Robert Moses State Park (Long Island) - History

History

Initially named Fire Island State Park, the facility attracts about 3.5 million visitors a year.

The west end of Fire Island was part of a Colonial grant to William "Tangier" Smith. In 1825 the federal government acquired the westerly tip to build a lighthouse and David Sammis bought about 120 acres (0.49 km2) to the east in 1855 and built the Surf Hotel.

In 1892, fears of a cholera epidemic spread by passengers on ships arriving in New York prompted the state to acquire the hotel property to establish a quarantine station. Irate local citizens obtained an injunction blocking the quarantine station and occupied the site for a while despite the arrival of troops.

Eventually the state decided the land would better serve as a park and established the Fire Island Park Commission in 1908 to run it. A 1918 fire destroyed the boardwalk and the few buildings on the site.

In 1924, the state established the Long Island State Park Commission headed by "master builder" Robert Moses as part of a statewide park and parkway program, also run by Moses. The commission obtained from the federal government four miles (6 km) of beach west of the lighthouse that had been formed by shifting sand. In 1926 the first bathhouse was erected. After the hurricane of 1938 devastated the park, the commission decided to rebuild farther east near the lighthouse and in 1940, the first modern bathhouse opened to the public.

Ferry service was maintained from Babylon to the park until 1964 when Robert Moses Causeway opened and the park was renamed for Moses. Attendance boomed, so three parking fields with bathhouses were added.