Ask any of our commuters and they’ll tell you the same thing: the Long Island Rail Road is Port’s source of life. Now, that isn’t to say we don’t have a commercial center, for our Main Street does boast several small businesses, but even those, in part, could be attributed to our railroad. During the mid-1800s, there were hardly any restaurants and storefronts in town. Instead, there was shellfishing and sand mining. But with the addition of a railroad (in the same spot it’s in today), Port was given the opportunity to transform into something more than just these industries.
But how did we end up here, with four tracks and 14 stops? Well, Port’s first train came not from Manhattan, but from Long Island City, which was home to a number of growing industries. Originally, this train ended in Great Neck, but thanks to Port’s wealthy landowners, the Long Island Rail Road agreed to extend the line, though doing so was expensive, and it would take the construction of the Manhasset Viaduct (built by Carnegie Steel) to fully connect the two in 1898.
It wasn’t until 1910, when Penn Station was fully constructed, that Port’s commuters could directly reach Manhattan (and not via ferry). But by then, Port had already started developing Main Street (formerly known as Flower Hill Avenue), so as to welcome its influx of commuters. The Victoria Hotel, for example, was built in 1905 where the present-day Starbucks is, and it was one of the first major businesses to kick off the oncoming boom (though it was later demolished in 1928). Other community staples, like the Port Yacht Club and The Flower Hill Hose Company (the firehouse on Haven), also opened that year, along with Louie’s first floating seafood shack. Just six years later, we got Alpers Hardware, and it was becoming more and more clear what this new Port would look like.
Much has changed since then, but for the most part, our town’s commercial structure has stayed the same. And even with modern technology, our commuters still face the same travel times as their 19th-century companions: 40ish minutes there, 40ish minutes back – a perfect luxury.
