Op ED - Three Elephants In The Room, Sewers, a Blog and One Very Important Election

By - Maureen Rossi

The Elephant in the Room is an enormously insightful and informative blog written by Marci Bortman, Director of Conservation Programs for the The Nature Conservancy in Long Island.  In operation since 1951, the Conservancy’s primary goal is to protect ecologically important lands and waterways for both nature and people.   Bortman’s blog was about nitrogen pollution on Long Island.  The subject has been of much discussion as of late; it was brought front and center earlier this year by the Long Island Clean Water Partnership.   The group consists of environmental powerhouses like Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Group for the East End, Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and Bortman’s group The Nature Conservancy.  They joined forces to come up with viable solutions to the high levels of nitrogen in our waterways and to address the fact that it’s leaching into the water we drink.  They say Long Island needs updated water quality standards to reduce the amount of sewage pollution in our local waters and improve, upgrade and modernize existing sewer and septic systems. 

The second Elephant in the Room occupied the V.F.W. Hall in Kings Park on Wednesday October 23^rd when about sixty community members gathered for the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce Meet the Candidates Luncheon and the subject of sewers arose again and again.  One by one virtually every candidate spoke about the proposed sewer plans for Kings Park, some said it should have been included in the proposed 2014 budget, some said it can’t legally be included in that budget because it will serve only some of the population of Smithtown and must be voted on.  Some said it will take years, some said they believe the project could begin in the spring.  Some candidates were more optimistic than others.   President of the Kings Park Chamber Tony Tanzi is a businessman who’s been one of the leading voices calling for sewers in Kings Park.  However, his first concern is not the expansion of the business district; this father of four is seriously concerned about the drinking water that lies just beneath the ground.   His concern is valid; our aquifers are vulnerable to any and all substances that go into the ground.  Suffolk County has approximately 400,000 cesspools/septic tanks.    With only twenty-five percent of Suffolk County being served by sewer treatment facilities our drinking supply is something that should concern everyone and social science research done by  Bortman and her team at the Conservancy tell us that Long Islanders care deeply about the water they swim in, fish in, live by and drink.   However, that same study also showed that most people don’t know where their drinking water comes from, where the waste goes when they flush the toilet and that nitrogen from human waste, fertilizers and fossil fuels are the culprits polluting our bays and harbors.    

The Conservancy has been working tirelessly for years to restore estuaries; they acquired 13,500 acres of underwater land and transplanted over 7 million clams in over 100 sanctuaries on our Island.  They support the science and policy to protect and restore critical sea grass because we have the data and it tells us that nitrogen loading or excess nitrogen is the number one cause of marsh loss.  Marshes are breeding ground for mollusks which clean our water and critical to the environment.    With sea levels rising and super storms like last year’s Sandy pound our shores they have created another  precarious situation; over 15,000 of our septic systems on Long Island are presently in areas where the water table is less than five feet deep. 

What must be done to keep nitrogen out of our aquifers, our bays and estuaries?   The experts – the newly formed ecological dream team, The Long Island Clean Water Partnership make several recommendations; but sewers and updated waste treatment plants in Suffolk County would be a crucial start.  The good news is it looks like the Bellone administration is on board.   In April of this year County Executive Steven Bellone announced grant and loan applications for construction-ready municipal and private sewer infrastructure expansion projects with the county.    He says investing in sewers makes both environmental and economic sense.   He also feels sewer expansion projects are essential to creating jobs in Suffolk County in a sustainable way.    Adrienne Esposito is the Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and she feels there are key locations where sewers are a necessity, not a luxury item.  The truth of the matter, from an economic standpoint, sewers sound like a luxury item for both Smithtown and cash-strapped Suffolk County.  Only $30 million in funding will be made available through Suffolk County’s Asset Stabilization Reserve Fund specifically for sewer expansion projects.   Our Town Board votes 5-0 earlier this year to pony up one million to begin the sewer process to show the county we are serious about the project and ready to act on the project.   However, the estimated cost for sewers in Kings Park is $20,000,000.  One million will come from Smithtown, the county grant would provide three million (if our project is approved), we will receive a three million dollar waiver because Kings Park already has a hookup and we won’t need to pay that fee but where does the other thirteen million come from?     

In order to ascertain the grant Smithtown applied for, a sewer project has to be consistent with one of many scenarios; the most applicable for the proposed Kings Park sewer system might be:  Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (our downtown is close to our waterfront), project applicant demonstrates the ability to begin construction within 12-24 months of contract execution, project protects or improves the quality of drinking waters within groundwater-contributing area to public supply wells, areas served by private wells or improves the quality of nitrogen-sensitive water bodies.   Okay, I’m no scientist but last latter resonates greatly for our beautiful waterside community – a community that is all down-hill to our bay, our river and estuaries making it most susceptible to nitrogen run-off.   Clean drinking water just makes common sense; it’s incumbent for all of us to stand up and demand this.   Bortman’s blog tells us that nitrogen in some areas of Long Island are consistent with levels correlated with colon cancer, bladder cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  The scariest part of this data is that the levels are still below the federal safe drinking water standard.  I checked the Smithtown nitrogen levels, for 2013 we showed 2.0 – 3.3 mgl with the federal regulatory limited being 10 mgl.  Should we be concerned?  Maybe we need to go back five years and see if our nitrogen levels have risen, forgetting what federal regulatory limits are.   The Nature Conservancy says addressing nitrogen pollution and its underlying causes is by far the greatest challenge they’ve had to face since the inception of their organization.

Another one of the specifications for a sewer project to be deemed applicable by the county is: site and its proposed use has all of the following characteristics:  promotes to the maximum practical extend long term growth and benefit to Suffolk County, environmentally sustainability components, within a ½ mile to a rail transit hub, mixed use and housing diversity component and creates a place of interest or provides sewer connections for existing commercial or residential properties currently on septic/cesspools in area that do not conform to Article 6.    Okay that’s a mouthful but what words in that paragraph should we all be paying attention to?  Half mile to rail hub – yes that makes Kings Park a viable candidate, long-term growth to Suffolk County – yikes can we extrapolate here?   That’s the kind of statement than can make a community with over 500 acres of new state parkland in the center of it a little bit nervous.  Although it’s officially a park, anyone who is paying attention in Smithtown is concerned about what can and will possibly end up at the Nissequogue River State Park.   Creates a place of interest – well in all due respect Great Wizard of Sewers (whoever is behind the curtain), all Kings Park residents think Kings Park is a place of interest.

So what’s next?  How does the process happen?  David Flynn of the Smithtown Planning Department is one of the region’s greatest minds when it comes to planning and sewers.  He tells The Messenger that grants go through a consolidated funding application (CFA) and head onto one of ten regional economic development councils in the state.  We have our own for Long Island.   Then our application is given a numerical score based on certain criteria, we are told there are on hundred applications and only twenty will be chosen.  Legislator John Kennedy has been championing sewers for downtown areas in Smithtown since 2005.  He worked closely with neighboring Smithtown Legislator Lynne Nowick in calling for a study and has had numerous conversations with the past and Present County Executive on the hot topic.   Kennedy gets it, he gets the economic and environmental significance – he wants to be shovel ready if Smithtown gets the green light.  Kennedy probably know more about sewers than any other legislator on Long Island – he’s up there with Flynn when it comes to a sewer I.Q., although not a decision maker regarding the grant, perhaps Kennedy is really the Great Wizard of Sewers.  Tanzi has had numerous conversations and meetings with Kennedy and says we can’t keep turning a blind eye to the fact that sewers in our central business districts will accomplish three important goals:  the expansion of our tax base, the economic expansion that many communities desperately need in addition to the protection of our drinking water.   Maybe just maybe there is a third elephant in this opinion piece and it’s the election for Town Supervisor on November 5^th.  Kings Park is indeed a prime candidate for the sewer grants but how will Bellone and Cuomo make that determination?  On November 5^th when the polling numbers start rolling in they will have their eyes on Smithtown.   We have three candidates running for Smithtown Supervisor – Steve Snair (D) and Bob Creighton (C)  speak about Smart Growth, moving forward and infrastructure improvements like sewers.  Supervisor Patrick Vecchio touts the high quality of life in Smithtown; he and his comrades don’t admit to any gross problems or failures affecting or facing the town.   Three Elephants, Sewers, A Blog & One Very Important Election.       

News Of Long Ago - "Lawrence Butler’s crowning achievement – the Smithtown Bull….”

News of Long Ago by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

(The previous article was about Lawrence Smith Butler, Cornelia Smith Butler’s oldest son, and the impact that he had upon the Smithtown community.  This article takes a look at the rest of the story of Lawrence Butler’s life and achievements.)

“Lawrence Butler’s crowning achievement – the Smithtown Bull….”

                  When Lawrence Smith Butler died in 1954, he was 78.  His life had been a full one and he made many significant contributions to Smithtown’s history.  A direct descendant of the bull rider, Richard Smythe, Lawrence Butler spent much of his childhood in St. James at his parent’s summer house, Bytheharbor.  Following his father’s death in 1901, Lawrence lived with his mother in this house on St. James Harbor until she died in 1915.   He then inherited Bytheharbor and its surrounding acreage that stretched from Moriches Road down Cordwood Path to the harbor’s edge.  After his mother’s death, Lawrence moved out of Bytheharbor and into the “casino” that he made his home and called Cedar Court.  Cedar Court became his home in St. James for the rest of his life.  As a result, Lawrence Butler is remembered by many people living in St. James and Smithtown.

                  Many people remember Lawrence Butler’s love of horses and horseback riding.  He is remembered for his involvement in polo and the Smithtown Hunt.  The Smithtown News noted in Lawrence Butler’s obituary that he had been active in establishing polo in St. James and the ‘polo field,’ at the southeast corner of Moriches and Fifty Acre Road” was actually on his property.  (“Lawrence S. Butler Buried at St. James,” Smithtown News, April 1, 1954, p. 18.)   The polo field was adjacent to another large field that was the site of the annual Smithtown Horse Show for many years and it was Lawrence Butler who founded the original Smithtown Horse Show in 1909.  This property off Fifty Acre Road was also the kickoff for many of the hunts organized by the Smithtown Hunt and it was to Lawrence Butler’s estate that members of the Hunt retired for a breakfast or luncheon following the hunt.  It was also at Lawrence Butler’s Casino, in the large ballroom, that the Smithtown Hunt Balls were held.

                  Other people remember Lawrence Butler’s service as a “vestryman and treasurer” of the St. James Episcopal Church.  These same people also remember his fine baritone voice which boomed out through the church during Sunday services and he always seemed to be in church on Sundays.  Others remember the Lawrence Butler Christmas tree which still stands near the Presbyterian Church in the little triangle of ground between River Road and North Country Road.  They remember him enthusiastically leading Christmas carols and getting people in the Christmas spirit.  Still others remember him hosting Sunday afternoon gatherings at his home for “musicales” and musical performances in which he was a frequent participant and they remember him starring in the musical productions that were staged in Assembly Hall in Smithtown Branch. 

                  Still others remember Lawrence Butler for his architectural prowess and his designs for Town Hall, the Public Library, and Assembly Hall.  The architectural stamp of the firm he formed with “two other well established architects” – Ford, Butler and Oliver – is to be found in many other buildings and homes throughout Smithtown.  Lawrence Butler’s “job in the firm was principally to drum up trade,” and in his memoirs he describes how “one day I went after a job in my car.  I had a chauffeur and when I asked the man if he needed an architect, he looked at my car and chauffeur and said ‘You don’t need a job!’ and so the next time I left the car at home.” (Butler, Lawrence Smith. Handwritten memoirs, ca. 1953, Lawrence Smith Butler Collection from the Long Island Room files, Smithtown Library.)  His architectural firm specialized in the “design of country houses,” and Lawrence found many jobs in Smithtown.  He designed his brother’s house when it was built on the Branglebrink Farm property, and remodeled his sister’s home – the Huntington house at Rassapeague.  His firm designed the “St. James Fire House, the former O’Berry Garage in St. James, the ‘Polo’ House and the poultryman’s cottage on Fifty Acre Road, the Harbor Country Day School, the Timothy Stables opposite the Episcopal Church Office, and the Allister Morris and the John Kerr Houses on Timothy Lane.”  (Barbara Van Lieu, Head-of-the-Harbor, A Journey Through Time, Main Road Books, Inc., Laurel, N.Y., 2005, p. 31.)  In Preservation Notes, Barbara Van Lieu identified some additional houses that Lawrence Butler designed including the James Lane Cottage, the Malcolm Smith House, the Martin Taylor House, and the Schmidt House on Edgewood Avenue. 

                  Other people remember the role that Lawrence Butler played in World War I.  When the United States entered WW I, Lawrence Butler “was over the draft age” but felt he “should do something, as many of my contemporaries were off to officer’s training camps, etc.  A Mr. Franklin Lord arranged for me to be the head of a draft board, taking in the towns of Smithtown, Huntington, Islip, and Babylon, with headquarters at Babylon, so this fixed me, although I hated even to pass on boys to go overseas.”  Throughout the war, he served in this capacity and as “chairman of the Exemption Board for the First District of Suffolk County.”  Lawrence Butler not only determined who in Smithtown received a draft notice, he also reviewed those who applied for exemptions determining who ultimately went off to trenches on the western front.  (Butler, Lawrence Smith, Handwritten memoirs, ca. 1953, op. cit.)

                  Some people remember that Lawrence Butler was responsible for the creation of the Smithtown Country Club that once occupied the 8 acres of property on northwest corner of the intersection of Fifty Acre Road and Edgewood Avenue.  Butler purchased the property in 1917 from the widow of Ignacio V. Mathieu, the man who bought the 50 acres of property that James Clinch Smith had sold for $1 in 1905.  This was the property where the St. James Driving Park had been located.  In 1911, Ignacio sold 42.86 acres of the property, the race track lot, to Charles Butler who used the property as pastureland for his cows.  And in 1917, his widow sold the remaining 7.14 acres with the house and barns to Lawrence Butler.  While he owned it, the property became the Smithtown Country Club “and was for many years a comfortable and convenient place to eat or stay.”  Lawrence Butler owned this property until 1947 when he sold it to Mildred Edgar Wood and Irene Metz who added a ballroom and other wings to the original building, and in 1959, opened the Smithtown Riding and Tennis Club. (Barbara Van Lieu, Head-of-the-Harbor, A Journey Through Time, op. cit., p. 149.)    

                  What I like to remember about Lawrence Butler is the fact that he was responsible for bringing the statue of Richard Smythe’s bull to the Town of Smithtown. The placement of a bull statue in the heart of Smithtown to commemorate the legendary founding of the Town of Smithtown, was something that Lawrence Butler had long dreamed of doing.  Lawrence Butler first suggested the idea of a statue of a bull to the sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey when the two men were attending the School of Fine Arts in Paris.  He must have told Charles Rumsey the story of Richard Smythe’s legendary bull ride and suggested that he sculpt a bull in plaster for his thesis project.  Charles Rumsey decided to do that and completed the model in 1905.  Upon graduation the two men went their separate ways in pursuit of their own careers and over twenty years passed.

                  Sometime around 1928, Lawrence Butler corresponded with Charles Rumsey and told him that certain parties in Smithtown were interested in having the bull cast in bronze for a statue that would be placed prominently in a park in the Town of Smithtown.  Charles Rumsey agreed to cast a huge bronze statue of the bull that would weigh some five tons and stand 9’ tall for which he would be paid $12,000.  Charles Rumsey went ahead with the commission and by 1928 he had completed the casting of the statue.  Only then did he discover, much to his consternation, that the interested parties in Smithtown could not raise the necessary $12,000.  The Depression further stymied efforts to raise the money to purchase the statue and Charles Rumsey was “stuck” with his huge bronze bull.  Mr. Rumsey then loaned the statue to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum which prominently displayed the bull on a pedestal in front of the museum.  There the bull remained until 1932, when Mr. Rumsey was tragically killed in an automobile accident on Long Island.  The bull was then taken down and stored away in a warehouse in Long Island City.

                  Following Mr. Rumsey’s death, the sculptor’s son and daughter decided to donate the statue to the Town of Smithtown if the town would pay the cost of transporting the bull from Long Island City to Smithtown.  At that point Lawrence Butler again got involved and persuaded the Town Board to accept the sculpture and to allocate $250 for the concrete pedestal.  Mr. Butler also promised that together with Norman W. McBurney, he would form a committee to obtain the money to pay the cost of transporting the statue to Smithtown.

                  Keeping his promise, Lawrence Butler’s committee raised the necessary money for transportation costs ($1750), and the statue was shipped to Smithtown by the LIRR.  In April of 1941, after considerable difficulty and the slight injury of one of the workmen (one wonders how the 5 ton statue was set in place), the bull was hoisted atop its pedestal and all was in readiness for the official dedication.

                  The official unveiling ceremony took place on Saturday afternoon, May 10, 1941 at 3:30 p.m.  Charles Rumsey’s daughter, Mary Harriman Rumsey, officially presented the statue to the Town, and on behalf of the Town, Supervisor John N. Brennan accepted the gift.  Supervisor Brennan spoke of the illustrious history of the Smith family in Smithtown, and then Richard Bull Smith, a descendant  of the “bull rider,” pulled a rope and the canvas fell away to reveal the bull.  Lawrence Butler’s dream had at last come true, and “Whisper” as the bull would come to be known, had finally come home to Smithtown.

                  So the next time you pass by the statue of “Whisper” that stands so proudly upon his pedestal at the intersection on North Country Road (25A) and Jericho Turnpike, think of Lawrence Smith Butler, the architect from St. James who was instrumental in shaping our town and making sure that we will always be reminded that it was Richard Smythe who founded Smithtown.

Smithtown Musician Sandy Tepper To Play Clarinet At Carnegie Hall

By Maureen Rossi

Sandy TepperSandy Tepper lives and works in Smithtown, the talented clarinetist is about to perform on one of the most renown stages – the famed Carnegie Hall.  “Performing at Carnegie Hall has been a dream of mine since I was a kid; this is not only a debut recital, but it’s a way to present myself on the biggest stage of the world,” he explained.   

On October 27^th at 2:00 p.m. the nationally accomplished clarinetist will be performing works by iconic musical masters such as Carl Maria von Weber, Max Reger, Johannes Brahms ad Karel Husa.  Sandy will be joined onstage by pianist Claudine Hickman, cellist Suzanne Mueller and violist Gregory K. Williams.  “I’m very proud to stand alongside these incredible musicians and join the ranks of those that have had the privilege to play on this stage,” said Tepper.  

The twenty-eight year old graduated from Smithtown High School in 2003 and had the quintessential Smithtown upbringing; there was soccer with the Smithtown Kickers and little league baseball.    He received his Bachelor of Music in Music Performance at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and his Mater of Music from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. 

Tepper says his biggest fans will be in the audience on Sunday.  “My mother and father have been my biggest supporters over the years,” he said.     He is hopeful this concert will be the gateway to his future in music, be it teaching at a college, playing in an orchestra or performing in recitals all over the world.   “That’s where I’ve always felt I’m supposed to be”, he ended.  

Tepper has also appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra. 

Letters to Editor: Rx 4 Safety

Prescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in the United States.  According to Trust for America’s Health, prescription drug-related deaths now outnumber those from heroin and cocaine combined, and drug overdose deaths exceed motor vehicle-related deaths in over half of U.S. states. How can we protect our communities, especially our children, from getting their hands on medications not prescribed for them?

Drug take back days like the upcoming DEA Take Back Day on October 26 and the secure drop boxes available 24/7 located at each of Suffolk County Police Department’s seven precinct offices  provide an easy, no-questions-asked way to get rid of unused or unwanted drugs.  In Smithtown, Covanta Energy’s Rx4Safety program works hand-in-hand with community organizations such as the SCPD’s Operation Medicine Cabinet and Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, educating the community not only on the public health & safety aspects of the proper disposal of unwanted or unused prescription drugs, but equally on the environmental importance of safe disposal to protect precious groundwater supplies on Long Island.

Covanta provides the safe disposal and ultimate destruction of these prescription drugs at our Huntington energy-from-waste facility, keeping these medications out of the hands of potential abusers, and lessening the pollution of our waterways, where drugs can end up if they are flushed or sent to landfills.  

Thanks to partnerships like the one with Operation Medicine Cabinet and Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Covanta’s Rx4Safety program has been able to securely destroy One Million Pounds of unwanted prescription medication across the country since 2010.  While the milestone is impressive, our work is not done. We must continue to be diligent in fighting this epidemic and it’s thanks to the exceptional leadership of our partners that we are beginning to make a difference in keeping our communities safer and healthier.  Help spread the word about this important public safety and environmental issue and make sure to dispose of medications properly!

Jeff George

Business Manager

News Of Long Ago - "Cornelia Stewart Smith Butler Becomes The First-Lady Of Smithtown"

News of Long Ago by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

Previously I wrote about the five daughters of Judge John Lawrence Smith and their marriages. This article takes a look at the life of Cornelia Stewart Smith, the Judge’s oldest daughter who married Prescott Hall Butler, and had three children. During her lifetime, Cornelia Stewart Smith Butler became a much loved and respected first-lady of Smithtown. 

“Cornelia Stewart Smith Butler becomes the first-lady of Smithtown….”

When Judge John Lawrence Smith died in 1889, he was 73 and his oldest daughter Cornelia was 43.  She had been married sixteen years to Prescott Hall Butler and they had three children – Lawrence (14), Charles (13) and Susan (10).  The Butlers made their home in New York City in a house they owned at 22 Park Avenue.  Prescott was a lawyer with the firm of Everts, Choate, and Beaman, was one of the preeminent lawyers of his day, and according to the Butler family genealogy  “secured a commanding position among the masters of law in New York City.”   He seems to have made a comfortable income as a lawyer since in 1879, just four years after being admitted to the bar, he asked his friend and Harvard classmate Charles McKim to design a summer home for him in St. James.  He then built the house known as Bytheharbor.  (See the accompanying photograph.)  This house was gradually expanded into a very large estate where the Butler family spent their summers and their three children became very much attached to their home Bytheharbor in St. James.

When the Judge died, he willed the Homestead and 200 acres of land in Smithtown Branch to his son James Clinch Smith and Cornelia did not inherit anything from her father.  But when her mother, Sarah Clinch Smith, died a year later in April of 1890, Cornelia inherited a fortune from her mother’s estate.  Her mother was the niece of Cornelia Stewart, the wife of Alexander T. Stewart, the merchant prince of New York City who, when he died on April 10, 1876, left a fortune estimated to be $50,000,000.  His will, probated four days later at Mrs. Stewart’s request, left the entire estate to Mrs. Stewart and her heirs.  Since the Stewarts had no children, the heirs were Cornelia Stewart’s brothers and sisters and their children.  The will also stipulated that Henry Hilton, Stewart’s attorney, was to close and wind up A.T. Stewart’s business affairs and for this he was receive $1 million dollars.  William Libbey, A.T. Stewart’s CEO, was also to receive $1 million dollars when A.T. Stewart was liquidated.  The will made Mrs. Stewart, Henry Hilton, and William Libbey, executors of the estate.  

On the same day that the will was probated, Mrs. Stewart assigned virtually complete control over all her property to Henry Hilton by executing a power of attorney.  Another document transferred most of the business interests of A.T. Stewart to Henry Hilton for $1 million dollars. And yet another document created a general partnership between Henry Hilton and William Libbey who joined forces to continue business under the name of A.T. Stewart & Company.  For his $1 million dollars, Henry Hilton acquired A.T. Stewart’s assets estimated to be $40 million dollars.  The widow was left with the Stewart mansion on 5^th Avenue, land in Garden City and Saratoga, and other improved parcels of real estate in New York City.  The value placed on the remaining assets was thought to be $13 million dollars.  Clearly, Henry Hilton did a neat little job of lawyering and found a way to appropriate Stewart’s fortune.  

Miffed by Henry Hilton’s appropriation of the Stewart fortune, the Stewart heirs joined together and sued Henry Hilton claiming he had taken advantage of the distraught widow and gotten her to sign the documents under duress.  Drawing on Judge John Lawrence Smith’s legal expertise as a surrogate judge, the Stewart heirs seemed to be making headway in court when Henry Hilton agreed to an out of court settlement in 1890.   The heirs who brought suit wrestled the following properties from Henry Hilton:  “The Metropolitan Hotel and Niblo’s Garden Theater, the marble mansion of Mrs. Stewart, the Clarendon, St. James and Grand Hotels and several business blocks in Saratoga Springs.”  There were also “two lots of land at Hempstead Plains, one containing 7170 acres and the other containing 1062 acres, and the Greenfield cemetery at Hempstead…; various parcels of land in Oyster Bay; also thirteen miles of railroad running from Floral Park to Bethpage and all the equipment; also Bleeker Street property, and a great number of buildings in various streets in New York City.”  In addition to this real estate, the heirs divided some $12,000,000 which remained of the Stewart fortune.  (The information about the assets of the A.T. Stewart estate came from Vincent Seyfried’s The Founding of Garden City, Uniondale, N.Y.: Salisbury Printers, 1969, p. 43-53, the chapter entitled “Last Years of the Stewart Estate.”)

This inheritance passed through the eight heirs in the Clinch and Butler families to the J. Lawrence Smith family descendants and to the Butler family descendants who were living in Smithtown.  The sudden riches that Judge Smith’s children inherited made it possible for them to do what nouveau riche newcomers on Long Island’s north shore were doing – build their own estates.  Cornelia and Prescott Butler benefitted from inheriting two shares of the A.T. Stewart fortune – one share through Cornelia’s mother, Sarah Nicoll Clinch, and a second share through Prescott’s mother, Louise Clinch.  Cornelia and Prescott Butler were fabulously rich, and in the 1890’s, this fortune made it possible for them to improve their estate in St. James.  Prescott Butler started by building extensions onto Bytheharbor.   Then he had a windmill built on the harbor which was used to pump fresh water up the hill to his house near Moriches Road.  Then he purchased 800 acres of land that surrounded Bytheharbor and stretched to the south along Fifty Acre Road.  And finally he had a fine new stable built for his horses complete with “box stalls and all the fancy fixins.”  Lawrence Butler wrote in his own memoirs that his father built the stables at a time when “those sinful automobiles” were just “beginning to creep in” and he swore that he would never own an automobile.  He never did since he died of cancer in 1901 at the age of 53.  (Barbara Van Lieu, Head-of-the-Harbor, A Journey Through Time, Main Road Books, Inc. Laurel, N.Y., 2005, p. 37.)  

Following her husband’s death, Cornelia spent more of her time in St. James where she felt at home among family and friends.  She continued to live at Bytheharbor and was there in 1903 when a fire burned the new stables to the ground.  Cornelia then had a guesthouse built on the foundations of the stable.  This large building, which was behind Bytheharbor and further down the hill along Cordwood Path, was intended as a playhouse where large social functions could be held and athletic activities and events could be staged.  The north end of this building originally contained a squash court.  Immediately adjacent to the court was a central hallway that had showers and a tiled “plunge” located off the hallway.  After a strenuous squash match, players could take a dip in the pool.  In 1905, Stanford White  added a ballroom to the guesthouse, a huge addition that was two stories high and “seventy feet long, with a paneled stage at one end.”  The room was so large, 70’ long and 40’ wide, with a ceiling 22’ above the floor that it reminded people of a casino and it was referred to as Butler’s Casino.  Apparently Stanford White designed the ball room specifically for Cornelia Butler.  The ballroom was to become the site of many social functions in Smithtown – social functions that were sponsored and organized by Mrs. Cornelia Stewart Smith Butler, and after her death, by her son Lawrence Butler.  (The information about the Casino came from Butler-Smith and Allied Family Histories, Genealogical and Biographical, issued under the editorial supervision of Ruth Lawrence, published by National Americana Publications, Inc., New York, 1952, pp.10,11,13,14.  The book is in the Long Island Room of the Smithtown Library.)

Cornelia lived fourteen years following Prescott’s death, and during that time, she became the ‘first Lady’ of Smithtown, a real leader in Smithtown’s society.  Cornelia was a generous benefactor and helped the people of St. James by contributing $1,000 toward the cost of construction of a new schoolhouse on Three Sisters Road.  She convinced her brother-in-law, Stanford White to design the school.  She also supported the construction of the building known as the Assembly Hall for the people of St. James.   She generously donated the ½ acre of land in Smithtown Branch upon which the original Smithtown Library was built, and then she loaned the Smithtown Library money to pay for the cost of construction of the building.  She persuaded her son, Lawrence Butler, to design the building and oversee its construction.  And when the Smithtown Library opened its doors, Cornelia Butler became one of the first members of the Smithtown Library Board of Trustees.  

Cornelia Butler became known for her generosity and philanthropy and she quietly helped out many people in Smithtown. She sponsored Christmas parties for the children of St. James and paid for the distribution of Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys to the firemen of St. James.  These things we know she did, but there were many more private and secret acts of kindness that she performed to help those in misfortune or distress that we will never know about.  When she passed away from pneumonia at the age of 69 on October 21, 1915, George Zabriskie, who knew of her generosity, was prompted to write the following obituary for the Smithtown Messenger:

“In all the generations of his (Richard Smythe’s) descendants that have lived and died during these two and a half centuries, no name is held now, or will be transmitted in our local traditions to those who come after us, in warmer affection or higher esteem than the name of Mrs. Cornelia Stewart Butler. …  She inherited from her father, the late J. Lawrence Smith, a deep love for Smithtown, its woods and fields and waters, its people, and its history, a love which grew with the seventy years she lived among us.”

“Her wide acquaintance among our people and her constant regard for them will be treasured in many households.  We have all known her interest in the Public Library, in the Town Hall, in the Assembly Hall, and in the St. James’ Church. Few but the recipients have known of her private and secret acts of kindness to many in misfortune or distress.  To everyone in Smithtown she was in unique sense our neighbor.  It is not the happiness of many persons to be so universally loved as Mrs. Butler was: not only here, the home of her heart, but also in New York, where every year a part of her life was passed. Those who knew her could not help loving her.”

“No difficult analysis is requisite to discover the reason; she loved other people.  A mind free from guile, simple and direct; a charity, that neither spoke nor thought evil of others; a humility, that thought little of herself but delighted to make much of everybody else; a sincere piety that expressed itself in service toward God and man; a sympathetic spirit, not free from anxiety, but chiefly troubled by the cares of others; a friendliness that evoked friendship; such qualities as these made knowing her equivalent to loving her.”

“Mrs. Butler in her gracious and useful life has added much to the happiness of those who came into contact with her.  The Town of Smithtown, the City of New York, are better for her living in them.”

Cornelia Stewart Smith Butler must have been a remarkable lady.  It is too bad that more of her philanthropic deeds are not known so that we could all truly appreciate what she did for others and for the people of Smithtown.  An indication of her generosity can be found in her will.  Upon her death, it was believed that the Butler estate was worth more than $1 million.  “The bulk of the property” was to go to her three children, Lawrence, Charles, and Susan Butler.  But there were “specific bequests.”  The St. James Episcopal Church received $5,000 and “a tract of land opposite the Church with the provision that it is to be used as a public park forever.”  The Grace Church of New York City received $1,000 “for general purposes.”  The Kips Bay Day Nursery received $500 and so did the Smithtown Library.  And the “Public School District of St. James” received “the income of $1,000 … to provide an instructive entertainment each Spring to the pupils.” (New York Times, “Mrs. Butler’s Will Filed,” November 7, 1915.)

So it can be seen that even after her death, Mrs. Butler’s philanthropic work continued.  She had instilled in her children the belief that they were obligated to help others in need and to help make their community a better place to live.  Her children would strive to do just that.