An intricate network of tunnels under the East River, the site of thousands of charges and explosives, were detonated to blow up the dangerous reefs at Hell Gate. The tunnels’ entrances, protected by a coffer dam, were bored well under the reefs and rocks. Many area residents came out to see the explosion. A larger effort in 1885 essentially removed the last of the rock and reef obstacles to shipping in Hell Gate.
August 29, 1881
The high point of the summer season at Bay View Pavillion in Corona occurred . The Grand Annual Regatta was open to all boating enthusiasts, whose craft were divided into five classes. The boats had to sail from the Pavillion to and around Riker’s Island twice. There was a prize for each class and an elegant piece of silverplate, presented by Harry Hill (the owner of the Pavillion), went to the best boat irrespective of class. The weather was ideal and the spectacle attracted attracted huge crowds to the Pavillion, just as Harry Hill had anticipated.
October 1881
The Ladies Michigan Relief Association gave a musical entertainment at Smithsonian Hall to collect Long Island City’s relief quota. A festival, where ice cream, cake and other items were provided at nominal cost, was held after the musical entertainment. The ladies had already received a large quantity of clothing and were engaged in packing and forwarding it to Michigan.
The relief effort grew from the great Michigan forest fire of September 1881, which lasted 3 days, destroyed more than one million acres of forest, took 282 lives, and destroyed property valued at $2,250,000. It was also the first relief effort by a new organization, the American Red Cross, founded by Clara Barton earlier in the year.
April 13, 1882
Newtown Register complained that Corona was overrun with goats and geese. The former was “a bold species that do not hesitate to attack ladies who wear red shawls, and the latter thinks that the doorsteps and sidewalks were made of their special benefit.” The paper warned owners to do something about the public nuisance, or “give the pound master an opportunity to turn an honest penny.”
August 1882
Long Island City, plagued with numerous lawsuits on assessments, defaults on city bonds. The Mayor is charged with embezzlement.
February 28, 1883
The first Chinese immigrant moved into Newtown, an event considered noteworthy enough for the time to be reported in the press. Today, Newtown Village is known as Elmhurst. Its census tract is home to undoubtedly the most diverse population in the world. It is conceivable that every nation on earth has a citizen walking its streets.
August 10, 1884
An earthquake, measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, one of the largest ever recorded in the city, struck the eastern United States. It was felt in Queens and as far away as Maine and Virginia. Unlike most earthquakes in this area, this one did have enough force to “throw down chimneys.”
Although a truly strong earthquake has never struck the immediate area in recorded history, both Boston and Charleston, South Carolina, experienced severe temblors in colonial times that were felt as far away as New York.
October 1885
In an effort the lessen the danger to shipping, the nine acre Flood Rock is blasted out of Hell Gate by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It was the largest man-made explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb.
May 1886
In May, 1886, work began on new track along Riker Avenue (19th Avenue) to the new pleasure resort (North Beach) on Bowery Bay. The contract for construction of the pavilion and bathing houses for the North Beach amusement park was awarded to Henry Schaeffer of New York. It called for completion of 104 bathhouses by June 19 at a cost of $6,000. The pavilion was to be one hundred feet long by seventy-five feet wide. On the grounds was to be a magnificent fountain sending a stream one hundred and fifty high. Until the completion of the pavilion, the old Douglas mansion was to be fitted temporarily so liquid and solid refreshments could be sold there.
It was the intention of Mr. Henry A. Cassebeer, President; William H. Williams, Vice-president; William Steinway, Treasurer; and George Steinway, Secretary of the Bowery Bay Land and Improvement Company that this park be “second to none, as a place of resort of respectable people seeking recreation.” On May 21, the Star reported that over 500 people had been seen strolling on the magnificent beach the previous Sunday.
May 1886
The contract for construction of the pavilion and bathing houses for the North Beach amusement park was awarded to Henry Schaeffer of New York. It called for completion of 104 bathhouses by June 19 at a cost of $6,000. The pavilion was to be one hundred feet long by seventy-five feet wide. On the grounds was to be a magnificent fountain sending a stream one hundred and fifty feet high. Until the completion of the pavilion, the old Douglas mansion was to be fitted temporarily so refreshments could be sold there.
It was the intention of Mr. Henry A. Cassebeer, President; William H. Williams, Vice-president; William Steinway, Treasurer; and George Steinway, Secretary of the Bowery Bay Land and Improvement Company that this park be “second to none, as a place of resort of respectable people seeking recreation.” On a Sunday, over 500 people strolled on the magnificent beach.
June 19, 1886
North Beach Park opens. Part owned by William Steinway, this venture represented the ultimate expression of the German beer garden. On the location of today’s LaGuardia Airport, entertainment of every description from bathing to bowling, from picnics to political rallies were offered daily during the summer season.
In its heyday, thousands thronged to its resorts. Although ended by Prohibition and anti-German sentiment, the formula of a cold beer, good friends, and a hot summer night was never forgotten. The old concept of beer gardens is now the latest word in entertainment. Turn of the century survivors as Astoria’s Bohemian Hall and Park are again packed every evening.
August 31, 1886
“Twenty-five houses are going up in Woodhaven,” declares the Brooklyn Eagle on August 31, 1886, calling it the &ldqo;most prosperous place” on Long Island. “Many more will soon be needed, ” the article goes on.
The Grosjean tin factory, employing 800, was expanding and was ready to soon employ another 200 men. The village was to be lighted with gas (having completed arrangements with the Union Gas Company of East New York) and a public hall was going up. A residence with school accommodations was soon to open for the Ursuline Sisters. The opening of rapid transit was credited with doing much to open the community and its neighbor to the south, Ozone Park.
November 1886
Mayor Patrick “Battle-Axe” Gleason is elected Mayor of Long Island City on November 3. The colorful and controversial public figure refuses to give up his seat on the Long Island City Board of Alderman until forced to do so by the courts.
March 02, 1888
More than 10 carloads of oysters are being shipped through Jamaica from nearby Pearsall’s Corners each week, said a March 2, 1888 report. Since the previous October, the planters and harvesters have been doing a brisk business of at least $9,000 a week. None were for export to Europe as domestic demand remained robust and lucrative.
March 12, 1888
The most notorious blizzard in our nation’s history dumps 21 inches of snow in 16 hours on the metro area. Ferryboats suspended service when the East River freezes over. Stage and rail service are powerless against ten foot drifts. Telegraph lines snap, isolating communities. Food and supplies take days to reach storm victims. The blizzard’s severe conditions remain unequaled in 150 years of weather records.
May 30, 1889
Samuel Lord, one of the founders of Lord & Taylor, died. He and his cousin George Washington Taylor, immigrants to New York, located their first small dry goods store on Catherine Street. The store moved uptown to a place on Ladies’ Mile, which catered to the wealthier clientele of the “carriage trade.” The enterprise became a major fashion retailer. Today, the store is part of May Department Stores.
Lord lived at the corner of Whitney and Broadway in Elmhurst. Nearby Claremont Terrace was a row of four houses built by Samuel Lord for his daughters. The one that remains (ca. 1854) was built closest to the train tracks.
January 02, 1890
On January 2, 1890, the Steinway family sets up a free circulating library for their employees and the residents of the Steinway settlement that grew up around their factory. This library became the Long Island City Public Library, and with the consolidation of New York City, the Queens Borough Public Library. This library has the largest circulation of any library in the nation, if not the world. The portrait of original benefactor, William Steinway, still rests on the wall of the main reading room of the Steinway branch on 31st Street.
January 03, 1890
On January 3, 1890, Mayor “Battle Axe” Gleason was elected to his second term as mayor of Long Island City. The following day, he discharges many of the department commissioners in the city and appointed himself and his cronies to run local government.
Gleason was born in the parish of Drum & Inch in County Tipperary, Ireland, on April 25, 1844 and, at 6' 1¼" tall, was reputedly the smallest in a family of seven boys and one girl. He migrated to America in May 1862 following some of his brothers who had already came here.
During the decades from 1887 to 1897, Gleason was elected several times as mayor of Long Island City. While mayor, he owned trolley lines under city contract, leased personal property to the school district, and sold water to the city from his wells. When the railroad put a fence to block traffic on the ferry, he personally chopped it down earning the nickname “Battle-Axe.” After being elected as mayor, he refused to give up his seat on the Board of Aldermen, holding both positions in local government.
Gleason’s volatile temper got him arrested, and his relationship with the board of aldermen was tempestuous at best. The newspapers, which loathed him, refused to publish his photograph. Yet Gleason is still remembered fondly by the people of Hunters Point for his was a friend to the common man. PS 1, which was the largest high school on Long Island when built, was his legacy to the community’s children.
When he died bankrupt and discredited but a few years out of office, hundreds lined the route to his internment. The late historian George Henke once stated, “Patrick Jerome Gleason was never boring, and although labeled a brawler, braggart, buffoon and scoundrel, he was not worse than some of his slick opponents. He was an astute politician.” Gleason’s personality was legendary.
December 28, 1892
An explosion in the Steinway Tubes kills five and injures dozens. Several factories were wrecked, the concussion throws people to the sidewalks, and flying glass from hundreds of shattered windows and falling plaster showered down on Hunters Point. The disaster is caused by overheating 87 pounds of thawing dynamite. Years pass before the project is completed. Today it’s the Queens entrance to the No. 7 line tunnel under the East River.
March 1894
Hundreds of employees at the Astoria Silk Works go on strike. The brick buildings, identified with the letters ‘ASW,’ stand today off Steinway Street. The company was owned by a group of investors including beer magnate Jacob Ruppert and William Steinway of piano fame. From the dawn of Astoria’s industry in the mid-1800s, weaving has always been important to the community. Before the Civil War, a carpet weaving plant was set up in the fledgling Old Astoria Village. In February, 2004, when Scalamandre Silk announced it was moving, the nearly 150 year tradition in Astoria finally died.
September 1894
The Aqueduct Racetrack, operated by the Queens County Jockey Club, opens for thoroughbred horse racing.
July 13, 1895
A cyclone destroyed Public School #2 in Woodhaven. The two-story red brick structure had been built in the late 1880’s. The school board opted to level what was left of the old structure and build a new and larger one. Construction on the new building began on February 17, 1896, and the building was opened on September 8, 1896. It accommodated 700 students.
August 1895
The Brooklyn Parks Department purchases the first parcel for what is today known as Forest Park. The park grows with acquisitions through 1898.
October 04, 1895
Highway Commissioners, with their own hands, chopped down the posts of the Hollis toll house at 186th Street and formally threw Jamaica Avenue open to public travel. The road was a plank turnpike, which its operator, the Hempstead Plank Road Company, had allowed to become dilapidated. On October 15, a Queens Grand Jury indicted the president and directors of the company for maintaining a public nuisance. Paving of the road did not begin until the summer of 1897.
January 01, 1898
The City of New York charter went into effect. The law was passed in May 1897 to incorporate the city and consolidate over 40 entities into one municipality–Greater New York. The Borough of Queens encompassed Long Island City, and the towns of Flushing, Newtown, Jamaica, along with the Rockaway peninsula which (were part of the town of Hempstead). The Queens County of old (1683-1898) also included the eastern towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead, and Oyster Bay which elected not to join greater New York, becoming Nassau County in 1899.
