Editing Medford, New York (section)

==History==
The [[Long Island Rail Road]] established the [[Medford station]] in 1843 in a flat wilderness in the [[Long Island Central Pine Barrens]]. The station connected to the [[New York State Route 112|Patchogue Stage Road]] between [[Patchogue, New York|Patchogue]] and [[Port Jefferson, New York|Port Jefferson]], and a post office was established.<ref name="newsday.com">{{Cite news| url=http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist004n,0,7048521.story| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050910030106/http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist004n,0,7048521.story| url-status=dead| archive-date=September 10, 2005| title=Long Island History: Medford| work=Newsday| access-date=July 2, 2021}}</ref>

In 1907 the LIRR established the Medford Prosperity Farm (officially called [[Long Island Rail Road Demonstration Farm|Experimental Station #2]]) on {{convert|80|acre|m2}} to show that crops could be raised in the Pine Barrens. [[Theodore Roosevelt]] visited the station in August 1910. As the car drove across a trail between Medford and [[Wading River, New York|Wading River]], it got stuck in the mud and Roosevelt was said to take a "flying leap" to get out.<ref name="newsday.com"/>

By the mid-to-late-20th century, developers were building new neighborhoods within Medford. Eagle Estates was built along [[County Route 16 (Suffolk County, New York)|Horse Block Road]] east of NY 112 in 1963<!--although there are some who claim it was built between 1958 and 1959-->, although it was planned as far back as the 1930s. The development included a [[King Kullen#History|Blue Jay Market]] shopping center on Horseblock Road west of Eagle Avenue, and a youth baseball and athletic field east of Sipp Avenue between Wave and Race avenues. The [[Interstate 495 (New York)|Long Island Expressway]] was built through Medford in 1970, with interchanges at [[New York State Route 112]] and Horseblock Road, the latter of which is close to an older interchange with Horseblock Road and Long Island Avenue, and was not completed until 1999. The Pines was established in the 1970s east of Buffalo Avenue, south of Jamaica Avenue, north of [[County Route 99 (Suffolk County, New York)|Woodside Avenue]] and far west of [[County Route 101 (Suffolk County, New York)|Patchogue-Yaphank Road]].

A segment of Peconic Avenue east of Buffalo Avenue has been lined with automotive [[Wrecking yard|junkyards]] since the mid-20th century. <!--Some have referred to this section of Medford as "Automotive Alley", while others have applied the nickname to NY 112 south of Jamaica Avenue due to the abundance of automotive dealerships built along the road here and in North Patchogue since the 1970s.-->