The first public
concert given by the School Band and Junior and Senior chorus of the
new Longwood High School in Middle Island Central District 12 was
held in the school auditorium recently before a large and
enthusiastic audience of parents and friends, who nearly filled the
large theatre.
The band program
was rendered in a professional manner by the children in their
snappy new uniforms, under director Robert J. Quinn and assistant
director William L. Jones.
The Junior Chorus
presented a fine program under the direction of Larry Summa.
Each number of the
entire program received tremendous applause from the appreciative
audience and much credit is due the school principal, Dr. Foster
Hoff, and the Band and Chorus directors Mr. Quinn, Mr. Jones and Mr.
Summa for assembling such fine program, as the high school has only
been in operation since September.
In comparison with
the old one-room schoolhouse in East Middle Island, built in 1835
which the writer attended over 50 years ago, the new high school,
complete and modern in every way is a far cry from the little school
of those by-gone years, when one teacher taught the whole eight
grades. Surely the children of today enjoy great advantages in
acquiring their education. Time and progress march on.
The new $3,000,000
high school is located on Longwood Road, which runs from Middle
Island-Yaphank Road to the main entrance of the Brookhaven National
Laboratory. The land on which it stands has a long and colorful
history.
It is a part of
the enormous tract of several thousand acres, purchased from the
Indians by Col. William smith in 1691 which extended from Middle
Country Road in Middle Island south to the ocean. He received a
patent for this in 1693 from King William and Queen Mary of England
through Governor Fletcher of New York. It was known as the “Manor
of St. George.”
This gave Col.
Smith the old feudal right of control over his property so that he
made and executed his own laws and was not governed by the laws of
Brookhaven Town. This large tract of land was not taken into
Brookhaven Town until after the Revolution by an act of the Colonial
Legislature.
The first “Manor
House” was built near the bay at Mastic about 1700 by the family of
Col Smith, and in 1790 by the homestead at Longwood (across the road
from the high school) was built and has been occupied by several
generations of the Smith family, who have occupied important
positions in the life of Brookhaven Town.
Elbert C. Smith of
California inherited the property a few years ago and with Mrs.
Smith and in the old homestead. The 50-acre tract of land on which
the high school stands was given to the district by Mr. Smith.
The Middle Island
Central School District comprises the former six districts of East
and West Middle Island, Coram, Ridge, Yaphank and West Yaphank, and
besides the high school is composed of the four recently built
schools of Ridge Yaphank, West Middle Island and Coram. East Middle
Island School serves as the administrative offices for the district
with Dr. Louis V. Nannini as supervising principal.
As the history of
Longwood high school commences, the school colors of green and white
will become increasingly important and familiar in the mid-Island
villages of the Central School District.