St. John’s Hospital at Jackson Avenue and 12th Street in Hunters Point was formally opened. Bishop Charles E. McDonald delivered the blessing. In the Long Island Star’s words “The formal opening was…one of the most intensely impressive events in the history, not alone of the community in which the noble edifice has been raised, but also of the entire Borough of Queens and the whole of Long Island. The hospital is the culmination of years of arduous labor and earnest, persistent, devotion on the part of the Sisters of St. Joseph, led by the sister superior in charge, Sister Mary David.”
November 30, 1900
On November 30, 1900, the Star—Journal remarked with pride that over 35 miles of Queens highways were now lit by electric arc lights—“all the main thoroughfares of the Borough are now illuminated from the East River and the Brooklyn boundary to the villages of Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown. These avenues, so popular with bicyclists and pleasure drivers, can now be traversed for miles over the well-lighted roadways as easily and as safely by night as by day.” The Star—Journal noted that “the riding of the automobile has become a feature of late in the streets of the Borough of Queens. Nearly all of these automobiles are owned by wealthy residents with homes on Long Island and the machines are frequently used for riding into town for business, shopping, pleasure, etc.”
June 1905
The New York & New Jersey Telephone Company voluntarily cut rates by 50%. Manhattan calls are only 10 cents, the Bronx, 15 cents. Daily phone service drops to 7 cents. Businesses suddenly discover the phone. Newtown Central, in Elmhurst, has over 350 subscribers making it one of the busiest on Long Island. Today, the New York Telephone Building sits on Broadway, one of the largest structures in the community.
March 09, 1906
On March 9, 1906 a large delegation of residents from Ridgewood made a strong protest at Queens Borough hall in Hunters Point. The Citizen’s Water Supply Company, responsible for the providing an adequate supply to the community, could not pump water to the second story of many homes. Toilets could not be flushed and insurance companies were adverse to taking risks. The water company responded that new development in Long Island City boosted that community’s needs to more than five million gallons each day, overtaxing their resources.
May 17, 1907
The Lelance & Grosjean Factory in Woodhaven is paralyzed with a strike when 400 employees walk out. Protesting working conditions, they want more than the going rate of between $4.50 and $6.00 a week (for 10 hour days). The strike grows. They demand a $1 a week raise. Management counters with an offer of 50 cents.
August 1907
In August 1907, the steelwork on the Queensboro Bridge was complete. Building the bridge, the longest over the East River, took eight years, from 1901 to 1909. Unlike the graceful suspension spans on the Brooklyn, Williamsburg, or Manhattan Bridges, the Queensboro is a double cantilever truss bridge.
The bridge had had an immediate and profound effect on the development of Queens when it opened in 1909. With its graceful symmetry, the bridge has long been a source of inspiration for artists, songwriters, and authors. Queens natives Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel made it an icon for the 1960s with the song “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” and more recently it was featured in the movies Manhattan and Spiderman.
September 1907
The Steinway Trolley Tunnel to Manhattan opens. Later it is taken over by the Interborough Rapid Transit system for Flushing’s #7 Line.
October 29, 1907
Callister’s Wagon Factory in Queens Village was gutted by fire. The fire was so fierce that the Hollis, Creedmoor and Jamaica fire companies all were summoned. They arrived to find that repairs at the Jamaica Pumping Station that day had caused the water supply to the hydrants to be cut off. The plant burned to the ground, at a loss of $75,000.
January 16, 1909
Ethel Merman born in Astoria. The Tony Award-winning musical comedy entertainer who popularized songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, among others. Merman's Broadway performances include Girl Crazy (1930), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), and Call Me Madam (1950). Biographers describe her as “a Broadway singing giant with a brassy, larger-than-life star persona and a uniquely powerful, heart-felt voice.” Merman's belt-it-out rendition of Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business" has become the anthem of the entertainment industry. She died in 1984 and is still fondly remembered by friends from her old neighborhood.
March 30, 1909
The Queensborough Bridge opened to vehicular traffic. It was designed by architect Henry Hornbostel and built by engineer Gustav Lindenthal. This cantilever bridge spanning the East River utilized Blackwell’s Island below as the site of two of the bridge&rsqup;s four towers. The official grand opening celebration was a few months later in June, and trolley service began in September.
Over the years, the bridge has experienced horse traffic, all types of cars and trucks, trolleys on the upper and lower decks, elevated railroad trains, a transport elevator from mid-span to the island below, and bicycle and foot traffic.
