PAGE A24.

THE

PORT

TIMES

RECORD.

, r,'.'
JUNE 19, 2003

Lincoln Park Gardens and the man who built it
Me/noriesof growing up in an early Port Jefferson Station community
BY GEORGE MORAITI!:
Over Ihe years. Port Jeffcrson Slation has had many
real eSlatc dcvclopments. One of the earliest was called
Lincoln Park Garden Plots. This and many others suchas Bclle Croft. Echo Plaza, Linden Place and Bergen
Estates were owned by what was to become the Chas.
1\. Squircs Land Company in Port Jefferson Station. .His office building was in the area of today's Weylan's
Drug Store on Main Street.
Charlcs A. Squires, according to his obituary (PortJefferso" TImes-Echo; November 16, 1934) was bornat Good Ground (now called Hampton Bays) in 1855.
He married Minnie Conkin of Canoe Place in 1884.
They moved to Port Jefferson Station in 1886. Here, heservcd as a station agent for the Long Island Rail Road
before starting the area's first postal service. Shortly
after his arrival, he established the Echo Post Office
and was its postmaster for almost 25 years being
appointed by then-President Grover Cleveland. He wasthe poslmaster until 1910. During Ihis time, he founded Ihe Port Jefferso" Echo newspapers in 1892, what
would appear to be the "great-great granddaddy" oftoday's PortTIme.f-Record. He continued as editor and Schools #25 (now called Brookhaven-Comsewogue
school district) as the district clerk from 1892 to 1905.
puhlisher until he sold the business in 1899. The Echopublished its newspaper in Port Jefferson Station for 39 Mr. Squires continued as a board member and acting
years heforc it merged with the Port Jefferson TImes clerk until he and his wife, Minnie, who also served on
the board, moved downtown to Port Jefferson in 1915.
and becamc the TImes-Echo newspapers.
During his active civil life, his hobby was buying
S4uires was a member of the Town of Brookhavenand selling real estate. He established a real estate and
Board of I\ssessors
from 1919 until 1927 . He was president of the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce andland owning company. At one time, again according tothe PorI Jefferson Building Company. Also. he was on his obituary, he owned practically all of Port Jefferson
Station and was dubbed the "Father of Port Jefferson
the hoard of education of Port Jefferson Station
Station." Charles A. Squires died at his home at 210
Chestnut Street in Port Jefferson in 1934 and is buried
with his wife at Cedar Hill Cemetery. At the time of hisdeath. he still owned a great deal of property in PortJefferson Station. The one dearest to this writer is theColtection of G. Moraitis,
Photo

postcardof Arthur Greene of Port Jefferson.

Titled "View from Lincoln Park." (Looking
Lincoln Avenue was a dirt road)north. When

Lincoln Park Gardens. This is the area where I gr~w up
on Lincoln Avenue.
. The area called Lincoln Park Garden Plots starts
from Crystal Brook Hollow Road. runs west throughTwo Rod Road on the north side of Hallock Avenue(Route 25A) and Lincoln Avenue to the south andadjoining areas. These plots are among the oldest sections of Port Jefferson Station. surveyed and mappedfor Chas. A. Squires Land Company by Israel G.
Hawkins, civil engineer of Stony Brook in 1906.
As one of the earliest families to own several plotsin Lincoln Park Gardens, my parcnts had moved asummer cottage from the family farm (Poulos Farm) inPhotos

collectionof G.

Moraitis
At far left, No. 17
Lincoln, ca. 1956. The
writer here at the ageof around five.
Around 1955, left,
notice the floor heatvent.
My parents, Stamatis
and Alice Moraitis,
below, at No. 32
Lincoln Avenue,ea.1945:

South Setauket to what would hecomc No. J:! I.iIKoln

Avenue in 1944. My family memhers had hl'cn in theSetauket and Port Jefferson areas since .)round 1915.
but this move started our branch l,f the family tn havc
residency for the first time in Port Jefferson Station.
However. by 1949. my parents brought a higgcl
home at No. 17 Lincoln. It was this home. where I
spent my young boyhood before my family moved
again. for the third time. on Lincoln. in 1960. to yet abigger home next door to No. 27. Researching thc
building records of the earliest homes in the area was
not possible since I was told that builders may not havebeen issued building permits at the time when the houses were built and any building records before 195<)
were destroyed. Records show that land properties
were sold as early as 1910. but I can only guess whenNo.

17 was built.

This old house had three bedrooms and bathroom on
the second floor and a kitchen that once had a woodflool'burning stove. living room with a four-by-folll'heating vent that heated the whole hOllse. and a snl:lll
dining room and den room. There was a hand-pumped
well in the rear of the house. Over the years the home
was modernized and looks quite different today.
In the I980s, my family officially sold off all holdings of houses and property
after living on Lincoln
Avenue for more than 40 years marking the end llf anera. I had moved to the adjoining area ,called the.

The officeof the Chas. A. Squires Land Company in Port Jefferson Station.

Photo postcard cOllectionof G.Morsitis. Gennan-American
Real Estate Development
Companv
that was established in 1928. The Gennan-Americans
in this area in 1928 are, in themselves. worth v ofresearch. But hack on Lincoln I\venue, new hl;mcs
have been built on empty plots we left behind. al)(.1
older homes have been modernized. Today, you will
see many new families who have come to live inLincoln Park Gardens.