

These were the buildings that occupied the center oftown. The Comac community was spread out over the surround-ing area. Along Jericho Turnpike stood some of the largest resi-dences and farms in the Comac community.

Heading east from Comac Corners along Jericho Turnpike,one would pass the home and farm that once belonged to CalebSmith II (1762-1831). This large house was built in 1819 by CalebSmith II, a great-great-grandson of Richard Smythe, the founderand patentee of Smithtown. Although not very large by today'sstandards, the house was an impressive and substantial home in1819. It was a befitting residence for a man of prominence in thecommunity who had served as a Justice of the Peace, Overseerof the Poor, Overseer of Highways, Assessor, Fence Viewer, StateAssemblyman, and Supervisor of Smithtown. When he built thehouse, Caleb cleared some two hundred and fifty acres of land tobe worked as farmland. At the time, he was 56 years of age and it

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Mrs. Ketcham'sStore, 1905. Whenthis photograph wastaken, Mrs. Ketchamwas selling icecream, chocolates,and cigarettes fromthe little shop. Shelived in an “oldhouse” that wasimmediately to theeast of the store.She ran the storewith the help of herdaughter Ollie. Thegirl in the photo-graph holding thecat is Lillian CorbettWilson, born 1889. Photo courtesy ofthe SmithtownHistorical Society.

Carll S. Burr, Jr. drinking from the well on Jericho Turnpike. Mr.Henry Shea used to have a glass mug in his possession, a com-mon drinking mug, which used to hang from a wellhouse thatstood to the east of the Goldsmith Hotel on Jericho Turnpike.Thirsty travellers would stop at the well, crank up a bucket of clear,sweet, fresh water, and then use the mug to dip out a drink. In theprocess they certainly must have ingested more than just waterfrom the communal drinking mug. Photo courtesy of theSmithtown Hiistorical Society.

The Goldsmith Hotel: This hotelstood on the northeast corner ofJericho Turnpike and TownlineRoad where the White CastleRestaurant stands today. Thehotel burned down in 1895. Photocourtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

is reasonable toassume that hedid not clear theland and buildhis house byhimself. He cer-tainly must havehad help fromhis relatives,friends andneighbors andno doubt hepaid others todo the work forhim. It is quiteprobable thatsome of thelaborers that

Caleb Smith employed on hisfarm in Comac were slaves that his family had owned whom hehad inherited and manumitted. We do know that on his proper-ty in Comac, Caleb Smith had another small house built for hisservants who were former slaves (The little house can be seenin the photograph above).

There was another little house on the Caleb Smithproperty that stood on the hill behind the homestead. The pho-tograph on the right shows what this house looked like in 1944when it was still standing. This house originally stood on thenorth side of Burr road to the west of Smith Burr Tavern.Sometime around 1814, it was moved to Jericho Turnpike eastof the Goldsmith Hotel. Here it was used as Comac’s firstschoolhouse from 1814 to 1844. When the district was reorga-nized in 1844 and two new schoolhouses were then used - theNorth School and the South School - this building was thenmoved up on the hill behind Caleb Smith’s house.

When Caleb Smith built his house in Comac, we knowthat his ''new house” actually had a pre-existing house incorpo-rated into it. There is exterior evidence provided by the windowspacing that the original home was only two or three bays wideand that Caleb Smith added onto the house and doubled its

size. The internalframing of thehouse providesadditional evi-dence that thiswas done. The"original" part ofthe house hasframing that was“hand hewn”while the addition''has a heavyframe that wassawn." What makes this interesting is that the original home wasmost likely constructed sometime prior to the Revolution and thismakes it one of the original homes in the Comac area.Unfortunately, we will never know this since the Caleb SmithHouse was moved from its original site in 1955, and no mea-sured drawings of the foundation and other details were taken atthe time that might have revealed if an earlier house was stand-ing on the property.

By the turn of the century, Robert Bailey Smith, CalebSmith II's grandson, owned the homestead. It continued to lookmuch as it had when Caleb Smith owned it, and the 12,000acres of property that surrounded it were still intact. But in 1904,Robert Bailey Smith sold this house and property to Carll S. BurrJr. who added these lands to his holdings in Comac.

Beyond Caleb Smith's house, further east towardSmithtown, was the last house on the south side of JerichoTurnpike. This was the Van Brunt Mansion. It stood about 700'east of Harned Road. Hardly a mansion, it was a typical farmhouse where the Van Brunts lived. The last member of the familyto live in this house was Minnie Van Brunt, the school mistress ofthe little one room schoolhouse known as the North School.Minnie Van Brunt later became a teacher and the principal of theFrame School in 1907. Beyond the Van Brunt's, acres of wood-lands stretched for miles on either side of the dirt road until theyreached the little village of Head of the River in Smithtown.

Traveling west from Comac Corners along JerichoTurnpike at the turn of the century, one would have passed a

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The Caleb Smith

Homestead used to look

this way when it was

located on the north side

of Jericho Turnpike, about

1/4 mile east of the cross-

roads. It stood on the cor-

ner of Ruth Blvd. and

Jericho Turnpike. This

large house was built in

1819 by Caleb Smith II, a

great-great-grandson of

Richard Smythe, the

founder and patentee of

Smithtown. Photo cour-

tesy of the Smithtown

Historical Society.

Comac’s first schoolhouse:Known as the “OldSlavehouse,” this buildingwas actually Comac’s firstschool building. It was firsterected on Smith Burr’sproperty on the north side ofBurr road. At the time it mayhave been a slave’s house.Around 1814 it was movedto the north side of JerichoTurnpike, just east of theGoldsmith Hotel. Here itbecame Comac’s firstschoolhouse. It closed in1844 and was moved backbehind Caleb Smith’s home.Photo courtesy of theSmithtown HistoricalSociety.

number of homes and farms that were located here. One ofthe first houses on the south side of the road would havebeen the Tillotson/Beard House. The house was thought tohave been over 200 years old when it was torn down in1960. The last family to occupy this house was the Beard

family, one of the few black families who lived inCommack.

Further west along Jericho Turnpike, wasFrank Hubbs' Farm that can be seen in theaccompanying drawing. It once stood on the prop-erty where Commack Bowl is now located. FrankHubbs, Ira’s son, was known by children inComac as ''horse-and-buggy Hubbs” to distin-guish him from the other Hubbs brothers. FrankHubbs was still using a horse and buggy longafter most horse and buggies had disappearedfrom Comac's roads.

On the opposite side of the street wasEdward Carll’s home. Further to the west of theCarll home was Stout Van Brunt’s house.

As one travelled further west on JerichoTurnpike, several large farms could be found onboth sides of the road. On the north side wasthe William Brush Farm. In the 1850’s, this wasthe residence of the honorable Charles A.Floyd, member of the New York State Assembly,

County Clerkof SuffolkCounty, andSupervisor ofthe Town ofHuntington.Charles Floydwas arespectedlawyer and aleader inComac soci-ety andSuffolkCounty.

Onthe southside of the road where the Heatherwood Shopping Centerstands today was the Ira Hubbs' Farm. Ira Hubbs originally pur-chased this farm and operated it with his four sons Sidney,William, Frank and Fred. The Hubbs ran a butcher shop fromthis property and had a prosperous farm. In 1897, Fred Hubbsand his family lived in this house.

The last house in Comac on Jericho Turnpike as onetravelled toward Huntington was the Shea family homestead.The house stood on the northwest corner of Larkfield Road andJericho Turnpike. Henry Shea grew up in this house as a youngboy. In the photograph of the Shea Homestead on the nextpage, his mother, Mrs. Mae Shea, is standing on the frontporch. Mrs. Shea had the foresight to gather pictures of Comacthroughout the course of her life, and many of the photographsin this book are from the Mae Shea collection that can be foundin the L.I. History Room of the Smithtown Library.

Travelling south out of Comac Corners along what wasknown then as the Babylon Road (Commack Road today), onewould have passed several small homes that faced the road. Onthe east side of the road heading south would have been theKetcham House, and then the Rae Cottage. The architecture ofboth houses suggests they were built in the eighteenth century.

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Minnie Van Brunt

This Edward Lange drawing(1881) shows the Ira Hubbs farmon the south side of JerichoTurnpike where the HeatherwoodShopping Center stands today.The farmhouse is on the right. TheTillotson/ Beard

house stood on thesouth side of JerichoTurnpike opposite theCommack Firehouse.This house was one ofthe few surviving pre-Revoltionary War build-ings in Commack.Photo courtesy of theSmithtown HiistoricalSociety.

Photo courtesy of the Smithtown Historical Society.

On the west side of thestreet, you would have seen theConsalyea House, the Velsor House,a jewelry and clock store, JohnIreland's House, John Ireland’sWheelwright Shop, and J. Keenan'sBlacksmith Shop. All of these housesand shops are gone now havingbeen torn down in the late 1960's

and early 1970's.Beyond these homes and shops, also on the west

side of the road, stood the Presbyterian Church. This churchactually began as the Stillwellite Methodist Church of Comacin 1831. In that year, a breakaway sect of the ComacMethodist Church brought this building from Centerport andmoved it to Comac. They worshipped here for some time untilinterest in the church declined. Then the church became aCongregational Church and then a Presbyterian Church. Atthe turn of the century, it was a Presbyterian Church. In 1919,the church became a two family home.

Further to the south along ComacRoad stood the little one-

room schoolhouse known as theSouth School. This school stood onthe west side of Comac Road just tothe north of the present dayCommack Library on HauppaugeRoad. This school was used untilthe Frame School was built in 1899.

One of the last homes that one saw along ComacRoad while travelling further south was the Carll Farm. This was alarge and prosperous farm. The Carlls owned a huge tract of land insouth Comac that had first been acquired in 1701. The Carll familypassed on the ancestral home from one generation to the next andat the turn of the century, this was the home where Marion E. Carllgrew up with her brothers and sisters. Today the house and sur-rounding property is owned by the Commack School District.

The last house that one would see in Comac as one headedsouth down Comac Road was the Moreland Farm. The MorelandHomestead was built about 1740. It is amazing that this house is stillstanding and it remains one of the oldest, if not the oldest, standingstructure in Commack today.

Heading north along Townline Road from Comac Corners,one would come upon several homes and the Comac Methodist

Church. On the east sideof the road, one firstencountered the parson-age of the ComacMethodist Church andthen the little churchitself. The little church,which still stands per-ilously close to the road,was built in 1789. It isbelieved to be the old-est Methodist Churchbuilding in its originalcondition in the State of

At the turn of the centu-ry, this PresbyterianChurch stood on thewest side of ComacRoad as one headedsouth down ComacRoad from ComacCorners. Photo cour-tesy of Joel Streich.

The Village Blacksmith shop wasowned by J. Keenan, a “HorseShoer & General Blacksmith” asthe sign says, who purchased apiece of property from John Irelandand built his blacksmith shop nextto the carriage shop. Together Mr.Keenan and Mr. Ireland did most ofthe business in town outfitting andrepairing horses and carriages.Photo courtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

The South School: This schoolstood on the west side of ComacRoad just to the north of the presentday Commack Library. It was even-tually moved across CommackRoad to the Moreland propertywhere it was destroyed in a fire.Photo courtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

(7)Photo courtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

The Shea Homestead

New York. At the turn of thecentury, most of the inhabi-tants of Comac came toSunday services in thischurch. Surrounding thechurch was the town’sburying ground, and at thenorth end of the cemeterywas the little one room

schoolhouse known as the North School.On the west side of Townline Road as one headed

north was the Goldsmith House, then “Sunshine Acres,” the Baptist

Fresh Air Home, and on thesouthwest corner of BurrRoad and Townline Road,the Burr Homestead.

At the east end ofBurr Road, at its intersec-tion with Townline Road,was the Crossroads Well.This well, which stood onthe northeast corner, was90' deep and lined withbrick. It was said to havehad very good water.

Heading further upTownline Road, onepassed through horsecountry and open pas-tureland toward EastNorthport. If one head-ed east down BurrRoad at this point, youimmediately wouldcome upon SmithBurr's property whichwas on the northside of Burr Road.

And furtheralong the road on the south side, was the magnificent home ofCarll S. Burr, Jr. It was the Burr family that put Comac on the mapand made the town an exciting place to live at the turn of the cen-tury.

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To the left is the Moreland Farm as itlooked in 1966, before it was movedfurther back onto the Moreland proper-ty away from Sunken MeadowParkway. It is still standing today onthe east side of Commack Road justnorth of the New York State HighwayMaintenance yard. Photo courtesy ofthe Smithtown Historical Society.

The North School, asshown below, was a oneroom schoolhouse andwas actively used until1899 when the FrameSchool was built.

Minnie Van Brunt and her class in front of the North Schoolin 1892.

Surrounding the MethodistChurch is a cemetery whichserved for many years as thetown’s burying ground. Photocourtesy of King PedlarA walk through this graveyardoffers us a glimpse intoComac’s past. The names onthe stones are a roll call of thecommunity’s earliest residents;Wickses, Brushes, Bunces,Cheshires, Conklins, Cuttings,Hubbses, Ketchams, Velsors,Whitmans, Browns, Sammises,Gildersleeves are all buriedhere. This inscription is to befound on the headstone of JohnBrush who died in 1806:

“Stop reader and shed amournful tear,

Upon this dust whichslumbers here.

And while you read thefate of me,

Think on the glass thatruns for thee.”

TThe Burr Family Puts Comac on the Map. . .. . .

The Burr family name is one that is very well known inCommack. Most residents of Commack recognize the namefrom Burr Road and Burr Intermediate School and they arefamiliar with the Burr family mansion that stands on BurrRoad in the northern section of Commack. But very few resi-dents are aware of the historical contributions that this familymade to the development of thoroughbred racing and to thetrotting industry. It was the Burr family who made the little vil-lage of Comac internationally known as a community wherefamous trotters were bred and trained. The Burr family putComac on the map and it was horse racing that brought peo-ple to Comac from all over the country.

The settlement of the Burrs in Comac seems to datefrom 1736. Just where the first Burr family home was built isnot clear but the most likely spot would be the southwest cor-ner of Burr Road and Townline Road. On the north side ofBurr Road, Smith Burr (1803-1887) owned and operated ahotel and tavern during his lifetime. Burr Hall, as his hotel and tavern was known,was a popular place to stay for visiting horsemen.

Smith Burr “began the breeding of light harness hors-es” and is “responsible for their association with the Burr fam-

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Located on the north-west corner of BurrRoad and TownlineRoad, this well was saidto have good water fordrinking. This was animportant well for manyfamilies who could notafford to have a wellhand dug and needed asource of drinking water.The well was removed in1936. Postcard courtesyof Joel Streich

Perhaps you have seen the little old MethodistChurch that stands along the east side ofTownline Road just to the north of the newMethodist Church. If you look for it, you willspot the little box-like church with its steep roofand four-posted front porch just beyond themodern Methodist Church. Here, just off theheavily travelled highway, surrounded by manyweathered tombstones, stands the church thatwas erected by Comac Methodists in the year1789. For over two hundred years this littlechurch has been standing here in the midstof the Commack community where it hasserved generations of Commack residents.

Methodism first came to Comac in theyear 1783 when a man named John Phillipsdelivered the first Methodist sermon heard inthe community. “John Philips was a Methodistlocal preacher and a tailor in the English armyduring the Revolutionary War. He came fromHuntington, where he was stationed during thewar, to preach in Cow Harbor, which is nowNorthport. James Hubbs heard him preach inCow Harbor and invited him to come toComac. John Phillips accepted and preachedthe first Methodist sermon ever heard inComac. This was in 1783 and it was shortlythereafter that a society was formed.” (“Focuson Religion", Smithtown News. April 21, 1983,p.l8.)

In the years that followed, the ComacMethodist Society was visited by a number ofitinerant Methodist preachers and the congregation grew. In 1789, the Comac Societydecided they wanted a church of their own. They purchased land for the church from a VanHadah Robbins for two pounds and five shillings and then proceeded to erect a church onthis property. (“The Story of Methodism in Commack”, N.Y., by Rev. A. Roberts, Pastor ofthe Methodist Church in 1953, unpublished manuschpt on file in the Long Island Room,Smithtown Library.)

Apparently everybody “turned out for the 'raising.’” James Hubbs and NehemiahBrush seem to have played a major role in building the church and maintaining it. Thechurch was very simple and plain and was built much like a Puritan meeting house. Theshingled walls were exposed on the inside and on cold Sabbath mornings, the wind musthave whistled through the cracks in the shingles and made the interior of the church fright-fully cold. The interior of the church, which can be seen in the accompanying photograph,is quite open and has a gallery running around the interior except on the north side wherethe box pulpit was built. This pulpit must have been quite high because in subsequent ren-ovations, the pulpit was twice lowered. Except for this one change the church is remark-able because it has been so little altered throughout its history. (“The Story of Methodism inCommack, N.Y." by Rev. A. Roberts, op.cit.)

The construction of the little Methodist Church in the heart of Comac Community in1789, gave residents a house of worship they could call their own. It was here on aSabbath morning that the members of the Comac Methodist Society gathered to listen toMethodist preachers. One can just picture the people of Comac gathering in the church forservices and giving thanks to the Lord for having a church of their own.

The Comac Methodist

Church....

Photocourtesy of the Smithtown Historical

Photocourtesy ofKingPedlar.

ily name.” ( John J. Del Grosso, “A Burr in the Harness, AnAccount of the Burr Family of Commack,” , unpublishedmanuscript on file in the L.I. Room, Smithtown Library,1981, p.1.) Smith Burr “was among the first to see that alarge business could be established in breeding trottinghorses.” He owned two trotters named “Rhode Island” and“Betsy Bounce” and with these horses he began to estab-lish a name as a breeder and trainer of trotters. He wasone of the first trainers of trotters to use a sulky which “heimprovised out of an old gig.” It was during his lifetime thatthe evolution of light harness racing using a sulky beganand eventually the old method of riding a trotter under sad-dle was replaced by harness racing. (Lucille Rosen,Commack, A Look Into the Past, Commack PublicSchools Publication, 1970, p.29.)

It was Smith Burr who trained a horse namedEngineer II, and this horse was the sire of Lady Suffolk. Itis quite possible that Smith Burr helped train Lady Suffolkas a trotter, and Lady Suffolk, the Old Grey Mare of LongIsland, was a truly remarkable horse (see story next page).

Smith Burr established a reputation as an excellentbreeder of trotters. His first big sale was that of a purebredracer named Columbus to a buyer from Detroit for theastounding price of $3,000.00. Burr’s fame with purebredssoon began to spread. A Frenchman acquainted with Burrknew Charles Louis Napoleon, the Emperor of France, andhelped arrange the sale of two colts to Napoleon III. WhenNapoleon received these animals and rode them, “he pro-nounced his great admiration and respect for their breeder.This praise from European royalty enhanced the popularityof the Burr stables.” (John Del Grosso, “A Burr in theHarness,” op.cit.)

Suddenly, Smith Burr became the trainer andbreeder of fine trotters and his work was in demand. It wason this reputation that Smith Burr’s son, Carll S. Burr, nowbuilt what became one of the most important and influentialhorse training schools in the nation - The Burr EquineEducational Institution.

Carll S. Burr was born at Comac in April of 1831.He grew up on his father’s horse breeding farm. Heattended the little one-room schoolhouse known as theNorth School. His formal education ended when he grad-uated from this school. It must have been at this time thathis practical education in the breeding and training of trot-ters began. His father gave him a young filly to trainnamed Rose of Washington. This horse’s first race camewhen she was two years old, and on April 27, 1854, shewon the mile race in a remarkable time of 2 minutes and30 seconds. (John Del Grosso, “A Burr in the Harness” op.cit.).

Carll Burr’s work with Rose of Washington waseven more remarkable when you realize that he was ayoung man who had just turned 21. Apparently his fatherwas so pleased with his son’s work that he gave him addi-tional horses to train. Two of the horses, Lady Emma andLady Woodruff, were later sold by the Burrs for $3,000.00each. The Burrs had discovered there was money to bemade in racing.

The success that Carll S. Burr enjoyed as a train-er led him to purchase his own breeding farm which henamed the Indian Head Farm. The 350 acre farm that hepurchased was on the south side of Burr Road where theBurr family mansion stands today. “He began to specializein the breeding of Hambletonians, a specialized breed of

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Burr Hall, 1884, byEdward Lange: Thepainting shows barnswhich were laterreplaced by a largetwo-story dance-halloperated by SmithBurr. The horsespeeding along inthe foreground isthought to be LadySuffolk.

trotters.” At the same time, he trained some of thecountry’s best trotters. Interest in his school pickedup and he began to accept horses that were shippedto him from all over the country.

Carll Burr was only able to handle 30 to 40horses a year but he picked these horses out the 150horses he was offered each year. Among the horsesthat he trained in his school was Trustee, the firsthorse to ever break a trotting speed of 20 miles anhour. Another horse, Prospero, at the age of three,pulled Burr and a 90-pound sulky over a measuredmile in 2 minutes and 33 seconds. The horse “was promptly purchasedfor $20,000.00 by a William M. Parks of Brooklyn.” The fame of theBurr Equine Educational Institution now brought him wealthy andfamous patrons. President Ulysses S. Grant, H.O. Havemeyer, J.Pierpont Morgan, William H. Vanderbilt, Robert Bonner, ex-GovernorLeland Sanford, and Charles Backman all brought their horses to CarllS. Burr for training. “These people helped to firmly establish the Burrstables as a select breeding and training center.” Of course this patron-age also ensured Burr’s financial success and with it he began to makeimprovements to his property. (John Del Grosso, “A Burr in theHarness,” op.cit.)

One of the improvements that Carll S. Burr made with his new-found wealth was to convert his farmhouse into a larger and more fash-ionable home. The painting below shows the house that was on theproperty when he bought the Indian Head Farm in 1857. It was to thishouse that Carll Burr brought his wife, Emma F. Case, following theirmarriage on November 26, 1857. It was in this house that the Burrsraised their two boys, Carll S. Burr Jr. and Tunis B. Burr. As theseboys became young men, the Burrs decided to enlarge and expand

their home.

Lady Suffolk, the “Old Grey Mare” forwhom the vintage song was composed,was a truly remarkable trotter whosecareer became the subject of legend.Her racing record, established during the22 years that the horse lived from 1833-1855, is incredible. She appeared in 162races and won 89 of them, placed sec-ond in 53 of the remaining races, andwas out of the money in only 9 of theraces in which she ran. Her winningswere estimated to have been over$35,000 and perhaps as much as$60,000 at a time when the division ofstakes in a race were unreported and theaverage purse was under $500. If therewas ever a bet in horse racing that could

be classified as a sure thing, a wager on Lady Suffolk was almost guaranteed to pay off hand-somely.

Lady Suffolk’s incredible winning records become even more remarkable when one reads ofthe conditions under which Lady Suffolk raced. Lady Suffolk began her career when “trottingunder saddle vied... with harness contests” in popularity as a way of racing. She was riddenunder saddle nearly fifty times in the races she entered. On other occasions, Lady Suffolk wasentered in mixed races which meant that she might be under saddle, or pulling a sulky, or a four-wheeled vehicle of some sort.

To add to Lady Suffolk’s difficulties was the treatment she received from her owner DavidBryant. In 1837, Bryant purchased Lady Suffolk for $112.50. He bought the four-year-old fillyfrom Richard Blydenburgh who had been using the horse to pull his butcher’s wagon. WhatBryant saw in the horse will never be known but he took the horse to his farm in Comac. Shewas put to work and rented out. She was hired by two horse-racing enthusiasts, gentlemen fromthe city, who were so impressed with her speed, they advised Bryant “to make a race mare out ofher.” Bryant turned to his neighbor, Smith Burr, for some help in training the horse. Knowingnothing about horse training or racing, Bryant refused to allow anyone else to ride her or driveher. “When he first attempted to ride her in a saddle race..., he was so clumsy and awkward hecould hardly stay on her back, and only occasionally did she manage to win in spite of him.”

“As a reinsman he was chiefly noted for his heavy hands and unmerciful use of the whip.He had little judgement of pace, and would drive her to break without cause, then snatch whipand punish her. What a marvel she must have been never to sulk, rebel or fight back but alwaysgiving her speed, strength and endurance under the extreme...” In addition to racing severaldays in a row, occasionally twice in one day, she was used to transport her racing harness, feed,racing equipment and her owner cross-country as she went from race track to race track, state tostate. Lady Suffolk was never given the lavish care and treatment that is bestowed upon mod-ern-day trotters. (John Hervey, Lady Suffolk, The Old Grey Mare of Long Island, theDerrydale Press, N.Y., pp.19-22, 66, 77-79.)

Despite the treatment Lady Suffolk received and considering all the factors about horse rac-ing of the period, the equipment used, the condition of the tracks, the Old Grey Mare’s achieve-ments were astounding. It was conceded that her speed for the quarter, half mile, and mile, sur-passed everything previously established. After eight seasons of racing, Lady Suffolk hadbecome the finest trotter in America, both under saddle and in harness and the fastest in theworld. At 13 years of age and at the pinnacle of her career, she still had eight more years of rac-ing before her long career came to an end. Lady Suffolk retired in 1853 to be a brood mare on afarm in Bridport, Vermont. She died at the age of 21 and her remains were purchased by a taxi-dermist. She was stuffed and displayed in the window of a harness maker’s shop on Broadway.( John Del Grosso, “A Burr in the Harness - An account of the Burr Family of Commack,“ unpub-

The Old Grey Mare...she ain’t what she used to be!

Edward Lange’spainting (1881)shows Carll S.Burr’s race trackand stable com-plex that wasknown as theIndian Head Farmon the south sideof Burr Roadbehind the Burrhome.

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Carll S. Burr

Sometime before 1885 the farmhouse was remodeled into amuch larger and more fashionable residence. The housewas given a mansard roof with multi-colored slate shingles, abroad front porch that ran the length of the house, and alarge belvedere on the roof. The house became the mansionthat can be seen in the drawing to the right and the photo,taken years later, on page 15. The house is still standing onthe south side of Burr Road and looks just as impressivetoday.

The stately home that Carll S. Burr now ownedreflected the power and influence that he exerted in the com-munity. Carll S. Burr was a Republican and was “an activemember of the Suffolk County Republican Committee.“ Heserved as a Republican committeeman and as a delegate toRepublican conventions, and as a Presidential elector, but hesteadfastly refused to run for public office. Although herefused to run for political office, his son, Carll S.Burr, Jr., didrun for elected office and proved to be a very popular andsuccessful politician.

Carll S. Burr, Jr., grew up in his father’s home on BurrRoad. Like his father, he attended the one-room schoolhouseknown as the North School. He attended the FlushingInstitute to complete his secondary education. He then beganhis practical education in the breeding and training of trotterson his father’s farm. He learned

from his father how to judge horsesand how to train and develop the trotting abilities of some of

the finest horses in the country.By 1890 Carll S. Burr, Jr. had joined his father in running theBurr Equine Educational Institution. His knowledge of horseswas recognized by his peers and as a young man of 34, hewas asked to serve as a judge at the National Horse Show ofAmerica. He did this in 1892, 1893, 1894, and again in 1901and 1902. He also served as a judge at the New York StateFair in 1901 and 1902. It was said of Carll S. Burr, Jr., that “hefollowed the example of his father and grandfather in elevatinghis business to the plane of honorable fair dealing and strictbusiness integrity, and thus he has the respect and patronageof the best known lovers and owners of blooded horses of thiscountry.” (John Del Grosso, “A Burr in the Harness,” unpublishedmanuscript on file in the L.I.Room of the Smithtown Library.)

On November 18, 1885, as a young man of 27, Carll S.Burr, Jr. married Hanie E. Carll, the daughter of Jesse Carll ofNorthport. He brought her to live at his father’s house inComac. By this time, the house had been remodelled andthere were 22 rooms, so there was plenty of room for the youngman and his bride. Eventually, Carll S. Burr, Jr., would build hisown home across the street from his father and it was here thathe would raise his own family that grew to include two children,Emma Carll Burr born on August 28, 1886, and Carll S. Burr, III,born on November 17, 1890.

When Carll S. Burr, Jr. joined forces with his father inrunning the Burr Equine Educational Institution, one of the firstthings they did together was to build Suffolk County’s first one-mile trotting track. The track was built just to the east of Town

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This section of theEdward Lange paint-ing (seen on the pre-vious page) showsthe original Carll S.Burr family homebefore renovation.

The BurrMansion: EdwardLange’s paintingof Carll S. Burr’shome as itappeared afterrenovation. Thenew mansard roofand largebelvedere dis-guised the earlierdwelling.

Line Road on the flat land whereCommack High School stands today. Atthe time they constructed the track, itcost them $10,000, a considerable sumin the 1890’s. The track was laid out onthe western end of a farm of 342 acresthat the Burrs had purchased to add totheir acreage so that they might haveadditional room to raise horses.Apparently, it was on this acreage thatthe Burrs conducted the “breeding endof the business. According to Carll S.Burr, Jr., the east end of the farm waswhere the various buildings, box stalls,and a well equipped farmer’s housewere located.”

It was here that the Burrs kept theirbreeding stock. Although the Burrs werenot extensive breeders, they did own the

stallions Schuyler Colfax, by Hambletonian 10; Ridgewood byHambletonian 10; Commac by Kentucky Prince; FavoriteLeland by Leland; Merwate, 2:22 by Alcantra. This farm becameknown as the Indian Head Stock Farm and it was to this farmthat horse-racing fans flocked each week to watch trottingraces. (Carll S.Burr, Jr., “A Cradleof Trotting HorseHistory,” TheRider and Driver,May 13, 1916, p.45-46.)

During theweekends, trottingraces were heldhere between“horses owned bywell known NewYork and Long

Island sports-men.” One mannamed IsraeITilden of Bellportrememberedattending a raceat this track inthe gay ninetiesand recalled it ina letter he sentto the LongIsland Forum. “I attended a match race on the mile track.All of the New York City social elite, who spent their sum-mers on our south shore, were there in all kinds of car-riages. Autos were not even thought of in those days.” Therace that he had come to see was between a team of hors-es owned by a Col. Payne and a team of horses owned byH.O. Havemeyer. Col Payne’s horses had been trained bythe Burrs, while the Havemeyer team had been kept andtrained at the Merrivale Stock Farm, another horse farm of250 acres that was just to the south of the Burr's IndianHead Stock Farm. What made this particular race evenmore interesting was that the Burrs were driving the teams.Both men were large men, weighing more than 200 pounds,

but this size and weight did not keepthem from climbing in sulkies and racing,and in this particular race, it was fatheragainst son. “Carll S. Burr, Sr., drove Col.Payne’s team, while his son drove theHavemeyer team. It was a close race, asI remember it, but the son was defeatedby his old man.” (Israel Tilden,“Remembers the Carll Burrs,” “Reader'sForum,” Long Island Forum, January1981, p.27.)

It was only fitting that Carll S. Burr,Sr. should have won. “In later years,when he was associated with his son, Mr.

This photograph shows thehouse and 1/2 mile racetrackthat was to be found behindthe house on Burr Road. Thespectator’s stands in the frontof the barn are jammedpacked. Photo courtesy ofthe Smithtown HistoricalSociety.

Formal portrait of Carll S. Burr, Jr.and the horse Auditor B with ribbon,after winning a competition in 1908.Photo courtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

Photo courtesy of AnneGoldsmith Linstadt.

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Burr was knownin racing circlesas the “grand oldman of Comac.”He was to be the“grand old manof Comac” untilhe died in 1916at the age of 85.Carll S. Burr, Jr.,then inheritedthe stock farmand the tracksand continuedhis father’s busi-ness alone.(Barbara

Marhoefer, “Carll S. Burr of Commack,” Long IslandForum, January, 1970, p.5.)

Although the training and racing of horses was abusiness and a pastime for Carll S. Burr, Jr., he also had adistinguished career as an elected official. He first ran foroffice in 1895 when he ran for the New York StateAssembly. With his father’s backing and the support of theSuffolk County Republican Party, he won the election. Heserved in the New York Assembly for three terms, 1896,1897, and 1898. During his tenure, “he served on severalimportant committees” and “introduced several measuresof great value to the state and especially his home countyof Suffolk.” The chief piece of legislation for which he wasknown was the Burr Water Bill. This act, which becamelaw, prevented New York City from tapping SuffolkCounty's water supply and New York City had to lookupstate for fresh water. The Burr Water Bill actually savedSuffolk County’s drinking water for future generations andthis can certainly be appreciated by today’s residents ofSuffolk County. (John Del Grosso, “A Burr in the Harness,”op. cit.).

In 1898, Carll S. Burr, Jr., was nominated for stateSenator from the first district of the State of New York, whichthen includedRichmond andSuffolkCounties.Unfortunately,he lost the elec-tion when thevoters ofRichmondCounty support-ed hisDemocraticopponent. For atime, Carll S.Burr, Jr. leftpolitical officeand returned tothe business ofbreeding andtraining trotterswith his father.But heremained active in politics, and in 1904 he ranagain for the state Senate as the Republican candidate fromthe first district, and this time he won. He would serve a totalof four terms there from 1905 to 1908.

As a Senator, Carll S. Burr is remembered for his fightfor the Park Bill, the legislation that created Fire Island StatePark in Suffolk County. His foresight in securing Fire Island forpublic use is something that today’s generation also appreci-ates and applauds. He is also remembered for his stance onbetting and horse-racing. Around 1900, the New York StateLegislature passed an anti-betting law which had effectivelycurtailed horse-race betting. Carll S. Burr, Jr. was opposed tothis law since he believed that the prohibition of betting “wouldencourage law-breaking... and bring about disastrous results in

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Carll S. Burr, Jr., drivingthe H.O. Havemeyerteam of Henrietta andMiss Lida. It was thisteam which lost the racethat Israel Tilden remem-bers watching. Photocourtesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

This one mile oval Burrrace track was on theproperty whereCommack High Schoolnow stands. The view isto the east of the homestretch. The judge’sstand can be seen onthe right with the timer’sstand and spectator’sbenches on the left. Photo courtesy of theSmithtown HistoricalSociety.

the horse racing busi-ness (such as thieveryat tracks, race fixes,and poorly runtracks).” As a result,Carll S. Burr, Jr.became a staunchsupporter of the Hart-Agnew Race TrackBill which would haverestored race-track

betting. In fact, his support of this legislationbecame a factor in his re-election bid in 1908, and the voters turnedagainst him at the polls and he was defeated. (John Del Grosso, "ABurr in the Harness," op. cit.)

Following his defeat, Carll S. Burr, Jr. returned once againto the horse training business with his father. But much of the funand excitement had gone out of the horse-racing business. Bettingwas now illegal and the public’s interest in horses waned as thehorseless carriage came into use. With his father’s death in 1916,Carll S. Burr, Jr. witnessed the passing of an era. Horse-racing inComac came to an end. Carll S. Burr, Jr. found some other interestsin life. He remained active in the Republican Party, became a mem-ber of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Huntington and TrustCompany, and for 50 years he was a member of the Masonic Orderfrom the Alcyone Lodge of Northport. Just four months before hisdeath on January 2, 1936, Carll S. Burr, Jr. and his wife, Hanie E.Burr, celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. When Carll S.Burr, Jr. passed away, he left his name, his reputation and a won-derful horse-racing legacy to his son, Carll S. Burr, III. But the horse-racing tracks had succumbed to weeds, and the business of trainingand raising horses in Commack had disappeared. (John Del Grosso,“A Burr in the Harness,’ unpublished manuscript on file in the LongIsland Room of the Smithtown Library, 1981.)

The one mile track on the Indian Head Stock Farm propertywould be used in the summer of 1920 for motorcycle races thatwere sponsored by New York Cycle Clubs. And later from 1925-1930, the track was again used for bicycle and automobile racing,but the days of horse racing were gone forever.

World War I brings Brindley Fieldto the little rural village ofCommack . . .

With the decline in the interest of horse racing, Commackbecame a sleepy little rural village on the crossroads to some-where else. But this tranquility did not last long since internationalevents soon had a profound impact upon Commack. The greatEuropean War that had begun in Europe in 1914 seemed far away

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This photograph of theBurr family mansion wastaken around 1900.Postcard courtesy of JoelStreich.

Carll S. Burr, Jr. admires the fine lines ofone of his “Hambletonians.”Photo courtesy of the Smithtown HistoricalSociety.

If you travel north up Townline Road from Commack Corners, you will come to theintersection of Havemeyer Lane and Townline Road. This lane, which now leads to ahousing development, once crossed the southern portion of the 250 acres of propertythat were owned by Henry 0. Havemeyer. Most of Havemeyer's 250 acres were to thenorth of the lane and included the property between Scholar Lane and HavemeyerLane, from Townline Road to what is now Sunken Meadow Parkway. Mr. Havemeyerowned an additional 20+ acres on the northwest corner of Burr Road and TownlineRoad. It was on this property that the Merivale Stock Farm was located, and it was herethat a house, barns, and numerous stables could be found. These buildings were on thewest side of Townline Road just to the south of Scholar Lane. Further along Burr Road,just to the west of Carll S. Burr's property and racetrack, Mr. Havemeyer owned another100 acres of property that straddled Burr Road. It was on this property that a smallstone house of 1 and 1/2 stories was to be found and this unpretentious residence waswhere Henry 0. Havemeyer stayed whenever he visited Comac.

The little country house that Henry 0. Havemeyer maintained in Commack wasthe "least pretentious" country house that he owned, and he owned several. In fact, Mr.Havemeyer, a multi-millionaire, was one of the wealthiest men of his day. Mr.Havemeyer was the President of the American Sugar Refining Company, a huge sugarconglomerate that had control over 17 of the 23 sugar refineries in America. Because ofthe stranglehold that his company had upon cost of food production in America, HenryO. Havemeyer became known as the “Sugar King.”

The Sugar King had an enormous house on New York's Fifth Avenue that hadbeen especially designed for him by Louis Tiffany, an estate on the shore of the GreatSouth Bay that was valued at $250,000, and a home in Greenwich, Connecticut thatwas described as "one of the finest country seats on the Long Island Sound."(Prominent Families of New York, The Historical Company, New York, 1897, pg. 268.)

Obviously, Mr. Havemeyer could have created an additional mansion in Comachad he chosen to do so, but he seemed to like the small stone house on Burr Road. Hespent “considerable time here and seemed to enjoy the quietude” of Comac. (The Long

Islander, Huntington, N.Y., Dec. 10, 1907.) He also enjoyed hunting and would trampabout on his land shooting the pheasant and quail that he had specifically raised for thispurpose. According to Israel Tilden of Bellport, "the pheasant were raised on the farm,five to ten thousand a year. They would let two or three hundred loose'' when a huntingparty was organized, and off Mr. Havemeyer and his party would go ”gunning” in pursuitof the birds. Since Mr. Havemeyer had also obtained "gunning rights to adjoiningfarms," the hunting parties had a considerable area to roam in pursuit of game. (Israel

Tilden, Long Island Forum, Jan. 1981,p. 27.) It was this open space and coun-try air that Mr. Havemeyer seemed tolike about Comac.

In November of 1907, Mr.Havemeyer decided that he wanted tospend a quiet Thanksgiving Day inComac with his family. Mr. Havemeyer,his wife, his son, and his daughter alltravelled to Comac for the holiday. Aswas his habit, Mr. Havemeyer decidedto walk about his property. “Early thatmorning he started out with his son, andthey tramped about until late in theafternoon when they returned to thehouse for dinner. Mr. Havemeyer ateheartily, and soon afterwards was takenill. Dr. W.H. Ross, of Brentwood, wassummoned. He diagnosed the trouble as acute indigestion. Mr. Havemeyer'sNew York physician, Dr. Kinnicutt, was called the next day, also Dr. Frissel.Friday night, Drs. Abbe and Delafield were called in consultation. Eight nurseswere in attendance upon him. Other troubles soon developed and byWednesday morning he grew rapidly worse. Soon after noon, one of the twoautomobiles which had been kept on the go continually came into Huntingtonand hurried back toward Comac with a supply of oxygen. Two hours later cameword of his death. “Mr. Havemeyer died in his house in Comac on December 4,1907. It was later determined that he died from a ruptured pancreas. Mr.Havemeyer's body was transported to his New York City residence immediatelyby a special train of two cars which took his body and members of the family toLong Island City. (The Long Islander, Huntington, New York, Dec. 10, 1907.)

The Sugar King was dead at the age of 61. Following his death, the own-ership of the Merivale Stock Farm and the little stone house on Burr Roadpassed to his son. Eventually the house and property were sold by the familyand the Havemeyer name was forgotten. The only reminder today that one ofthe great robber barons in America's past, the Sugar King, once owned a houseand 370 acres of land in Comac, is the little lane that bears his name --Havemeyer Lane.

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Mr. and Mrs. Henry O. Havemeyer

Circa 1898

Henry O. Havemeyer and the Merivale StockFarm of Comac...

Commack was one ofthe first communities inSmithtown to organizeits own volunteer firefighting company. Thishappened on “a warmevening in August of1906 when a small bandof public spirited resi-dents gathered” in theCommack Hotel to con-sider the possiblity offorming a volunteer firedepartment.

“Ironically, it wasan out-of-towner, aweekend resident fromCanarsie in Brooklyn,who was the drivingforce behindCommack’s chartercrew of volunteers. Hisname was FerdinandFreschkorn and he wasa big man with a bigger,black mustache; he wasactive in the Flatlands (Brooklyn) volunteer company when he wasn’t spending his time in Commack.” Ferdinand Freschkorn convincedthe residents of Commack that they should have a volunteer department of their own. No doubt his work and experience with the

Flatlands Company gave him the assurance and confidence that he needed to convince the residents of Commackthat they could organize their own company. With “his persistence” and the support of those who attended themeeting, the Commack Hook and Ladder Company was born.

The first problem that the newly formed fire company faced was the lack of equipment. FerdinandFreschkorn solved this problem when he managed to secure “a one time N.Y.C. hand-drawn” fire wagon from “itsretirement home in Fort Greene Park” in Brooklyn. This fire wagon, with its “heavy wooden ladders, canvas bucketsand high back wheels,” was pulled to Commack by horses and became Commack’s Hook and Ladder wagon.

In October of 1906, “the department was incorporated. Then the dozen or so founding fathers set out toraise money for the firehouse, mostly by dances.” Their efforts at fund-raising yielded some $300 which was used“to purchase a lot on the present Jericho Turnpike site of the department.” The only thing lacking now was a build-ing.

The first firehouse was built in 1908. “At this point, every man in the department pitched in, cutting bigchestnut trees--then prevalent in this section-- and carting them over to the sawmill of William Mahler Sr., near thepresent post office. Mahler generously did the cutting at cost.” The men of the department then constructed abuilding to house their fire wagon. When they were finished, the building looked as it does in the accompanyingphotograph. All that was needed was a fire alarm, and the fire company solved this problem when “an old locomo-tive wheel was acquired and suspended in front of the firehouse.” When a fire broke out and the men were need-ed, “a strong-muscled vamp” would grab a sledge hammer and “wallop the improvised gong” to summon men.This rig must have worked pretty well because a “few years later, this same gong was put into use by theHauppauge Fire Department.” In fact, the gong is still hanging in front of the Hauppauge Firehouse.

By 1908, the Commack Hook and Ladder Company proudly had its own firehouse and fire wagon andstood ready to be of service to the community. The company even invested in uniforms, and each man was out-fitted in a “red shirt, dark pantaloons, belt, fatique cap and black tie.” So it was that Commack became one of thebest equipped and snazziest volunteer fire fighting companies in the area. (The quotations and information con-

tained in these paragraphs about the Commack Hook and Ladder Company came from the 50th AnniversaryJournal produced by the Commack Fire Department in 1956.)

Commack’s Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 ...

If you ever encounter any real old-timers in Commack, who were bornbefore World War I, ask them to pro-nounce the name of their hometown.You will hear them say that they livein Comac, and it will sound as if theysaid “comic.” New- comers alwayssay they live in Commack (Co-mack).So which is it? At the turn of the cen-tury, there was only Comac. Comac isa name derived from the Algonquinword of Winnecomac which means“pleasant land” or “beautiful place”and it was the name that the nativeinhabitants gave to area. The nameappears in several early deeds andthere is even a Winnecomac Patent.Over time, Winnecomac simplybecame Comac. The little cross-roadsvillage was known as Comac at theturn of the century, and then suddenlythe spelling of the name changed toCommack. Why? Marion Carll provid-ed an answer. She said it happenedbecause the mail for Comac kept get-ting mixed up with the mail for Coram.The spelling of Comac was changedto Commack to end the confusion.Who was responsible for changingthe name? It must have been theU.S. Postal Service since postal can-cellations going as far back as 1906contain the name Commack. Mostlocals resisted the change, but thechange in spelling stuck whenBrindley Field opened and hundredsof troops started writing home fromCommack. It is interesting that thespelling changed to match the proun-ciation, and at the same time peoplestarted routinely mispronouncing it.

Is it Comac or

Commack?

Photos courtesy of the CommackFire Department .

Ferdinand

Freschkorn

from Commack, but in 1918, the war came dramatically closeto home.

In the summer of 1918, the U.S. Army Air Serviceopened a training camp for “aero squadrons” in Commack.The facility, known as Brindley Field, was located on the

northeast corner of Larkfield Road and JerichoTurnpike where Modell’s and Home Depot are nowlocated. The airfield was built on 90 acres of levelfarmland that belonged to William H. Randall. “Mr.Randall’s home, on the corner” where the Barnesand Noble store stands today, “was turned into a fieldheadquarters” and all the “farm buildings were uti-lized for truck and car storage and aircraft parts stor-age.”

The Army Air Service converted the existingwheat fields into a flying field and began to constructbarracks, mess halls and hangars on the property.According to Henry Shea of Commack, who remem-bered seeing Brindley Field, “about 1,000 men werestationed here at any one time, with approximately20 to 30 Curtis Jenny trainers being used as well asa number of powerful DH 4’s.

At the outset, for about two months, all per-sonnel were housed in big square army tents. Bylate August, 20 long barracks were completed oppo-site the Ruland farm where the south parking field ofModell’s is now located. In addition, 5 large steelhangars were put up in a row from Larkfield Roaddue eastward through the area where Modell’s storenow stands. A new well was driven and a largewooden stand tank for water storage was erected.”(Henry Shea, “Story of Brindley Field, Commack,L.I.”, unpublished manuscript on file in the L.I. Roomof the Smithtown Library.)

The airfield was named in honor of MajorOscar A. Brindley, an aviator who was killed in anaircraft accident on May 2, 1918, at Dayton, Ohio.Major Brindley had been test flying a Liberty-pow-ered DH-4 when the plane went into a spin and

crashed. It was in his memory that thefield in Commack was named.

It wasn’t long after the dedication of the airfield in MajorBrindley’s honor that a similar tragic accident occurred inCommack. Flying was a risky business in the aircraft of the dayand Henry Shea remembered hearing about pilots running into“the fences that surrounded the airfield” and of others havingclose calls with the overhead electric wires which were strungalong Larkfield Road. There were dangers on the ground as wellas in the air. But the fatal accident that took the lives of twoyoung fliers happened during a training exercise when 17 aircraftwere involved in mock aerial combat. On Friday, August 16,1918, at 9:30 a.m., two men lost their lives when the JN-4H theywere flying, had a wing crumble when they were at about 1,000feet in the air. Witnesses heard a snapping noise and saw theplane break apart. Horrified onlookers saw pieces of the aircraftfalling and watched as the aircraft fell to the earth. The two menwho died were 2nd Lt. Harold F. Maxson, the 25 year old pilotfrom Los Angeles, California, and his passenger 2nd Lt. G.S.Gedeon, a 24 year old observer who came from Titusville,Pennsylvania. The actual crash site was just off HavemeyerLane, some 300 feet east of Oakley Place. Many years after theaccident, a large crater could still be seen in the hayfields at thislocation.

The tragic loss of life deeply affected the pilots who weretraining at the airfield, and they showed their respect for their fel-low aviators at the funeral for the two men. The Long Islander

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Commack resident, John Wendel,poses in his WW I uniform atYaphank. John Wendel was AnneGoldsmith’s uncle. Photo courtesyof Anne Goldsmith Lindstadt.

Curtis Jenny Trainer

Photo courtesy of TheCradle of AviationMuseum.

reported that “all daySunday, sympathizingfriends from Commackand vicinity called atBrindley Field and leftflowers at the YMCAheadquarters to be used

at the funeral.” On the day of the funeral, several aircraft “fromthe Commack camp left with the flowers and as the cortegepassed from Cornell’s Chapel to the Long Island Railroad Station,the aviators flew low, doing some difficult stunts to get in positionto drop the flowers on the caskets. The flowers fell squarely onthe caskets, borne on the shoulders of soldiers.” The fellow pilotsof the dead officers walked alongside of and behind the casketsas the funeral procession made its way to the train station wherethe caskets were loaded aboard a train to be sent home. (TheLong Islander, August 23, 1918, p.19.)

Brindley Field was intended to be a temporary flying field,a satellite field to the large installation at Mitchell Field. The avia-tors “rotated so that only two squadrons were on the field at anyone time.” The aerial squadrons came to Brindley Field foradvanced training in aerial combat, and once they finished theirtraining at Brindley Field, they went back to Mitchell Field andshipped out from there to France. Just how many of the pilotswho were trained at Commack actually saw combat in France isnot known, but surely some of them did fight in France.

The death of the two young men elicited a great deal ofsympathy from the residents of the surrounding area. Commackresidents had welcomed the young trainees to the airfield in theirmidst and frequently sponsored evening entertainment in thehuge Knights of Columbus or YMCA tents that were set up on theairfield. Henry Shea had vivid memories of the entertainmentpresented by many town groups under the light of the “big carbonarc flare lamps” that were used to light up the tents. People hadopened their homes to these young flyers and in some casesinvited them to Sunday dinners and corresponded with them longafter they left Commack.

The presence of the airfield in Commack brought excite-ment and change to the community. Henry Shea commented

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A Murder in Commack...

This World War Ipilot is suited upand ready to fly hisJenny. Photo

coutesy of The

Cradle of Aviation

Museum.

Sometime in the fall of 1920, a man named Sam Soper was found dead in

his home on Jericho Turnpike in Commack. He had been shot. Sam Soperowned the house and property that eventually became Nott's real estate officeand is today the west end of the Peppertree Commons shopping center.Constable Amza Biggs of Huntington was called in to investigate the murder,but no one had heard or seen anything, and the investigation was to no avail.The murder of Sam Soper became an unsolved mystery.

The mystery might never have been solved if it hadn't been for theHalloween mischief of two young boys from Commack. George S. Burr, Jr.and his best friend Raymond Hubbs, both 12 years old, decided it would befun to run a wheelbarrow up the FrameSchool's flagpole. So they snuck outlate at night and did just that. Whenthey finished, they decided to sneakacross the street and steal the barberpole from the barbershop. The barbershopwas then located in the little building thathad been the Ketcham's Candy Shop. Asthey attempted to steal the pole, theymust have made enough noise to alertsomeone who responded by firing several quick shots at thepranksters. This caused the two boys to run like scared rabbits all theway home.

George was badly frightened and told his father what had happened andthat he thought the bullets flying around him had come from the barbershop.George's father decided that he better tell Amza Biggs, the HuntingtonConstable, about the incident. Amaza Biggs then paid a visit to the barber-shop and questioned the barber about the alleged shooting. The Italian bar-ber, who rented the shop, claimed that he knew nothing about it and didn'teven own a gun. Something must have made the Constable question the bar-ber's veracity, because Biggs went back to Huntington, secured a search war-rant, and returned with a deputy to the barbershop. When they searched thebarbershop, they discovered a gun hidden beneath the floorboards of theshop. The barber was arrested and under interrogation, he broke down andconfessed to shooting at the boys and to having killed his landlord SamSoper. Apparently, Sam Soper had increased the barber's rent by $3 a monthand this had enraged the barber and led him to murder. The barber must havehad trouble eeking out a living and he had been brooding about his circum-stances in contrast to Sam Soper's. He resented the fact that he had so little,and Sam Soper had so much, that he killed him. The barber also had plans tokill John S. Carll simply because he owned too much land and because herefused to let anyone take cordwood from his land. Fortunately for the Carlls,the barber was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in an upstateprison for the criminally insane. (This story came from Ron Burr whose father,George S. Burr, Jr., told it to him.)

that “the creation of the large army flying field created a sensa-tion for miles around with hundreds of sightseers coming towatch on weekends. Also at night a new effect was noticed inhitherto oil-lighted Commack, electric lights.” Power lines wereextended from the end of existing service to the airfield, and theplace “was ablaze with lights.” According to Henry, there were“no war-time blackouts in those days.” Another change thatoccurred in Commack was the closing of all of the local estab-lishments that sold liquor. By Presidential order, military author-ities closed all establishments selling liquor within a five-mileradius of this camp. It was felt that this would guarantee thesobriety and good conduct of the soldiers at the camp. So, pro-hibition actually came to the Commack community over a yearbefore the rest of the country became a “dry” nation.

“At the time of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, thecamp was operating to capacity.” With the end of the war, “theentire facility of Brindley Field was gradually reduced and finallyclosed in May of 1919.” The barracks were ripped down orsold to be made into homes in the Commack area. The newlycompleted YMCA building was sold to the Baptist Fresh AirHome and was moved to the property on Townline Road knownas Sunshine Acres. The building was rededicated as the A.Swan Brown Hall and it survived until the Fresh Air Home prop-erty was obtained by the Town of Huntington and converted intothe town park. The 90 acres of farmland that made up BrindleyField were returned to Mr. Randall, the original owner. “Heeventually sold the farm to a family from the Bronx namedKuzig and they started farming the entire 90 acres.” TheKuzigs farmed the property until 1943 when the property was“bought by the Johnson Bros. and during the course of repairsto the buildings in 1943, fire broke out in one of the large build-ings with the result that all the buildings were destroyed exceptthe house.” The original farmhouse on the property surviveduntil 1951 when it was razed. By this time, there were very few

reminders that the property had ever been the site of a WorldWar I airfield. (Information contained in an interview that GilTatarsky, a student at Commack High School South, had withHenry Shea in the fall of 1987. The interview is on file in the L.I.Room of the Smithtown Library.)

Change comes slowly to Commack...

With the end of World War I, themen of the Army Air Corps were dis-charged, and Brindley Field was closeddown. Life in Commack went back tothe way it had been before the war. Thepopulation of the little town once againwas just a few hundred people. Mostpeople were farmers trying to make aliving. In all there were about 30 farmsin Commack. Some of these farmswere small like the one owned by theMorelands with 40 to 50 acres. Otherswere huge like John Carll’s farm thathad over 2000 acres in southernCommack. Before the war, Commack’sfarmers raised hay and grain crops.But after the war, “commercial” farm-ers became established in Commackand they grew vegetables such ascabbage, potatoes, corn, broccoli, andcucumbers. These crops were shipped into New York City by“solid-tired” trucks which made their appearance on Long Islandafter the war. According to Howard Moreland, pickles were the“big money crop” until the 1920’s when a “fungus” got into thecucumbers and made them impossible to grow. Farmers thenturned to potatoes as their cash crop.

The demand for potatoes led Commack farmers to lookfor experienced help in growing potatoes, and this led to the

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A. Swan Brown Hall

The A. Swan Brown Hallwas originally built toserve as a YMCA build-ing at Brindley Field andwas later sold andmoved to the BaptistFresh Air Home propertyon Townline Road. In1961, this property wasacquired by the Town ofHuntington and convert-ed into a Town Park andthe building was demol-ished. Photo courtesy ofthe Smithtown HistoricalSociety.

The Moreland boys, Joeand Howard, help theirfather with lumbering onthe Moreland property insouth Commack. Noticethe size of the log thatthe boys are gettingready to move. Photocourtesy of theSmithtown HistoricalSociety.

influx of a number of immi-grant farmers and their fami-lies into Commack. Thissurge in population led to anincrease in the number ofschool-age children andpressure for a new schoolbuilding. The Frame Schoolserved as Commack’sschoolhouse until 1922when a decision was madeto build a new school for the

district. Crowding in the Frame School had become so badthat the School Board paid to install a blackboard and seats inthe firehouse and used this building as an auxillary classroom.The Frame School was bursting at its seams.

In May of 1922, the School Board voted to purchasethree additional acres of land at “Commack Corners for $500an acre.” At the same time, the Board voted to contract forplans and specifications for a new six room school buildingand voted to move the Frame School off the school property.The School Board which made this decision ran into a stormof protest. The voters howled at the thought, and “the Boardwas accused of being in the real estate business. Althoughthe Board was upheld by District Superintendent LeonardSmith, its decision was opposed by many leading residents,including Ex-Senator Burr.” At a special School Board meet-ing in July, 55 property owners attended the meeting and 53of them voted against moving the school. In a second vote,48 voters rejected the purchase of additional land. “As a resultthe School Board resigned.” A new School Board was thenchosen. (Lucille Rosen, Commack, A Look Into The Past,Commack Public Schools, 1970, p. 17.)

The new School Board sought the advice of the NewYork State Department of Education about what they shoulddo. A report from the Inspector of Buildings, a Mr. I. L. Sears,changed public opinion. He wrote that it would not pay toremodel the exisiting school because of the arrangement ofrooms, that the District needed a six room building with an

auditoriumto house itsstudents,that “condi-tions areso badhere espe-cially in anold fire hallwhere oneclassroomis being held, that everypossible effort should be made to get a new school.” Another spe-cial School Board meeting was held on the heels of this letter onMay 12, 1923, and at this time the School Board proposed spend-ing $55,000 to build a new brick six room schoolhouse. When theproposition was voted upon, 44 votes were cast and 33 were castin favor. Construction of the new school began in the fall of 1923.

One year later, at the annual school meeting in May, 1924,Ferdinand Freschkorn requested that the School Board sell the oldschoolhouse to the Commack Hook and Ladder Company for $5.The Board voted to sell the school to the fire company. It wasthen moved across Jericho Turnpike to become the Commack fire-house. “Moving the structure in those days was accomplished bythe old method of having horses walk in a slow steady circle. As aresult, the schoolhouse blocked Jericho Turnpike for a couple ofdays, causing considerable concern among bootleggers whothought they were running into a police roadblock.” (A History ofthe Commack Fire District, Anniversary Journal, 1952.)

The new schoolhouse that was built in l923 becameknown as the Commack Grammar School. The schoolhouse wasmade of brick and for that reason, it was often referred to as theBrick School. It was to serve the Commack School District for 66years from 1924 until 1973 when the school property was sold tothe New York Institute of Technology. It was in 1957, that theCommack Board of Education named the building the Marion E.Carll School as a way of saying thank you to Miss Carll for all thatshe had done for the Commack community.

It happens that we know a good deal about the Brick school

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The CommackFirehouse as itlooked after theFrame School hadbeen moved acrossthe road and attachedto the front of theexisting firehouse.The building stooduntil 1963 when itwas torn down tomake way for the pre-sent firehouse. Photocourtesy of theCommack FireDepartment.

Commack GrammarSchool, which wasalso known as theBrick School, wasnamed the MarionCarll School in 1957.

which served asCommack's only schoolfrom 1924 until 1958when Smith’s LaneSchool opened. MarionCarll recalled that thebuilding "contained four

classrooms and a auditorium downstairs and a fifth class-room and library upstairs. There was a small room for theprincipal’s use." For years, only the downstairs classroomswere used in the school. But following WWII, as the“enrollment gradually increased” a new wing was added in1953, followed by another wing in 1956, and yet anotherwing in 1960. By the time the school was named in honorof Marion Carll in 1957, enrollment had increased and sohad the size of the building. ("History of One-RoomSchools in Commack,” by Marion Carll, unpublished man-uscript on file in the Commack School District Archives,p.8.)

In 1973, as the School District's enrollment declined,the Marion Carll School was sold to the New York Instituteof Technology. The New York Institute of Technology orga-nized a community college at the school and conductedclasses here for a number of years. Eventually a decisionwas made to close the facility, and the school went backon the market. Unfortunately, the empty building was van-dalized and set afire. In1990, the building wasdemolished and that waswhen a time capsule was dis-covered in the cornerstone ofthe building.

The time capsule wasrescued by Commack FireDepartment members JohnBender and Joe DeJose, andFire Commissioners JohnMinton and Jerry O'Sullivanwho saw the building being

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Marion E. Carll was born inCommack on April 13, 1885, in thefarmhouse that bears her nametoday. She grew up on this farm onCommack Road with her six brothersand sisters.

She attended the Old SouthSchool, the one-room schoolhousewhich used to stand on the north-west corner of Commack Road andHauppauge Road. Subsequentlyshe attended high school inJamaica and then the JamaicaNormal School, a training schoolfor teachers. She then taught inboth Commack and New York City.In 1924 she gave up her teachingcareer and came back to Commack. (“Portrait of a citizen: Commack’sLeading Citizen Past, Present, and Future,” by Peggy Galvin, Smithtown News,1964, on file in the L.I. History Room of the Smithtown Library.)

Miss Carll now pursued a more active role in the Commack community. Shetook an interest in the local school and served as Treasurer and Census Taker forthe Commack District for 25 years from 1929 to 1954. She helped organizeCommack’s first P.T.A. and served as President from 1926 to 1936. She wasactively involved in the Commack Fire Company Auxillary, the CommackCemetery Board, and the Commack Methodist Church. She became involved inlocal historical societies and produced a map of the Commack area showing thelocation of historical sites within the community. This map is one of the most valu-able records we have of the history of the Commack community. (Peggy Galvin,op. cit.)

In 1957 the Commack School Board named the Commack Grammar Schoolon Jericho Turnpike, the Marion E. Carll School in her honor asa token of appreciation for all her efforts on behalf of the com-munity. It might have been this act which led Miss Carll to drafta will which deeded to the Commack School District the MarionCarll Farm. She always enjoyed having the children ofCommack visit her farm where in 1964 she had “six ponies andtwo foals..., one goat, one sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, andguinea hens.” No doubt she envisioned that one day, the boysand girls of Commack would be living in a suburban landscape,and they would have no knowledge of farming and the animalsone might find there. She must have hoped the farm wouldcontinue as a working, active farm that children of Commackwould visit and enjoy. (Peggy Galvin, op. cit.)

Miss Marion Carll died on November 16, 1968, at the age ofeighty-three. She left behind a remarkable record of public serviceand the legacy of her farm for future residents to enjoy. In manyways, Miss Marion E. Carll remains one of Commack’s most importantlinks to the past. Marion Carll photo courtesy of Society for thePreservation of Long Island Antiquities.

Miss Marion E. Carll1885-1968...

The cast of the first com-munity play to be presentedat the new school auditori-um in 1924 poses for thecamera. Marion Carll isseen standing in back (thirdperson on the right). Photocourtesy of Sherman Carll.

The Marion Carll Farm houseon Commack Road was builtin 1860 and is presentlyowned by the CommackSchool District. Photo cour-tesy of the SmithtownHistorical Society.

Marion Carll and one of her ponies

razed and ran across the street, foundthe cornerstone, and extracted from it asoldered copper box. When this box wasopened, it was found to contain "a smallleather-bound Bible, a copy of the con-struction specifications for the schoolbuilding, a mason's emblem and a pro-gram for the dedication ceremony....There was also a 48-star American flagand a history of the school district writtenby Grace Hubbs, who taught third-andfourth-grade students in the building...."There were also individual class rosterswhich listed the names of the teachersand the names of the 120 students whoattended the school when it opened in1924. (“Blast From Commack's Past," byBill Bleyer, Newsday, Sunday, April 26,1992, Huntington Special, p.1 and p.6.)

On May 21, 1992, the CommackBoard of Education held a special recep-

tion for the students of the classes of 1924. As classmatesfrom 68 years ago met once again, conversations focusedon memories of friends, relatives, and the good times of longago. Many of their memories drifted back to their 1924school days:

Charles Harned, who was then in the 1st and 2nd gradeclass recalled: "I remember the classroom was one big room with oneteacher. We had reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, but noart or science. We had music too. They told me not to singbecause I didn't have a good voice, but to mouth the words.

They tried to teach me to play the banjo, but that didn'treally work out....

Sometimes for lunch, we'd go to this little place on thecorner or eat in the classroom. At recess, we would play ball.

The girls would play ball, too. And some of them werebetter than the fellas.

We didn't wearjeans and no sneak-ers. I owned twopairs of shoes.

I had to dochores beforeschool, like milk thecow. After school, Iwould help mybrother run the farm. We had 30 or 40 acres on CommackRoad, down from the Marion Carll Farm.”

Mamie Lamberta, who was also in the Ist and 2nd gradeclass, remembered: “There were 12 children in our family.I owned two dresses. You wore one and one you washed.

We usually brought our lunch, but sometimes mymother would give me a dime and we would buy lunch ata little luncheonette down the road from the school. For adime, we got a bowl of soup, and we would bring our ownbread from home. The husband and wife who owned therestaurant were thrilled to see us. We were big business.

We had 52 acres on what is now the MayfairShopping Center. We grew potatoes, spinach, corn,cucumbers, broccoli and sold it. When my father died at59, we lost the farm and moved to Huntington.

I still have ribbons I won in school running races."

Tony Michalowski, who was in the 1stand 2nd grades in1924, recalled: "There were ten chil-dren in our family; we had a farm offWicks Road. My father was a farmer.We walked about two and a half milesone way to school. Even when therewas three feet of snow, we walked.

My favorite subject was spelling. Istudied it by myself and we had tests. Ihated arithmetic. We didn't have books.The teacher would do it on the black-

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Grace L. Hubbs1892-1957

The Commack School Orchestrain 1928 with Director ClaudeLounsberry: Music lessons were$.75 per week. Photo courtesy ofAnne Goldsmith LIndstadt.

Grace L. Hubbs was a teacherin Commack schools foralmost 40 years. She beganher career as a primaryteacher in the Frame School in1910 at the age of 18 years.Later on she taught 3rd and4th grades in the CommackGrammar School as she con-tinued to do throughout hercareer. Every kid in Commackknew and loved Miss Hubbs.Sherman Carll rememberedthat Miss Hubbs was a littlewoman who was barely fivefeet tall and weighed less thana 100 pounds. “She was fastand nimble on her feet andshe could slap you quick as awink for misbehavior and beyour friend the next.”

Teacher GertrudeWeyrauch poses withher 1st and 2nd-gradeclass at the CommackGrammar school in1924. Photo courtesy ofAnne GoldsmithLindtadt.

board. I also didn't likegeography. We learnedreading sitting in a circle.We had some books butnot too many. There wereabout thirty children in theclass and the teacher

taught two classes at one time. We hadsinging everyday. Each morning, we would say the Lord’sPrayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

I was very well behaved. But if you were bad, theteacher hit you on the knuckles with a ruler. She wouldsend a note home to your parents.

All the kids had to take turns cleaning the black-boards and erasers."

Helen Probish, also in the 1st and 2nd grade class,remembered: "I couldn't speak English, only Polish. I useto sit next to Frank Michalowski because the teacherpaired the English-speaking kids with the non-Englishspeaking kids. He was my interpreter. He told me if I hadto go to the bathroom, hold up one or two fingers.

All the kids dressed nicely. We had homemadeclothes. I wore nice shoes, but I took them off when I gothome.

They taught us to count and to do math by countingon our fingers.

We walked to school; it was a few miles; the schoolday was 9 to 3. We brought lunch and ate in the class-room. At recess, the girls would play hopscotch or jumprope."

Stella Probish, (Helen's sister) was also in the 1st and2nd grade class: ''There were six children in our family.We were born in Brooklyn, but we all spoke Polish. Manyof the kids in school spoke different languages. I don'tknow how I got through those early school years.

We all walked to school. Our family had a horse andbuggy, but we walked, and it was a few miles. Even when

it snowed, we walked.Our parents nevertook us to school withthe horse and buggy."(The preceding quota-tions came from"Reunion-ReceptionReaffirms Commack'sHistoric Roots,”Commack Courier, publishedby the Commack Board of Education, May 1992, p.l-3.)

These recollections provide insight into the school daysof 1924 and show us what it was like to have attended a littlevillage school at that time. They also tell us a great deal aboutthe farming community of Commack in the 1920's. The federalcensus of 1920 shows that among the 764 people wholived in Commack, there werea number of new immigrantfarm families. The kids speak-ing different languages inschool were simply a reflec-tion of this diversity. Therewere Italian, Swedish,German, Irish, Scottish, Polish,Russian, Austrian, French, andLithiuanian families living in thelittle rural village of Commack.But language barriers weren'tthe only difficulty that onefaced in getting an education inthe 1920's.

There was no high schoolin the district. "If you went toHigh School you paid your owntuition and furnished your owntransportation. Marion Carllattended high school in Jamaica because there was freetuition.” She recalled that Joe Moreland and his sister Edith “hada Model T-Ford to go to High School. They paid their own tuition

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The Eighth-grade gradu-ating class of 1930proudly poses for thispicture. Photo courtesyof Anne GoldsmithLIndstadt.

The Seventh/Eighthgrade class in 1929was taught by EmmaLounsberry who wasalso the principal.Photo courtesy ofAnne GoldsmithLIndstadt.

The third and fourthgrade class taught byGrace L. Hubbs in1926 in the CommackGrammar School:Some of the childrenpictured in this photo-graph can be seen inthe accompanying pho-tographs on this pageas well as on the previ-ous page. Photo cour-tesy of Anne GoldsmithLIndstadt.

Nottrented Burr Hall to some city folks who were interested in thebuildings. Without his knowledge, these gentlemen assembled ahighly professional still in the barns and began to gather the rawmaterials they needed to distill whiskey. They brought in a hugequantity of sugar in 100 pound bags and stored it in the barns.But the Constable of Huntington, Amza Biggs, got wind of theoperation and decided to raid the site. Before the raid went down,word leaked out that the law was coming, and Ron Burr's father,George, was told to get the sugar before the raid. So he took hisModel T pick-up, went to the barns, and loaded the 100 poundbags of sugar into his truck and departed. By the time AmzaBiggs arrived, the sugar had been distributed to families through-out Commack. The still was dismantled and the operation wassquashed before it even began.

Rum-runners used the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway and a fastcar or truck to haul their contraband from secluded coves on theNorth Shore and the East End to drop points in Queens andBrooklyn. Authorities occasionally stopped them on the Parkway,but according to Howard Moreland, the rum-runners were "slip-pery characters” who frequently got away. This flouting of the lawirritated many folks in Commack and made them receptive torecruitment by the Klu Klux Klan. Howard Moreland rememberedthe KKK was politically strong in Commack in the early 1920's.The KKK preached a message of law and order and 100%Americanism on Long Island. People were recruited and joined in

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of fifteen dollars. Marjorie Robbinswho lived across from the SevenGables Garage walked to the trolleyat East Norhport to attend highschool. Grace Hubbs got to highschool by riding the mail stage inthe morning.... Clarence Grafattended Northport High for sixmonths. He rode with Carlton Burrin his Gold Band Ford. Getting

there on time was questionable. On one occasion they hadfourteen flats one morning. After six months Clarence changedto Smithtown High because he could ride mornings with thebaker. He got home the best way he could.” It was only with deter-mination, perseverance, and a real desire that a student succeed-ed in graduating from high school. (“Reminiscences" by Marion E.Carll at the testimonial dinner given for Joseph Moreland on hisretirement from the Board of Education, 1959.)

World War I brought changes to Commack, and one of thechanges that outlasted the war was prohibition. With the adoptionof prohibition legislation, the nation embarked on the great “socialexperiment” of making the sale of hard liquor and beer illegal. Theera of speak-easies, near beer, bath-tub gin, and rum-runningbegan. One speak-easy in Commack was the Deer Head Tavern,a forerunner on the site of today's Bonwit Inn. The tavern had abar with a dance hall attached to it. There was a big dance floorthat had fireplaces at both ends, and it was a very popularnightspot for young adults. Much of its popularity came from theavailability of mixed drinks.

The farmers of Commack, still mostly devout Methodists, did-n't much care whether or not a man could buy a shot of whiskey ina local tavern. If a man wanted beer or whiskey, then he simplymade it in his own still. Howard Moreland, who lived through thetough times of prohibition in Commack, remembered that a num-ber of people had stills where they were making their own whiskey.Some of this homebrew, such as Grego's ''White Mule," was noto-rious throughout Commack. Howard recalled that 15 or 20 suchstills were raided in Commack by revenue agents who seized theillegal brew and busted up the stills. Ron Burr's father told him of aillegal still that was set up in Burr Hall in 1931. Apparently, Jack

Commack Harbor: OnTownline Road there is alow spot near HavemeyerLane. The surrounding ter-rain channels water to thisarea, and before a sumpand drainage systems werebuilt, this dip in the roadwould fill up with water cre-ating an instant lake.Commack natives knewthis lake as “CommackHarbor” and found otherroads to travel when itrained. Photo courtesy ofAnne Goldsmith LIndstadt.

Burr Hall in 1943:Burr Hall was attachedto the Smith BurrTavern in 1890. Thedownstairs section ofthis hall was a carriageshed and upstairs wasa dance hall whichbecame a popularplace to hold localdances. It was in thebarn on this propertythat moonshiners setup their still. Photocourtesy of SmithtownHistorical Society.

Klan parades and Klan rallies, butthere is no evidence that such anevent ever happened in Commack.When Howard Moreland wasasked if he knew of anyone whojoined the Klan, he replied that noone ever knew who was involvedbecause the members alwayswore their hoods. The Klan wasactive on Long Island until the endof the decade when its leadershipran into legal difficulties and sup-port withered away. The stock mar-ket crash of 1929, and the years ofhardship and deprivation that fol-lowed, put an end to Klan activitieson Long Island.

The Depression hit LongIsland hard in the 1930’s and Commack experienced hardtimes as well. Howard Moreland, who lived through theDepression in Commack, remembered that Commack washit “awful hard.” Farmers were “scratching for a living” andstruggling to hang onto their farms. He knew a “lot of people”who lost their homes and farms. There were “five bad yearsof farming from 1930 to 1936.” Farmers had trouble raisingtheir crops because there was a prolonged drought, and irri-gation systems didn’t exist. When they did manage to bring acrop to harvest, there was nowhere to sell it. Sherman Carll

remembered that his own grandfatherwould load-up a truck with vegetablesthat they harvested from the fieldsbehind their house and drive thetruck into New York City markets tothe sell the vegetables. There weremany days when he returned with thetruck fully loaded and would simplydiscard the produce that evening. “Itwas tough to keep going” and hun-dreds of farmers on Long Island went

bankrupt.To make matters worse, there were for-

est fires that threatened the pine barrensevery spring in April and May. The exten-sive pine woodlands to the south ofCommack would sometimes catch fire,and a raging forest fire would burn overthe timber. Howard Moreland recalled sev-eral large forest fires that swept throughthe Commack area. In 1915 a fire blownby a southwest wind roared over the vir-gin timberland that once was found in theDix Hills area. The fire began at a pointjust south of where the Long IslandExpressway and Deer Park Avenue inter-sect. It headed in a northeasterly direc-tion and burned over a huge tract of for-est until it reached Commack Road. In1918 in an effort to reduce the dangerpresented by runaway forest fires, theState of New York built a number of firewatch towers in the pine barrens. Firewardens were employed to man thesetowers and for many years Fred Goldsmith was the FireWarden in Commack. In spite of their efforts, the Fire Wardenscouldn’t stop another huge fire from breaking out in 1928.Howard Moreland said that this fire was “the wildest fire” thathe ever saw. The fire burned for five to six hours over thesame general area as the 1915 fire. Whipped by a strongwind, flames leaped high in the air as the fire roared like a“freight train.” After destroying five or six homes in Brentwood,the fire burned out when it reached Commack Road. Thesefires destroyed much of the remaining woodland in southernCommack.

Automobiles made their appearance in Commack at avery early date, but not many families owned one before WWI.Howard Moreland remembered that his family bought their firstcar in1912, an EMF touring car. Henry Shea remembered hisfather filling up his family’s 1914 Garford automobile at the

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Program cover forhorse races held onOctober 8, 1932, at Ex-Senator Carll S. Burr’sRace Track: Theseraces, which includedpony races, were partof a charitable eventsponsored by theSound Shore Aerie,1815, a chapter of theEagles, a fraternalorganization dedicatedto the betterment of allhumanity. The moneyraised by these raceswas intended to bechanneled to destitutefamilies at Christmastime. Race programcourtesy of AnneGoldsmith LIndstadt.

What people were reading about

Commack as reported in

The Long Islander in 1920:

“Amos Harned killed a black snake 7 feet longTuesday morning. His attention was attracted toit by the excitement of the birds." July 23, 1920

“Frank Otten, one of our few remaining CivilWar veterans, died at his home here Fridaynoon, at the age of 78 years." July 23, 1920

“Mr. Trifranco’s cow was killed by lightning atmidnight Saturday and was found dead Sundaymorning." Sept. 17, 1920

"James Wilson was badly hurt last week whiletrying to catch a cow. He ran into a wire clothesline and fell, knocking out several teeth andfracturing three ribs. He was unconscious forseveral days.'' Oct. 1, 1920

"Ralph Tripany broke his arm Saturday lastwhile endeavoring to crank Fred Bohnenkamp’scar." Nov. 5, 1920

One of the many houses in Commack thatwas for sale during the depression: Thisphoto was one that was given to the LongIsland Room of the Smithtown Library by aCommack real estate office. Photo cour-tesy of the Smithtown Library.

Commack General Store. In the photograph ofthe Commack General Store to the left, gaspumps have been installed and an open touringcar is parked next to the store. Jericho Turnpikehad become a major thoroughfare for automobiletraffic travelling east and west on Long Island.

The heavy traffic on Jericho Turnpike led tothe construction of two garages in Commack.Built in 1922 the first garage, as seen in the mid-dle photograph, was owned by the Goldsmithfamily and was located on the northeast corner ofJericho Turnpike and Town Line Road where theWhitecastle Restaurant stands today.

On the west side of Commack, on thesoutheast corner of Larkfield Road and JerichoTurnpike, stood another garage. This garage,known simply as the Larkfield Garage, was builtin 1927. With its four specially lighted gasolinepumps and modern repair bays, the LarkfieldGarage, stood ready to service the heavy trafficon Jericho Turnpike. It was said that the hot dogvendor who did a brisk business nearby had thebest hot dogs and sauerkraut that one could findanywhere.

Another major traffic artery that ran east andwest in south Commack was the Long Island

Motor Parkway. This roadway, also referredto as the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, was thedream of William Kissam Vanderbilt, Jr.

William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. was anautomobile racing enthusiast. In hisEuropean travels, “Willy K” saw many autoraces and this led him to sponsor a series ofautomobile races on Long Island that areknown as the Vanderbilt Cup Races. Theseraces were held in Nassau County, overpublic roadways in 1904, 1905 and 1906.Unfortunately, they were marred by acci-dents and fatalities and came to an end

when elected officialsbanned the use of publicroads as raceways. Thisled William K. Vanderbiltto organize the LongIsland Motor ParkwayCorporation for the solepurpose of creating aprivate roadway that could be used forautomobile racing. (Chris Vagts, Huntington At The Turn ofthe Century, “Automobiles.”)

With the financial backing of men such as J. PierpontMorgan, Jacob H. Schiff, Harry Payne Whitney, Henry Ford, andAlfred G. Vanderbilt, the Long Island Motor Parkway Corporationhad no trouble raising the necessary capital to build the road-way. The original scheme was to build a limited access highwayfrom western Queens all the way out to Riverhead, but the com-pleted roadway never went beyond the shores of LakeRonkonkoma. Construction of the Long Island Motor Parkwaybegan in 1908, and by 1911 the highway reached southCommack. By 1913 its terminus on Lake Ronkonkoma hadbeen reached and the toll road was opened.

When the Motor Parkway was opened, the road washailed as an engineering marvel of its day. This was becausethe Motor Parkway was unique in many ways. It was the firstlimited access highway, the first highway to use reinforced con-crete as a roadbed, the first highway constructed with bankedcurves for high speed driving, and the first highway to havesuch safety features as non-skid surfaces, guard rails, andfencing. Since it was a private road, a $1 toll was charged totravel on it and only automobiles were permitted to use theroad. The engineers who worked on the design and construc-tion of the road were careful to preserve the natural terrain andvegetation whenever possible, and the roadway was then care-fully landscaped. The finished result was a roadway whichwound through a hilly, beautifully landscaped right-of-way fromHorace Harding Boulevard in Flushing to Lake Ronkonkoma. Itwas an ideal road for automobile driving and should have beensuccessful for its owners as well. But this did not happen and

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This restaurant andgas station was locat-ed on the south side ofJericho Turnpike justto the east of HarnedRoad. Postcard cour-tesy of Joel Streich.

The Commack General Store: The gas pump to the leftof the store and the Model T Ford parked in front of thestore show that automobiles were becoming more com-mon in Commack. This photo was taken about 1924when Kelly and Kress owned the general store. Photocourtesy of the Smithtown Historical Society.

The Goldsmith garage

Photos courtesy of the Smithtown

Historical Society.

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the Long Island Motor Parkway came upon hard times.Initially, the Motor Parkway was very popular and was used

by 150,000 cars annually in the 1920’s. Access to the Parkway wasfairly easy. Toll gates were set up at intersections with the main road-ways running north and south. In Commack, access to the Parkwaywas where Commack Road and the Parkway came together. Alodge or gatehouse was built where the Bonwit Inn stands today, andhere a gateman would collect the toll for use of the Parkway. In spiteof its easy access, use of the Parkway remained limited because ofthe tolls. In 1929, in an effort to increase the use of theParkway, the Long Island Motor Parkway Corporation authorized theconstruction of the Commack Spur.

The Commack Spur was built as a connecting link betweenthe Parkway and Jericho Turnpike and today is known as HarnedRoad. Not too long ago, large sections of the original concrete sur-face of this road was still visible from the Northern State Parkwaybridges to New Highway. This Commack Spur made it possible forsomeone driving west along Jericho Turnpike to leave the Turnpikeand drive south to the Parkway entrance. Here they would pay thetoll at the gatehouse, pass through the entrance gate and be on theirway to Queens. Julius Bohnenkamp served as the gatekeeper andcollected tolls. He lived in a house on Jericho Turnpike.

Unfortunately, the com-pletion of the Spurcame at the same timeas the stock marketcrash. The Depressionwhich followed greatlyreduced the revenuethat the private roadway received and this eventually drove theLong Island Motor Parkway Corporation into bankruptcy.

The Depression of the 1930s sounded the Parkway’sdeath knell. In an effort to maintain its use, tolls “were reducedfrom $1 to 50¢ and finally 25¢, but traffic was scarce anddeficits were building up.” The roadway became more of a bur-den to sustain. In 1935, the L.I. Motor Parkway stopped collect-ing tolls and Mr. Bohnenkamp lost his job. “By 1937, the high-way was little more than a tax burden for its operators, andnegotiations to dispose of it were begun with the three countiesthrough which it passed. On Easter Sunday, 1938, the MotorParkway was closed officially to motorists.” Then on July 1,1938, “Vanderbilt signed the deeds to the roads and transferredtitle to the government agencies that would now have jurisdic-tion over the highway.” With the stroke of a pen, Vanderbiltdeeded away the rights to the $10 million Parkway “in exchangefor the cancellation of the parkway’s $90,000 tax debt.” (ColleenSullivan, “Whatever became of the Vanderbilt Parkway?”,Newsday Magazine for Long Island, April 15, 1973, p.9.)

One of the factors that led to the demise of the L.I.Motor Parkway was the construction of the Northern StateParkway. The Northern State Parkway started as a germ of anidea in Robert Moses’ mind soon after he discovered a potentiallocation for a state park on L.I.’s North Shore. This happened in1922 when Robert Moses was prowling about Long Island look-ing for sites to locate public parks. In Smithtown he discoveredthat the Lamb Estate, with over 1000 acres, was up for sale.When he surveyed the property, he was surprised to find theextensive tidal wetlands that existed behind the north shorebeach front. By 1926 Moses found the necessary capital heneeded to purchase the estate and Sunken Meadow State Parkwas established. Now all he needed was a way of providing

The Vanderbilt MotorParkway looking westtorward Redleaf Lanein Commack. Furtherwest on the Parkwayis another hill thatevery kid in Commackknew about. Just overthe crest of that nearthe Commack MiddleSchool is “Devil’s Dip,”a steep dip in the roadthat was the best sled-ding hill in Commack.When snow fell, thekids in Commack allheaded for this spot.Postcard courtesy ofJoel Streich.

The Carll family pho-tographed with the sur-veyors of the LongIsland Motor Parkway in1906: They were stay-ing at the Carll farmwhile completing thesurvey work on theMotor Parkway. Thesnapshot was taken inthe front parlor of theCarll family homesteadon Commack Road. Surrounding Mrs. CarrieCarll (center) are herdaughters Edith (left)and Marion (right).and standing behindCarrie Carll are herthree sons, John, Ralphand Howard. Photocourtesy of ShermanCarll.

access tothe parkfrom NewYork City.NorthernStateParkwaywouldbecomethataccess.

Begun in1931, theNorthernStateParkway

inched its way eastward throughout the 1930’s and final-ly arrived in Commack about the same time that theVanderbilt Motor Parkway was converted into a public high-way. But the actual construction and completion of theNorthern State and the Sunken Meadow Parkway throughCommack would not happen until after WW II. Only thenwould Robert Moses’ dream of creating a state park on LongIsland’s north shore become a reality. Just as Moses’ SunkenMeadow State Park opened up the north shore of LongIsland to the families of city dwellers, the access roads wouldopen up the little farming community of Commack to a tidalwave of new residents from Brooklyn and Queens.

Commack experiences a peri-od of explosive growth...

In the 1950's and 60's, the farming community ofCommack was transformed from a little cross-roads villageinto a densely populated suburban community. This hap-pened so rapidly that it was to have a profound impact uponthe character of the suburban community that emerged in

Commack.The explosive growth that Commack experienced

occurred over a 12 year period from 1954 to 1966. “In 1954Commack had one school, 256 pupils and a total population ofless than 800.'' By 1966, Commack had "11,368 pupils, 38,000residents, 17 schools and a district school budget of$9,964,130." In just 12 years, Commack had become a subur-ban community that was distinctly different from the farming vil-lage that preceded it. (Gene Gleason, “Commack, Hit byPopulation Burst, Takes Growth in Stride,” Nev York HeraldTribune, 1966, article on file in the L.I.Room of the SmithtownLibrary.)

There were a number of factors that contributed to theexplosive growth in Commack's population. One of these fac-tors was World War II. The war caught the residents ofCommack by surprise just as it did the rest of the nation. Mostpeople heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harborover the radio. Sherman Carll remembered that the attack onPearl Harbor happened on a Sunday, Dec. 7th, and that onMonday, Dec. 8th, he was back in school at Northport HighSchool. That morning, all the students gathered in the auditori-um to listen to Franklin Roosevelt's war message that wasbroadcast over the radio. The United States was now in thewar and President Roosevelt called upon all Americans to dotheir part in supporting the war effort.

The war came terrifyingly close to home in Commack inDecember of 1941. Ron Burr remembered the day that theCommack Grammar School kids and teachers were in themidst of a rehearsal for their Christmas program. The entireschool was in the auditorium rehearsing the Christmas carolesand special pageant that had been planned for the program.Ron recalled that his sister Carol had the lead in the play whichwas entitled "She Didn't Believe." In the middle of thisrehearsal, there was a sudden pounding on the door of theauditorium. Mrs. Lounsberry-Phiford, who was the principal,answered the door. She returned to the auditorium visibly upsetand proceeded to tell the teachers to take their students backto their classrooms and dismiss them. The kids were goinghome. Ron and Carol didn't know what to do since their mother

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The newly construct-ed Sunken MeadowParkway snakes itsway south throughthe surroundingwoodlands of SunkenMeadow State Park.This photo was takenin 1958. Photo cour-tesy of David Flynn.

wasn't home, so they wentacross the street to theiraunt's house where theywaited for their mother. Noone understood why thekids had all been senthome. Later on, theywould discover that thereason they were senthome and school was

cancelled was because a report had been received thatGerman airplanes were approaching New York City.

Commack’s residents did their part to support thewar effort: young men enlisted, others were drafted, andwomen filled in for their menfolk where they could, or wentto work in L.I.'s war industries. Anne Goldsmith worked inBayshore making Dzus Fasteners for which she was paid40¢ an hour, taking home $16 a week. Many people car-

pooled to Grumman's in Bethpage.Everyone seemed to be working in warindustries.

Many young men from Commackcontributed to the war effort directly byserving in the armed forces. Hanging onthe wall of the little Methodist Church inCommack is a "Service Roll" that includes

many members of the community whoserved their country during World WarII. It is apparent from the list that someCommack families had more than oneson serving in the war. Not all of thesemen returned at the end of the war.The last two men on the list, Carl B.McDowell and Horace F. Burr, havegold stars next to their names indicat-ing that they died in the service of theircountry.

On the homefront, peoplepitched in to do their part.

Homeowners had their own victorygardens to support the war effort.Everyone had to deal with short-ages of staples such as butter,coffee, beef and sugar. Rationingbecame a way of life, and every-one recycled newspapers, cans,soap, lard, tinfoil and string. Even thestudents of Commack Grammar School wereasked to do their part for the war. They sold warstamps to raise enough money to buy a jeep. Ittook them awhile but they raised the required$900.

Commack's farmers pitched in to do theirpart and increased their production of potatoesand vegetables. The government paid premiumprices for potatoes and stockpiled them alongthe north side of Burr Road near its intersectionwith Larkfield Road. By the end of the war, therewere huge mounds of these potatoes stored outin the open. In an effort to preserve the pota-toes, cosmolene had been sprayed over themounds. Fortunately, the potatoes were neverused and at the end of the war, bulldozersburied the potatoes. The stench of rotten pota-toes hung in the air for days.

When the war ended with the announce-ment on August 14, 1945 that Japan would sur-render, Commack's residents celebrated thecoming of peace. Life slowly returned to what ithad been before the war but the war had setforces in motion that would soon impactCommack. The war had forced many young people topostpone marriage or to delay their marriages. Theseyoung people now opted to get married and begin raisingfamilies. A tremendous housing shortage resulted as thesenewlweds began looking for homes.

Another factor that contributed to Commack's popu-lation explosion was the availability of farmland.Commack's farmers were ready to sell their land. One rea-

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First Lieutenant Carll BurrMacDowell of Commack andMelbourne, Fla., was killed inaction on Jan. 3, while fightingthe Germans in Belguim, accordingto word received last week by hisuncle, Carll S. Burr Jr. ofCommack. He was with the 101stAirborne Division.

The 29-year-old para-trooper was a son of the lateLouis G. and Emma Burr MacDowellof Melbourne, and a grandson ofMrs. Carll S. Burr Sr. of Commackand the late State SenatorBurr....

Lt. MacDowell was well-known in Commack where he spentmany summers before entering theservice.(Reprinted from the SmithtownStar, January 31, 1945)

Senator�s Grandsonis a War CasualtyThis diner was located on the south-

west corner of Larkfield road andJericho Turnpike. It was owned bytwo German brothers who wereknown for their German cuisine.Photo courtesy of the L.I. Room ofthe Smithtown Library.

If you wander along the nature trails of HoytFarm Park in the early spring and come uponthe fallen trunk of a tree that has new greenshoots springing to life from the dead trunk, youmay be pleasantly surprised to discover a beau-tiful display of pink or white blossoms. Uponcloser inspection, you will find that you are look-ing at the remains of an old apple tree or peachtree that is still struggling to survive and bearfruit. These remnants of trees that once wereare a vivid reminder of the fact that Hoyt FarmPark was once the site of a large and produc-tive apple and peach orchard.

The 136 acre tract of land in Commackknown as Hoyt Farm Park has a very interest-ing history. The acreage was part of the original

land grant known as the Winnecomac Patent. In fact, the park is located on land thatonce was owned by the Wickes family and the Tredwell family, two of the earliest fami-lies to homestead in the Commack area.

The Winnecomac Patent was first granted by the Royal Governor of the Provinceof New York in the year 1703 to a man named Charles Congreve. Congreve sold offhis interest in the land to others and by 1740, this land came into the possession ofElnathan Wickes. The Wickes family then moved into the area and built the originalWickes homestead.

The association of the Hoyt family name with the former Wicks homestead beganin the year 1910. In that year, a young couple living in New York City jointly purchasedthe 300 acre Wicks family farm. The names of the couple were Edwin Chase Hoyt andMaria Louisa Moran Hoyt. With this transaction, the property which had been held bythe Wicks family for almost 200 years, passed out of the family's ownership.

The Hoyts purchased the Wicks farm as a vacation home in 1910. They werenewlyweds living in New York City on East 53rd Street, where they were comfortablyestablished in their own home. Edwin Chase Hoyt was a successful New York Citylawyer.

At first, the Hoyts divided their time between their home in the city and vacationson the farm in Commack. But in 1913, after two children had been born, Edwin Hoyt'sdislike of the life of a city lawyer and his longing for the country, led him to give up hissuccessful career and begin life anew as a gentleman farmer.

The farmhouse that stood on the property proved to be too small for the growingHoyt family and so they had it enlarged. In 19l2-1913, a second story was built and aneast wing was added to the original building. In 1915-1916, a third floor with dormerwindows was constructed and a west wing was added to the house. Slowly the housethat stands on the property today began to take its present shape.

When the Hoyts purchased the former Wicks farm, they gambled they couldmake the farm profitable. The soil on the farm was exhausted, the fruit trees were oldand diseased, and the house, barn and outbuildings needed extensive repairs. All ofthese problems had to be addressed before the farm would become profitable. Whatmade the venture even more risky was the fact that Edwin Hoyt knew very little aboutfarming.

In letters to others, Edwin Hoyt described himself as a "novice.'' The fact that heknew little about farming makes his change of career in mid-life even more surprising.But fortunately, Edwin Hoyt was an avid reader and a prolific letter writer. He readevery farming journal, magazine, and bulletin that he could find. And when he encoun-tered a problem, he consulted with farmers in the area and then wrote to farmingexperts all over the country to seek advice.

Mr. Hoyt experimented with fertilizers, with seeds, with crops, with apple trees,with fruit trees, and animals He always sought to find a better way of doing things and

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The Hoyt’s Legacy to Commack....

making things grow. As he expand-ed the commercial operation of hisfarm, he experimented with cropsthat would give him the best returnon his time and money. Initially heplanted potatoes, melons, corn,timothy, clover and other vegeta-bles. He purchased cows andbred milk cows, purchased a sowand raised pigs, purchased chicksand raised egg-laying hens. Butas time went by, Mr. Hoyt beganto make a long range investmentin fruit trees and he became moreand more committed to making his farm into anorchard.

About half of the 350 acre farm was woodland, and at the time theHoyts purchased the farm, only 40 acres of the farm were under active culti-vation. Mr. Hoyt immediately began to expand the acreage he had commit-ted to orchard by planting peach trees and apple trees. Each year he addedtrees to his orchard so that by 1920 there were some five thousand appletrees and fifteen thousand peach trees producing fruit. The orchard suppliedfruit to both local and New York City markets.

Mr. Hoyt's patience, experimentation, determination, and persistencepaid off handsomely and the Hoyts' gamble in 1910 proved to be a veryworthwhile one for the Hoyt family. Although the farm and orchards reachedthe peak of production during the late 1920’s, the Hoyts con-tinued to work their farm for almost forty years. During WorldWar II, the Hoyts stepped up production of farm produce tomeet the demands of the war effort, but following the war,Mr. Hoyt retired from professional farming.

The Hoyts continued to live in Commack and madetheir beloved “Crooked Hill Farm” their retirement home.Mr. Hoyt lived out his life on the farm and died in October of1954. He was eighty-one. Mrs. Hoyt continued to live at thefarm in Commack after her husband's death. In 1965,Smithtown Supervisor John V.N. Klein approached Mrs.Hoyt to see if the Town of Smithtown might be able to pur-chase the Hoyt farm property. An agreement was reached,and in November of 1965, a proposition appeared on thegeneral election ballot to authorize the purchase of theHoyt property of 133 acres, with its farmhouse and associ-ated outbuildings. All of this was to be purchased for$200,000, a fraction of the market value of the land at thetime. The proposition was approved by Smithtown resi-dents and, on June 15, 1966, the Town of Smithtown pur-chased Crooked Hill Farm from the Hoyts.

Hoyt Farm Park is a unique survival of open land inthe Commack area. It is a wildlife haven in the midst of avastly altered suburban landscape. Today the park con-tains a nature center, a nature preserve and an activerecreation area. Hoyt Farm remains Smithtown's largest,most intensively used park. It is truly an amazingresource for the people of Commack to have and enjoyfor generations to come, and we have the Hoyt family tothank for it all.

The Hoyt House as it lookstoday. The central core ofthis house was built in1770. The Hoyt,s addedthe second and third sto-ries to the original housebuilt on east and westwings. Photos courtesy ofthe Smithtown HistoricalSociety.

MR. AND MRS. HOYT,C. 1945

Rows of peach treesplanted by Mr. Hoyt.

son for thiswas the pricethat develop-ers were offer-ing for unde-veloped farm-land. If afarmer had a100 acres ofland and a

developer was prepared to offer him $1000 an acre, a mancould make a quick $100,000 profit on his land and walkaway from farming forever.

A second reason that led farmers to sell their landwas the threat posed by an insect pest known as the goldennematode. The golden nematode was a grub that attackedpotato plants with devasting results. Once this insectbecame established in a farmer’s fields, it proved to bealmost impossible to eradicate. Fear of this nasty little grubled to the confiscation and destruction of a farmer's crops.Identification of this grub in a farmer's fields meant financialruin and Commack's farmers were fearfully watching thegradual infestation of this pest. Some farmers had their landcondemned by the Department of Agriculture and wereforced to give up the raising of potatoes. Bill Linstadtremembered that the farmers along Larkfield Road began toraise wheat as an alternative crop. But most farmers werediscouraged by the possibility of financial ruin and this fearled them to sell their land.

One farming family that was directly impacted by theinfestation of the golden nematode in their potato fields wasthe Johnson family of Commack. Henry Johnson, whoowned a farm on Cedar Road, had potatoes planted in thesurrounding fields that stretched away from his home as farthe eye could see. Together with brothers, Frank Oscar,Johan Arvid, Gustaf Adolph, Carl Albert, and Alfred, theJohnsons farmed 600-700 acres on property that ran fromClay Pitts Road to Jericho Turnpike, and from LarkfieldAvenue to Tamarack Street. With the other lands they leased

in the Commack area,the Johnsons farmed1500 acres of pota-toes. Potatoes weretheir cash crop andhad been since the1920's.

Back in the 30'sand 40's, it required alot of hard work tobring potatoes to themarkets in New YorkCity. This was espe-cially true when itcame to harvestingthe crop. Tractorsplowed up the pota-toes, but they had to be picked out of the soil by hand, placed inbushel baskets, and then transferred into burlap sacks. The 100lb. sacks of potatoes then had to be lifted and packed on flatbedtrucks. This incredibly hard, back-breaking labor, was done everyyear by all the members of the Johnson family. Migrant farmworkers were brought in to help out with the task. HowardJohnson remembered that his father used to house these work-ers in a dwelling that stood to the east of his own home, a housethat once was owned by the artist Edward Lange. Once thetrucks were packed by ''the King of the Overload," as HenryJohnson was known, they were driven into New York City mar-kets and sold. The Johnsons usually got a fair price for their pota-toes since they had a reputation for consistent packaging anddidn't try to cheat their buyers. In this way, the Johnsons made aliving from their farms, but it all came to a screeching halt in the1950's.

In the early 50's, USDA agricultural agents identified thecysts of the dreaded golden nematode in the Commack’s potatofields and put farmers out of the potato business. Since theycould no longer grow potatoes, the Johnsons switched to growingwheat, rye and sweet corn. Initially, the Johnsons had difficulty inmarketing these crops, but eventually opened their own vegetable

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One hundred poundsacks of potatoes onJohnson farm proper-ty await pick-up fordelivery to New YorkCity markets. Photocourtesy of theJohnson family.

The Johnson brothers plow theirpotato fields with new Olivertractors. Photo courtesy of theJohnson family.

stand and developed a local mar-ket. In addition, the Johnsonsbegan to supply the Yellow TopFarmstand in Smithtown with freshcorn that was picked in their fieldsin the morning and sold from thefarmstand in the afternoon. Soonthe Johnsons had 40 acres offarmland devoted to growing sweetcorn, but they had many acres offallow fields. They were ready tosell off some of their acreage.

Real estate developers recognized an opportunityto make a profit and scrambled to snap up the availablefarmland. According to Howard Moreland, the first realestate developer came to Commack in 1951 looking tobuy farms that might be converted into housing subdivi-sons. By 1954 developers were swarming all overCommack buying up farmland for development. One afteranother, the farmers of Commack sold out. Almostovernight, it seemed, the pasture lands and cultivatedfields of Commack simply disappeared to be replaced byone housing development after another. So many homeswere being built so quickly that Commack became knownas the “Levittown of Suffolk County.”

Developers moved quickly to submit their subdivisionplans to town agencies for review. In the 1950’s, develop-ers did not have to meet the stringent requirements placedupon builders today and their applications for developmentrapidly received approval. By 1955 developers had builtmodel homes and were offering homes for sale in placeswith names like Mayfair Estates, Parkview Estates, andValmont Park. Homes were constructed as they were soldand they sold quickly. As the demand increased forhomes, the prices began to rise. By 1960, homes on 1/4acre plots were selling for $12,000, and by 1965, the CarllS. Burr, Jr. Realty was advertising a four bedroom home,on a 1/2 acre lot for $15,990. A two story home could bepurchased for $16,800. (Advertisement in the Smithtown

News, Feb. 4, 1965, p.23) Tess and Frank Falcetta

moved to Commack in 1957. Theywere married in 1950 and had beenliving in Queens. But they wanted ahome of their own and began tolook for a house in Suffolk County.The further east they went, thecheaper the houses proved to be.In Commack, they found housesthey could afford. The home theybought was a brick, split-level inthe Valmont development on a 1/4 acre plot and it cost them$16,990. Their old neighbors inQueens said they were crazy for hav-ing moved so far out into the country.

When they moved into their newhome in Commack, the Falcettasbegan to think that their old neighborsmight have been right. "There wasnothing in Commack.” There was noplace to food shop until the A & Popened in 1959. The Falcettasshopped in North Babylon. There wereno convenience stores, no departmentstores. There was no place to eat outand the Falcettas travelled toCenterport to dine at Linck's Log Cabinand the Thatched Cottage. There wasno Catholic Church. There was no maildelivery. All of these things contributedto a feeling of being isolated and lost inthe sticks. Many newcomers toCommack experienced this feeling, butwithin a few short years everythingbegan to change.

Mary Minutillo, who works as asecretary in the Commack SchoolDistrict’s Personnel Office, came to

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The Johnson family clan swimmingin their backyard pool around 1956:It is interesting to note theencroaching housing developmenton the potato fields to the north oftheir property. Notice the potatobarn also on the horizon. Photocourtesy of the Johnson family.

In 1954 this barn stood on the Caleb Smith propertyto the east of Ruth Blvd. Across Jericho Turnpike,the roof of a small model ranch house can be seen.A sign on top of the model advertises the house forthe incredible price $3,995. This ranch was unfin-ished inside and did not come with property. But acomplete home could be built for less than $10,000in Commack. Photo courtesy of the SmithtownPlanning Department.

An advertising brochure for the Burford Homes develop-ment, a 33 home subdivision off Burr Road, begun in 1955.Brochure courtesy of Marie and Paul Walter.

Commack in themidst of the hous-ing boom. Maryand her husband,Charlie, movedfrom Queens toCommack in1960. They pur-chased theirhome inCommack beforethey were mar-ried in May of1959, got mar-

ried in September of1959, lived with her parents until May of 1960, and thenmoved into their new home in Commack. They choseCommack because it was what they “could afford” and hous-es were more affordable than in Nassau County andHuntington. The Minutillos purchased their home, on a 1/4acre, in Parkview Estates for $15,500. This development ison the south side of Veteran’s Highway, to the east ofHarned Road. Mary remembers visiting the site when theypurchased their house, and she was surprised to discoverthat their plot was in the middle of a potato field and therewere absolutely no trees. It was a long time before the openfields disappeared in Commack, because Mary remembersthat when her kids were growing up, they were always play-ing softball in potato fields.

It was a shock for a city girl to live in Commack in1960. There were no stores along Jericho Turnpike then.When she needed groceries, Mary shopped at the bakeryand the A&P at Commack Corners. The Post Office wasalso located here. The Commack Inn was still standing onthe southwest corner of the intersection as was theCommack General Store on the northwest corner. A Mobilservice station occupied the northeast corner, just to thesouth of the Commack Methodist Church. But there reallywasn’t much else in town in 1960.

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Mr. Joseph Heinlein’s 7thgrade homeroom in 1957.Mr. Heinlein was 21 years ofage and was teaching hisfirst year in what was soon tobe named the Marion CarllSchool. He spent eight yearsin the classroom and eventu-ally became the Director ofPersonnel for the District.The students in his class-room came from local farmfamilies and from familiesthat had recently moved toCommack from the city. Thiscreated an interesting mix ofstudents with little in com-mon - the city kids knewnothing about farming andthe farm kids knew nothingabout the city.

1962

1932This aerial view shows thatmuch of the area waswoodland. The whitepatches are cultivatedfields. CommackRoad/Townline Road runsnorth and south on the leftside of the photograph.Jericho runs east to westacross the center. TheCommack Spur is clearlyvisible running from JeichoTurnpike south to LongIsland Motor Parkway.The large circle highlightsthe one-mile racetrack thatwas owned by the Burrfamily and is now the siteof Commack High School.The smaller circle emcom-passes the racetrack thatwas behind the Burr familymansion on Burr Road(see page 13). Photoscourtesy of the SmithtownPlanning Department.

This aerial view showshow much the samearea had changed in 30years. The cloverleafinteresection of SunkenMeadow Parkway andJericho Turnpike canclearly be seen in thecenter. By 1962 housingdevelopments crowd thesurrounding terrain andthe open fields andwoodlands have van-ished. The large circleshows where CommackHigh School was thenunder construction. Thesmaller circle surroundsthe Commack Arenawhich opened in 1959.To the left of this circle isthe Commack Drive-inmovie theater, a favoriteentertainment spot forlocal families.

Commack Union Free School District #10

To say that the Commack School District is a union free school dis-trict does not mean that the district is free of labor unions. The term“union free” is a designation N.Y. State has for a school system whichwas “formed from one or more common school districts for theexpress purpose of operating a high school program, which commonschool districts cannot do.” The Commack Common School District#10 became the Commack Union Free School District #10 on October28, 1948. The minutes of the Board of Education indicate that on thatdate, a special school meeting was convened for the purpose of con-sidering a change in the classification of Commack from Common toUnion Free. The District Superintendent, A.M. Jones, whose officewas located at 355 New York Avenue in Huntington, was in atten-dance at the meeting. The minutes indicate that they talked about theclassification and what it would mean if Commack became such a dis-trict. He must have encouraged the voters in favor of the designationbecause after the vote, 38 out of 39 property owners who were pre-sent voted “yes” on the question and Commack became a Union FreeSchool District. Mr. Jones once again addressed the meeting andpointed out that the new district could be administered by a schoolboard of between three and nine members. Mr. Jones spoke in favorof five members and on a motion by Mr. George James, secondedand carried, a Board of Education with five members was created.The voters nominated and elected Herman Jurgens, Alfred Johnson,Francis Lauer, Jack Fredentough, and James Cowie. Commack nowhad a new five member Board of Education, just as it has today. But,it would take another fifteen years before the State of New York wouldpermit the District to open its own high school.

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On November 6,1960, on the eve ofhis election to thePresidency, John F.Kennedy addresseda crowd of 15,000people at theCommack Arena.He was invited tospeak in Commackby the Rosanobrothers, localbuilders active inlocal Democraticpolitics. Photo cour-tesy of the RosanoBrothers of ValmontHomes.

The Long Island Arena in Commack....

Not long ago, the Long Island Arena was a fixture in the midst of the Commack busi-ness area. Somehow this building, which loomed above the surrounding buildings likesome sort of huge aircraft hanger left over from World War II, seemed to be an inte-gral part of the downtown Commack community. And for a long time, the Long IslandArena truly was a magnet that was drawing people together in the heart of downtownCommack. That was when the arena was the site of ice hockey matches, basketballgames, wrestling matches, rock concerts, political rallies, and a whole host of otherforms of entertainment. That was when the arena truly was "a center of sports -- forall the family."

The Long Island arena was the pipe dream of Thomas P. Lockhart. In the early1950's, Thomas Lockhart was the President of the Amateur Hockey Association of theUnited States and President of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. He felt therewas a need for an indoor sports arena on Long Island and felt that Commack was justthe right spot for such a facility. The fact that Commack was almost in the geographi-cal center of Long Island, and was fairly easy to travel to by way of Jericho Turnpike,Veterans Highway, or the Northern State Parkway, made Commack the ideal locationfor a sports complex.

Mr. Lockhart's pipe dream began to become reality in 1954 with the construc-tion of the arena on the 22 acre site off Veterans Highway in Commack. Although theconstruction started then, it took another five years before the Long Island Arenaopened its doors to the public. The arena itself was "205 feet wide, 330 feet long and65 feet high" with a floor area of 18,700 square feet. The building was designed sothat it had no interior posts or pillars to obstruct the view and every seat in the househad an unobstructed view of the floor. By the time the arena opened in 1959, theseating capacity had been increased to 6700 with parking spaces for 2500 cars.

When it opened, the Arena's Board of Directors announced that they planned"to present sports events such as Ice Hockey, Basketball, Boxing, Wrestling, bothamateur and professional. In the entertainment field - Ice Shows, Circus, Rodeo,Horse Shows, Dog Shows, Flower and Nursery Shows, Name Band Dancing,Dramatic Performances, Public Ice Skating, etc.” The Board of Directors planned tosponsor "Civic and Commercial Conventions, Industrial Exhibitions, Trade Shows,Sales and Political Meetings, Civic and Organizational Group Activities, or any otherevent that can be held indoors." These were the dreams of the Board of Directors.Commack would have a sports arena that would be a mecca for sports fans from allover the island who would flock to see their favorite teams compete, and when thearena wasn't being used for a sporting event, then it would become the site for familyentertainment.

Mr. Lockhart's dreams went beyond the idea of just an indoor sports arena; hehad visions of building an outdoor stadium where football games, automobile, motor-cycle, and bicycle racing could be held.

Although the outdoor sports complex never materialized, the indoor sportsarena thrived throughout the 1960's and 70's. The hockey team known as the LongIsland Ducks made the sports arena their home and they brought the excitement ofprofessional hockey to Commack. Circuses, ice shows, basketball games, profession-al wrestling, rock concerts all added to the excitement generated by the arena.Perhaps the most memorable events staged at the Long Island Arena were the tworock shows staged by Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath and the political rally thatwas held for Richard Nixon. In 1960, when Vice President Nixon was running forPresident, he came to Commack for a Republican rally, as did John Kennedy, thatdrew a crowd of 15,000 supporters. 9,000 specators crowded inside the arena to hearthe Vice President speak while another 6000 waited outside for a glimpse of thePresidential candidate. This was the size of the crowd that Mr. Lockhart dreamed ofdrawing to Commack, and his wishful thinking had really become reality.

Over the last 20 years, the role that Commack's Arena played as Long Island'ssports center was largely supplanted by the Nassau Coliseum. It became harder andharder to draw crowds to sporting events at the Commack Arena. Eventually, the inte-rior of the arena was converted into a huge indoor flea market. When the entire sitewas developed into the huge shopping center that it is today, the flea market wasclosed,and the building and its adjacent roller rink were torn down.(New York Herald Tribune on February 27, 1966.)

pupils, and three hundred and forty-oneclassrooms."

The 1963 report is interestingbecause it highlights what happened infour short years from 1959 to 1963. Thereport notes that:

''In December 1959, the CommackSchool District housed 3,052 children incrowded and only partially adequate facil-ities. Only part-time education was avail-able to each child in the fifteen room Marion CarllSchool, the four rented classrooms in the Commack MethodistChurch building; and in the Kindergarten, first, and second grades ofSmiths Lane School. Only the 551 youngsters in grades seven andeight at Smiths Lane School had a full time program of education."

Four years later, the Commack School District had 13 schoolsand 9000 students who were all receiving a full time educational pro-gram. Starting with just the Marion Carll and Smith's Lane Schools,the School District began a remarkable building program that was tosee the addition of eleven new schools in five years.

By the end of 1963, the School District was keeping pace with thepopulation growth in the community and had three more schoolsunder construction with another two in the planning stages.

With the opening of Commack High School in 1962, Commackfinally had its own high school. The lack of a high school inCommmack had become more of an acute problem in the 1950’s asthe number of high school aged youngsters increased. Surrounding

school districts with highschools increased theirtuition and finally ran outof room. The need for ahigh school of its ownfinally forced the New YorkState Educational officialsinto granting permission tothe Commack SchoolDistrict to establish its ownhigh school. Starting withthe school year of 1959-1960, the State allowed

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That same year, the Mayfair ShoppingCenter opened and Grand Union andWoolworth’s moved in. Mary Minutilloremembered attending Catholic services inthe Mayfair Movie Theater and then later inthe basement of Gimbel’s, long before aCatholic church was built. Grand Union,Food Fair, Grant’s and the ChineseRestaurant would open up in 1963 and 1964as the commercial property along Veteran’sHighway and Jericho Turnpike began todevelop. In the 60’s and 70’s this commercialdevelopment would intensify and includeCommack Road. The houses that frontedthese main arteries slowly disappearedbefore the onslaught of commercial develop-ment that followed on the heels of an incredi-ble housing boom. The impact of all thisupon the surrounding area can be mostreadily appreciated by comparing the aerial

photographs of Commack in the 1932 and 1962 asseen on the previous page. In a little over a decadethe rural village of Commack with its open farmfields and woodlands had been obliterated by thesprawl of housing developments. The sudden cre-ation of a suburban community in the midst of ruralSuffolk County was to have a dramatic impact uponthe Commack School District. Some of this impactupon the community can be gleaned from the fourthannual report of the District Principal in Decemberof 1963. Entitled “Commack, A School DistrictUnder Explosive Growth,” the report opens withthese words:"Few school districts in the United States haveexperienced the fantastic growth seen in Commackduring the last four years. Within this period theschool district has moved from a small semi-ruralcommunity with two and one-half buildings, thirty-

three hundred pupils, and forty-six classrooms to Suffolk's County'sthird largest school district with thirteen schools, nine thousand

School Year OpenedWinnecomac (K-6) 1958Cedar Road (K-6) 1960Green Fields (K-6) 1961Wood Park (K-6) 1961North Ridge (K-6) 1962Commack H.S. (7-12) 1962 Circle Hill (K-6) 1963Long Acres (K-6) 1963South Ridge (K-6) 1963Old Farms (K-6) 1963Green Meadows J.H.S. (&-9) 1963

Mrs. Ketcham’s fourth-grade class in theTownline School. In1958 the District wasrenting classroomspace in the CommackMethodist Church build-ing on Townline Road(the present-day site ofPumpkin PatchNursery). Through thewindows of the class-room can be seen thehouse that once servedas the MethodistChurch’s parsonage.The house was torndown when the modernMethodist Church wasconstructed.

The Marion CarllSchool faculty in the1958-59 school year.

Miss Mildred Beck’s 5th gradeclass in the Turnpike School,the soon to be named MarionCarll School, and previouslyknown as the CommackGrammar School. The photowas taken in 1958

the School District to createninth grade classes. Tenthgrade classes were createdthe next year. By the fall of1962, when Commack HighSchool opened its doors, 9th,10th, and 11th grade classeswere enrolled. In the schoolyear of 1963-64, CommackHigh School proudly graduat-ed its first class of 12thgraders. It doesn’t seem pos-sible, but the CommackSchool District has only had ahigh school for 36 years.Some of those first Commack

graduates of the class of 1964 are teachers in theschool district today.

The building of all these schools had a tremendous impactupon the Commack community and the District Principaladdressed many of these problems in his report. He discussedthe growth in staff and the search to find competent, qualifiedteachers and the need to set commensurate pay scales. He alsopointed out that the costs associated with building new schoolsand hiring staff would continue to cause annual school budgets torise and the corresponding tax rates to increase. In addition, hepredicted that the opening of new neighborhood schools would

reduce the need to bus children from onearea to another.

Many Commack residents recall hav-ing their child transferred from one schoolto another while the district was in a stateof flux. Marian Raccuglia who works as asecretary in the Commack School District'sPersonnel Office remembered the experi-ence that her son Richard had with busing.The Raccuglias moved to Commack in1964 purchasing a high ranch in the PineCone development near Hoyt Farm. Theirhome was already built, but the develop-ment was still being completed. Sidewalkswere in place, the streets were still being

paved, and there were no street lights. Wood Park ElementarySchool was just two blocks away. Yet when her son Richard startedschool, he attended kindergarden at Indian Hollow School. Then hewas bused to Sagtikos for 1st grade and then Rolling Hills from the2nd through 6th grades. His daily ride to Rolling Hills took 25 min-utes. In the 7th grade, he wassent first to Greens Meadows Jr.High School and then Saw MillJr. High School. He attendedCommack High School Southduring his last four years.Richard's experience may beatypical, but his experience cer-tainly illustrates one of the prob-lems that the community resi-dents experienced because ofexplosive growth.

As the Commack commu-nity continued to grow in the1960's, more schools wereadded. In 1964, Indian Hollow(K-6), Grace L. Hubbs (K-6),and John F. Kennedy Jr. HighSchool (7-9) all opened. In1965, Rolling Ridge (K-6) andSagtikos (K-6) opened. Finally in1968, Commack High School Southopened its doors.With the opening of so many schoolsin Commack throughout the 1960's,the district personnel office was hardpressed to find competent, qualifiedteachers to fill the schools. No oneremembers this more vividly than JoeHeinlein who became Commack'sDirector of Personnel in 1966. Thenext few years were frenetic ones forJoe's office.

The peak year came in 1968 whenthe District hired 183 teachers and

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Commack High SchoolSouth opened its doors inSeptember, 1968 to meetthe demands of the mush-rooming secondary studentpopulation. Twenty yearslater, with the secondary stu-dent population plummetingas fast as it had mush-roomed, it becameCommack Middle School.

Physical Education highjinks in the 1960’s.

Mrs. Jane Mealy with her firstclass, a fourth-grade class atSmith’s Lane School in 1966.

staff for the newlybuilt Commack HighSchool South.Recruitment teamswere organized anddispatched to findteachers throughoutNew York City, NewYork State, the east-ern seaboard, andthe middle West.Joe travelled withthe teams, andoffered positionsand salary agree-ments to prospec-tive candidates. TheBoard of Educationwould subsequently

approve these agreements. The District still needed more teachersso job fairs were organized in the gymnasium of Green MeadowsJHS. Buses were sent to New York City colleges and universities tobring college graduates to Commack where they were interviewedand offered jobs on the spot. In this way, the Commack School

District found the 183teachers that were need-ed.

By the end of the1960's, the CommackSchool District hadbecome the 2nd largestschool district in SuffolkCounty with more stu-dents, schools and teach-ers than any other districtexcept Brentwood.

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The safety patrol for CedarRoad School, April 1961.

Nurse-teacher Mary-JonMcWhirter measures andweighs students at CedarRoad School.

A composite ofimages taken froma 1967 CommackDistrict publication.

Hard times in

Commack...As the decade of the 1970's

began, the Commack communitycontinued to grow until its popula-tion approached 40,000 residentswith over 15,000 school-agedchildren. It seemed as if therewas no end in sight to the mush-rooming population growth of thedistrict. In 1971, in response tothe surging increase in the num-ber of junior high school age chil-dren, the school district votersauthorized the construction oftwo new junior high schools. In1972, Saw Mill Junior HighSchool and Burr Junior High School opened. The districtnow had a total of 21 schools -- 15 elementary schools, 4junior high schools, and 2 high schools. The CommackSchool District was ready for the anticipated crush of stu-dents -- but it never came.

Incredibly, the enrollment in Commack schoolsbegan to decline. This happened for a number of unfore-seen reasons. 1973 brought the end of the Vietnam Warand this led to an immediate cut in the military anddefense spending throughout the nation. This meant thatthe defense industries that had thrived on Long Island dur-ing the war begin to reduce their payrolls and cut back ontheir staffing. Unemployment rose on Long Island and jobsbecame difficult to find. This hit Commack particularly hardwhere many engineers and skilled laborers lived. Houseswent on the market but buyers couldn't be found. The con-

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8,000

7,500

7,000

6,500

6,000

5,500

5,000

4,500

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

**

**

*

*

1975-85ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS

SecondaryElementary

These enrollment projec-tions which were made in1976 were actually prettyaccurate. This was thefirst year that the NewYork State Department ofEducation required allschool systems to estab-lish a five year projectionof enrollment. Commackpredicted that the Districtwould have 5500 stu-dents in1985, and tenyears later the Districtactually had 6100 stu-dents.

John J. Mandracchia was the principal of SawmillJunior High School from 1972-1979. He was aman who had a genuine concern for others and inthe short span of seven years that he was inCommack, he won the respect of his colleagues,his staff, and his students.

Mr. Mandracchia was born in Brooklyn in 1928.He was educated in New York City schools andthen attended Columbia University. He graduatedwith a B.A. in History in 1957. He taught school inBrooklyn and pursued an administrator’s certificateat New York University. In 1967, he became an

assistant principal in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section ofBrooklyn and then was appointed acting principal. In 1969, Mr.Mandracchia moved to Westbury where he became the principalof Westbury Junior High School. In March of 1972, he was recruit-ed by the Commack School District to become the founding princi-pal of Sawmill Junior High School.

As principal of Sawmill JHS, John Mandracchia was a charis-matic leader who inspired his staff and students to do their best.Superintendent of Schools Dr. John J. Battles described him as"an active participant in community, school and cultural, affairs."He was committed to developing art, music and cultural programsfor the Commack school district. This interest led to his involve-ment in the Smithtown Arts Council and cultural affairs inCommack. He was a likeable, friendly man who took a sincereinterest in those he met and he was just really beginning to makehis mark upon Commack's schools and community when hepassed away.

Mr. Mandracchia was on a trip with his wife, Viola, to SanFrancisco, California, during the mid-winter vacation in February of1979, when he was struck down by a heart attack. His body wasflown back to New York and he was buried at St. CharlesCemetery in Farmingdale. At the age of 51, John J. Mandracchiawas gone.

As a way of showing their respect for John Mandracchia, theSchool Board changed the name of Sawmill Junior High School tothe Mandracchia / Sawmill Junior High School.

John J. Mandracchia, 1928-1979...

John Mandracchia’scontributions to theCommack Schoolsresulted in hisrecognition as oneof only three edu-cators to have aschool buildingnamed in theirhonor.

struction of new homes and new developments ceased and thisthrew more men out of work. Rampant inflation only compoundedeveryone's difficulties and to make matters worse, property taxes

kept going up and up. Nobody wanted to buy a home in

Commack.

With few families moving in and others unable to move out,the number of children in the school district fell off precipitouslyespecially in the primary grades. It soon became apparent thatthe elementary schools were underutilized. The neighborhoodschool concept was a great idea as long as there were enoughchildren in the neighborhood. Initially the concept worked welland the families that moved into the new developments ofCommack had plenty of kids to fill the classrooms. But as thesechildren grew up and graduated there were no new families mov-ing in. "Empty nesters" occupied many of the homes. So theneighborhood schools in the district, that were located in theolder developments, experienced a decline in their enrollments.With empty classrooms, too many teachers, and too manyschools, something had to be done.

In 1974, the Board of Education decided to close theMarion Carll School. It seemed impossible, but just two yearsafter opening two brand new schools, the school district was nowboarding up a school. And two years later, the district was readyto close two more schools. Public hearings were held and resi-dents came out in droves to protest the closing of their neighbor-hood schools. They objected to the busing of their children andthe problems they would have in picking up and dropping off theirchildren for school. They also voiced their concerns over thestaffing and crowding that would result in the new school. Overthese objections, the Board of Education and the district adminis-trators had to consider the escalating costs of maintaining and

staffing so many buildings. They had to consider the impactthat cuts in state aid would have upon local taxes. In the end,they had to make a decision that would benefit all the taxpay-ers of the school district, not just the people within the immedi-ate area of the neighborhood school being closed. In the end,the Board of Education chose to close schools as district enroll-ment declined further.

As the years went by, one school after another wasclosed as the district enrollment dropped. The closing ofschools throughout the 70's and 80's was accompanied by areduction of the professional staff. Teachers were excessedand told that they were losing their jobs. Operating under thepremise that the last hired would be the first fired, seniority listswere drawn up and teachers were made aware of their numberon the list. The difficulty of telling who would stay and whowould go was compounded by an individual's certification sta-tus and the needs of the district. As the Director of Personnel,Joe Heinlein went through agony everytime he had to call in ateacher who had been recently hired only to tell him that hewas losing his job. As the years went by and the schools con-tinued to close, more and more people were excessed. Tenuredidn't count for much and there were many people who hadover 15 years of teaching in the district who lost their positions.In 1972, there were over 900 people on the Commack staff.Twenty years later, the numbers had dropped to 500. It was aterribly difficult time for all concerned and many gifted teachersleft Commack. The one thing that the Commack School Districtdid attempt to do for its teachers whose positions were threat-ened was to offer them an opportunity for cross-training andrecertification. The District actually paid for teachers to go backto school and get the training they needed to become an ele-

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convened an ad hocadvisory committee,consisting of commu-nity members, staff,and the Board ofEducation, to studyfuture enrollmenttrends and to deter-mine whether a reor-ganization of the K-6,7-8, 9-12 grade level grouping was necessary. The committeewas known as the “Citizens Advisory Committee on RedistrictingElementary Attendance Boundaries and Elementary SchoolReorganization,” and it was chaired by recently retired AssistantSuperintendent Forrest McMullen.

The committee met throughout the year. They reviewedenrollment trends and considered dozens of different grade levelstructures. They reviewed class sizes and investigated the prosand cons of an all-day kindergarten program. Finally, inSeptember of 1987, the committee released its findings and pre-sented the taxpayers with four choices that could be made inreorganizing the district. All of the options involved the restructur-ing of grade levels and the closing of still more schools. A seriesof four public meetings was held to recieve community input andthe publicresponded. Bythe fourthmeeting, over800 peopleshowed up totell the Boardof Educationwhy they did-

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mentary school teacher, or become a science teacher. In thisway, some 40 teachers found continued employment in the dis-trict, but there were many who received their pink slips and left.The list of schools that closed is incredibly long. By 1983 elevenschools had closed and it seemed as if the decline in enrollmentwould never stop.

By September of 1986, the Commack School District enroll-ment dropped to 6100 from its high of over 15,000 students in1972. The District had lost over 9000 students in fourteenyears. Since enrollment in the two high schools was now alsofalling, the Superintendent of Schools, Dr.Joseph Del Rosso,became concerned that the cost of maintaining two high schoolswould soon become more than the overburdened taxpayers ofthe Commack School District could stand. So Dr. Del Rosso

Marion Carll

South Ridge

Grace L. Hubbs

Smiths Lane

Green Meadows

Jr. H.S

Long Acres

Circle Hill

John F. Kennedy

Jr. H.S

SagtikosGreen Fields Winnicomac

1923-19741963-19761963-19761957-19791963-1979

1962-19801962-19811964-1981

1965-19811961-19821958-1983

Sold to N.Y. Tech. InstituteBurned, demolishedBecame Administrative Bldg.Leased to U.C.P.Sold to YM/YWHA

Leased to a Day Care CenterSold, demolishedSold, demolished

Leased to AHRCSold to YM/YWHASold to Hebrew School

SCHOOL: OPEN YEARS: DISPOSITION OF THE BUILDING:

Circle HillElementarySchool (above)and John F.Kennedy Jr.H.S. (below)stood side byside on thenorth side ofScholar Lane.Both were torndown to makeway for a hous-ing develop-ment.

n't like the proposals and to voicetheir concerns about losing theirneighborhood schools. The meet-ing lasted until 1:35 a.m. It wasclear that the community was fear-ful of any change in the organiza-tion of the district. The membersof the School Board were split onthe issue. But on November 19,1987, the School Board voted by a3-2 margin to adopt the current

organizational struc-ture that theCommack SchoolDistrict follows

today.The adopted

plan called for four Primary Schools (K-2), one in eachquadrant of the school district, two Intermediate Schools (3-5), one Middle School (6-8) and one High School (9-12).The plan incorporated many of the features that Commackschools operate under now: full-day kindergarten, reducedclass sizes at the elementary levels, science labs in eachschool and computer labs in each school. The Board alsoaddressed parental concerns over the length of time theirchildren would be riding a bus by guaranteeing that no childwould have more than a 30 minute bus ride to school. Theadopted plan called for the closing of Cedar Road and OldFarms Elementary Schools, and in June of 1988 they were

closed. Eventually the Cedar Roads School was leased by theAssociation for the Help of Retarded Children and the Old FarmsSchool was leased to a day care agency and the Ohman School ofBallet.

Throughout the 1987-88 school year, meetings continued tobe held with the public to assure them that the plan would be carriedout faithfully. Weekly meetings were held with administrators andstaff to review what was needed to implement the reorganization.Plans were made to move over 90% of the district's equipment andfurniture from one building to another. Blueprints were drawn toshow what modifications would be needed in each and every class-room to assure a smooth opening of school in September. Vacationswere cancelled as staff labored over the summer months to moveover 10,000 boxes of supplies, materials and equipment. School busroutes were carefully planned and trial runs were made to see if the30 minute time constraint could be achieved. An appeal to theCommissioner of Education was filed asking for a stay of the imple-mentation of the reorganization plan, but the request was ultimatelydenied. Opening day approached, and it seemed that there was noway the schools would ever be ready. Yet right on schedule, openingday came and eight totally reorganized schools opened to 5,807 stu-dents. Another school year had begun.

One of the most remarkable accomplishments of the reorgani-zation plan was the combining of Commack High School North andCommack High School South. It was remarkable because these twohigh schools had been fierce rivals throughout much of their exis-tence. Athletic teams battled one another. Bands, kicklines, andcheerleaders tried to outdo each other. Each school worked hard tohave the best school newspaper, the best yearbook, the best musi-cal production. They were constantly competing against one anoth-er and the achievements and accomplishments of one school werealways compared to the other. The children from the differentschools rarely sociallzed with each other, and when they didencounter one another, fights would sometimes erupt. So it wasquite astonishing when the two schools were joined, and the stu-dents buried their animosities and became classmates and friends. It

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CommackHigh School9-12

CommackMiddle School6-8

Mandracchia-Sawmill IntermediateSchool 3-5

Burr-IntermediateSchool 3-5

Indian HollowK-2

North RidgeK-2

Wood ParkK-2

Rolling HillsK-2

THE NEW SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AT A GLANCE...

was probably easier for the students to do this than it wasfor the teachers of the respective schools, and for yearsafter the merger took place, teachers still referred to eachother as a "North teacher” or a ''South teacher."

Before long, teachers, staff, administrators, parents,and the Commack community began to look with wonderat what had been accomplished. Full-day kindergartenswere a great success; computer labs and science labswere greeted with enthusiasm, and most residents beganto talk favorably about the advantages of the new grade

level organization. What had emerged was a vastly differentschool system from that which had preceded it. Gone was the lit-tle neighborhood school, and in its place stood a larger regionalschool that was much better staffed and equipped to meet theneeds of Commack children in the 21st century. With thischange, the Commack taxpayer was getting the “best bang” outof his hard-earned tax dollars since money was not being spentto staff and maintain half-empty schools.

As the 1990-91 school year began, the national economyhad begun to weaken. Inflation was high, tax revenues had fallenoff, deficit spending was reaching epidemic proportions. NewYork State began to talk about "belt tightening'' and slashingspending. In January of 1991, New York State did what it hadnever done before -- it slashed State Aid to Education in the mid-dle of the school year. Most school districts were hard hit, asbudgets had already been adopted, staff members were alreadyworking, taxes had already been levied and spending plans werealready in place. Commack was especially hard hit because itwas considered a relatively wealthy district by the State and lostover 1/3 of its aid, a total of $7.9 million. The Board of Educationconvened an emergency meeting to decide how to deal with thiscrisis. Having no way to obtain such a large sum in a short time,the Board had no choice but to reduce spending by cutting staff.After reviewing several plans, the Board determined that l00 full-time staff members had to be cut from its payroll.

Administrators, teachers, secretaries, custodians, and

teacher aides were all impacted. By the end of June, 1991, the Boardreduced its staff by 100 full-time positions, using attrition when possi-ble and pink slips when necessary. One thing was clear to everybody.Had it not been for the reorganization of the schools in 1988 and thestreamlining and honing down of spending in that year, thefiscal crisis of 1991 would have been an absolute disaster.As it was, the fiscal crunch hurt, but the school district wasable to survive and continue the business of educating theyoung people of Commack.

As the State Legislature agonized over what to do toreduce State spending, the cry to consolidate schoolsbecame a clarion call. As a result, Cornell University wasselected by the Legislature and the New York StateEducation Department to review organization in all schooldistricts having 5000 or fewer students. Commack wasincluded in this study because its enrollment had declinedby over 60% since 1970 and because it was believed thatour enrollment might fall below 5000. Cornell sent severalresearchers during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school yearsto look carefully at the School District's organization, spend-ing patterns, and enrollment trends. After a lengthy study, itwas determined that the Commack School District was not a goodcandidate for consolidation with any of the surrounding school districts.In each case, little savings could be realized because no school clos-ings would result. In other words, the Commack School District hadalready maximized its use of tax dollars by consolidating schools with-in its own district.

Looking back over the turbulent years of the 1970's and 1980's,when the School District's enrollment was constantly shrinking andschools were closing, it is amazing to discover what an incrediblystrong and unified school community emerged from all the turmoil. Inall, 13 schools out of the 21 schools that had been built, were closed.Decisions were made and steps taken that divided people and causeddisappointment, but in the end, everyone pulled together to make theschools successful. Dr. Del Rosso, who was Superintendent for manyof these years, was fond of saying, "Schools are not made of brickand mortar. Instead, they consist of the sweat, hard work, and caringof their many constituents. We are the schools and our success canonly be mirrored in the success of those who attend."

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In the l990's, student enrollments in the Commack School District onceagain began to rise. Although from 1990 to 1993, the student popula-tion actually dropped to a low point of 5,426, it has risen steadily sincethen. In the later l990's, enrollment increased by 4% annually. The cur-rent enrollment of 6,570 students in 1999-2000 school year is projectedto rise through the 2008-09 school year to more than 8,100 students.

This growth trend is primarily due tothe increase in the size of kindergartenclasses which have exceeded 530 stu-dents every year. This is an indicationthat more and more families withyoung children have moved into thedistrict. These families have pur-chased the homes of "empty nesters”in the older developments, or theyhave found homes in the new develop-ments such as Country Woods andCountry Estates. Commack has onceagain become a desirable place toown a home and bring up children,and the reputation of the excellence ofthe Commack School District is largelyresponsible.

As the district experiences growth, facilities have been expand-ed, especially at the primary school level where Indian Hollow PrimarySchool and the North Ridge Primary School have received classroomadditions during the 1999-2000 school year. Further study is currentlyunder way to determine what educational facilities and programs willbe needed in the foreseeable future. The current elementary studentswill most likely require additional classroom space in both intermediateschools, Commack Middle School, and Commack High School.

Buildings and grounds have been upgraded during the decade ofthe 90's with two major bond issues to improve and repair facilities andto provide for additions where needed to the primary schools. The most

recent bond issue providedfunding for additional comput-ers and for the upgrading ofcomputers to enhance teach-ing and learning. Most class-rooms now contain upgradedcomputers for direct student use. In addition computer laboratoriesthat are fully equipped can be used by an entire class at one time.Libraries and school offices have also benefitted from the addition ofnew computer technology which provide access to the internet for edu-cational research. The district foresees the growth of web site informa-tion along with an eventual home-school connection that will provideinteractive links between students, teachers and parents.

The Commack School District, along with other districts in NewYork State, has most recently been impacted by the New York StateEducation Department mandate of higher learning stan-dards for all students. These uniform requirements haveraised the bar for minimum achievement and have requiredstudent mastery of prescribed subject matter in order toreceive a Regents Honor Diploma. All students graduatingin the class of 2005 and thereafter, will be required toachieve a Regents diploma. This requirement hasincreased the number of academic credits and subjectsequences that a student must take to graduate. Thesehigher academic standards have led to the need for moreacademic support and skills development classes withinthe entire school system. In addition, special programshave been created to support the diversity of studentneeds. The district currently functions within a 183-day stu-dent school year and has recently increased the studentlearning time in school to seven hours per day. In order tohelp students achieve higher academic standards, a largepart of the instructional budget has been increased to pro-vide the necessary staff development and training.

The increased enrollment and the higher academic

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A Decade of Excellence....

standards have created a need formore professional staff. The addi-tion of staffing to meet these chal-lenges has been further extendedby the large number of careerteacher retirements during the lastfive years. This happened becauseso many teachers were hired dur-

ing the explosive growth of the district during the 1960's. As a result,the school district now has more than 550 full-time teachers, yetmore than 50% of these teachers have less than five years in thedistrict. The recruitment, training and development of these newteachers remains one of the challenges that the district faces in the21st century.

The support of traditional family values has always been thecornerstone of Commack Schools and community. A nurturing atmos-phere that was first fostered by the neighborhood school concept,continues to receive ongoing support from the staff within each of theeight schools of the district. A strong academic commitment to excel-lence, demonstrated through challenging courses and daily work-loads, is balanced by the promotion of an intrinsic joy of learningthrough participation in classroom activities and school events. Aneffort is made by teachers and staff to make the students feel at

home and comfortable intheir school environment- to get them to feel apart of their class, theirschool, and their com-munity. Service to othershas remained at the fore-front of the schools' val-ues with a true sense ofaltruism permeating thedaily life of students, K-12. Celebration ofCommack's centennial

year as "A CaringCommunity" with empha-sis upon personal growthand development hasbeen universally support-ed within the communityand schools. Studentsparticipate in community service organizations through variousclubs and activities. They learn to care and share with others.They also demonstrate their commitment to cooperative effortsand teamwork through althletic competition at all levels. This coop-erative effort is reflected in the awards that have been garnered byour athletic teams who have won county and state championshipsand by an exceptional kickline/danceline which has earned nation-al awards. The cooperative spirit is also reflected in the high levelof student involvement in music, drama and art. The district pro-vides comprehensive diversified opportunities for personal leader-ship experiences accentuating positive growth through achieve-ment and participation.

One measure of how well the Commack schools are doing

in comparsion to other schools is the New York State Report Card.

Commack students have done very well on the New York State

testing on all grade levels, and the results compare favorably with

surrounding districts. Another method of assessing the achieve-

ment of Commack’s schools is to look at the number of students

who graduate and then continue on to a college or university. More

than 95% of Commack High School graduates during the late

l990's enrolled in college or university study. This is a very clear

indication that the academic program has continued to grow in

quality and stature in order to service the needs of its highly-moti-

vated college bound students. A further indication that Commack

schools prepare their students for college is the fact that an

extremely large number of Commack graduates have been

accepted into highly-competitive colleges.

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For the past four years theCommack Cougarettes havewon a National Kickline,Danceline, or Pom teamchampionship and haveremained undefeated in Longisland competition.

their children ineducation K-12. Other hon-ors have beenreceived byeach of theeightCommackschools including the Suffolk Reading CouncilHonor School Award. The district continues to garner accolades,awards, and accomplishments of special recognition from a widearray of sources as students continue to perform at an exemplarylevel of achievement.

So as the 21st century begins, the Commack school districthas emerged as one of the premier school districts on Long Island.The educational program has come a long way from the dayswhen school was conducted in the Frame School, with two class-rooms and two teachers where the highest level of schooling onecould obtain was an eighth grade education. The community ofCommack has evolved as well from a little farming village into amodern, densely populated, suburban community. The glue thatcontinues to bind the Commack community together is the schoolsystem and its record of achievement in preparing Commack's chil-dren for life in the 21st century.

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Another measureof the quality ofCommack's education-al program is the num-ber of students gradu-ating with a Regentsdiploma. Recent gradu-ates of Commack HighSchool had a 70%Regents diploma ratewhich compares veryfavorably to Long

Island and New York State averages for Regents diplomas. In addition, theclass of 1999 had a record number of Advanced Placement Scholars basedupon their Advanced Placement test scores. Seventy-five percent of thesestudents received a 3 or higher score on their Advancement Placement examswhich entitled them to college credit. With the largest number of AP nationalscholars in Suffolk County and a lion's share of scholar recognition awards,Commack students have continued to excel beyond New York State andnational standards. And this year, Commack High School became the secondschool on Long Island to offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate pro-gram for students who wish to excel at an international university level ofachievement.

Much of the ongoing work toward the improvement of educational pro-grams and challenges for a better world have been met through the establish-ment of joint committee work. More than twenty-five district committees cur-rently work on annual tasks to improve the educational program of Commackschools. Cooperative efforts through Site Based Management teams at eachschool have resulted in improvements to the daily life of students and staff.And a highly organized and energetic PTA organization, which has continuedto grow with enthusiasm and support, has helped to sustain and improve theeducational program of Commack schools.

During the later 90's, the Commack School District was recognized forits Excellence in Education by the New York State Education Departmentnaming Commack High School and Commack Middle School as Blue RibbonSchools. The school district has also received annual awards from the nation-ally-recognized School Match Program based upon ''what parents want" for

Thumbs up for CommackMiddle School as PrincipalPamela Travis-Moore (withbow) is joined by SchoolSuperintendent Dr. JamesHunderfund, administra-tors, and staff members ina hardy congratulation toall that helped make thisnationally recognizedhonor a reality.

Commack High School Principal Ron Vale is joined by the SchoolSuperintendent Dr. James Hunderfund and the committee of adminis-trators, teachers and parents who prepared the application that helpedCommack High School succeed in becoming a Blue Ribbon School.

Seventy-ninestudents fromthe class of 1999and 2000 werenamed NationalAP Scholars.

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COMMACK PUBLIC SCHOOLSUNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT #10

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Dr. James H. HunderfundSUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS

James A. FeltmanAssociate Superintendent of Schools

Dr. John J. KosterAssistant Superintendent of Schools

William DamatoAssistant to the Superintendent for Personnel

Dr. Elizabeth GittmanDirector of Instructional Services/Computer Education

Marsha PacernickDirector of Special Education

Dr. Douglas J. PratoDirector of Health, Physical Education and Recreation

Dr. Annette ShidelerDirector of Educational Technology

Peter BraschCoordinator of Music

Kevin CarpenterOperation of facilities Administrator

Mr. Peter WunschPresident Board of Education

Mr. John PelanVice President

Mrs. Joan S. BosiniusTrustee

Mrs. Mary Jo MascielloTrustee

Mr. Thomas L. TorneeTrustee

Mary Jane BuddeDistrict Clerk

Rachel GentilePresident of the Commack Teachers Aides Association

Jane P. MealyPresident of theCommack Teachers Association

Frank Pagnotta, Jr.Shop Steward - Local #74, L.I. Division

Service Employees International Union AFL/CIO

Dr. Douglas J. PratoPresident of the Administrative and Supervisory Assocation

Marian RaccugliaPresident of the Commack Schools Secretarial Association

George T. BaerWood Park Primary School

Gertrude FishmanPrincipal - Rolling Hills Primary School

Toby GoldbergPrincipal - North Ridge Primary School

Charles N. Heppeler Jr.Principal - Burr Intermediate School

Judy PacePrincipal - Indian Hollow Primary School

Pamela J. Travis-MoorePrincipal - Commack Middle School

Ronald C. ValePrincipal - Commack High School

Marilyn WunderPrincipal - Mandracchia Sawmill Intermediate School

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Commack Public Schools

Board of Trustees

Carll L. Burr, 1899 Herbert J. Harned, 1899, 1900,02,03,04, 17,18 John C. Hubbs, 1899 John A. Gates, 1900 Charles W. Selleck, 1900 Robert B. Smith, 8/21/1900 (Appt.) John Carll, 8/21/1900 (Appt.) 1929,30,31 David H. Ketcham, 1902,03,04 D.E. Hubbs, 1902,03 Fred E. Haddon, 1904 John Moreland, 1907,08,09 1911 George G. Barret, 1907,08,09 Fred Goldsmith, 1907,08,09, 1917,18 Frank Otten, 09 Oscar Nott, 1917,18 1924,25,26,27 William C. Seaman, 1923 Fred Jaeggi, 1922,23,24,25,26,27,28William H. Gartelman, 1922,23,24,25,26,27 Louise Otten, 1922,23 Alice Cavallaro, 1929,30,31 George M. Curran, 1929,33,34,35,36,37,38 John Nott, Appointed 1/29/30, 1931,32,33 Herman Jurgens, 1931,32,33,34, 1937, 1948 Anders Lauersen, 1932,33,34,35,36,37,38 Leo Kreigh, 1937,38,39,40,41,42,43,44 Arthur Carson, 1939,40,41,42,43,44 Albert Eucher, 1941,42,43 James Cowie, 1943,44,45,46,47,48 Earle Moss, Sr., 1945,46,47 Alfred Johnson, 1946,47,48,49,50,51,52,53 Jack Fredentough, 1948,49,50,51 Frances Lauer, 1948,49,50,51,52,53,54 Frank Phillip Johnson, 1949,50,51.52,53 Robert Moreland, 1951,52,53 Joseph Hallaran, 1951,52,53,54,55 Lynn Rankin, 1952,53,54,55 Thomas Zabski, 1953,54,55 Joseph Moreland, 1954,55,56,57,58,59 Joseph Marino, 1954,55,56,57 Bertha Heberer, 1954,55,56,57 William Brandesma, 1955,56

John W. Nott, 1955,56 Walter Dalleinne, 1956,57,58,59,60ErnestCunningham,1956,57,58,59,60,61,62.63,64,65,66, 67,68,69,70 Charles Russillo, 1957,58,59,60,61,62L.. Albert Edwards, 1957,58,59,60,61,62,63 Hilliard Steele, 1959,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67 Howard E. Pachman, 1960,61,62,63 John E. McPartlin, 1962,63,64,65 Michael Sheehan, 1963,64,65,66 Donald A. Doyle, 1963,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72, 73,74,75,76,77,78 John Fagan, 1965,66,67,68 Theordore Spedalle, 1967,68 Peter Rubinton, 1966,67,68 Robert G.Rennie,1968,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78, 79,80,81,82,83 Simon V. Kerstiens, Jr.,1968,69,70,71,72,73,74,75, 76,77,78,79, 80,81,82 Stephen J. Harran, Jr., 1968,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76Estelle Fliegler, 1970,71,72,73,74,75,76 James L O'Donnell, 1976,77,78,79 John J. O'Neil, 1976,77 Mary M. Scott, 1977,78,79, 1982,83, 84,85,86,87,88 Rochelle Masters, 1978,79,80,81,82,83,84 Herbert Charnes, 1979,8Q81,82 Betty Polly,1980,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89 Carolyn Gehlbach, 1982,83,84,85 Joy Todino, 1983,84,85,86,87,88,89 Brian T. Patterson, 1984,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95, 96,97,98 Daniel J. LaBianca, 1986, 87, 88, 89, 90,91,92,93, 94,95, 96, 97, 98 Harvey V. Gasn, 1988,89,90,91,92,94 Diane H. Lerner,1989,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99 Joy Willens, 1990,91,92,93,94,95,96 John J. Pelan, 1994,95,96,97,98,99 Larry Shulman, 1996,97,98,99 Mary Jo Masciello, 98,99,2000,01,02 Peter R. Wunsch, 98,99,2000,01 Joan S. Bosinius, 98,99,2000,01 Thomas L Tornee, 99,2000,01,0

SUPERINTENDENTS - District Principals

DISTRICT PRINCIPALS OF COMMACKUNION FREE DISTRICT #1O:

Mr. Douglas Morey 1956-1959 Dr. Thomas Shaheen 1959-1965 Mr. Franklin Denbesten 1965 (ActingDistrict Principal)

SUPERINTENDENTS OF COMMACKUNION FREE DISTRICT #10:

Dr. Paul Mitchell 1965-1968Dr. Ross Headley 1968-1970Dr. William Kochnower 1970-1976Dr. John Battles 1976-1979Mr. Joseph Heinlein 1979-1980Dr. Joseph Del Rosso 1980-1994Dr. James H. Hunderfund 1994-present

Centennial Omnibus Committee

Chairperson Dr. James H. HunderfundCarol BertolottiJoan Bosinius

William DamatoHilda Haas

James FeltmanMary Jo MascielloMarian RaccugliaRussell StewartBernie Townes

Ron ValeDebbie VirgaTerri Williams

Kay ZakKen Zweibel

(49)

Minnie Van Brunt, The Frame School Anna W. Green, The Frame School Mary P. Kilts, The Frame School/ Grammar School William Schoonmaker, Commack Grammar School Emma Lounsberry, Commack Grammar SchoolViolete E. Bass, Commack Grammar School W. C. Mansfield, Commack Grammar School J. H. Bronson, Commack Grammar School Douglas Morey, Winnicomac James Montel, Marion Carll , Old Farms, Sagtikos James Hunt, Cedar Road, Winnicomac Arthur Kelly, Winnicomac, Marion Carll, Wood Park Samuel Gulino, Green Fields, Rolling Hills Peter Gannon, Wood Park Martin Sokolsky, Circle Hill Elementary Michael Mirey, Commack High SchoolWilliam Kochnower, Commack HS Perry Bendicksen, Indian Hollow, Marion Carll,CedarRoad, North R;dge, North Ridge Primary

John Heslin, John F. Kennedy Junior High, Burr Junior HighLouis Orazio, Old Farms School Allan Carlson, Smiths Lane Elementary, Old FarmsWilliam Mackelin. Green Meadows JHSHugh Schulman, South Ridge, North Ridge Charles Tumrninello, Green Meadows JHS, M-Sawmill JHSFranklin Den Besten, Long Acres Charles Robinson, Grace L. Hubbs SchoolDonald Goldstein, Rolling HillsPaul Olander, South RidgeFred Horowitz, Indian Hollow, Indian Hollow Primary Jesse Mould, Principal, Commack High School South Harold Cassidy, Sagtikos, Circle Hill Anthony Ruocco, North Ridge John McWhirter, Cedar Road, North Ridge Walter Boeri, Principal, Commack High School North Jane O'Reilly (O'Connell), Grace L Hubbs James Coonan, Commack High School South John Mandracchia, Sawmill Junior High Aspasia (Andy) Argis, Sawmill JHSErnest Tovo, Burr JHS, Commack High School South John J. McCarthy, Commack High School South Peter Flanagan, Long Acres, Old Farms, Wood Park , M-Sawmill Intermediate School Jay Niles, Mandracchia - Sawmill Junior HighSchool David Rosenstein, Principal, M-Sawmill Junior High Fred McGee, Commack High School North Pamela Travis-Moore, Commack H.S. South, Commack M.S. Ronald Vale, Burr Junior High , Commack High School George Baer, Old Farms, Wood Park, Wood Park Primary lGertrude Fishman, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills PrimaryCharles Heppeler, Jr., North Ridge, Burr Intermediate Toby Goldberg, North Ridge Primary Marilyn Wunder, Mandracchia-Sawmill Intermediate Judy Pace, Indian Hollow Prirnary School

Commack Union Free SchoolDistrict #10 Principals

Commack Historical

Committee

ChairpersonHilda Haas

Active MembersGeorge BaerCarolyn GehlbachRegina GoldrickNicolina MuoloJudith QuarryCaryle SampsonCatherine SementeRonald Vale

Inactive MembersDaniel LaBiancaSal Sinito

Former MembersTerry ChalderFaith GroodyNancy HadlandJulie HayesJane KellerBarbara KimmelCarol KraisJames MontelJoan SchimatzJane SmithMaria TripiaJoy Willens

Volunteers for the Centennial

George BaerGrace BarrettAlan BaumCarol BertolottiLinda BeyelSharon BlattCathy BongoJoan BosiniousPete BraschDon BurkeRon BurrTina CapognaGerard CairnsSherman CarllRenne CsajkoJayne CascinoGertrude ConglarioWilliam DamatoJim Del GuidiceSebastian DiRubbaJanet EllnerMarjorie EspositoDee FabianJames FeltmanKaren FlaimBill GehrhardtCarolyn GelbachBarbara GellerSusan GlaserStan Goldfeder Regina Goldrick

Jennifer GrabowJudy GregoryBill GulickJim HallBetty HandDavid HarnedBrad HarrisHilda HaasJames HunderfundKathy HynesSteve IannoneRose IllariKitty JonkeMatt KeltosLouise KileyAnnette KosarStacey KravetteMark KutchLaura KrummenackerDonna Lundmary Jo MascielloEric MannoChris MattisonPatricia McDonaldFred McGeeJack McGrathCarolyn MilanoLita Smith-MinesMary Ellen MintonTracie Morenberg

Emily MossNicki MuoloDoreen MurphyFrank MustoGail OliveriRichard OliveriDonna PeguillanJohn PelanJudy QuarryMarion RaccugliaCarol RizzoCathy RoeCaryle SampsonMary Ann ScottCathy SchwartzCathy SementeSal SinitoRussell StewartEd StorchPaul ThurmanThomas TorneeBernie TownesRonald ValeDonna VigliottiDebbie VirgaTerry WilliamsPeter WunschTerry YoelKay Zak Ken Zweibel

Boys Leaders CorpsGirls Leaders CorpsCommack High School

JV CheerleadersFreshman FootballSam Ash MusicLindsay MusicGroup Discount Attractions

Businesses and OrganizationsBagel ChaletFirst Class BagelsU.S.A. PolyOutback RestaurantCommack AmbulanceCommack Fire DepartmentUS Post Office 11725Optimum Design Group, Inc.

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More than 100 Commack residents, stu-dents , teachers , administrators, and localrunning aficionados took to the streets sur-rounding the High School in the FirstCommack Homecoming 5K Race. The footrace was initiated this year as part of the100th anniversary commemoration of theCommack Public Schools. Medals wereawarded for first through third place finishes,in six different age groups, for both maleand female participants. Plans are afoot tomake the race an annual event.

On Saturday, October 30, 1999,the Commack community spentthe day commemorating and cele-brating the Commack SchoolDistrict’s 100th anniversary. Theday started with a 5 kilometer footrace and a grand Centennialparade. The parade was followedby Homecoming activities, by anAlumni Hall of Fame induction, bya magic show and by a soccergame that was open to alumni andschool district employees. Morethan 3,000 residents and friendstook part in the day. On thesepages are some of the highlightsof the day’s events.

Two longtime Commack legends, recently retired District Clerk, TessFalcetta (L), and School District activist, Hilda Hass (R), were namedGrand Marshalls of the Centennial parade. At a recent Board ofEducation meeting, rooms at Hubbs Center were named in their honor.

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Almost 300 Commack residents visited theHigh School football field during theCentennial Homecoming celebration, not tosee the football game but to acquire a uniquecollector’s item. The Commack Post Officearranged to place a special postal tent at theevent and provide patrons, at the cost of astamp, with an envelope featuring a specialfirst day cancellation commemorating the100th anniversary of the Commack Schools

complete with the Centennial logo.

Centennial Alumni Soccer teams

Outback Steakhouse ofCommack provided food, withprofits going to Dollars forScholars.

The “Great Infantino” treated Commackyoungsters to a magic show in theHigh School auditorium.

High School principal Ron Vale andcoach John Foley give pep talk tothe football team prior to their 20-14victory over Smithtown.

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SILVERSORIGINAL BROOKLYN PIZZAOUTBACK STEAK HOUSE OF COMMACKPASTRAMI “N” FRIENDSPETRILLOS PRIME MEATS - SINCE 1913PET SUPPLIES “PLUSTHE PENNACCHIO FAMILYRICHARD, ANTHONY AND VALERIE RACCUGLIATHE REBECCHI FAMILYROLLING HILLS FACULTY AND STAFFROLLING HILLS PTACAROL AND FRANK RIZZO AND FAMILYSHALOM DEHAN CONTRACTINGSHORT STOP PRINTINGSMITHTOWN PRESCRIPTION CENTERSOLITRO’s DELI AND CATERER’S SUNSHINE ORTHOPEDIC AND SPORTS PHYSICAL THERAPYELIOT AND BONNIE SCHWARTZ AND FAMILYTEMPLE BETH DAVIDTRIM-A-TREE, INC., ARBORIST TIMOTHY WRAYUNITED STUDIOS OF SELF DEFENSER. VARELLO LANDSCAPING, INC.THE VIRGA FAMILYTHE VOGEL FAMILYTHE WOLTMANN FAMILYWOOD PARK PTAWOOD PARK STAFFWINE WAVE INC. - CACCIATO FAMILYPETER AND JANET WUNSCHTHE ZIPFEL FAMILYTHE ZWEIBEL FAMILY

CENTENNIAL BANNER SPONSORS

LAW OFFICE OF AUDRA E. DEHANTHE DURGANA FAMILYSERENA EISENBERG SCHOLARSHIPFIRST CLASS BAGELSFELBERBAUM, HALBRIDGE AND WIRTH -ATTORNEYS AT LAWTHE FELTMAN’SGASOLINE HEAVENTHE GREGORY FAMILYHAAS, ROE, PATRICK HARRINGTON, CARILLO FAMILYHABBERSTAD BMWHARRIET AND SEYMOUR SMITH - IN LOVING MEMORYHASSEL VOLVOTHE HELFNER FAMILYBONNIE HELFNER, DDS - FAMILY DENTISTRYTHE HIRSCH FAMILYHSBC BANKJAMES AND ANNA HUNDERFUNDTHE ILLARI FAMILY - JOE -‘88, SCOTT -‘90, STEVE -‘94, MIKE -‘99INDIAN HOLLOW PTATHE INDIAN HOLLOW STAFFINDUSTRIAL MATERIAL HANDLING OF N.Y. INC.INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES - DR. GITTMAN AND DR. KOSTERJO-ANN’S 1/2 OFF CARDS COMMACKJOHNSON FARM, CEDAR ROAD - EST. 1902THE KARCH FAMILYKINGS PARK ASPHALT CORP.THE LANCEY FAMILYTHE LEADERSHIP TEAM OF COMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOLLERNER AND ESPOSITO -COLLEGE AID CONSULTANTSLI’L SMITTY BAGEL AND DELILONG ISLAND AUTOMOTIVE GROUP, INC.LONG ISLAND BULLSLUND FAMILYM.A.P. CUSTON TEE SHIRTSMACE’SMANDRACCHIA SAWMILL PTAMANDRACCHIA SAWMILL STAFFTHE MASCIELLO FAMILYTHE MASTER’S FAMILYMOHAWK SIDING AND ROOFINGNEW YORK SAINTSNORTHPORT FORDNORTHRIDGE PTANORTHRIDGE STAFFTHE NOTO FAMILYGAIL AND RICKY OLIVERI AND FAMILYLUCY-PAT-PETER-ROSANNE OLIVETO-TERESA-RON AND BABY

EDWARD ALAN - BIG AND TALLTHE ALEXANDER FAMILYBAGEL BOSSBAGEL CHALET OF COMMACKBALESTRAS FAMILY AND FINE HOST CORPORATIONBALLOONS AND BASKETSBANK OF NEW YORKLUCY AND MEL BARUCH AND FAMILYTHE BIONDO FAMILYTHE BONWIT INNTHE BROOMFIELD FAMILYSUSAN BROWN - LIC. BROKER ASSOC.BROWN’S JEEP CHRYSLERBURR INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL STAFFBURR PTACHATEL CONTRACTING COMPANYCHRIST THE KING - CYOCITICORP INVESTMENT SERVICESCOMMACK ABBEY INC. - A HOME FOR FUNERALSCOMMACK ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISORY ASSOCIATIONCOMMACK CORNERS HAIR STYLISTSCOMMACK FIRE DEPARTTMENTOMMACK HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS CABINETCOMMACK HIGH SCHOOL PTACOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL LEADERS CLUBCOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL NATIONAL JR. HONOR SOCIETYCOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL PTACOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL STAFFCOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCILCOMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL TRI-M MUSIC HONOR SOCIETYCOMMACK NORTH LITTLE LEAGUECOMMACK PTA COUNCILCOMMACK SCHOOLS HUBBS ADMINISTRATION STAFFCOMMACK SCHOOLS LIBRARY STAFFCOMMACK SCHOOLS MAINTENANCE STAFF COMMACK SCHOOLS SECRETARIAL ASSOCIATIONCOMMACK SEPTACOMMACK SOCCER LEAGUECOMMACK SOUTH LITTLE LEAGUECOMMACK TEACHER AIDE ASSOCIATIONCOMMACK TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONCOMMACK UNITED METHODIST CHURCHCOMMACK YOUTH LEAGUECONNOR AND D’ACONTI C.P.A.’s, P.C.CUB SCOUTS PACK 403CRYSTAL MATERIAL LTD.ELLEN AND BILL DAMATO