Eleanor Baker Bazata shared her family history and her memories in an oral history interview with Adele Bennett, a librarian in the Local History Room of the Brentwood Public Library in January 2009.
Eleanor Baker was born on November 12, 1929 and has lived in Brentwood all of her life. She married George Bazata in 1949. The Bazatas bought a house in Brentwood on Hale Street and have lived there for 60 years. They have two children, Arlene Bazata and George Bazata Jr. Eleanor worked as an x-ray technician at Southside Hospital in 1947. She also worked in Brentwood as a library clerk in Northeast Elementary School for 30 years from 1961-1991. There were no librarians in the elementary schools in Brentwood during those years for lack of money. Sarah Corman, a librarian in the high school met with all the clerks in the elementary schools once a week to teach and oversee the many jobs that they performed. Eleanor did reference work, class instruction and story hours as well as ordering books and doing clerical tasks. Eleanor loved her job at the library.
Eleanor told us about her parents, William and Bertha Baker, who came on outings from Brooklyn to the country, particular Brentwood. Eleanor said they enjoyed having picnics on the property where the Brentwood water tower is located. In 1922 the Bakers decided to move from Ozone Park to Brentwood in 1922 with their four children, William Jr., Bertha, Henry and Ruth. Four more children were born after they moved to Brentwood, Charles (Carl), Robert, Eleanor and Walter Baker.
When the Bakers moved to Brentwood they bought a home on Clarke Street (then spelled Clark) and Jefferson Avenue that had a well on the property. When the Bakers bought their house there was no indoor plumbing but Mr. Baker put indoor plumbing in later. Very few of the roads in Brentwood were paved. Clarke Street was tarred and Jefferson Avenue had cinders on the dirt road to prevent mud holes. The Humphrey family lived on Hale Street which was one of the few paved roads in town. Old time residents date the Humphrey house back to 1898. The cut through roads went from Washington Avenue to Madison Avenue where they dead ended. White Pine trees lined the streets in Brentwood. Eleanor remembers the wonderful sweet smell of the White Pine tree branches that split.
The trees around her house were scrub pines except for a few maple trees in front. There were only a few houses on their street and only a few children to play with. Eleanor enjoyed playing with paper dolls, painting and playing their piano. She remembers picking wild blueberries from the blueberry bushes which were numerous and wild blackberries as well as the strawberries on Madison Avenue near the cemetery. In the 1930’s and 40’s the town cleared 8 ft. in from Washington and Madison Avenues probably for the kids to walk to school.
-A. Bennett, Local History Newsletter, February 2009.
Eleanor attended school at the Second Schoolhouse from first grade through 5th grade (there was no kindergarten at the time.) She went to the Village School for 6th thru 8th grade. When she started 9th grade and 10th grade she took the train to Farmingdale High School. In 11th grade she transferred to Bay Shore High School where she graduated the next year. All Brentwood students got bus transportation if they lived two miles or more away from school which was the case for the Baker children. Eleanor said when she went to Bay Shore H.S. she took a bus to the Village School then transferred to another bus to go to Bay Shore. Some times she would walk to the Post Office from the Village School to pick up the mail and then walk home. Katherine Gallagher was the Postmaster then. Eleanor said in Brentwood there was a school song the children sang to the tune of America the Beautiful. The song was called Brentwood in the Pines.
Florence Koehler (wife of Conrad Koehler) taught 1st and 2nd grade at the Second Schoolhouse. Mrs. Koehler would pick a child everyday to go to her house and bring her lunch back to school. She gave the child a special treat. Eleanor remembers how excited she was when she was given the lunch errand.
The Bakers had a horse and wagon. Eleanor’s father William commuted on the train to work at Packard Automotive in NYC. Eleanor’s mother would take her father to the train station in their horse drawn wagon. When Eleanor’s father left Packard he opened his own electrical business in Brentwood. During the Depression his business dissolved. He then did electrical work at Pilgrim State Hospital and later he worked at Republic Aviation as a safety engineer from 1930 to World War II. After that Mr. Baker worked at Mackay Radio in Brentwood till 1947 when he retired.
William Baker Sr. served on the Brentwood Public School Board in the 1930’s. The Bakers were active members of Christ Episcopal Church on 3rd Avenue in Brentwood. There was a circuit pastor who came every 3 weeks to conduct services at the church because there was a shortage of Episcopal pastors.
-A. Bennett, Local History Newsletter, March 2009.
Eleanor’s father, William Baker Sr. loved music. The Bakers had a piano in their home. They often had large gatherings at their house with family and friends enjoying a sing-along with William. playing the piano. This was in the late 1920’s and 1930’s during prohibition. Danny Jehle said people thought their house was a speak-easy.
The Memorial Day Parade was a big event here in Brentwood. The parade began with a ceremony at the cemetery on Madison Avenue and ended at the Village Green where Dixie cups of ice cream were given to participants. The Village Green was a grassy area in front of the RR station facing First Avenue. School children (second schoolhouse which was the only school at that time) marched in the parade along with Veterans, firemen and scouts.
Eleanor marched in the parade with her classmates and as she grew older with her Girl Scout troop. She said her Girl Scout troop was the first one in Brentwood.
In the 1930’s and 40’s the Brentwood Fire Department had a fair every summer on the Village Green. They had booths to buy things and games to win prizes. Brentwood was a small town then and the fair was an event everyone looked forward to.
William Baker Sr. was the State Fire Warden. This was a volunteer position. The fire warden’s job included fire inspection of houses. When he smelled smoke in his own neighborhood he would climb on his roof top to spot fires in his area. William had a fire truck. He filled fire cans with water from his well to put on his truck.
He had a siren on the side of his garage to alert the men in his neighborhood to come and help put out a local fire.
Years ago the landscape in Brentwood was very different than it is today. There were fields and woods with scrub pines and scrub oaks. Often the residential streets would have only a few houses surrounded with woods. Fires spread easily and were hard to contain. Eleanor said that people were very scared by the threat of fires. She related the story of the tragic fire in May of 1952 that took the lives of two firemen, Martin Ames and Charles Elliot and severely burned a third fireman, Andrew Wittman. The fire started in the vicinity of Carrll’s Straight Path and was driven several miles eastward by a strong wind as far as Jefferson Avenue and Hale Street where George and Eleanor Bazata live. Eleanor’s brothers William and Henry Baker were volunteer firemen. They stood on the roof of the Bazata’s house and used a hose connected to the well to wet down the perimeter of the yard. This saved George and Eleanor’s home from burning down.
-A. Bennett, Local History Newsletter, April 2009
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