SCHS / Photo of the Week: Edgar Garfield Smeltzer (1881 – 1976) — Photo of Middle Country Rd, Selden, c. 1906

Photo of the Week

July 11, 2026

FROM THE SCHS LIBRARY & ARCHIVE

“How shall we know it is us without our past?”
– John Steinbeck

————————————————–

Middle Country Road, Selden, c. 1906. (From the Edgar Garfield Smeltzer Photography Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society Library & Archive.)

————————————-

Photographer Edgar Garfield Smeltzer (1881-1976) spent summers with his family in Selden from the 1880s to the early 1900s. His lifelong interest in photography began when he was a teen, recording his experiences and surroundings and making his own prints in a makeshift darkroom. Smeltzer’s photographs of Selden, a gift to our archive from his granddaughter, Carolyn Gillespie Markowitz, were among the young photographer’s earliest pictures.

Selden, historically known as Westfield or Westfields, is a hamlet located in the Town of Brookhaven of Suffolk County. The earliest settlers of Selden were farmers who lined the once very rural Middle Country Road. The main source of income for these farmers was lumber. Cordwood was cut and then sent by horse-drawn wagon to Port Jefferson Harbor during the late fall and early winter months and helped many make their living.

The first post office of Selden wasn’t established till 1852 which is when the residents of then Westfield noticed a problem. Their mail was constantly getting lost because there was already a Westfield Post Office in upstate New York. It is claimed the residents decided to use the name “Selden” to honor Henry Selden, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, and eventually a New York State Lieutenant Governor. This choice has stumped many historians for years seeing as Henry Selden had no connection with the people of the town. It is rumored, however, that Selden said he would “do something handsome” for the hamlet if named after him. It has never been confirmed if he did.

The most well-known resident of Selden is Daniel Roe, who lived in the hamlet with his wife Debroah and their 12 children. He fought in the French and Indian War and then served as a captain in the Revolutionary War. Although he led many raids against the British, his legacy comes from his side quest of smuggling rebel families out of British-occupied Long Island. Captain Roe used whaleboats to transport families and their belongings to safety across the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. Country Route 111 is named in his honor.

The turning point for the very rural community came in the 1930s. Although fruit and vegetable farms still lined up on the Middle Country Road, the New York City folk came by the busload. Real estate agents sold quarter-acre lots for $19, which created the first development known as “Nature’s Garden.” Suburban development increased greatly in the early 1950s and by the 70s Selden was a suburban community. As of the 2020 census, Selden has a population of 21,262 people–a drastic increase from 1931, when it housed a mere 131 residents.

Sources: “The Community of Selden: Past and Present,” by Tom Stock (Science Dept., Selden Junior High School, unpublished manuscript, 1986); and Home Town Long Island (Newsday, 1999).

by Julia Letts, Library Assistant

************************

Upcoming FREE Summer Concert Series!