By Tiffany Razzano
The Rockville Centre Historical Society has put up a display of memorabilia from the World's Fair, that year held in Flushing Meadow, Queens, at its Phillips House. The exhibit, which is located in the building's dining room, will be on display through the end of June. The historical society decided on this exhibit based on a very successful past exhibit for the 1939-1940 World's Fair.
The highlight of the exhibit is a guide book from the fair signed by former President Richard Nixon. The book was donated by Rockville Centre resident Tom Hodge. According to Frank Seipp, the president of the historical society, Nixon, with his wife and kids, had sat in front of Hodge on one of the rides at the fair. Hodge then asked him to sign his book.
Everything in the display was donated by Hodge along with fellow residents Ron Medaglia and William and Marilyn Devlin. Other items include: a Heinz pickle pin, beer glasses from the Schaefer Pavilion. a Pieta statuette, a Sinclair's Dinoland Brontosaurus and a monorail ticket.
"People love to see this stuff," Seipp said, "especially the babyboomers." Because of a mention in the New York Times, people have come out from New York City to see the exhibit as well as Suffolk County.
"A lot of people come to see [the display] because they're interested in buying this stuff," Seipp said. "But [the people who donated it] are not interested in selling."
The historical society has also recently acquired a collection of memorabilia from the village's 1976 bicentennial celebration. Now on display on the second floor of the Phillips House are: needlework, a copy of the parade route, costumes from the parade, and posters. These artifacts went nicely with the quilt that had already been housed at the historical society since the bicentennial. The quilt featured patches that were made by and represented all of the organizations and clubs in the village. The majority of these artifacts were donated by former mayor, Al Wood.
"The reason we have these things is for perpetuating them," Seipp said, "or at least for as long as people are interested in them!"
