Photo by Howie Guja
The Ralph Brown Building
The building at 12 Bell Street has been a Bellport landmark for more than 140 years. A 1902 map shows the structure as belonging to Robinson & Watkins. The building represents an unchanged example of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture once common in Long Island villages. Robinson and Watkins, an important Bellport building firm, was active from the last quarter of the 19th century through the early part of the 20th century. The firm was conducting a flourishing building business that was responsible for, among other things, the Catholic church in 1904 over 60 bathhouses for the Bellport hotels and clubs, the original 1893 firehouse (now located across the street) and the development of Bell Street. Of the 15 houses on Bell St 11 were built by this firm. It also ran a hardware store which carried “an immense line of hardware, lumber, paint, oils, varnish, rigging, sporting goods, pistols, electrical goods, household furnishings, windmills, pumps.”
The Robinson and Watkins building was acquired by Ralph Brown, who was a Bellport native, graduated from Patchogue High School, was wounded in France during WWII and awarded the Purple Heart. He returned to Bellport and operated Ralph’s Hardware Store for many years. He had a reputation as an eccentric but loved to joke with his customers. Brown was robbed of his prized coin collection that he kept in at the store and was murdered there in 1980. He bequeathed the building to the historical society, which named it in his honor. The Bell Street historic district was created in 2002.
Ralph Brown in 1972