The land that was developed into what is now known as Old Chester Hills was sold by Walter and Margaret Beh to the original builders, Wade and Wichard on May 18, 1954.
Walter Beh was born in New York City in 1882 and Margaret Buser Beh was a native of Haardt, Germany. Margaret came to the United States at the age of 11 months on July 5th, 1898. They married in Brooklyn in 1916. Before moving to Greenlawn in 1935, they lived in the East Elmhurst section of Queens, on Ditmars Blvd. was waterfront property and along came the Grand Central Parkway and with the pumping and dredging of Flushing Bay their property was no longer beachfront. They decided to look for property “in the country”.
Mrs. Beh, a horse lover, wanted property that could accommodate horses. They found such a place in Greenlawn. The property originally 110 acres, which later grew to over 300 acres, had a 15 box stall stable, a large barn, a brood stable, and a mile turf racetrack.
Mr. Beh was not a horse person but Mrs.Beh was an accomplished polo player and was the captain of the L.I. women’s team. She also played for many years in Florida. According to her son, Bruce, there were as many as 15 horses in the stables. These included hunters, polo ponies, trotters, pacers, and work horses. Horse drawn mowers were used to cut the lawn in the front of the house.
At one time, before homes were built, there was a 20-acre hay field with a practice area for “stick and balling”. The hay was mowed and raked with horse pulled equipment, loaded onto hay wagons and stored in the loft of the barn.
Chester was a hunter that Mrs. Beh competed with at the National Horse Show in the old Madison Square Garden. She and son, Bruce, were members of the Meadowbrook and Smithtown Hunts. Hounds met from time to time on the front lawn and ended there and tea was served afterwards.
Walter Beh was the founder of the wood houseware manufacturing business with a factory in upstate New York among the products his company made was the “curtain stretcher”. Some of us remember the wooden frame with all the nails in it, that many of our mothers would use to dry the lace curtains on.