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selden history

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Photo from Middle Country Public Library

Amongst the Middle Country Public Library’s many historical artifacts are a few that explain just how far the area has come from its pastoral roots. The picture and story below comes courtesy of a collaborative effort among the librarian staff.

Selden schoolchildren sang “America” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the ceremony on Nov. 9, 1935, when the cornerstone was laid for the soon-to-be-built new Selden School. 

Photo from Middle Country Library

Sealed within the cornerstone was a copper box containing three local newspapers of the day (the Patchogue Advance, the Argus and the Mid-Island Mail), the year’s school census, a copy of the day’s program, a 1935-minted dime and penny, and an 1885 almanac. 

The new Selden Elementary school was completed in 1936 and replaced the one-room schoolhouse which had served the community from 1898 on. The updated structure contained three classrooms, a principal’s office, a well house, indoor washrooms and an oil-burning heating system. 

Further renovations to the building were undertaken in 1948, which ultimately accommodated almost 50 years of students within its walls. 

The U.S. Army surplus cannon depicted here was purchased after WWII with nickels and dimes saved by the schoolchildren of Selden. 

You’ll see it in front of the building if you drive by 575 Middle Country Road, where Middle Country Public Library Selden stands today.  

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Courtesy of Middle Country Library

Amongst the Middle Country Public Library’s many historical artifacts are a few that explain just how far the area has come from its pastoral roots. The pictureS and story below comes courtesy of a collaborative effort among the librarian staff.

Courtesy of Middle Country Library

Clarence “Cad” Dare, pictured here at his post atop the 70-foot Bald Hill Fire Tower, directed forest fire management in the woodlands of Suffolk County and the town of Oyster Bay as Fire Ranger for over 32 years.

A lifelong Selden resident, Dare also served as Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent during the years 1915 through 1920, before accepting the District Forest Ranger position. 

A colorful firefighter, Dare directed every major forest fire in both counties. To detect and locate fires, Dare and associate fire rangers scanned the region through a powerful telescope mounted on a compass base. A telephone on the lookout platform allowed the observer to call any fire in to the nearest Fire War-den.

Courtesy of Middle Country Library

In April 1952, at age 70, Dare was credited with working for over two days straight, extinguishing a forest fire that burned from Holtsville all the way to Selden, requiring the use of 90% of Brookhaven’s fire appa-ratus to subdue it. As the Patchogue Advance reported on Dec. 4, 1952,  Dare was “eating smoke with men half his age keeping at his fingertips a knowledge of what was going on over hundreds of acres of burning trees and scrubs.” 

The value of service to country and community was held in high regard in the Dare family. His father Samuel, a native of Selden, served in Company C, 165th Volunteer Infantry of the Union forces in the Civil War, and before his death, in 1913, he was a town trustee of the Town of Brookhaven.  

Following in his father’s footsteps, Clarence Dare was active in community affairs, serving as vice presi-dent and director of the National Bank of Lake Ronkonkoma, and also as a treasurer and trustee of the Board of Education for the School District of Selden. 

During World War I, he was a member of the New York State National Guard. Additionally, Dare belonged to various fraternal organizations, including the Suwasset Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Patchogue, the Patchogue Commandery of the Knights Templar and the Kismet Temple Shrine of Brooklyn. 

Dare passed away at the age of 70 in 1952 and is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Patchogue with his wife, Florence Eugenia Gould, daughter of George E. and Eugenia (Hallock) Gould, both natives of Lake Grove.

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Photo from the Middle Country Library

Amongst the Middle Country Public Library’s many historical artifacts are a few that explain just how far the area has come from its pastoral routes. The pictures and story below comes courtesy of a collaborative effort among the librarian staff.

For over 40 years, Aggie’s Bar and Grill (also known as Aggie’s Steakhouse), located on Middle Country Road in Selden, was the “local watering hole” for area residents. 

Aggie’s opened its doors in 1927 and was owned and operated by Agnes O’Hagan, who moved to the United States at age three from Calabria, Italy. Events at Aggie’s and their contributions to community life were a mainstay in Selden during these years. Celebrations like wedding showers, birthday parties, costume balls, amateur nights, card nights and St. Patrick’s Day parties were held there. The staff even formed a shuffleboard team, which participated in local competitions with neighboring teams in the area.  

Saturday nights would find considerable crowds enjoying 45 cent spaghetti and meat sauce, square dancing and other specialty dances with music provided by Aggie’s Brown Jug Mountaineers. An advertisement for a Gala New Year’s Eve Party was placed in the Patchogue Advance of Dec. 25, 1936 to publicize the event, which featured noisemakers, hats and souvenirs, music and entertainment, and a seven-course turkey dinner. Tickets cost $1.00 for this specially licensed nightlong event, which concluded at 8 a.m.  

In the summer of 1939, Aggie’s showed appreciation to their summer patrons by announcing “a surprise” for them on a Saturday night from 10 p.m. until midnight. 

The festivities included dancing to the music of Leonardi and his Club orchestra, and listening to the pride of Harlem, “Singing Sam” and Aggie’s customary entertainer, Eddy Kane. Earlier that summer, Aggie’s advertised their official Ham and Cabbage Summer Opening for the night of July 22 in the July 19, 1939 edition of The Mid-Island Mail. Performers included Don Ritchie and his Rhythm Masters as well as Eddy Kane and Virginia Servidio. 

These are just a few examples of the central role that Aggie’s Steakhouse played in Selden’s social world, bonding its residents in family, friendship and community for more than four decades.