Founding Families
The Haselbauer House on Smithtown Avenue
One family, one address, more than a century
It is rare to find a home that has stayed in the same family for more than a century — but the Haselbauer house on Smithtown Avenue is one of those quiet exceptions. We recently digitized a wonderful family portrait taken on the property generations ago, and the picture opens a window onto a way of life that shaped early Bohemia.
Old Country Roots
A Snapshot from 1908
Like so many of Bohemia’s founding-era families, the Haselbauers came to Long Island as part of the great wave of Czech immigration that built this hamlet. Their neighbors were Vavras and Karshicks, Thumas and Cernys — fellow Czech speakers who had left the Kingdom of Bohemia behind for the open air of Suffolk County, bringing with them a Central European tradition of farming, craft, and tight-knit family life.
The Haselbauer property reflected that world. At the time of this photograph, the farm included a large barn and several smaller outbuildings, with crops, livestock, and the daily rhythm of chores tying the household to the land.
Family Lore
Sleeping Above the Kitchen Stove
Family lore offers a glimpse of what those first winters were like. The house had no central heating, and the South Shore wind could find every gap in the boards.
Frank and Otto Haselbauer were known to climb up and sleep in the attic space directly above the kitchen stove on the coldest nights, catching the warm air as it rose through the floorboards — an Old World trick, perfected by farm boys who knew exactly where the heat went.
Legacy
Woven into the Fabric of Bohemia
The 1908 portrait also marks a small piece of how Bohemia’s founding families wove themselves together. Tonia Haselbauer would go on to marry into the Tmay family — another well-known Bohemia name, later remembered for, among other things, Frank “Babe” Tmay, the fastest ladder climber on the Bohemia Fire Department’s celebrated “Suicide Squad” racing team of the 1930s.
Generations later, Justine Haselbauer Vallee would become one of the most cherished voices in our archive, contributing memoir pieces about life in Bohemia in the 1920s — from the Czech herbal remedies her grandmother received from Dr. Vokalek, to the dances at CSPS Hall.
Preservation
The Home Today
As you can see in the recent photo, the house has been beautifully preserved and remains in the Haselbauer family to this day — five, six, in some lines even seven generations after the family first put down roots on Smithtown Avenue. In a hamlet that has changed enormously since 1908, a home that has stayed in one family for over a century is more than a piece of real estate. It is a living thread back to the village’s beginnings.
Community Question
Can You Help Us Fill In the Gaps?
Do you have old photographs of Smithtown Avenue, or memories of the Haselbauer farm? We are working to fill in more gaps on our local map and would love to hear from you. Please share your stories at INFO@bohemiahistoricalsocietyny.org.
Photos and details provided by David Vallee.