Editing Freeport, New York (section)

===1900–1939: expansion===
[[File:Freeport-Baldwin NY Kissing Bridge postcard c. 1913.jpg|thumb|right|The "Kissing Bridge," which no longer exists, crossed the Freeport-Baldwin border over Milburn Creek at Seaman Avenue. Postcard {{circa|1913}}.]]
In the years after incorporation, Freeport was a [[tourist destination|tourist]] and sportsman's destination for its boating and fishing.

From 1902 into the late 1920s, the [[New York and Long Island Traction Corporation]] ran [[Tram|trolleys]] through Freeport to [[Jamaica, Queens|Jamaica]], Hempstead, and [[Brooklyn]]. These trolleys went down Main Street in Freeport, connecting to a ferry at Scott's Hotel near Ray Street. In later years these ferries departed from Ellison's dock on Little Swift Creek, served by separate trolleys operated by the [[Great South Bay Ferry Company]]. The ferries took people to [[Point Lookout, New York|Point Lookout]], about three miles (5&nbsp;km) south of Freeport, where there is an ocean beach. For a few years after 1913, the short-lived [[Freeport Railroad Company]] ran a trolley nicknamed "the Fishermen's Delight" along Grove Street (now [[Guy Lombardo]] Avenue) from [[Sunrise Highway]] to the waterfront.<ref name="Bleyer" /> Also in this era, in 1910 [[Arthur Heinrich|Arthur]] and [[Albert Heinrich (aviator)|Albert Heinrich]] flew the first American-made, American-powered [[monoplane]], built in their [[Merrick Road]] airplane factory (see also ''[[Heinrich Pursuit]]'').<ref name="Bleyer" /> [[WGBB]], founded in 1924, became Long Island's first 24-hour radio station.<ref name="Bleyer" />

[[File:Hughes & Bailey 1909 map of Freeport, NY.jpg|thumb|left|1909 [[Hughes & Bailey]] map]]
In the late 19th century, Freeport was the summer resort of wealthy politicians, publishers, and so forth. At the time, travel from Freeport to New York City required a journey of several hours on a coal-powered train, or an even more arduous automobile trip on the single-lane Merrick Road.

According to [[Elinor Smith]], the arrival of [[Diamond Jim Brady]] and [[Lillian Russell]] around the start of the 20th century marked the beginning of what by 1914 would become an unofficial theatrical [[artists' colony]], especially of [[vaudeville]] performers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1981|pp=22–25}}</ref>  Freeport's population was largest in the summer season, during which most of the theaters of the time were closed and performers left for cooler climes.<ref name="Bleyer" /> Some had year-round family homes in Freeport.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1981|pp=25–34}}</ref> [[Leo Carrillo]] and [[Victor Moore]] were early arrivals,<ref name="Smith-26">{{Harvnb|Smith|1981|p=26}}</ref> later joined by [[Fannie Brice]], [[Trixie Friganza]], [[Sophie Tucker]], [[Harry Ruby]],<ref>Lawrence van Gelder, "A Pioneer Pilot Clears Some Clouds", ''The New York Times'', July 5, 1981. p. LI2.</ref> [[Fred Stone]], [[Helen Broderick]], [[Moran and Mack]], [[Will Rogers]], [[Bert Kalmar]], [[Richard A. Whiting|Richard Whiting]], [[Harry von Tilzer]], [[Rae Samuels]], [[Belle Baker]], [[Grace Hayes]], [[Patrick Rooney (actor)|Pat Rooney]], [[Duffy and Sweeney]], the [[Four Mortons]], [[McKay and Ardine]], and [[Eva Tanguay]]. [[Buster Keaton]], [[W. C. Fields]], and many other theatrical performers who did not own homes there were also frequent visitors.<ref name="Smith-26" />

[[File:Freeport - Crystal Lake Hotel.jpg|thumb|right|A 1910s postcard of the Crystal Lake Hotel.]]
Several of Freeport's actors gathered together as the Long Island Good Hearted Thespian Society (LIGHTS), with a clubhouse facing onto Great South Bay.<ref name="Bleyer" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1981|pp=27–28}}</ref> LIGHTS presented summer shows in Freeport from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s.<ref name="Bleyer" /> LIGHTS also sponsored a summertime "Christmas Parade", featuring clowns, acrobats, and once even some borrowed elephants. It was held at this unlikely time of year because the theater people were all working during the real Christmas season.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1981|p=28}}</ref> A [[Coney Island]]–style [[amusement park]] called Playland Park thrived from the early 1920s until the early 1930s but was destroyed by a fire on June 28, 1931.<ref name="Rather">John Rather, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E1D81331F934A25752C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all If You're Thinking of Living In Freeport], ''The New York Times'', January 17, 1999. Retrieved November 16, 2008.</ref><ref name="fire">Miguel Bermudez and Donald Giordano, [http://www.freeportfd.org/about/history/ Freeport Fire Department :: History], Freeport Fire Department. Accessed online November 17, 2015.</ref>

With the resurgence of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] on Long Island in the 1920s many villages in Nassau and Suffolk counties were the focal point of Klan activity. According to a story in ''Newsday'' detailing the history of Long Island,<blockquote>often, respected clergymen and public officials openly supported the Klan and attended its rallies. On Sept. 20, 1924, for instance, the Klan drew 30,000 spectators to a parade through Freeport – with the village police chief, John M. Hartman, leading a procession of 2,000 robed men.... the founding of one of Long Island's first klaverns, in Freeport, was memorialized on Sept. 8, 1922, in the Daily Review, which carried a banner headline about the meeting at Mechanics Hall on Railroad Avenue. About 150 new members were greeted by seven robed Klansmen.<ref>David Behrens, "The KKK Flares Up on LI", ''Newsday'', 1998. Reproduced online [http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/KKK/KKK_Long_Island.htm at brookhavensouthhaven.org] (no archive date) and {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040612225622/http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/7/hs725a.htm|date=June 12, 2004|title=(archive link)}} from the ''Newsday'' "Long Island, Our Story" site. Retrieved October 4, 2011.</ref></blockquote>