The Ancient Order of Hibernians marches throughout Long Island City before joining the St Patrick Parade in Manhattan. Music is provided by the St. Raphael Fife and Drum Corps. Escorted by mounted police, the precession starts in Blissville and proceeds through Greenpoint Avenue to Ely and Jackson Avenues. Borough President Lawrence Gresser and staff review the parade from the steps of the Borough Hall in Long Island City.
March 17, 1910
On St. Patrick’s Day in 1910, the Queens delegation makes a fine showing as parade of local organizations are review by Borough President Gresser at Queens Borough Hall on Jackson Avenue. The local lads are led by a splendid contingent of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Before proceeding to Manhattan they parade throughout Long Island City. Grand Marshal Patrick Hyde and his aides, Patrick Powers, Michael Leahy and John Rooney head the procession. Music was from the St. Raphael Fife and Drum Corps and Prof. Enary's Brass Band. Escorted by mounted police, the precession started in Blissville, then went along Greenpoint Avenue to Ely and Jackson Avenues. Borough President Lawrence Gresser and staff review the parade from the steps of the Borough Hall.
September 08, 1910
The Penn Tunnels under the East River from Hunters Point to midtown Manhattan opened. The Long Island Rail Road was now able to run its newly electrified trains from Long Island, through Queens, into Pennsylvania Station. For obvious health and safety reasons the older, outdated coal locomotives were deemed unsuitable for tunnels and underground stations.
April 19, 1911
On April 19, 1911, the Queens Borough Public Library closed the books on its fifteenth year. Active membership was nearly 45,000 (of which one third signed up during the previous year), circulation was three quarters of a million books, and a new traveling library was started. A branch at Woodside opened joining more than a dozen other locations throughout the borough. Richmond Hill had the highest circulation. There was a steady demand for foreign books. There was a population of 68,000 foreign born in Queens at the time of which Germans (34,000), Italians (12,500), Poles (10,000) and Bohemians (5,700) were the largest groups.
June 03, 1911
Paulette Goddard was born in Whitestone Landing, Queens. She began to model for local department stores before she made her debut, at 13, with the Ziegfeld Follies. She was a top draw for Astoria’s Paramount Studios, and was one of a small group of actresses who successfully moved from Silents to Talkies. Paulette was married to Charlie Chapin, then Burgess Meredith, and still later to novelist Erich Maria Remarque. An extremely wealthy woman, toward the end of her life she gave generous endowments to the New York University School of the Arts. On April 23, 1990 she died of massive heart failure in Ronco, Switzerland aged 78.
July 19, 1911
The toll on the Queensboro Bridge was abolished. According to those interested in the automobile business, this would give Long Island City one of its biggest boosts. “Automobilists” had found that they could locate their factories here and escape the high rentals in Manhattan and still be in reach of the bit automobile center around Broadway and Fifty-ninth street. It was understood that three other firms were looking for space in Long Island City, while six big factories were already located in Long Island City, which was predicted to become one of the most important automobile centers in the country.
April 1912
April 1912: A group of New Haven bankers and Yale professors involved in the Malba development were sued in court over default of a mortgage that was raised to purchase the Zeigler estate in 1906. Some 200 investors, most whom were from Connecticut, had pooled more than $200,000 for the North Shore development. They were dumbfounded to learn in court that not only did their agents take an excessive $40,000 in commissions, but sold them the estate at the inflated price of $550,000 (after buying it with their investor’s money) for only $350,000. The developers had made a $200,000 profit off their own investors!
July 1912
Permits for public baths along the East and Hudson Rivers, including those in Astoria, were issued for the summer by a reluctant Board of Health. It was feared that this might be last year for this.
The Health Commissioner was reluctant to phase out the baths without a substitute because they were the only way that the poor could enjoy open-air bathing. The Health Department did have clear evidence of pollution, but did not have clear evidence of how detrimental to health this was. The benefit of immersion in cool water could not be denied, but some thought that even a few cases of typhoid or severe eye damage would justify closing the baths permanently.
One line of thinking to remedy the situation was that the city build large natatoriums (buildings with swimming pools and maybe locker rooms inside). The pools would be filled with fresh water from the new Catskill aqueduct.
November 1912
Plans are announced for linking Flushing and Jamaica Bays with a canal. The Degnon Contracting ompany, dredging Dutch Kills, is building and grading streets in its 125 acre site in preparation for factories and warehouses. Degnon is also filling in marshes between Corona and Flushing with ashes under contract with the New York City; 300 acres in Flushing meadows begin development
November 05, 1912
On November 5, 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States over incoming President William H. Taft and Bull Moose Party Candidate Teddy Roosevelt. On election night, the Long Island Star newspaper projected election returns on a large bulletin board covered with a sheet on the opposite side of the street from its Borden Avenue offices. The bulletins were written on glass slides, which were projected by a “stereopticon” (a common device then for projecting 2-dimensional images) located on the second floor of the Star Building. At its peak, the crowd viewing the images was estimated at 2,000 and was quiet and well behaved. But, occasionally, an ardent Bull Moose supporter “would cut loose a yell when a bulletin favorable to Roosevelt was shown, which was not very often.”
December 1912
A survey on the three year old Queensboro Bridge shows a 25% gain in traffic from the previous year with over 5,000 vehicles crossing in one 24 hour period. The number of horse drawn vehicles are decreasing as nearly two-thirds of the traffic are trucks and automobiles. The following year's daily volume is projected skyrocket to 17,000 per day, or 12 vehicles a minute. The bridge is expected to reach full capacity within a decade.
January 28, 1913
The first trial trips of the electric trolley were run across the Queensboro Bridge from Manhattan to Woodside. The next day regular service began.
March 13, 1913
William Casey was born in Elmhurst. His grandfather was L.I.C.
firefighter George Casey, organizer the Long Island City Exempt Fireman's
Association and its first president. William, a successful business leader, held a
number of important posts including head of the Export-Import Bank, Security and
Exchange Commission and President Ronald Regan's campaign manager. He was appointed
to Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency by President Reagan in 1981. Controversy
over the alleged illegal sale of arms to Iran to fund Nicaraguan insurgents marred
his tenure. This "Iran-Contra" scandal tarnished Casey's reputation. He died in May
1987 never having a chance to clear his name and testify before Congress.
June 1913
Service for Slocum dead is held in Lutheran Cemetery. The bells of Middle Village churches toll for memorial services observing the ninth anniversary of the great tragedy. The burning of excursion boat ‘General Slocum’ on June 15, 1904, killed over a thousand. The dead were mostly mothers and children. The procession starts from the headquarters of the General Slocum Survivors Memorial Association, and is led by Elder’s Military band playing a funeral march. A crowd of thousands walks slowly to the monument in Lutheran Cemetery that marks the graves of the unidentified dead.
June 1913
The Rockaway Board of Trade announces that lights are being installed in the elevated boardwalk at Rockaway Beach and are to remain lit until October 1. That month, fire on LIRR trestle to the Rockaways knocks out service. Over 50,000 are stranded and are forced to spend a night on the beach.
October 25, 1913
Joseph Witzel, known throughout the entire city as the proprietor of Point View Island, College Point, died at the age of 79 in the café he opened at the corner of Second Avenue and Tenth Street in College Point in 1872. In 1891, after twenty years of success, he opened the Point View Island Resort on the East River between College Point and Whitestone. The place was ideally located as a summer grove for outings, and it soon became famous. Some of the largest organizations in the city held outings there. The grounds were large enough to accommodate as many as four organizations simultaneously holding outings
December 1913
The Queens Chamber of Commerce released some statistics for 1912 from the Industrial Directory of New York. The volume devoted considerable space to Queens, saying, “Queens is of importance from three standpoints: As an industrial community, as a residential section, and as a truck farming section”
The report stated that there were 720 farms, comprising 14,588 acres (out of a total 82,883 acres for the entire borough). Over half of their produce for 1912 was fruits and vegetables. The report also showed that there were 851 factories, employing 31,687 workers. Over 110 different lines of manufacturing were carried on in the borough.
January 01, 1914
On January 1, 1914, the volunteer fire that had provided protection to Woodhaven was finally retired. Three new houses were built the year before, and modern motorized trucks replaced horse drawn equipment. Five new professional FDNY companies were organized replaced nine older volunteer groups with picturesque names like Americus Hose, Desraismes Engine of Brooklyn Hills, Aqueduct Hose Company and Union Course Hook & Ladder.
February 04, 1914
When Queens Borough President Joseph Cassidy was sentenced to Sing Sing on February 4, 1914, the Long Island Star newspaper posed a pertinent question: “Queens Borough Presidency An Unlucky Office?” Out of four former presidents, three came to grief in one way or another.
The first, Joseph Bermel, who was elected in 1905, resigned his position (while still under charges) on April 28, 1908, and the following day sailed for Europe and political oblivion. The second, Lawrence Gresser, was elected by the Board of Aldermen to succeed ex-President Bermel for the latter’s unexpired term in 1908. He was reelected in 1909 and served less than two years of his four year term before being ordered removed by Governor Dix on September 28, 1911.
For the third, Joseph Cassidy, tribulations came long after his term of office closed. He was indicted by the Grand Jury of Kings County in 1912 (after the Grand Jury of Queens County had refused to) on charges of conspiring to sell a Supreme Court nomination to William Willett (who was also charged with bribery.) Cassidy’s trial, which began on January 27th, resulted in a guilty verdict only a few days later on February 2nd. He was sentenced to twelve to eighteen months in prison, required to pay a $1,000 fine, and on appeal, slapped with the additional fee of $3,500 to cover the rent on his Manhattan real estate company offices.
April 1914
In Ridgewood, at the intersection of Myrtle and Wykoff Avenues, the Barnum & Bailey circus was staked out under the Big Top. It featured 1,200 people, 3,500 costumes, a ballet of 300, 350 instrumentalists, 500 arena stars, and a “monster” zoo. Advertising gave instructions on how to reach the circus by trolleys.
During that month, Dr. Booker T. Washington, as guest of a local A.M.E.Z. Church in Corona, preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Newtown in Elmhurst. The paper commented that his presence in a ‘suburban&rs' setting was considered most unusual.
May 03, 1914
Dr. Booker T. Washington delivered a talk at the Presbyterian
Church of Newtown, in Elmhurst, Queens. Born into slavery in 1856, he spent his
youth working in West Virginia salt mines. By 1881, he was President of the
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and the 1890s, he was the most prominent
African-American in the country and was advisor to Presidents as well as
captains of industry. Other African-American leaders, as W.E.B. DuBois resented
Washington's message of political accommodation in favor of economic progress.
When Washington died a year later, even DuBois acclaimed him as "the greatest
Negro leader since Frederick Douglass, and the most distinguished man, white or
black who has come out of the South since the Civil War."
March 1915
The Loose-Wiles bakery in Long Island City became a tourist attraction. The company had advertised an open invitation to visit the building. Thousands came, including auto parties from neighboring states. Visitors could inspect the giant ovens, which were bigger than most homes and watch wonderful machines pack and seal 352 kinds of biscuits, among other treats. Ladies could enjoy tea and a biscuit fresh from the ovens. At full capacity, the bakery consumed ten carloads (or 2,000 barrels) of flour a day and employed 3,500. The electric sign on the roof was the largest in the world, being 586 feet long, 40 feet high and containing more than 5,000 electric lamps. The heating and lighting within the building consumed electricity equivalent to a city of 60,000.
May 1915
Borough President Connolly arranged for the location of two big floating public baths. They were to be located at the foot of Tenth street, College Point, and at Keeler’s Dock in Whitestone. They would be open from 5 AM to 9 PM during the June 15th to September 15th season. An application was made to the Board of Aldermen for the necessary funds to operate the baths. During that month, the Health Department released statistics showing the population of the city would be 5,372,983 on July 1. The effect of the enormous immigration was evident in the reported fact that 45.4% of the white population was foreign born, while only 15.8% was native born.
June 22, 1915
Subway service to Queens opened with service between Grand Central Terminal and Long Island City at the Vernon-Jackson Avenues station. The trains used the newly completed Steinway tubes under the East River. Today this subway line is the 7 train to Flushing.
October 01, 1915
In a moment frozen in time by photographs and postcards
of the era, the massive arches of the Hell Gate Bridge were joined high above
the East River. An engineering marvel at the time the bridge's two halves were
only separated by 5/16 of an inch before being connected. Begun in July 1912
and completed in 1917, the Hell Gate Bridge, more properly the New York Connecting
Railroad Bridge, was the longest bridge of its type. The bridge approach extends
from ground level in Sunnyside and climbs the rail viaduct through Astoria,
over the river, spans Wards and Randalls Islands, and finally crosses over the
Bronx Kill into the Bronx to points north. Train travel from Pennsylvania Station
in New York City to New England was finally and successfully realized.
February 15, 1916
At one minute past midnight, the guard on the train at
Jackson Avenue slammed the door and announced loudly: "Hunterpoint Avenue next!"
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) train ran from Jackson Avenue in
Long Island City to Lexington Avenue and 42nd St in Manhattan. (These tracks,
today known as the #7 Line, was then called the 'Queensboro Subway'.)
December 09, 1916
On December 9, 1916, some 20 members of the PS 4 Alumni Association in Dutch Kills were on hand for a reunion. Little Miss Ethel Zimmerman, age 8, presented a handsome bouquet of roses to keynote speaker, former graduate, Mrs. Isabel Freund. After the program, Miss Zimmerman entertained with dances in costume. It was her first recorded performance by an artist who later went by the stage name, Ethel Merman.
February 01, 1917
The Astoria "el" rapid transit line from Queensboro Plaza
to Ditmars Boulevard opened. The three track elevated line runs from the former
Bridge Plaza along Northern Blvd. for only a quarter mile to 31st Street, where
the train runs along the top of the ridge to beyond the Grand Central Parkway.
April 02, 1917
Scott Joplin, 49, is buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in St. Michael's cemetery, East Elmhurst. Considered one of the giants in American music, he authored dozens of music compositions. Failing to copyright much of his material, Joplin is still credited with publishing some 41 are piano "rags". He suffered a nervous breakdown and spent the end of his life in a mental hospital. His reputation had to wait to a revival in 1972. He posthumorously won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
September 04, 1917
More than 600 draftees from draft districts in Maspeth, Woodside, Corona, Elmhurst, Forest Hills and Winfield marched in Newtown. At the end of the march, Congressman Charles Pope Caldwell spoke briefly to an immense audience that had gathered for the event. He predicted that “ the 500,000 men going to France now will be only a drop in the bucket compared to the number that will actually set forth on this mission to free the world from autocracy.” The inductees would report for basic training at Camp Upton, Yaphank, Long Island. The United States had declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
September 04, 1917
On September 4, 1917, nearly a thousand young men from Long Island City took part in a draft parade along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. These men were LIC's first quota to make up the first army of 500,000. As they passed the reviewing stand at 42nd Street, a long, round cheer broke out. Among those who were applauding from this point were General George R. Dyer, Alton B. Parker (Democratic presidential candidate in 1904) and city officials. At the head of the LIC district's part of the parade walked the exemption board workers-the men whose toil resulted in the certifying of the most fit for Uncle Sam's service. Thousands lined the parade route from Washington Square to 50th Street. The cheering crowds on each block contained many Queens residents. The same day, 600-odd draftees from draft districts in Maspeth, Woodside, Corona, Elmhurst, Forest Hills and Winfield marched in Newtown. At the end of the march, Congressmember Charles Pope Caldwell spoke briefly to an immense audience that had gathered for the event. He predicted that "the 500,000 men going to France now will be only a drop in the bucket, compared to the number that will actually set forth on this mission to free the world from autocracy."
January 17, 1918
Freight train service begins on the Hell Gate Bridge. The bridge,
dedicated in March of 1917, began passenger train service in April of that year. A
rail link between New York City and New England was finally realized. It is the
largest four lane rail bridge in the world when constructed, able to carry the weight
of dozens of locomotives. Built from each side of the Hell Gate, when the two halves
met in the middle they were off less than half an inch!
February 04, 1918
The United States was in the thick of Word War I. It was a
year and a day after the U.S. broke off diplomatic ties with Germany. The
American government began the process of taking photographs and fingerprints of
resident aliens. They could register at the Elmhurst Post Office.
