When the railroad was opened
through Medford to Greenport in 1844 there was no settlement in
Medford, and reason for locating a station at this point was that it
was half way between Patchogue and Port Jefferson, and these villages
had no rail service at that time. The railroad was opened to
Patchogue in 1868 and to Port Jefferson in 1872, so until that time
stage coaches met the trains at Medford for the north and south side
villages and carried the mail and passengers. Chauncey Chichester of
Center Moriches carried the mail for several years which consisted
of one locked pouch which was unlocked at Patchogue, and mail for
that village removed, then it was locked again and on throughout the
villages of Bellport Fireplace (Brookhaven), and so on to Moriches.
The first railroad station had living
quarters for the
agent as there was no house in Medford to live in. This consisted of
one large room and an attic which was added to through the years by
the station agents who lived there, mostly by Edward Wright who was
station agent for 23 years.
The object of building the railroad
through the "Pine Barrens" of central Long Island was the most direct
route to Greenport and the proposed route to Boston. The Boston
trains as they were called carried passengers from New York to Greenport, then steamer to
Stonington, Conn.,. and then the Old Colony
railroad to Boston This was very profitable route for a few years
until the New Haven railroad was built on the north side of Long
Island sound to Boston.
There was not much settlement in
Medford
until about 1900, when the O.L. Schwenke land company started a
development and sold small tracts of land to many German born people
in the city who began to settle in Medford many if them starting
small poultry farms.
In 1896 an 8 acre tract was purchased by
Jacob Beck who cleared his little farm and built a house which he and his
family occupied. Up to 1904 the residents of Medford consisted of
Jacob beck, E. C. Wright A. Knight Frank Hollman,
George Erhardt, Theodore Bepp, Jacob Jansen, Peter Hoffman, A. Lohtz, George
Reich Sr., .F. Poehtsch John froese, C. Sauerwald, Emil Happach,
Fred Brinks
August Hoeffler, "Texas Jack Pachmann and John Vate.
A school district
was formed in 1903 by the order of commissioner M.H. Packer and
George Gerhard, Jacob Beck, and John H. Wright were elected trustees.
School opened in October of that year with miss Jennile O. Walker as
the first teacher in small private house north of Medford station
with 14 pupils. Later in the year a school house was built on a site
at the intersection of Peconic avenue and New Medford avenue at a cost of
$600. Medford became a Union Free School in 1921 and in 1923 the new
school building was erected at a cost of $32,000 which was designed
by Edward Rose Sr., a resident of Medford. Four years its dedication on
Labor Day, 1923, it was over crowed and one class was placed in the
old school house. One of the earlier trustees who spent much energy
for the welfare of the school was Peter Hoffman.
Albert
Knight opened
the first grocery and general store about 1902 and there were two
hotels, one owned by Frank Hollman on the south side of the railroad
and one owned by George Erhardt on the north side.
A post office was
opened in 1886 with George Birdsall as postmaster Joseph Gilbert
was postmaster, in 1888, William Case in 1902, then Frank Hollmann
1907 until 1918. Albert knight was the postmaster that year followed
by George J. Roberts until 1924, and then R. D. Rider fro several
years.
One historian described Medford in 1875 as having a railroad
station and one house. Quite a contrast to the present large and
growing village.