Photo: Newsday

1960: First Female
"Indy 500" Racer Works
at Republic Aviation Co.

On May 29, 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman in auto racing history to compete in the Indianapolis 500. Born in Iowa City and raised in Florida, Guthrie earned a B.S. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1960. After graduating, she spent six years as an aerospace research and development engineer at Republic Aviation Corporation in Farmingdale, working on programs that were precursors to Project Apollo. In 1964, she passed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s first round of testing for the scientist-astronaut program, but was eventually eliminated. She bought a sports car and within a year was the women’s gymkhana champion of Long Island. In the 1977 Indy 500, Guthrie withdrew after experiencing engine trouble. But in 1978, she placed ninth. Guthrie later became an inspirational speaker and recently wrote her autobiography. She is shown here in a 1977 photo.

–Cynthia Blair

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2005 Archives

1985: First Marty Lyons Foundation Celebrity Classic Is Held

1942: Rockville Centre Hosts War Bond Party

1865: Doxsee Clam & Seafood Canning Co. Founded

2002: Dave Attell Films "Insomniac" on Long Island

1918: Irving Berlin Writes "God Bless America" at Camp Upton

1977: Long Island Pine Barrens Society Founded

1935: Gallant Fox and Omaha Become First Father and Son to Win the Triple Crown

2003: Julie Andrews Directs "The Boy Friend" in Sag Harbor

1930: Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Fly from L.A. to Roosevelt Field

1783: Long Island Liberated from British Occupation

1954: Hurricane Carol Batters Long Island

1970: Bob Costas Graduates from Commack South H.S.

1886: Long Island’s First Fund-Raising Cookbook is Published

1995: Howard Davis, Jr.’s Olympic Gold Medal Recovered

1923: "Yes, We Have No Bananas" Written in Lynbrook

1993: First Annual Long Island Jazz Festival Held at Planting Fields

1959: Long Islanders Report UFO Sightings

1992: Piter Marek Graduates from East Meadow HS

c.1705: Major Thomas Jones Opens South Shore Beach Whaling Station

1963: Southampton College Founded

1945: Zahn’s Airport Opens

1700: William "Tangier" Smith Creates Poospatuck Reservation

1955: Nike Missile Base Opens in Brookville

1999: Southold Resident Files Patent For New Mailing System

1980: Taylor Dayne Graduates from Baldwin High School

1750: Jeremiah Culver Builds the Canoe Place Inn

1777: Patriots Fight the Battle of Setauket

1940: "The Fighting 69th" Immortalizes Garden City’s Rainbow Division

1963: New York Institute of Technology Opens at Vanderbilt Whitney Estate

1879: Fishers Island Becomes Part of Suffolk County

1920s: Tommy Hitchcock, Jr. Becomes the World’s Best Polo Player

1965: Long Islanders Begin Paying Sales Tax

1965: Long Islanders Begin Paying Sales Tax

1940: Freeport Point Shipyard Builds Air-Sea Rescue Boat Used at Pearl Harbor

Early 1930’s: Mussolini’s Architects Study Jones Beach

1962: SUNY at Stony Brook Campus Opens in Stony Brook

1979: Malibu Nightclub Opens in Lido Beach

1640s: Long Island’s First Settlements Established

1976: Ron Kovic Publishes "Born on the Fourth of July"

1981: Anti-British Protesters Gather Outside Nassau Coliseum

1870s: President Ulysses S. Grant Vacations in West Deer Park

1941: FBI Bases Counterespionage Operation in Wading River

1992: Paul Simon and Edie Brickell Wed in Montauk

1971: Gerard and Lilo Leeds Found CMP Media

1940: Pan Am Yankee Clipper Makes First Night Landing in Manhasset Bay

1999: Long Island Sound Lobsters Die Off

1999: Long Island Sound Lobsters Die Off

c. 1930: "Roxy" Travels Regularly on the LIRR

1910: Nation’s First Co-Ed Polo School Founded in Westbury

1970: Grateful Dead Perform at Stony Brook University

1918: Escaped "Wild Ape" Frightens Smithtown Residents

1890: Biological Lab Founded in Cold Spring Harbor

1978: Long Island Experiences its Worst Oil Spill in Memory

c. 1940: Comedian Lenny Bruce Attends Mepham High

1988: LIRR Runs the "Buddy McGirt" and "Howard Davis Express" Trains

c. late 1820s: The Rev. Henry Highland Garnet Works on Smithtown Farm

1940: Rachmaninoff Composes "Symphonic Dances" in Centerport

1996: Billy Joel’s Runabout Produced on Shelter Island

1934: Meadowbrook State Parkway Opens

1970s: Polly-O Dairy Products Moves to Roslyn

1879: Greenport Boat Builder Produces Innovative Lifeboats

1958: Andre Eglevsky Opens Ballet School in Massapequa

1972: Nixon Campaigns on Long Island

1914-1918: Patriotic Dog Becomes Lynbrook’s Biggest Fundraiser

1996: Grace Jones Celebrates Her Birthday at the Oak Beach Inn

Mid-1970’s: Steve Madden Works in Cedarhurst Shoe Store

c. 1929: "Lake Sunrise" Forms in Lynbrook

1982: Drinking Age Raised From 18 to 19

1949: Pall Corporation Moves to Glen Cove

1994: "Mighty Aphrodite" Filmed at Belmont Park

1916: Gangster Arnold Rothstein Opens Casino in Hewlett

1973: Sunrise Mall Opens in Massapequa

1827: Plum Island Lighthouse Established

1984: George Higgins Forms the Long Island Flag Football League

1982: Long Island’s Largest Modular Prefabricated Community Opens

1876: The "Circassian" Wrecked Off Bridgehampton

1901: Sayville Opera House Opens

1965: The Young Rascals Discovered at the Barge

1952: Brookhaven National Lab Dedicates the Cosmotron

c.1770: Long Island Physician Pioneers Use of Smallpox Vaccination

1974: Nassau County Medical Center Is County’s Tallest Building

1998: Tornado Strikes Lynbrook

Late 1980s: Melissa Joan Hart Attends Sayville Junior High School

1965: LIRR Post Office Car Makes its Final Run

c: 1880s: Thomas Edison Erects Plant on Quogue Beach

1964: John Coltrane Composes "A Love Supreme" in Dix Hills

1920s and 1930s: Mastic Lots Sell for $55

1945: Helen Keller Speaks at Brentwood Hospital

1991: Vietnam War Memorial at Bald Hill Dedicated

1952: Deer Park Produces 200,000 Dahlias

1986: Cheez Doodles Creator Becomes Associate Dean at NYIT

1966: Robert Moses Proposes Oyster Bay-Rye Bridge

1999: Taking Back Sunday Forms in Rockville Center

1988: Suffolk County Passes Bill Banning Plastic Packaging

1836: Walt Whitman Teaches in East Norwich

1964: Talia Shire Graduates from Great Neck South High School

1922: Long Beach Receives City Charter

1980: First Annual Beethoven Festival Held at Planting Fields

1960: First Female "Indy 500" Racer Works at Republic Aviation Co.

1919: Village of Bayville is Incorporated

1946: Robert Moses Creates Long Island State Park Police

1945: Grumman Produces the First Aluminum Canoe

1904: Numbered Cars Omit "13" at First Vanderbilt Cup

1972: David Paymer Graduates from Oceanside High

1699: Captain Kidd Buries Treasure on Gardiners Island

1900: Smithtown Fox Hunt Begins

1969: America’s First ATM

1994: Gold’s Horseradish Opens Hempstead Plant

1974: "Death Wish" Filmed at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf

1953: "Captain Kangaroo" Joins the West Islip School Board

1796: Orient Point Inn Opens

1968: Long Island’s First Heart Transplant Recipient

1958: McDonald’s Comes to Long Island

1928: US Team Wins First Polo Cup of the Americas

1887: Frank M. Flower & Sons Founded

1980: Melville Company Markets First MRI

Mid-1800s: Steven "Talkhouse" Pharaoh Is Dubbed "Last King of the Montauks"

1990: Busta Rhymes Forms Rap Group at Uniondale High

1964: Fire Island National Seashore Established

1991: Jim McCann Opens 1-800-FLOWERS Headquarters in Westbury

1915: Lynbrook Airdrome Screens Long Island’s First Outdoor Movies

1947: Brookhaven National Lab Established

1971-72: "The Godfather" Filmed on Long Island

2003 Archives >>

2004 Archives >>