Rubber Factory Worker Houses Get Official Landmark Status

The Brookhaven town council on Thursday unanimously voted to give landmark status to Setauket's three historic rubber factory worker houses.

"This long awaited decision will enhance our grant funding opportunities for the next phase of restoring these circa 1880’s houses for adaptive use,” Cynthia Barnes, president of the Three Village Community Trust, said in a statement.

from their longtime location on Old Town Road behind the Setauket Fire Department's station 1 to Community Trust property north of Main Street.

They were originally built in the 1890s to house immigrant workers employed at the rubber factory, which opened in Setauket during the late 1800s. It cost $20 a month and took four, sometimes more, full-time workers to pay the rent, Barnes previously told Patch.

Barnes said planning will require additional permits and approvals from the town. Funding for the restoration has come from both the state and the town. She previously told Patch that the Community Trust will seek for the houses "a use that will not be a fiscal drain."

“Our mission is for historic structures to be used – not as house museums – but as integral to the fabric of the community, connecting us to our heritage even as we move into the future," she said.