300 Years of Business -- -- Newsday.com

300 Years of Business

THREE HUNDRED years ago, Long Island was a land of farmers, families whose living depended on the fertile earth and their talent cultivating potatoes, corn, wheat and other crops. Thirty years ago, Long Island began growing a new crop -- the early biotech and technology firms that now are a dominant industry here.

Farming the Land of Their Dreams

WHEN EUROPEANS ARRIVED on Long Island in the early 17th Century, they stepped into a world tailor-made for their dreams.

When the Sea Fed Long Island

IF YOU WERE a working man on Long Island in the mid-19th Century, you were most likely a farmer. If you weren't, the odds were that you owed your livelihood to the sea.

Oyster Tradition Sails On

IN THE EARLY DECADES of the 20th Century, hundreds of oyster companies worked Long Island Sound and Great South Bay. But hurricanes, predators, overfishing and the natural fluctuations in spawning have wiped out all but one.

Longtime Hot Vacation Spot

WIDE OPEN SPACES, sandy beaches, boating, fishing and ocean breezes helped make Long Island a tourist destination for New York City dwellers seeking to escape the heat and crowds more than a century ago.

Making Waves in Science

IN THE ANCIENT DAYS of science, say about 25 years ago, two major technological advances came along about the same time: personal computers and genetic engineering, the ability of scientists to incorporate foreign genes into new drugs, species and crops.

Different Era for Women

SEXUAL HARASSMENT and discrimination weren't talked about much back in the 1940s when women entered the aviation/defense industry to help the war effort, and in the following years when some women stayed on the job. More than 3.6 million women entered the work force between 1940 and 1950, according to the U.S. Census.

Under the Radar Screen

A FEW EXECUTIVES of AIL Systems Inc. left work early one bright summer day in the 1950s and went fishing off Oyster Bay, in Long Island Sound. They didn't bring any poles, bait or sinkers. And they weren't playing hooky, either.

A Woman's Touch Runs More Farms

THERE'S NO GLASS CEILING on a farm -- at least not any more. The number of woman-operated farms has increased from 1-2 percent to nearly 20 percent of all farms on Long Island in the past 30 years, says William Sanok, agricultural program director for the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead. Some are run jointly with spouses.

Downtown Comebacks Nurtured

DOWNTOWNS are often taken for granted, but over time they have managed to survive. Historically, they have thrived, withered and revived. But in recent decades, the encroachment of malls and megastores has changed the dynamic and pulled commerce away.