Explorer Henry Hudson, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, entered what is today known as Jamaica Bay and “discovered” the Rockaway (then known as Reckowacky or “the place of our own people”) peninsula
September 21, 1662
Governor Peter Stuyvesant banned the public exercise of any worship but “the [Dutch] Reformed worship and service.” But in Flushing, John Bowne and his wife Hannah invited Quakers to worship in their house. John Bowne was arrested and transported to Holland for trial. He defended himself successfully and was allowed to return to Flushing. His house is now a museum run by the Bowne House Historical Society.
September 21, 1662
The townships of Vlissingen, Middleburgh, and Rustdorp (later called Flushing), Newtown [Elmhurst], and Jamaica, are officially surrendered by the Dutch to the English. Peter Stuyvesant reluctantly gave up the fort at New Amsterdam and relinquished control over all the lands of New Netherland.
September 1741
Slaves in New York were suspected of plotting to set fire to the city. Many were executed. Although a number in Queens County were arrested, all were freed when their owners vouched for their character.
September 1776
The British army, on its way to repel an anticipated American attack at Hell Gate, marched from Brooklyn through Astoria. But there was no enemy at Hell Gate, so British General Robertson requisitioned the house and farm of William Lawrence (located at present day 30th Avenue and Steinway Street), where the army camped for two weeks. After Robertson’s departure British Generals Clark and Heister arrived with their troops, to camp at Lawrence's farm for another three weeks, before finally leaving him in peace.
September 1787
Rufus Kings signs the United States Constitution. After moving to New York and taking up residence in Jamaica, he embarks in a brilliant career in politics and diplomacy.
September 03, 1821
The Norfolk and Long Island hurricane caused a storm surge of 13 feet in one hour. Although Manhattan south of Canal Street was largely underwater, few deaths were reported.
The hurricane, estimated to have been a Category 3 event, made landfall at Jamiaca Bay. It was the only hurricane in recorded history to directly strike (meaning the eye of the storm passes over) what is now modern New York City.
September 1842
The Astoria Fire Company organizes only three years after the incorporation of Astoria Village.
September 1853
In September 1853, the directors of the Flushing Railroad made a decision that would forever change the face of western Queens. Instead of terminating their railroad in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, as originally planned they decided to choose the low sand hills and marsh of Hunters Point.
The Brooklyn option had became complicated. Over their mayor’s veto, Williamsburg citizens insisted that the railroad stop a few miles from the waterfront. From there, the rail cars would then have to get to the East River ferry via a single track. Horse teams would take an hour to negotiate the traffic and distance.
By contrast, the railroad only had to persuade a few reluctant farmers to give it the right of way for a direct rail line to the East River through relatively sparsely populated Woodside and Corona in Queens. When the Long Island Rail Road also chose Hunters Point six years later, their Long Island Terminal became the most important community on Long Island.
September 02, 1854
In College Point, Conrad Poppenhusen opened the India Hard Rubber Comb Company. Licensed to manufacture hard rubber goods by Charles Goodyear, Poppenhusen's factory made and sold a broad array of items for household, industrial, medical, and luxury items. By 1877 the firm's product line included surgical supplies, photographic goods, thimbles, funnels, soap trays, drinking flasks, inkstands, insulators, and doll heads. Poppenhusen Institute (opened 1870) at 14th Road and 114th Street is a monument to Conrad’s influence and vision for College Point.
September 28, 1867
Theodore Vietor, one of the early prominent residents of Newtown Village died. Vietor had come to America from Germany as a young man. He became a wealthy merchant and eventually built and lived in a house at Broadway and Elmhurst Avenue. In 1861, he took on a young Irish immigrant named Morris Connolly as his estate manager. Morris Connolly later became the father of Maurice Connolly, the fifth borough president of Queens.
September 26, 1874
The first international rifle competition between a world championship team of Irish challengers and Americans was held at the Creedmoor rifle range. Eight thousand spectators came to Creedmoor by railroad to witness the event. The crowd was hushed as the lead American rifleman, who was about to fire the decisive shot, was cut in the hand, when a glass of ginger beer he was drinking suddenly exploded in the heat. Even though he was bleeding, he scored a bullseye. The Americans won the match, earning worldwide respect.
September 24, 1876
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.
September 1894
The Aqueduct Racetrack, operated by the Queens County Jockey Club, opens for thoroughbred horse racing.
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.
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.
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."
September 09, 1922
Former Kew Gardens resident, comedian Sid Ceasar, who was born on September 9, 1922, has a resume of acting credits that goes back to the 1940s. Although the influential American appeared infrequently in films; he is best known for his work on the 1950s TV sketch-comedy series Your Show of Shows. Before becoming a comedian, Caesar studied the saxophone and clarinet at Manhattan's Juilliard School of Music then played with various bands. During a tour of duty with the Coast Guard in WW II, he became a featured comedian in the service show Tars and Spars, and then again in its film version (1946). After the war Sid appeared in nightclubs and in the Broadway hit Make Mine Manhattan. He began performing on the then novel medium of television in the late 1940s. Your Show of Shows set standards for a live comedy show, and after sixty years, it still has few equals in television. Although his later career mostly comprised the occasional film, usually in cameo or novelty roles, Sid was nominated for a number of awards (including winning the Emmy – twice) and has a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Notable quote: “Humor is like food. You have to have it every day.”
September 11, 1923
Queens residents were treated to the appearance of the giant Navy Zeppelin ZR-1 (Zeppelin Rigid) named the Shenandoah, as it floated over northern Queens, down the East River and across the harbor, where ships extended a noisy greeting of whistle blasts. The sight was a first for most Queens residents, who had never seen a dirigible before. The airship was built by the Navy at Lakehurst, New Jersey and was the world’s largest rigid dirigible. Tragically, she crashed in a storm in Ohio in 1925, with the loss of 14 of her crew.
September 01, 1928
During the fall television lineup in 1960, a handsome charismatic rebel made his debut on in the Hollywood television classic, “Route 66.” Astoria’s George Maharis, one of seven children born to Greek immigrants (September 1, 1928), was the perfect partner with Martin Milner (later star of “Adam-12”), as the duo traveled throughout the country in a hotshot convertible Corvette, picking up a huge female audience along the way. As Buzz Murdock, the brandoesque drifter image caught the imagination of the nation. The series earned a major cult following. He left the show confident his budding career would take off, but his career stalled as he starred in a number of forgettable roles in television and film. Along the way, he cut a few albums as a singer and appeared in nightclubs, summer stock and the occasional film, most notably as the resurrected warlock in The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). But he was never able to recapture his former “bad boy’ glory. An affirmed bachelor, his later years were spent focusing on impressionistic painting. He is now fully retired.
September 20, 1928
Joyce Diane Bauer was born. The famed television celebrity psychologist and motivational speaker, better known as Dr. Joyce Brothers, went to high school in the Rockways. The Cornell grad first attracted public attention in the 1950s when won several times on that era's wildly popular TV game show, "The $64,000 Question." A notable quote: "In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them."
September 09, 1932
On the morning of September 9, 1932, a mystery explosion literally blew the steamer ‘Observation’ to bits in the East River. At least thirty-seven men were killed and at more than forty others were missing in a terrific blast. It was feared that the death toll might reach half of about 150 workmen who were on board. The shift of workers was en route to Rikers Island where a new city penitentiary was under construction. By noon only sixteen bodies had been identified. By that afternoon fire Commissioner Dorman and Federal authorities began to question witnesses. Twelve of the injured, and at least one fatality were from Queens. The first blast tore the boat in two and was followed almost immediately by the second, which tore the front half off the disabled boat. Scores saw the catastrophe from the Astoria shore and several bodies were recovered along the shoreline fronting Astoria Park. Survivors said the men had absolutely no chance to escape. “It happened so quickly,” said one. “There was no stampede, no rush, no commotion. The boat had pulled out from the pier when suddenly it exploded. Just like that.”
September 09, 1932
The steamboat Observation exploded in the East River. The boat carried about 150 workmen and was transporting them from the Bronx to Rikers Island where a new city penitentiary was under construction. Many of the victims were drawn to their death by the suction of the sinking steamer. Remnants of bodies were all that remained of some of the victims. The bodies of several of the men were tossed onto the roof of a nearby building. When the final body count was in, 9 Queens residents were among the total of 68 dead.
September 09, 1932
The steamboat Observation exploded in the East River. The boat carried about 150 workmen and was transporting them from the Bronx to Rikers Island where a new city penitentiary was under construction. Many of the victims were drawn to their death by the suction of the sinking steamer. Remnants of bodies were all that remained of some of the victims. The bodies of several of the men were tossed onto the roof of a nearby building. When the final body count was in, 9 Queens residents were among the total of 68 dead
September 1942
Queens launches a campaign for raising $9,000,000 in war bond sales. A one-day rally in front of Borough Hall raises $242,000 in war bonds and $2,875 in war stamps.
September 20, 1947
Former NYC Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia dies of cancer at age 64, after a long illness.
Fiorello, who earned a law degree from NYU, served in WWI. He lost a campaign for a House seat in 1914 but won in 1917. He was elected again in 1922 for five consecutive terms.
LaGuardia lost in his bid for the mayor of New York City in 1929, yet was elected the city's 99th mayor from 1934 to 1945, becoming the city's first three-term mayor since the consolidation of the five boroughs into greater New York in 1898.
He and Robert Moses were instrumental in opening the Interboro Parkway, the Triborough Bridge, the Belt Parkway, and the 1939-40 New York World's Fair.
LaGuardia Community College in LIC and LaGuardia Airport are named after him.
September 1954
The Pulaski Bridge links Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Hunters Point, Queens.
September 24, 1959
Governor Rockefeller and Mayor Wagner called on President Eisenhower to submit an application to the Bureau of International Expositions in Paris asking that the body consider Flushing Meadows as the site of the 1964 World’s Fair. Eisenhower was not asked to exclude other cities from the application, as groups in Washington and Los Angeles had been pushing their cities. The bureau was to meet in November to select the fair site.
September 1962
Throughout September 1962, thousands of Oregon Pine piles were being driven deep into the marshy earth of Flushing Meadow, a former garbage dump, to support the billions of dollars of construction for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. Over 600 men scrambled “like ants” over the excavation mounds at the site.
Sweeping new strips of highway were being built to connect the expected 70 million visitors to the fair with thruways, air terminals or piers. There were less than 600 days to the scheduled opening.
Robert Moses (in the Long Island Star-Journal’s words, “autocratic czar of the biggest exhibition ever planned in the history of the world”) ordained:
“Every participant must keep up with the time schedule. The calendar is all-important now. Management has to be frank about plausible excuses and smooth explanations for delays and it cannot accept substitutes for performance.”
Sixty-eight countries planned pavilions, and all 50 states were expected to be represented at the fair.
September 1962
Two Cuban nationals appeared in Kew Gardens Criminal Court on charges of amassing an arsenal in a plan to overthrow Fidel Castro. Police said one defendant’s car trunks contained a .75mm cannon, a .20mm anti tank gun, a dummy .75mm shell and a manual of operations, two bazookas and 100 rounds of .20mm ammunition.
The defendants were Frank Padron, 31, and Jose Blanco, 26, both of 25-30 48th Street in Astoria. Both had been in the country three years.
The cache was discovered innocently when police found Blanco double-parked in front of the A & P market at 42-13 30th Avenue and noticed that the rear of the car was sagging badly. When asked why, Blanco replied, “I have ammunition to be shipped to our anti-Castro forces in Florida.”
September 1968
Chester F. Carlson, the inventor of xerography dies. The word “Astoria” is the first word photocopied in 1938 at his lab on Broadway and 37th Street.
September 1973
The Queens Center Mall, located at the corner of Queens and Woodhaven
Blvds., opens for business. Queens begins to reverse the trend of losing retail
sales to Long Island and Manhattan.
September 1988
The American Museum of the Moving Image opened in Long
Island City / Astoria. Located at 35th Avenue at 36th Street, AMMI's mission
is to educate the public about the art, history, and technology of film, TV,
and digital media, and how they've impacted society. The Astoria Studio, built
1920, was the premier site for independent film production on the East Coast
through the 1930s into the 1940s. The U.S. Army Signal Corps owned the studio
and site from 1942 to 1971, where they produced military training films. The
studio grew from a state of disrepair in the 1970s into a functional, state-of-the-art
movie and television production facility with a $20 million renovation. The
location was placed on the Register of National Historic Sites in 1978.
