The Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society has a new display in the Farmingdale Public Library called, ìThe Way It Was.î It deals with some businesses that were here in the late 1800s to the 1940s. It portrays the jobs people had to make a living. An article, written by William Johnston, Farmingdale Village historian, is above the display case in the lobby of the library. It describes the jobs and the number of people who did each type of work. Most of the working people then were still farmers, but see how that began to change.

Below this, in the display case, they highlight the first large business to come to Farmingdale. It was the Bausch Lumber and Picture Frame Business. The telephone company already had a Farmingdale office in the 1890s. Back then, it was a rarity to have a phone, and an operator, who could listen in on all your conversations, went with it.

Inside the library in the first aisle, opposite the reading room, there are two showcases further illustrating those early days. Farmingdale was continuing to grow. Homes and businesses were going up with it. The display shows tools that belonged to an early carpenter in Farmingdale. With this growth, the surveyor, who measured out the land, became a common fixture. To illustrate this, FBHS has a donated acquisition to its archives, a transit, which is a measuring tool.

They also have examples of the businesses and shopkeepers who were part of this growth, with pictures, tools of their trades and other artifacts. They are sure some of you will become very nostalgic when you see these things. For those of you who are too young to remember these things, you will appreciate how far history has come.