Next year, 2007, will provide a number of anniversaries for Farmingdale for which we are already beginning to plan. They include the 320th year since Thomas Powell and his family began settlement in 1687, the 25th anniversary of our wonderful Village Pops concert series, and Brad DeMilo's 25th year as director of the Pops. Another of these notable events we plan to mark is the 75th anniversary of our Village Hall, whose story I will briefly relate this evening.

The Village of Farmingdale was formed in 1904 from the Town of Oyster Bay. The town in the late 1800s established local offices in the larger hamlets so that residents did not have to make the long trip to Oyster Bay for all town matters. Farmingdale had such a satellite office located where our village hall stands today. In this small wooden structure, taxes and fines were collected, and minor judicial cases were heard by a justice of the peace. Incidentally, the Gregory museum, a small natural science facility in Hicksville, is housed in their 1895 "courthouse" which still stands.

The new Village of Farmingdale arranged to rent the old Town of Oyster Bay office following incorporation in 1904. In 1923 the Village purchased the building. It was razed once the decision was reached to build a brick Village Hall/Firehouse on the site several years later.

The decision to build it back in 1930 was not an easy one. For one thing, the nation was beginning the second year of a profound economic slump, which we now know as the Great Depression. The village numbered only 3,373 residents in the 1930 census, barely 40 percent of our current figure.

On March 17, 1931 the voters approved the expenditure of $90,000 (the equivalent of $1.3 million in 2006 dollars). Bids were sought on construction, which were opened on July 3. The contractors selected began work early that summer, and had the new facility ready for occupancy just after New Year's Day 1932. Dedication was held in January and the first regular meeting of the village board met on Jan. 11. Frank Scholl, who had been elected mayor the previous March, presided at both events.

The new building enabled the two fire services, the Hook and Ladder Company and the Water Witch Engine Company to unite under one roof for the first time as the Farmingdale Fire Dept., since their founding in the 1880's.

In 1979 on the occasion of the Village's 75th anniversary, an addition was constructed, including a new entrance, lobby, and meeting chamber among other improvements.

In recent months your current administration has conducted an infrastructure modernization, upgrading and updating our computer operating systems at Village Hall to make our services as cost efficient as possible. Repairs to interior plaster walls were completed and new gutters are scheduled to be installed.

We look forward to celebrating the 75th anniversary next year. During this three-quarters of a century Village Hall has become an iconic landmark of our village, along with our historic railroad station and houses of worship, giving our village an identity and "sense of place" often lacking in many communities. We are indebted to our Village elected officials and residents of the early 1930's who struggled during the difficult economic times of that era to give us our own Village Hall/Fire House.

I would like to recognize Trustee Christiansen, who has volunteered to head the committee planning the events to celebrate its 75th anniversary early next year. Meanwhile, have a great summer.

(Editor's Note: Minute of Farmingdale History is a series of lectures about local history being presented at the Farmingdale Village Pops concert series on the Village Green on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer. This installment was featured at the June 28 concert.)