A Church Moves On; A School Site Survives

By Rhoda Amon | Staff Writer

A pioneer motorist had the road to himself and no parking problem as he tooled down Port Washington's Main Street, past the newly minted Main Street School and the Methodist Church in about 1910. His only problem might have been dodging the trolley that ran to Mineola from 1908 until banished by the automobile in 1920.

The church at left in the photo was built in 1871; it was moved in 1883 to the Main Street site, where it stood when postcard photographer Henry Otto Korten caught this uncrowded downtown scene. The move took four weeks, cost $1,600, and nearly ended in disaster as the church "teetered dangerously while crossing the Stannard Brook," says North Hempstead town historian Joan Kent. The building was eventually demolished to make way for the new Port Washington Public Library, which opened on the site in 1970.

Main Street School, shrouded by tall trees in the lower photo, has survived several incarnations. It opened as a high school in 1909, became an elementary school, and finally reopened as the Landmark on Main Street, a combination of senior housing and a community center.