Patchogue   

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Patchogue Page 1 
PD Tower Gone 1912-2006
PD Signal History
PD Crew Messages 1929-42
Q&A on Patchogue Operations with J.J. Earl

PATCHOGUE Depot:  PatchoGue (1903 CR4 - Formerly “P”) Used as train order call letters until construction of "PD" Tower, 1912. Remained in use as station call letters. Because Patchogue depot was PG, already in place, and after the tower opened as PD, the depot remained and retained PG to handle daily telegraph communication to differentiate the tower from the depot when sending and receiving non-block-related telegrams.

The original purpose of the tower was to protect the crossing of the tracks by the Suffolk Traction Company's tracks, with derails installed north and south of the LIRR's tracks with the traction company's tracks heading south towards the dock. Research: Dave Keller 

Ocean Ave view W pre-PD Tower c.1905 Archive: Dave Keller

To C/E (conductor/engineer )No. 504
To C/E Eng. 224

Nr. 503 five hundred three will meet no. 504 five hundred four and extra west Eng. 224
two twenty four at Islip. Made complete by operator Webb.

(Train #503 is a westbound and is meeting eastbound train #504 and eastbound extra D16b locomotive #224. Both eastbounds are being advised by this order that they are to meet the westbound at Islip.)  

History of Train Order Forms 19
Archive/Research: Dave Keller

Form 31 Order 10/30/1907 for "PG" 

To C&E No. 195

No. 192 has right over no. 195 Eastport to Patchogue. Made complete by operator Hulse.
Signed for by conductor Powles (?) and engineer Amott.

(Conductor and engineer of westbound train #195 are being advised by this order that eastbound train #192 has the right over their train from Eastport to Patchogue. Being a Form 31, both are required to sign for receipt of this order.) Archive/Research: Dave Keller

History of Train Orders
Archive/Research: Dave Keller

PD TOWER: Located on the south side of the tracks at the east end of the station platform and west side of South Ocean Ave. crossing for protection of LIRR tracks crossed by the Suffolk Traction Co., bound for Patchogue dock. 

Call letters possibly refers to Patchogue Dock or, possibly, Patchogue Derail, as a derail was an integral part of a Trolley crossing interlocking, and, although this was a storage battery car line, derails were still required when crossing LIRR tracks at grade. It's been bandied about that the call letters refer to Patchogue Depot which really doesn't work as the calls for Patchogue station  were "PG" (see train orders above) before the tower's construction and remained the calls for years after. And why would the LIRR refer to a tower as a depot? 

Saxby & Farmer 20 lever mechanical machine in service: 5/29/12. 2-lever US&S model 6 electrical locked semaphore indicator and circuit controller in service: 1913 Interlocking rebuilt and two TC style 1-lever table machines added designated “l” and “R” to control train movements over hand operated switches installed in raised locations in SE and SW corners of  the tower, in service: 9/28/17.  Suffolk Traction Co. out of service: 1919. Tower retained for LIRR use. TC machines out of service: c. mid-1930s (?)  Saxby & Farmer 20 lever machine replaced by electronic control panel: 1991. Out of service: 5/8/2006. Razed: 8/22/06  (Data, per photos and interlocking blueprints, kindly provided by Art Huneke. Date of removal of interlocking plant courtesy of LIRR Block Operator: Chris Soundy) 
Research: Dave Keller

Suffolk Traction Co, installing track turnouts at Four Corners, Patchogue 1910 view NW (Thos. R. Bayles collection, Dave Keller archive)

Suffolk Traction Co. Car  #3 at Ocean Ave View NW  1/1915 Emery Collection/Archive: SUNY- Stony Brook

Loco Curve Restriction: c.1912-1913 PD "Tower" was placed in service May, 1912.  CR4 March 1, 1913 does not list this siding. Archive: Art Huneke, Info: Dave Keller

Interlocking PD 06/03/1912 Sheet #32 Note: Incorrect tower location 

Interlocking PD 09/28/1917 Sheet #36 Archive: Art Huneke

Interlocking PD - H. Wilhelm Map 08/07/1921 -  Map stitched by Steven Lynch 10/2012

PD Tower 3/18/1930  Semaphore signals replaced 1940 (James V. Orborne photo, Dave Keller archive)

GO No.932 April 22, 1963 Ringhouse track taken out of service

GO No.932 April 22, 1963 Lace Mill turnout taken out of service

 
The Robert B. Dunnet photo, 1/1968, shows the levers in PD tower as well as the manual gate cranking mechanism to operate the crossing gates.  This is the rounded box in the left background with the two crank handles bound together by a steel ring.  One crank handle operated clockwise and the other one counterclockwise and were cranked in sequence. . . first right, then left, then right, etc.  The switch to operate the flashing lights and bells was mounted on the wall above the gate controls.

The following year the manual gates were replaced with automatic ones and the manual control box was removed from the tower. 
Info/Archive: Dave Keller

LIRR #252 Cannonball at PD Tower c.1995
Photo/Archive: William H. Birkholz

View E  8/12/2006 prior to demolition 8/23/2006

General Order No. 2001- Zone C  BDH Tower
(PD-Birdhouse) 8/23/2006

Underwood ad -Patchogue Advance 10/04/1956

Underwood ad -Patchogue Advance 4/27/1961

CR4 1903
Patchogue Lace Mills Trestle 53.51

CR4 1913
Patchogue Manufacturing Co. 53.51
Great South Bay Water Co.
Suffolk Traction Co.
PELCO coal trestle

CR4 1919
Patchogue Manufacturing Co. 52.91
Patchogue Grain Co. 52.98

CR4 1924
Plymouth Mills 53.58
Washburn-Crosby Co. 53.65 flour brands became General Mills June 20, 1928
Texas Co. Oils 53.65

Sanborn 1926 shows siding north of Texas Oil Co.

Cooley & Perkins Garden Supply ad - The Patchogue Advance 10/02/1952




Great South Bay Water Co. and Suffolk Traction Co. (closed 10/1919) - Patchogue CR4 1913

Monsell Bros. I have found Monsell Bros on this 1926 Sanborn, but CR4 has Texas Co.
Monsell shows up on the 1916 Sanborn, therefore can be anytime after the 1910 map.

 

Patchogue CR4 1913 - Patchogue  Archive: Dave Keller

Patchogue CR4 1919 - Patchogue Archive: Dave Keller

Patchogue CR4 1924 - Archive: Dave Keller

Did Monsell ever really have a siding and use the LIRR?
 

UPDATE COMING

G.O. 932 Eff. 4/22/1963: Facing hand-operated switch for eastward movements on main track located 2,371’ west of PD Interlocking Station leading to Lace Mill track out of service.
Research: RMLI Derek Stadler

HISTORY:
1798 Paper Mill erected near Lace Mill by Jonas Wicks. Destroyed by fire 1850.
1800 Cotton twine mill just west of the paper mill by Frederick Odell
1816 Sold to Justus Roe (11/10/1773-3/31/1847)
1832 Enlarged Justus Roe
1851 John E. Roe, Grandson, (c.1833-10/16/1875) Union Twine Mill built 1851; First building of the future lace mill. 
1873 Beers Atlas map of Patchogue shows Union Twine Mills land that belongs to John E. Roe. 
1880 John S. Havens handled the Mill affairs and leased to Carslow, Henderson and Co. Scotland (began crinoline manufacture, later imported lace curtains, bleached and finished them)
1884 Sanborn map of Patchogue shows a backwards "L"-shaped building on the site with the note: "This Mill is Being Fitted up by Anderson & Churchill for Bleaching & Finishing Cotton Goods."
1887 End of water wheel use


1888 Beers Atlas (Section M) Carslow & Henderson Bleachery & Dye Works, owned by John S. Havens. 
1890 Sold to Patchogue Lace Manufacturing Co. The first looms were imported and installed.
1892 Owned by PELCO (operated by Charles E. Rose and Son)
10/21/1893 "American Lace Mills Shut Down" - NY Times
12/04/1893 "Patchogue Lace Mills To Start" - NY Times
11/09/1907: Patchogue Manufacturing Company 1,000,000 pairs of curtains - Over 600 people employed over
$6,000 payroll weekly - Brookhaven Daily Eagle 
10/14/1954 "Patchogue Mill To Quit: Lace Concern to Close Before Jan. 1, as "Sales Drop"  - NY Times
04/22/1963 LIRR General Order: GO No.932 April 22, 1963 Lace Mill turnout taken out of service - LIRR

Lace Mill -  Patchogue Sanborn map 8/1902
Coal siding installed between 1897 and 1902
Boxcar siding installed between 1902 and 1910

Boxcars delivered raw materials: cotton, fibers, silk, etc. Outbound would be the finished products: Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to make underskirts and as a dress lining, for example.
 

Lace Mill - View N c.1905

Patchogue Manufacturing Co. Invoice 2/11/1911

Lace Mill LIRR rail sidings
Patchogue Sanborn map 10/1916

Noon Hour at the Lace Mill - Main St.
 

Aerial Lace Mill  c.1950 view NE
Archive: John Jett

Here we see the two Patchogue Mill sidings; shipping/receiving and coal trestle delivery, and the Patchogue Gas Co. Gas Ball and storage tanks.

Lace Mill view S, c.1935 - Photo: George G. Ayling
Archive: Dave Keller

SUFFOLK TRACTION COMPANY

Suffolk Traction Co. - Patchogue Gas Co.
Sanborn map 10/1926

MORE: SUFFOLK TRACTION

Battery car #1 on flatcar on arrival at Patchogue yard – June, 1911.  Notice Week's coaling ramp in background.
Photo: Howard S. Conklin Archive: Queensboro Public Library

Suffolk Traction - Main St. view W c. 1915

PATCHOGUE GAS CO.

The conventional coal-gas process involves heating bituminous (soft) coal in an oxygen-free Retort House so it would not burn. The heated could would release flammable hydrocarbon gases that were collected and purified, then stored and delivered.

The Purifying House removed hydrogen sulfide from the gas by passing it over wooden trays containing moist ferric oxide.

The gas holder (Gas Ball) was a spherical tank used for storage of the gas and to maintain even pressure in the distribution pipes.  From 1910 through the 1970s, a 60,000 cubic foot gas holder (i.e. the Gas Ball) and seven horizontal, above ground storage tanks were used to store gas produced elsewhere.

Also, gas was purchased from the Suffolk County Gas and Electric plant in Bay Shore and distributed from the Patchogue plant from 1914 through 1918.   Sanborn map -  2/1910

Gas Company. c. 1906 later owned by LILCO view SW
Retort House, Purifying House , and Gas Holder

Aerial Lace Mill  c.1950 view NE
Archive: John Jett

Right: The two Patchogue Mill sidings; shipping/receiving and coal trestle delivery, the Patchogue Gas Co. Gas Ball and storage tanks, and the remains of the Suffolk Traction Co.

Sanborn map 10/1926

Expanded Patchogue Gas Co.
Monsell Bros. Cement Block Co.
Abandoned Suffolk Traction Co. as of 10/1919
Sanborn map 12 - 10/1926

The Patchogue Gas Company was in operation from 1904 to 1926.  After only a few years of operations, the Patchogue Gas Company was sold to LILCO, and gas production - though not gas distribution and storage - at the site ceased.  The facility remained until the 1970s, when LILCO sold the property to a third party.

The conventional coal-gas process involves heating bituminous (soft) coal in an oxygen-free Retort House so it would not burn. The heated could would release flammable hydrocarbon gases that were collected and purified, then stored and delivered.  The Purifying House removed hydrogen sulfide from the gas by passing it over wooden trays containing moist ferric oxide.

The gas holder (later Gas Ball) was a spherical tank used for storage of the gas and to maintain even pressure in the distribution pipes.  From 1910 through the 1970s, a 60,000 cubic foot gas holder (i.e. the Gas Ball) and seven horizontal (Sanborn above right), ground storage tanks were used to store gas produced elsewhere.  Also, gas was purchased from the Suffolk County Gas and Electric plant in Bay Shore and distributed from the Patchogue plant from 1914 through 1918.
 

Washburn Crosby - 1924 Gold Medal Flour ad
LIRR Patchogue CR4 1924 at mileage 53.65

Washburn-Crosby Co. (Flour, etc. until 6/20/1928
purchased by General Mills)
 

Washburn-Crosby Co.
Texas Co. Oils (1902–1959)

LIRR Patchogue CR4 1924 at mileage 53.65
Sanborn map 10/1926 page 13

Texas Co. Oil replaced by Cooley & Perkins
per Emery map 5/1958

The Patchogue Gas Company (PELCO) Division Street plant was constructed in November 1899.  The demand for electricity increased rapidly and the original power plant had to be enlarged several times. In 1912, a 600kw generator with steam turbine drive was installed. In the following years the generating capacity was upgraded several more times. Large extensions to the building were constructed in 1923 to house a large boiler that could produce 1,000 horsepower, thereby doubling the capacity of the plant.  Patchogue Village Historian, Hans Henke

PELCO 1904 - View W taken from the
Patchogue River bank.

Sanborn map 1902 - PELCO Archive: PMLibrary

"History Of Patchogue" 1925 by Dr. H. Wellington Gordon
Page 27 Archive: PMLibrary

Excerpted: "...and in 1899... the plant established there..."

PELCO construction Supervisor Jack Basin (center, facing left)
View NE c.7/1908+ -  Queensborough Library  Archive: John Jett

Based on the roof still being pitched, this photo is the “engine installation” in 1908-1909 and the expansion of PELCO indicated by the 1910 Sanborn.

PELCO c.1915 page 17 - Patchogue Sayville and Bellport Long Island and Their Attractions by Geo. W. Richardson 1917 Archive: PMLibrary

Sanborn map 1916 - PELCO, Texas Oil Co
View E  - Archive: PMLibrary

Sanborn map 1926 - PELCO, Texas Oil Co
View E - Archive: PMLibrary

Patchogue Electric Light Co. ad 1910
Archive: John Jett

  
PELCO Electric ad - Patchogue Advance 7/02/1955 

PELCO View NW  8/03/1941
Photo: Robert Emery Archive: SUNY - Stony Brook 

PELCO Plant in background 
view E of River Ave.  5/1943
Photo: F. Weber, Archive: Dave Keller

PELCO line crew truck - Conklin Ave. 
Archive: John Jett

PELCO Plant 1954 view NW
Collection: Dave Keller


PELCO Plant - 1962 view N

Aerial view 2016 ex-PELCO site became LILCO site

Week's Coal & Wood view SE

Week's Coal & Wood view  SW

Week's Coal Ramp 1954
Collection: Dave Keller

Hiscox Chemical Works est. 1876 (Patchogue Business News) view SW  c.1902 built c.1893, unverified.

Parker's Hair Balsam "LAVO" changed to "GLYCOLEN"

CR4 1919 - Patchogue

CR4 1924 - Patchogue

Queensboro Ice Co. View W
Destroyed in fire 11/1984

Knickerbocker Ice Co. post fire view E c.1985
Photo/Archive: John Jett

Ex-Queensboro Ice post-fire view W - Ron Busch and Bellbrook Reality signs E c.1985 Photo/Archive: John Jett

Dayton Hedges Coal/Wood & Feed/Hay receipt 4/30/1910

Dayton Hedges Coal & Feed, Rider Ave 
View NE c.1910 Archive: John Jett

Swezey Fuel Oil View SE  2001
Photo: Steven Lynch

Swezey Fuel View E c. 1985
Photo: Steven Lynch

Swezey Fuel  Oil, Rider Ave View SE  2001
Photo: Steven Lynch

Swezey Fuel View E  2001 Photo: Steven Lynch

Swezey Fuel Oil View NE 9/2017

Situated alongside the LIRR tracks at the crossing of Potter Avenue is the interesting coal silo of the Wood & Vrooman Patchogue Coal Pocket and adjacent lumber yard.  View is looking SW c. 1910.  For many years a landmark trackside, the building was destroyed by fire on May 6, 1964. 

   
Wood & Vrooman Coal & Lumber View NE 7/1908
Archive: Chris Klug

Vrooman Coal burning down 5/06/1964 View SE Photo/Archive: John Jett

Vrooman Coal - View W from Bay Ave 4/24/1946
Archive: Dave Keller

Wood & Vrooman Coal & Lumber - Sanborn map 2/1910

Vrooman Coal & Lumber ad in the
Patchogue Advance newspaper
1/16/1942

Emery map 5/1958 MP 53-54  Patchogue River to
Evergreen Ave, Patchogue

Evergreen Ave View E - Whistle post for Grove Ave eastbound - Reich Bros. Trucking siding at left MP54 in background - 1939 Photo F. Weber Archive: SUNY-Stony Brook

Reich Bros Trucking Co. warehouse c.1980 view NE at Evergreen Ave. Photo/Archive: John Jett

Emery map 5/1958 MP 54-55  Grove Ave to Middle Island Rd. (now Hewlett Ave), Patchogue

Grove Ave view E 1936
Photo Fred Weber  Archive: John Jett


 Grove Ave view E 1939
Photo Fred Weber  Archive: SUNY-Stony Brook


Grove Ave.  MP54 bell  view W of siding to T&S Lumber at right. Photo F. Weber Archive: SUNY-Stony Brook

Patchogue South Country Rd  view E 1/19/1930

Patchogue South Country Rd  view W 1/19/1930

Patchogue South Country Rd  Crossing Shanty
close-up view E 1/19/1930

Patchogue South Country Rd  Crossing Shanty close-up view SE
4/24/1946

Patchogue South Country Rd - Mail Crane, Crossing Shanty
View W 4/24/1946  Photo: Fred Weber Archive: Dave Keller

The bells were for additional crossing protection. . . probably at times when the crossing was unmanned.  See attached images above.  South Country Rd has the bell staff mounted in 1930 and later attached to the crossing sign in 1946.  Emery's  South Country Rd. map represents a time PRIOR (pre-1930) to the crossing shanty being moved from the SE to the SW corner location. Chances are, the Crossing Shanty being located next to the mail crane caused a problem with the mailbag being tossed off in the same location . . .maybe it slammed into the shanty on more than one occasion and it was deemed prudent to MOVE the shanty as far away from the mail crane as was physically and practically possible. Info: Dave Keller

Justos Roe & Sons, manufacturers of steel tapes and measures (patented 1892) packing slip c.1900

In 1878 Justus Roe began the manufacture of steel tapes and reels for surveyor's use.

Ackerly Piano Store 1906

 
George M. Ackerly Music business ad c.1910 Archive: John Jett

LIRR #2020 P74D Parlor "PATCHOGUE" Montauk Yard  5/15/1966  (Rugen-Keller)

Built by Pullman in 1926 as a 28 seat 1 drawing room parlor car. Sold to PRR and leased back to Pullman 12/31/1945. Withdrawn from lease 10/01/1956.  Acquired by LIRR March 1961. Retired November 1966 after car was wrecked in a derailment; scrapped. Research: Jack Deasy

Dodge City train Patchogue c.1960 
Archive: John Jett

Dodge City Admission Ticket 5/1959
Archive: John Jett