Master Builder
On February 26, 1974, Robert Moses spoke at the Freeport Memorial Library at the invitation of the Freeport Historical Society. He came to Freeport and gave an impassioned speech about the construction of Jones Beach.
"Jones Beach began in 1924 with a remote little makeshift State park of two hundred acres on Fire Island, acquired to house passengers suspected of having cholera on a stranded ship offshore. "
"Let us have no illusions about Jones Beach as we found it. It was an isolated, swampy sandbar accessible only by small boats and infrequent ferries, inhabited by fisherman and loners, surfcasters and assorted oddballs and beachcombers trying to get away from it all."
“Ellison’s Hotel, a combination of bath, bar and cat house, stood stubbornly in our way in the Town of Hempstead."
"The assorted obstructionists did us a great favor because they unwittingly made us more stubborn, hidebound and bullet proof."
"When the critics tell you there has been nothing but neglect of the great outdoors, take them to Jones Beach and Fire Island and tell them to look about them."
Excerpts taken from Robert Moses's presentation given on February 26, 1974, in Freeport, NY. A copy of Moses's speech is available at the Freeport Memorial Library.
Images: Bookmark from the archives of the Freeport Memorial Library. Poster courtesy of the Freeport Historical Society.
