THE NEWS FROM MASTIC ACRES

FEBRUARY 1949

It was nuthin' but Good News when Walter T.Shirley rolled this winter edition off his press 59 years ago this month. Originally his Mastic Acres development, which was where he started in the area, was a hunk of the August Floyd Estate that ran from the Forge River over to Mastic Road and was bordered by Mastic on the North and Mastic Beach on the South. By 1949 the old bypassed portion of the newly straighted Mastic Road was renamed Market Street and was to be the shopping district. Walter's first property office is still there on the corner of Mastic Road & Wavecrest Dr. However by 1949 Walter had much bigger plans and was developing a second and much much larger area that he also called Mastic Acres over to the west near the Carmens River. That second portion of Mastic Acres, which is also featured in this edition would become the town Walter renamed for him self in 1952. Big Old Thanks to Kenny Vitellaro for sending this well read edition over to me via "the internets" so we all can re read it and remember a bit.

LET'S TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT PAGE ONE SHALL WE?

Kenny & his twin sister Gerry who were a month or two shy of turning two years old when this photo was taken, may of watched their big brother Sal playing in that funny white stuff outside, from their playpen inside on Baybright Dr. But knowing Kenny as I do, he probably was taking a snooze.....zzzzzzzz

Aldona Dumont ......Long Before Bald Hill .... Perhaps on one of roads that ran down hill onto Smith Road?

POW! Notice The Mastic Acres Billboard in the background.

ZOOM here comes Johnny Wild brother of Arty. The Wilds got into stock car racing about a decade later.

I was almost tempted to borrow the mask from the Old Lone Ranger and place it on Good Old Eugene Szepesy, due to the fact that the newspaper fold has made it impossible to see most of his face. But a voice (perhaps it was Jim Croce's ) told me You Don't Do That .... And I don't mess around with Jim either.

And in the Meantime Across Town In The Original Location Of Mastic Acres ....

More Sensible Folks Are Staying Warm & Indoors. The Acres Bar & Grill located on the triangle of Mastic Road and Market Street is still there today under a different name .

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