Long Island in the 1940s

Christmas decorations illuminate a snowy Main Street of Freeport looking north in this Dec. 20, 1948 Newsday photo.

A twin Mustang F-81 crashed into a home at Commercial and Fulton Streets. Air Force fire fighting crews try to smother the flames with foam on May 4. 1949 in Hempstead.

On May 10, 1941, Smithtown Supervisor John H. Brennan speaks at the unveiling of the bronze memorial to Richard "Bull" Smith, who founded Smithtown in 1665.

On May 10, 1941, Pvt. Richard "Bull" Smith, a descendant of Richard "Bull" Smith, the founder of Smithtown, unveils a five-ton bronze statue of a bull created by sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey. The statue, completed in 1923, sat in front of the Brooklyn Museum for years, and was later placed in storage until funds could be raised to ship it to Smithtown. Mary Rumsey, daughter of the sculptor, stands at the far left.

On October 5, 1949, one of the hangars at Roosevelt Field is decorated in anticipation of the Nassau County Golden Anniversary celebrations later that week.

Telephone company employees Bill Storm and A.W. Hoerig install a phone for the AP wirephoto machine that Newsday would use during Nassau County's jubilee celebrations at Roosevelt Field, on October 5, 1949.

Grumman employee Phil Fischer of Baldwin readies the F9F airplane for an exhibition at Roosevelt Field celebrating Nassau County's jubilee on October 7, 1949.

Bandleader Guy Lombardo of Freeport and pilot Duke Krantz enjoy hot dogs provided by Jack Kollner of the Kollner meat stores on October 9, 1949. The three were in attendance at a Roosevelt Field air show in honor of Nassau County's 50th anniversary.

Bee Kaye of Hempstead places a flower on bandleader Guy Lombardo's lapel as Murray Evans, sales manager at WGBB radio station, watches on October 9, 1949, during a celebration of Nassau county's jubilee at Roosevelt Field.

1948 aerial

An aerial shot shows Sunrise Highway in Freeport on March 25, 1948.

Hopeful homeowners line up for a chance to buy a new Levitt house in Roslyn on Jan. 22, 1949.

Air Force mechanic trainees stationed at Roosevelt Field in Garden City head over to watch a flying demonstration by World War l aviator Major Al Williams on Aug. 18, 1943. The men were said to be singing songs such as "She's a grand old flag" while they marched.

Air Force mechanic trainees stationed at Roosevelt Field in Garden City march back to their classes after a flying demonstration by famed World War l aviator Major Al Williams on Aug. 18, 1943.

World War l aviator Major Al Williams gets a rousing applause after speaking to a group of Air Force mechanic trainees at Roosevelt Field in Garden City on Aug. 18, 1943.

Members of the Coast Guard apply artificial respiration to a "victim" during training at Lifeboat Station Tiana, a station in Hampton Bays manned by African-American Coast Guard members from 1942 to 1944 during World War II.

Aug. 27, 1947

Sen. Joseph McCarthy, left, is shown the washing machine in an original Levitt home by William Levitt on Aug. 27, 1947.

Seedlings of surburbia and the modern Long Island - four-room, cellarless houses for returning veterans - sprout in a part of Island Trees that would soon be called Levittown. (1949)

William Walsh frets as the Brooklyn Dodgers lag behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth inning of a game at Ebbets Field on July 21, 1949. The trip to Brooklyn was sponsored by the Freeport Boys Club, which sent 450 kids to the stadium in six buses.

A Grumman Panther jet fighter with its wings folded is on display at Roosevelt Field for an air show on Oct. 8, 1949. The show was part of the Nassau County jubilee celebrations.

Aviation pioneer Clarence Chamberlin shows the metal prop on a Newsday plane to Richard Scott of Roslyn on Oct. 8, 1949. The plane was on exhibit at the Nassau County golden anniversary celebration at Roosevelt Field.

The young men who deliver Newsday, standing in front of the newspaper's office in Hempstead, wait to board the eight buses in route to Camp Newsday. (Aug. 25, 1947)

New residents move into their homes in Levittown on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1947.

The Wading River fire department staff poses on their fire trucks in 1947.

Lieut. Andrew Wallace's F-82 Interceptor burns after crashing into a house under construction near Hofstra in Hempstead. (1949)

Firefighters put out a blaze after a plane crashed into a house near Hofstra University. (May 4, 1949)