History: Port Jeff Celebrated Old Home Week in August, 1911

One hundred years ago this August, thousands of people attended Old Home Week in Port Jefferson.

The Port Jefferson Business Men’s Association organized the 1911 event, aiming to reunite the village’s former residents while stimulating the local economy and promoting the area’s attractions.

The celebration began solemnly on Sunday, August 6, with services in Port Jefferson’s churches. In the afternoon, the 40-piece Boys’ Band of St. John’s Orphan Asylum gave an outdoor concert of patriotic music at the Biddle Fountain on East Main Street. The first day ended at Athena Hall () on Main Street with hymns by the united choirs of the village’s churches and sermons by local ministers.

August 7 was declared “Bridgeport Day.” The ferry Park City ran special trips to accommodate the throngs from Connecticut who sailed to Port Jefferson for the day’s festivities. In the afternoon, a baseball team sponsored by the Bridgeport Evening Post walloped the Port Jefferson Nine in a game played at Pine Bluff Camp on the west side of Port Jefferson harbor. A “Little Coney Island” carnival opened at the corner of Main Street and East Broadway, offering a carousel, games and sideshows. An estimated 3000 visitors packed Hotel Square at the intersection of Main and East Main streets for an evening concert.

Tuesday’s program featured track and field sports with the athletes from Pine Bluff Camp winning most of the medals. In the afternoon, a balloon ascended from Barnum Avenue and floated over Port Jefferson harbor where “Professor Hutchinson” jumped with his red, white and blue parachute, landing safely in the water, thrilling the hundreds of onlookers.

Wednesday, August 9, was a comparatively quiet day, planned to give the village’s returning sons and daughters a chance to renew old acquaintances. In the evening, there was another parachute drop, a concert at the Bay View Pavilion on East Broadway, a moonlight excursion on the Park City and voting for the Queen of the Carnival, won in a tight race by Port Jefferson’s Hazel Fenn who received 12,078 votes.

Marching along village streets adorned with banners, flags and bunting, members of the Grand Army of the Republic, area fire departments, civic and fraternal organizations and the Boys’ Brigade participated in the August 10 parade. Thursday’s procession also included decorated automobiles, floats and horse-drawn wagons with prizes awarded to the best in each category.

In the afternoon, on a second “Bridgeport Day,” Mayor Edward T. Buckingham of Bridgeport spoke from the bandstand at the Biddle Fountain and delivered the Old Home Week address. California Frank’s Wild West Show, featuring bull fights, steer throwing and dancing horses, opened at Wheeler’s lot in upper Port Jefferson.

As they had done earlier in the week, the boys from Pine Bluff Camp proved their athletic skills again, this time as they dominated Friday’s swimming, diving and rowing events. Motorboat races in Port Jefferson harbor, a greased pole contest, a wild duck chase and an evening concert rounded out the August 11 program.

The merrymaking ended on Saturday, August 12, with a Mardi Gras and fireworks over Port Jefferson harbor, bringing a close to seven days of almost frenzied activity and peace to the normally quiet village.

By all measures, the event was a success. More people attended the 1911 homecoming than during the village’s first Old Home Week in 1908. Hundreds of summer visitors and former residents signed a register, the guest book enabling people to find who was in town for the celebration. Port Jefferson harbor was filled with all types of vessels from small craft to large yachts. The Long Island Rail Road added extra passenger cars to accommodate the record-breaking crowds.

Local merchants reported banner sales. Restaurants and taverns experienced dramatic increases in patronage. Boarding houses and hotels were filled to capacity. Area businesses such as the Unit Brick and Tile Company advertised their wares from booths set up in the “Country Store” section of the carnival. The celebration was covered in metropolitan newspapers including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the articles bringing favorable publicity to the village and its industries.

Perhaps most important, with the homecoming celebration of 1911, Port Jefferson earned a reputation for its hospitality, confirmed over the next hundred years at the village’s storied festivals, concerts, parades and tournaments.