Randall & Miller period begins

c 1885

John J Randall and William G Miller, popular and successful builders based in Greenpoint Brooklyn, move the Bell Oaks House which is located on land recently acquired by Randall, towards North Main Street to the east. They build for themselves matching summer residences upon that same site. By this time Randall has already begun laying roads and constructing other houses in this general area which is newly designated as Randall Park. Prior to this North and South Main Street, South Ocean Avenue (Carman’s Lane), Merrick Road (Fulton Street), Bayview Avenue (Coe’s Neck Road) are primarily the only other areas with houses and these are mostly homesteads which include farms. Freeport’s commercial properties are along South Main Street as well as Freeport Creek and protruding to the west of Main along Merrick Road. Construction of the Randall Park section kicks off a succession of development, much in part by Randall & Miller.This image is a view facing north towards the Randall Park area around the time this period begins. Randall Avenue runs west from the foreground, Ocean Avenue runs from south to north in the background. If Randall and Millers’s matching homes, north of Randall Avenue, are already built at the time of this photograph then they are just out of the frame to the right.

Long Island Memories Digitization Project

The houses pictured on Randall and Ocean Avenues are likely among some of the earliest built by Randall in Freeport and still stand today. They are shown respectively as photographed Mar 16, 2011