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FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM SD 59'UNIQUE SITE NO. I010.o"7b-f
DIVISION FOR HIS-1 ORIC PRESERVATION QUAD
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIFS
A LBANY,NEW YORK I SI kl 474-0479 NEG. NO.
YOUR NAME: Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE: November 1986
YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall, Main Road TELEPHONE-016) 765-1892
Southold, L. I. , N.Y. 11971
ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Community Development Office
IDENTIFICATION Howell's Drug Store and Home
1. BUILDING NAME(s):Millard Colder*/ J.A.W. DrRg Store/Rothman Store &
2. COUNTY: Suffolk TOWN/CITY: Southold VILLAGE: House
3. STREET LOCATION: Main Road, Route 25, south side
4. OWNERSHIP: a. public ❑ b. private X
S. PRESENT OWNER: Rothman ADDRESS- Same
Cr. USE: Original: Drug Store and. Res dents ri,Har Ware Store & esi ence
7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC: Exterior visible from public road: Yes No ❑
Interior accessible: Explain
DESCRIPTION
H. Bllll.l)ING a. clapboard it b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten 21
MATERIAL.: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ❑ g. stucco ❑ other:
'). STRUCTURAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints ❑
SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ZJ
(if kntwri) c. masonry load bearing walls❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other _
I0. CONDITION: a, excellent ❑ b. good IN c. Fr f ❑ d. deteriorated ❑
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site ® b. moved ❑ if So +rhea'
c. list major alterations and dates (if known;.
Porch of residence altered. Store front has been
coloniaiized.
SD-RSM VI-11
12. PHOTO: From north v;?st 13. MAP: N.Y. S. DOT Southold Quad
Front (north) and west elevations
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14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a. none known b. zoning❑ c. roads ❑
d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑
f. ether:
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn b. carriage house ❑ c. garage
d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse ❑
g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑
i, landscape features:
j. other:
16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary):
a.open land ❑ b. woodland ❑
c.scattered buildings ❑
d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial IM
f. industrial ❑ g. residential
h-other:
17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
Medium-low density area in center of historic Southold.
ThP Main Road, once the King's Highway, is lined
with trpps and many interesting old structures surrounded
by lawns and greenery.
I81 OTFIER NOTABLE. FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known):
22-story, 3-bay gable roof commercial building, gable end
to the street. Store below apartment above. Glapboard on
front, vertical board-and-batten on rear section. The 22-
story store forms an L with the 22-story, 4-bay residence
behind it. The residence also has a gable roof, & 2/2 windows.
Paired pointed-'-head windows in gable peak and semi-hexagonal
SIGNIFICANCE (cont. )
11). DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION:NdC%,eX&%CQNh 1882. and pre-1$73 for
rear section of store
ARCHITECT:
BUILDER:
20. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:
In 1873 "J.A.W. Drug Store" was on this site. It is
believed that the board-and-batten section at the
rear of the 1882 building was pre-1873.
This structur¢ is of special interest because of
David Rothstpin's association with Albert rinstein
who often visited here.
21. SOURCES: * Mrs. Ruth Rothman, interview 10/7/86
R.C . Newell. Rose Rpmptnbers. 1976
Bpprs, Comstock, Cline. Atlas of Long Island. 1873
22. THLNI .
Form prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt, research
assistant.
SD 59
(cont. ) 18. Other IJotable Features of Building and Site.
1-story bay window on west elevation of 1st
floor. The remains of a small porch on front
of residence arP still visible.
t, !1r SD 59
Alae Ouff olk TImeo r _ S� ® November 26, 1981
David Rothman Succumbs at 85
SOUTHOLD--David A. Rothman, the pred cted from his humble originlie was meatre today is operaled i son
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s. Southold retailer who was a friend of born in Bayonne, N.J., and his formal Wit. Davi n r remenn act"
A15erl Einstein and Benjamin Britten, educ ition ended after grammar school.He in the business in recent years.
died of leukemia last Thursday at St. went to work at the age of 13 for the Mr.Rothman was a charter member of
Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.He was Cent al Railroad of New Jersey,serving the Southold Rotary Club,an organizer of
65, as re ief operator,ticket agent and switch- North Fork Community Concerts, which
Mr.Rothman's friendship with Einstein man His monthly wage was$16. brought visiting musicians to the East
began in 1939,when the scientist,who was P End.and a founder of the Custer Institute.
summe�nn �on�155au Point,walked into Ding this time,Mr.Rothman began a In addition to his wife and son, Mr.
Ro manl]ti s Department Store on Main process of self-education which lasted Rothman is survived by two daughters,
Street in search of a pair of"sundials." throughout his lifetime.He read voracious- Emma Levin of Greenport and Joan Brill
Mr.Rothman finally deciphered Einstein's ly in science and the humanities, and KrWmeyer of East Hsmplon; two broth-
thick German accent and determined his studied the stars through a telescope in ers,Morris and Charles seven grandchil-
patron was looking for a pair of sandalsbark of his home. dren and four great-grandchildren.
A recording of Mozart's -G Minor Mr o�man married Ruth Samuel in Rabbi Ephraim Solomon of Tifcrelh
Symphony" was playing in the back- 19114 and moved to Sogjhrld a year and a Israel Synagogue in Greenport conducted
ground,and the two sjruck up a conversa- half later. He bought a general store on funeral services last Friday at DeFriest
tion about classical music. Einstein later Main Street .- even though he had no Funeral Home, Southold The body was
joined Mr. Rothman's chamber music re a' -Tng experience. Rothman's Depart- cremated.
group,and the pair corresponded for years r
after Einstein left the North Fork.In fact, ■ + �"
for many years Mr.Rothman sent him a
pair of sandals every Christmas.
Ben aurin Britten, the famed British
composer,spent three years on the North
ork much-oTthe time in Mr thman's
hm . Mr. Rothman later was credited
wim encouraging Britten's career during
this difficult period when the composer
was down on his luck.
David Rothman's associations with the
DAVID A.ROTHMAN high and mighty could not have been
s
OLD FRIENDS—Albert Einstein, father of the theory of relativity,
relaxed on a Southold beach in the 1940's with his long-time friend David
Rothman(right).
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184. Albert Einstein with David Rothman of Southold, 1939. In
1939, the year Einstein came to vacation on Long Island with his sailboat
Tinef, he was visited by three atomic scientists--Eugene P. Wigner, Leo
Szilard and Edward Teller—who sought his endorsement of an atomic-bomb
project. From a cottage at Nassau Point, Einstein wrote his now-famous
Suffolk County in Early Photos. correspondence to President Franklin Roosevelt advocating the development
1984 of the atomic bomb.Einstein befriended David Rothman,owner of a Southold
Lightf o or, Martin, Weidman. department store,who shared his interest in music and philosophical discus-
sions.The two men went sailing together and,after Einstein left Long Island,
kept in touch, coordinating efforts with refugees. A cultural leader in his
community, Rothman was also a friend of musicians Benjamin Britten and
Peter Pears and helped to establish the local Concert Association. Rothman
died in 1981. (Rothman family album;Lightfoot Collection.)
30 .Portraits
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120 —
R.C.
20 —R.C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 1976
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Most of the stores on Main Street were there close to a
hundred years ago, but their faces have been changed and their
style of occupancy. On the present Post Office site was Orrin A.
l Prince's butcher shop, while the P.O. was in the Brick Store in
the next block. Will Williams' clothing and shoe store was where
the Southold Pharmacy �i�s__�__now, but before that it was in the
is ore. on t see why they played "Musical Chairs" so
much-'r'fie baker's was along here and on the corner was Herbert
Hawkins' Dry Goods and Notions; and I remember before that
the Gomez Grocery.
Across the street, next to Belmont Hall was Wm. H.
' Terry's_ Furniture Shop and Undertaking Establishment. The
.- . picture of the hearse shows Mr. Terry standing behind it and
F_ one of the George Terrys on the box. The horses look rather
�--• dejected, perhaps in keeping with their job. In that block was
also a Chinese Laundryman, wonderfully cheap, who at Christ-
mastime with the bundles of beautifully starched and ironed
shirts gave each customer a gift of Litchi nuts.
In the next block the old Brick Store has had many occu-
pants. In the picture of it stay nuc Will Williams,-his daughter
J. Louise {later Herb Wells Senior's wife), tiffs`sbn Willie Jr. and
Mr. Booth. You can see that there was then another store in the
basement where Mr. Booth sold tobacco and fruit.
I asked Ora Martin in her Dress Shop about it and she said,
"Oh, when I opened my shop the basement was unoccupied and
I was afraid someone would fall down those steps so had it
closed up. There's nothing down there but dust and cobwebs."
seem to dash back and forth across the street a lot but
again, on the opposite side, the'next picture is of H.G. Howell's
Drug Store, built in 1882. In the early 1900's Millard Golder
succeeded Howell as outhold pharmacist. Mr. Golder was a
quick, nervous man with extremely courteous manners. The
kids mimicked him saucily and dubbed him "Mr. ThankUthanks"
because after you paid for your purchase he always made a po-
lite bow and said, "Thank You"—(Pause)—"Thanks." We
thought it was funny. After he moved away from Southold his
son grew up to be a pharmacist too, returned to his native town
�- and is with Don Scott in the present village Pharmacy.
In 1924, David Rothman bought the building for a general
'store and here's an interestingthing: m going ov r my grand-
R.C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 1976
— 121 —
SD 59
father's letters, clippings and papers (I do believe he never threw 4
away ANYTHING), I discovered a copy of the SOUTHOLD
TRAVELER dated Friday, August 11 th.h 1 W with this para-
graph marked under SOUTHOL.D BREVITIES:
"Druggist Howell's new house is fast nearing completion
and will prove an ornament to the village and a convenience and
pleasure, we trust, to its owner. Mr. Howell concealed in the
foundation of the house an airtight jar containing a few fines
written by himself and others by Lawyer Case, together with
copies of the TRAVELER, the REPUBLICAN WATCHMAN,
the NEW YORK HERALD, and a penny of 1882. He thinks
some member of a future generation may make an interesting
discovery."
Years later when David Rothman was having some build-
ing changes made, in demolishing a section of the foundation
they unearthed the jar!
I think this "Bunkum" ad in the same TRAVELER
are worth showing. The range of its advertisers was quite
astounding, being not only of Long Island concerns but also
Brooklyn, Chicago, and Augusta, Maine. The paper could not
have guaranteed the products as you may judge by the exaggera-
ted claims. For instance:
INVALIDS!
Your attention is called to
DR. THAYER'S
Victoria Magnetic Garments
They have no equal as a Curative Agent
in all forms of chronic diseases—
ASTHMA, BRONCHITIS, CATARRH, DYSPEPSIA,
TUMORS, and all forms of female diseases.
THEY HAVE NO EQUAL!
Send for circulars and price lists, giving full information
to
W. Irving Thayer M.D.
455 Fulton St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Local advertisers were the Greenport Flour Mills, Matti-
tuck's T. Reeve & Son Furniture, Cutchogue's Chas. W. Hub-
bard—Horses and Carriages to let, Riverhead's New Home Sew-
ing Machine.
— 122 —
R.C.
122 —R.C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 1976