A Digital Tour of Wantagh’s
Historic Sites
The Jones-Dengler Farm House
• Built in the 1700s
• Home to the Jones family in the 1800s
• Expanded in 1875
• Comedian Lenny Bruce ran away from home at the age of 16
and worked on the Dengler farm from 1941 to 1943
• Fred Dengler passed away in 1973
• His wife re-married in 1983
• His wife Caroline died in 2007
• Landmarked June 8, 2011
• His son sold it to its present owner in 2011
• Now a therapists office
• It has a colonial design
• This past spring it got sold
to the present owner who
plans to renovate the home
• It is located at 1051
Wantagh avenue, Wantagh
between Duckpond Drive
and Lee Ann Terrace
~Wantagh Auto Body~
Wantagh’s Original Fire
Department
~Wantagh Auto body~
Wantagh’s Original Fire Department
• The cupola on the top is original and used to be the
siren for the fire department which rang until 1984.
• In march of 1963 the Motchweiller family bought
the building turned it into Wantagh Auto body
~Wantagh Auto Body~
Wantagh’s Original Fire
Department
• The other fire department took all of the equipment from the structure.
• The Motchweiller family only knocked down a few walls for more space,
no other changes were made to the building.
WANTAGH AUTO BODY ~
WANTAGH’S OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT
•
After the fire department left part of it was used as a diner, in 1965 it closed
and is now used as a backyard for the shop.
•
The upstairs still has the original floors and panels.
WANTAGH AUTO BODY~
WANTAGH’S OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT
•
The top was rented as a dress factory, but is now rented to Brands as bicycle storage.
Wantagh Museum & Old Train Station
Jones Beach State Park
Thomas Jones
Thomas Jones was born in
1665 in Ireland. He
landed on the South
Shore of Long Island in
1692. He was given a
permit to start a whaling
company in 1705 and
died eight years later in
1713.
Robert Moses
Moses was a big part of
Jones Beach’s architecture.
He helped design most of
Jones Beach.
The park opened in 1929.
Marine Theatre
The Marine Theater opened in 1930.
Guy Lombardo was a big part of the
designing the Marine Theatre.
Guy Lombardo
Guy Lombardo was a
huge part of designing
the Marine Theatre and
many other Jones
Beach structures.
Nikon Theater
Nikon Theater opened in 1954 with 8,200
seats. It expanded into a second deck in
1991 and opened a bay stage in 2009.
Jones Beach Bathhouses
The West Bathhouse
was built in 1930 by
Robert Moses and
Herbert Magoon. The
East was built in 1930
soon after the West
Bathhouse opened.
Jones Beach Lighthouse
The Jones Beach Lighthouse
was built in 1930
The “pencil” as it is known
locally is an icon of Jones
Beach and can be seen from
miles away
Jones Beach Beaches
Jones Beach opened in 1929.
Fields 1, 2, and 6 were opened
from 1948 to 1952.
Zach’s Bay ( Field 5) was added
in 1935.
Fun Facts
• NYS Traffic Department
had to expand the
Meadowbrook Parkway
and others, due to the
high volume of people
who wanted to visit Jones
Beach
• Jones Beach hosts the
New York Air Show on
Memorial Day weekend
•
Blue Angels Fly Over Jones Beach
Harold Avenue Cemetery
The Cemetery’s Roots
The cemetery’s roots can be traced back to the early 1800s, when
Thomas Jackson, a white Revolutionary War Veteran, sold 20 acres
of land to freed African American Jeffrey Jackson in 1808.
Thomas Jackson, who is buried in the cemetery, owned land located
where the Wantagh Public Library stands today and lived by the
Jerusalem River. He was a brave man who served in the 4th line and
the Second New York Regiment and also took part in the capture of
Fort St. George and fought in the Battle of Long Island in 1776
The History of
Harold Avenue Cemetery
The Harold Avenue Cemetery is located west of Old Mill Road between
Lawrence Place and Harold Avenue.
The Harold Avenue burial plot was used by the descendants of the Jackson
family slaves prior to 1862, the date of the first recorded burial in the Old
Burial Ground on Oakfield Avenue.
Sources Sited
Sources;
Cemeteries of Old Wantagh
Editorial Committee
Wantagh American Revolution Bicentennial Committee
Wantagh, NY
May, 1976
Larry Engel, Wantagh Boy Scouts, District 12
Sherwin Kaplan, Voice of Wantagh
Karl Pfeiffer, Wantagh American Legion
Donna Rigali, Wantagh Public Library
Source;
Wantagh Seaford Patch.com
Melissa O’Connor
December 16, 2010
Sources
•
•
•
•
JonesBeachRescue.org
Wikipedia.com
Google.com
Youtube.com
Sources
 Interviews with manager of Wantagh Auto
Body
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/longislandaut
obodyrepair/7095382787/in/set72157629493349818 for pictures
By: Shayna DeRosa