Islip's Town Historian Visits West Islip

The members of the West Islip Historical Society welcomed the Town of Islip's Historian, Robert Finnegan, at their meeting Thursday night at La Grange Inn.

"I'm here to support the people of West Islip, who did a wonderful job saving this beautiful building," he said in his address to the crowd of approximately 50 people. "The job of a historical society is to preserve, collect and protect the history of their town and that is exactly what happened here."

Finnegan also encouraged the group to make their society official by becoming a 501-c3 corporation, something he encourages every historical society to do. "Once you are an official organization as recognized by the filing, then you are eligible for grant money," he explained to the crowd.

In addition to being eligible for grant money, a 501-c3 qualifies a corporation as a non-profit organization so it can obtain federal tax exempt status on income and property tax and allow donations to be tax deductible. Legal paperwork needs to be filed to first become a corporation, then a specific form must be filed with the IRS (Tax Form 1023) to gain the exemption status.

West Islip Historical Society president Carolyn Agenjo told the members of the Society that money most of all is required to make this happen. She and Finnegan also told the crowd that plans are underway to get historic markers for the La Grange Inn, Udall Road and the Weeks-Muncey Cemetery on Boulevard Avenue.

Finnegan also spoke about the ongoing renovations to other Town of Islip jewels like the Sagtikos Manor in West Bay Shore; the Islip Art Museum & Carriage House in East Islip; Percy G. Williams PineAcres Estate in East Islip and Brookwood Hall in East Islip.

The latter is unable to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places due to poor renovations in the past, but Finnegan believes it can once again become a place Long Islanders can cherish.

"We can use it for weddings and parties, and local residents can look on it with pride and imagine what it must have been like in 1910 when it was owned by the Knapp Family, a rich family from Manhattan who lived there during the summers. Then it was the jewel of the South Shore," he said.

At the meeting, Agenjo shared pictures of the Memorial Day celebration at the Weeks-Muncey Cemetery, where Finnegan also appeared wearing historic colonial attire and the West Islip Country Fair taking place on September 26 (raindate: October 3). Agenjo also showed the group a copy of an old newspaper, The West Islip Press, dated December, 1935. She said she has several volumes in her possession and told the group many volunteers are needed to assist with the tedious process of digitizing old newspapers and documents.