Bohemia, Decade by Decade
The 1880s: Faith & Foundations
A decade of building
Thirty years after the first settlers arrived, the 1880s saw the community begin to solidify its identity. Life was still rugged — roads were dirt paths and Czech was the language of the street — but this was the decade when the “camp” truly became a village. It was in 1885 that the settlement formally adopted the name Bohemia, replacing the original “Tabor,” in honor of the settlers’ homeland. That same decade laid the three pillars of Bohemia’s history: the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Mission, and the Freethinkers’ Lodge.
December 8, 1885
The First Church: St. John Nepomucene
For the early Catholic settlers, faith was central, but they had no building of their own. Mass was often held in private homes or required a long trek to neighboring towns.
December 8, 1885, marks a spiritual turning point. The first Mass was celebrated in the newly constructed St. John Nepomucene Church, established as a mission of St. Patrick’s parish in Bay Shore. Unlike the large church built a century later, this original “Little Church” was a modest 24-by-30-foot wooden structure. Naming it after the Patron Saint of Bohemia was a powerful statement of ethnic pride.
A parish cemetery followed in 1886, and in 1891 a sacristy and annex would double the building’s size. Remarkably, the 1885 church still stands today — it survived a fire in April 2012 and was lovingly restored.
1886
The Episcopal Mission: St. John’s-on-the-Plains
Just a year later, the village’s Episcopal community laid their own foundation. The groundwork had been decades in the making: in 1873, Bishop Littlejohn assigned the Rev. John Prescott to missionary work in Suffolk County. By the late 1870s, Prescott was already visiting Bohemia to perform baptisms and weddings, often in the home of settler Jan Nohowec.
In 1884, he announced his intention to establish a permanent mission, and in 1886 the modest chapel of St. John’s-on-the-Plains was built at Church Street and Walnut Avenue — at a cost of just $124, heavily supported by donations from Fulton and Bayard Cutting of Oakdale.
Every other Sunday, Rev. Prescott transported choir members, teachers, and an organist from Sayville in his carriage, which locals affectionately dubbed “The Gospel Wagon.” The mission’s Sunday school began with just two children and grew into a vibrant congregation. For decades, Bohemia had two churches named “St. John’s” just blocks apart. Around 1949, the Episcopal mission was renamed St. Luke’s. The original 1886 chapel was preserved and incorporated into the parish house, where it remains today.
1887
The Freethinkers & Lodge #139
While the churches were rising, so was a different kind of movement. Many Czech immigrants were “Freethinkers” — secularists who prioritized reason and ethnic heritage over religious dogma. Their mutual aid tradition in Bohemia dated back to 1875, when residents chartered the village’s first chapter of the Č.S.P.S. (Česko-Slovanský Podporující Spolek), meeting in Joseph Nohowec’s hotel.
On May 28, 1887, nineteen men led by Jan Bartunek and Josef Stransky formally organized Lodge Jan Roháč z Dubé, #139. The name was a statement: Jan Roháč z Dubé was a fifteenth-century Hussite commander, linking the Long Island settlers to Old World narratives of Czech resistance. In its first twenty-five years, the lodge would support 149 members and care for the families of the 19 who died during that period.
In 1892, the society built its own meeting hall — Union Hall, at Smithtown Avenue and Union Street. It became the center of social life for the Freethinker community, hosting dances, theater, and gymnastic events. This established the unique dynamic of early Bohemia: a small village with two distinct social centers — the Church and the Hall — that competed for the heart of the community.
1885
The Union Cemetery
With religious tensions running high between Catholics and Freethinkers, burial became a contentious issue. The burying ground itself dated to 1865, when landowner Alexander Wallis donated two acres on Church Street after the village’s first recorded death.
In 1885, it was formally incorporated as the Bohemia Union Cemetery, ensuring that all residents, regardless of creed or confession, would have a dignified place to rest.
December 30, 1886
The Mystery of Michael Donavan
While Bohemia is famous for its Czech roots, the early records reveal other nationalities were present from the start. One of the earliest burials in the village is Michael Donavan, an Irishman who died on December 30, 1886, at the young age of 24. His tombstone bears a poignant inscription: “Weep not for me, my parents dear / I am not dead but sleeping here. / May his soul rest in peace.”
