Footnotes to Long Island History
‘Palace Vans’ Once Familiar Sight
by
Thomas R. Bayles
Navy
It was back in 1903 when Arthur W. Phillips moved to
Patchogue from the family home in Yaphank, and started in the furniture
moving business.
For 50 years he operated the "Palace Vans," which were a familiar sight
on the highways of Long Island. For several years the moving vans were
drawn by horses. Mr Phillips says he used to make two round trips a week
to New York City. Leaving Patchogue around midnight he would reach
Rockville Centre the following night, where he stopped at the home of
Ross Tuthill, who operated a trucking business and formerly had a
blacksmith shop in Patchogue on North Ocean Avenue. Mr. Phillips
unhitched his horses and took a fresh team of Mr. Tuthill's and
continued on to New York City , unloaded his furniture and returned to
Rockville Centre, where he changed horses again and returned to
Patchogue with his own team. He said he once made a trip with his horsedrawn van
to Bridgeport, Conn, around by New York.
He brought his first motor truck in 1912, and the horses were retired.
After that the Palace Vans were motorized and continued to operate until
Mr. Phillips retired in 1953.
Before moving to Patchogue, Mr. Phillips lived on the family farm
at Yaphank on the road to Middle Island, where he was born and grew up.
The farm was a large one and consisted of about 300 acres with a large
acreage of woodland. He cut thousands of cords of wood which was shipped
by rail from the Yaphank station.
Most of it was oak corkwood and went to the brick yards at Greenport and
up the Hudson River to Haverstraw where it was burned in curing bricks.
The wood was cut during the Winter and allowed to season for a year
before shipping, as only dry wood was used in the brick yards.
The old homestead at Yaphank was built 100 years ago in 1861, at the
beginning of the Civil War, and was a large one with 11 rooms and a
large attic. Mr. Phillips says his mother kept track of the cost of
building the house and it came to about $1,000. Construction costs were
different in those days from the present time. The family needed a large
house, as there were seven boys and two girls.
The carpenter who built the house walked out from Port Jefferson to
Yaphank on Monday mornings and walked home again on Saturday night. His
pay was $1.25 a day and his board.
Mr. Phillips is the only one of his family left and he is 84 years of
age. He lives at 52 Jennings Avenue, Patchogue, with his wife, but for
the past few years has been poor in health and suffers from arthritis so
badly it is difficult for him to get around. He enjoys reading and
visiting with old friends. He can tell many a tale of life in th years
gone by in the "horse and buggy" days.