Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Industry & Commerce, People, Site

Location

100 Oak St, Babylon, NY 11701, USA

Lat/Long

40.679194, -73.412718

Grant Recipient

Jewish Historical Society of Long Island

Jacob Hartmann (1842-1922) was a Jewish immigrant who relocated to America from Germany around 1860. Before leaving for America, Hartmann was apprenticed as a baker. He continued this profession for some time after settling in New York City. According to a contemporary biographical sketch published in the 1896 Portrait and Biographical Record of Suffolk County, Hartmann then worked for a time as a glass cutter for street lamps in New York City, transitioning to the manufacture of paints, of which he was involved in for over ten years. Hartmann eventually left New York City and purchased land in Amityville, Suffolk County, New York. By 1891, he owned the Suffolk County Bottling Works, located on Oak Avenue in Amityville. At this location, Hartmann grew his business bottling beer and mineral water, along with developing an additional business selling ice harvested from the pond he created by widening the stream on which his businesses were located. The pond would come to be known as Hartmann’s Pond.

An article in the June 15, 1902 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle referred to Hartmann’s “extensive bottling establishment, his residence and ice houses on the banks of his pond” and included a photograph of the property. He retired from active business shortly after this, still residing on Oak Street in Amityville until his death following a short illness in 1922. His obituary published in the May 3, 1922 edition of the Brooklyn Times Union called him “one of the oldest and most respected citizens” of Amityville.