I have not been able to find the date of Dr. Charles S. Robert's death, but I know he was not in the 1910 census and in his wife Adelma's obit he was referred to as the late Dr. Robert. So from about the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th Dr. Robert's 18th century house had no doctors in it. That all changed when two guys from Brooklyn got together. One from Ralph Av. and one from Chauncey St. (sounds like a location from a Honeymooners script) Dr. Robert by the way, may of been the coronor for Kings County (Brooklyn) but that has less to do with this than our scriptwriter Lawson selling his place to the guy from Ralph Av. one Maxwell Henry Dubroff for about $36,000.00 (the IRS Tax stamp on the deed was for 35.00) in 1946.
One of the interesting covenants of that deed was the exception for the rights of present tenant, a vegetable stand on the premises of Neighborhood Road. That would be Becken's Farm Stand from Beckens family in Manorville and they were located on the property that would soon become Pat & Mikes Texaco Service Station which is a whole other story on this large pioneer Mastic Beach family
Well it's highly likely that Max Dubroff was a speculator because he didn't have the property for more than 9 months when he sold it to Doctor Frank Calabro,for $45,000.00. Besides the 12 acre Lawson Estate and buildings there was some additional land in this deal in section 3 east side of Pattersquash Creek and 4 that came to around 45 lots. Lots then were selling for $90.00 so it comes to roughly $4,150 but still a nice $5000 profit which was about twice the years average salary then. Doc may of known Dubroff prior to this as they literally lived around the corner from each other in Brooklyn. (Ralph & Chauncey interesect with each other) I make that point because of an "incident" that happened in this deal that is open to speculation .
David Simon was a Brooklyn & Mastic Beach Realtor. He originally was one of the six Home Guardian salesman. Most of them went on their own after World War II and several like Walter Ury, Charles Ammon and Simon opened up offices in Mastic Beach. Simons office was on the north east corner of the 5 corners in one of the old Home Guardian /Brooklyn Citizen model bungalows. The building was there until just a few years ago.
Now Doc would come out to Mastic Beach in the late '30's and 40's because his wife Elsie's parents, the DiPierros who had a bungalow down on the bay in section 5. Doc liked what he saw (Mastic Beach in the '30's was described by many as a paradise and very uncrowded except for the mosquitos) and started looking for his own place. The story I've been told by his nephew Gary Messinetti was that Dave Simon originally told Doc about the Lawson Estate being up for sale. But for whatever reason (money always seems to be a good one) Doc wound up dealing direct with Dubroff and there were bitter feelings between Simon & Calabro from that day forward. Seeing that they both wound up living and working in this tiny town could not be too much fun whenever their paths crossed. However the close proximity of Max & Doc only being a few blocks from each other in Brooklyn now comes into play as to who knew what and when they knew it.
The DiPierros were a large family of 9 children 8 girls and one boy. When Elsie's sisters married, several of them also wanted to move out Mastic Beach "All Year Round" as we used to say. Doc's new 17 room homestead made it possible for the Calabrias, Sirianis, Messinettis and DiPierros to have a place to live in while they all built homes and business' on the land Doc got in the deal. Elsie's brother Mike DiPierro went into the service station business with his brother in law Pat Messinetti. The Sirianis Ben & Anita opened a deli attached to the service station and the Calabrias opened the Red Barn restaurant made out of a carriage house on the estate.
