Prior to its establishment in 1934 if you lived in Mastic Beach or Mastic and wanted to attend a church service of any kind, you had to travel east to Moriches, Center Moriches or west to Southaven and Bellport. St . Andrew's was followed by St. Jude's in the late 30's then the Mastic Beach Hebrew Center and Grace Lutheran Church in the 1950's. The first time I ever was in a church was in the building on the front of this circa 1940's program that my old pal Larry Schulz sent to me. During Easter Vacation in the spring of 1960 I watched it burn to the ground with Larry his brother Dennis and their Mom Estelle, who like many was in tears that day. Estelle was very active in St. Andrew's and taught Sunday School there. The building and the town were victims of a fire bug at the time who seemed hell bent on burning down half of the whole town indiscriminately. The arsonist was caught about a year later after a string of more fires. Ironacilly most people in the town always thought he also had torched the Knapp Mansion in 1959 . ( That was the story that started this website and as I said before was one he didn't do)
The church executive committee listed on the last page contains the names of some of the earliest townspeople of Mastic Beach. St. Andrew's also published the very first town directories from 1937-1942 that have helped me time and time again in my research.
SUMMERTIME 1950's
"OK YOU HOLY ROLLERS PLACE YOUR DIMES DOWN ....HERE WE GO"
Both St. Andrew's and its neighbor church across the street St. Jude's held church bazaars in the early '50's as fundraisers along with the MBFD. . Somewhere down the line they got outlawed by the state. So much for seperation of church and state.
WINTER 1940
I just obtained the 1940 edition St. Andrew's Mastic Beach Directory, which completes my set of all 4 that were ever published. I will be adding in some of the items and pages that are unique to it like this photo of the church in winter with it's new outdoor bulletin board and the article "The Future Of Mastic Beach"
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