Monday, July 14, 2025
At Neighbors’ Night at the Phillips House Museum, trustees and community members gathered to honor the past and future of the village.
Proceeds from the night will mainly go to paying for a survey of the southern half of the village to find historic buildings. Some attendees were first-generation residents of Rockville Center, while others’ families went back for generations.
Kelly Thurston’s dad’s family goes back four generations or more in Rockville Centre, she said, and this makes her feel connected to the history of her community.
“I feel like we’re losing parts of our history every day in town, and having people who care and who remind us that we do have a big history and do things that keep them going is important,” Thurston said.
Margaret Cruz is relatively new to Rockville Center, in comparison, and was drawn to the local achitecture.
“It’s a very old town,” Cruz said. “The reason why we moved to this community is because of the beautiful housing up here.”
Cruz expressed her appreciation for the volunteers at the museum.
“They are very lovely people,” Cruz said. “We are very grateful and appreciative of them.”
Patricia Dougan said she came to the May 31 event because she wanted to learn more about the historical society.
“To preserve what went on so we can remember, we can see, we can educate people about it,” Dougan said. “That’s what I’m interested in.”
One of the village’s preservation projects was started in 2018-2019 with the surveying of the village north of Lakeview Avenue.
“About 90 percent of the village north of Lakeview Avenue is actually classified as historic,” said Matt Cliszis, who is in charge of the museum’s communications. “So people’s heads were spinning.”
The historical society is hoping to raise $20,000 to put towards hiring a company to finish surveying the village. Donations in general also go towards speaker series fees and building maintenance.
This is the second annual Neighbors’ Night at the Museum, and the last one was a success. Debbie Fehringer said she is pleased with the progress that has been made since she took over as president.
“We’re a new board for the most part,” Fehringer said. “I took over from Frank Seipp who was president for 30 years, so I have some big shoes to fill. We realized this museum offers so much. Every village should have an historical society. We’re lucky to add to it.”
Fehringer wants the public to know two things: they’re looking for more volunteers to help with archiving, and contemporary artists or musicians can showcase their work at an open house there.
“We’re the past but we’re the present as well,” Fehringer said.
Another point she made was that they regularly have scouting troops come through to learn about history or do their next level scout projects. Fehringer said school involvement has lessened over the years, but they’re hoping to get the schools to work with them more often.
Getting people involved in general can be a challenge, but that’s the point of Neighbors’ Night at the Museum, Fehringer pointed out.
“It’s an opportunity for people that don’t know each other to come and mix amongst themselves, and also to meet us and see the museum,” she said.
She also believes the historical society provides a focal point for the collective narrative of the village.
“I think we’re all happier when we have an understanding of that shared identity,” Fehringer said.
