Monday, October 11, 2021 – THERE ARE LOTS OF STORIES IN THAT PLACE ACROSS THE RIVER….LONG ISLAND CITY
FROM THE ARCHIVES
MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2021
THE 491st EDITION
LONG ISLAND CITY
STEPHEN BLANK
Long Island City
Stephen Blank
Let’s talk about our neighbor across the river, Long Island City. But first, what is Long Island City? Today, LIC faces us, bordered by Astoria (at Steinway Street) to north and Newtown Creek to the south.
Some maps label part (or even all) of this region Hunters Point, and the huge development our fine ferry calls Long Island City is officially named Hunters Point Park.
So, clearly, we need a little historical context here. (This is a story largely about infrastructure, how infrastructure drove and hindered development.)
The Dutch government at New Amsterdam chartered townships in what became Long Island City, including Newtown, on Long Island’s western shore; Hallett’s Point, a squarish peninsula that sticks into the East River just across from Roosevelt Island’s north end (the new tall glassy apartments are “Hallett’s Point”); Hunters Point; and Dutch Kills. Hallett did well: His 2,200 acres included his original property and the lands of current Astoria and Steinway. Following the English capture of New Amsterdam, Hallett’s estate was confirmed in a patent dated April 8, 1668 and called the Hell Gate Neck tract.
In November 1683, now under British rule, the Colonial Assembly organized Queens County as one of the twelve original counties of the Province of New York (named for Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II). Queens was later subdivided into the townships of Flushing, Hempstead, Jamaica, Oyster Bay and Newtown (which included all of what became Long Island City).
Between 1835 and 1841, streets in the townships along the coast were laid out and houses and stores erected. The first major roads were the Hallett’s Cove and Flushing Turnpike, today’s Astoria Boulevard, and the Ravenswood, Hallett’s Cove and Williamsburgh Turnpike and Bridge, today’s Vernon Avenue. Stephen Halsey, a settler in Hallett’s community involved in infrastructure construction, founded a new village in 1839 which he named Astoria in the hope of gaining the interest – and financial aid – of the wealthiest man in the country. By this time, ferries connected with Manhattan.
Soon, these coastal areas would become refuges for wealthy New Yorkers, particularly Astoria and Ravenswood. Country estates with names like Bodine Castle and Mount Bonaparte served as getaways for rich Manhattanites. The Jacob Blackwell family lived there early on, during the Revolution, in a large house at 37th Avenue overlooking the river. It is said that the family in the 1830s owned much of Hallett’s Point.
The Blackwell Mansion, ca. 1900 https://forgotten-ny.com/2008/01/behind-the-gray-door-historic-relic-at-greater-astoria/
In 1852, the New York Times urged New Yorkers to take a day trip to the countryside: Queens was underrated, fancier than Broadway, a great place to explore, and worth the trip from Brooklyn. “There are charming residences and delightful lawns at Ravenswood and Astoria,” said the paper as it urged people to take long walks to Astoria. “It is lamentable that with such fine weather and pleasant country promenades at hand, our fair friends, especially of Brooklyn and Williamsburg, do not avail themselves of their privileges. They would find an agreeable change from the usual hackneyed routes…Throw off this deathly indolence that is benumbing your physical and spiritual faculties”
Century Currier and Ives print depicts mansions on the Long Island City waterfront. https://www.gothamcenter.org
Astoria developed as a port, and coal and lumber yards and shipyards grew up along the shore of Hallett’s Cove where products could move readily by barge. In 1854, rail arrived with the New York & Flushing Railroad’s new terminus in Hunters Point. Ferry service remained the only way for travelers to get to Manhattan.
LIC’s big chance came when Brooklyn banned steam locomotives in 1861 and the Long Island Railroad moved its terminus to Hunters Point, where it connected with the 34th Street ferry. LIRR purchased the New York & Flushing Railroad in 1867 and in a few years, would own or control most of the rail traffic in Long Island, centered now in LIC. Sunnyside Yards opened in 1910, the year that the Pennsylvania Railroad began running trains under the East River. Located just east of Queensboro Plaza, it would become the world’s largest rail yard (and a constant temptation to be decked over and developed).
The creation of the LIRR terminus led to an explosion of industry, commerce and entertainment sites. LIC became a hub for produce from Long Island’s farms headed to Manhattan. Factories, tanneries and gas plants sprang up along the waterfront. Hotels and taverns opened and the breweries and bars became destinations themselves, and soon the Times commented that “Hunters Point has gained an unenviable notoriety.” The Queens waterfront was no longer a quiet oasis for the rich. By the turn of the century, many of Astoria’s estates had been torn down as New York’s aristocrats moved to Long Island’s Gold Coast.
In the 1860s, development in Hunters Point and Astoria was the catalyst for the consolidation of neighboring communities into Long Island City. In 1870, Steinway, Astoria, Hunters Point, Newtown, Ravenswood, Blissville, and Dutch Kills, joined to form LIC. By this time, the area was an urban center with industry and a growing population. Even so, LIC remained short on paved roads and water. In 1871, a revised charter mandated a police force of 30 men, but the city lacked the revenue to hire them. No adequate fire department existed until 1893.
A 1929 plan for decking over Sunnyside Yards.
The one grand idea to transform Long Island City was to make Sunnyside a mega-project deck over the railyard. A modern, streamlined “Skyscraper Terminal” would consolidate access to the region’s twisted network of subway and rail lines, and serve as an anchor for growing neighborhood. The Great Depression paused these plans. And the deterioration of LIC continued.
Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
When I arrived here 40-some years ago, I might have titled this essay “The Rise and Fall of LIC”. But look across the river now. “The Rise and Fall and Rise Again”! More to come. Thanks for reading. Stephen Blank RIHS October 1, 2021
MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Send you answer to:
Rooseveltlslandhistory@gmail.com
WEEKEND PHOTO
HELLGATE BRIDGE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, 1916
ANDY SPARBERG, HARA REISER BOTH GOT IT RIGHT
ED LITCHER ADDED THE FOLLOWING:
Hell Gate Bridge engineers, in front of the bridge they designed and built. At centre is the bridge’s designer, Austrian-US engineer Gustav Lindenthal (1850-1935, white beard). To his right is his chief assistant Othmar Hermann Ammann (1879-1965, moustache). This steel through-arch railroad bridge, built from 1912, was opened in September 1916.
It spans 310 meters, crossing Hell Gate, a tidal strait in New York’s East River. At the time, it was the world’s longest steel arch bridge. This view looks north, with the approach viaduct curving away to the right in the background. Photographed on 11 October 1916. Although this bridge is a beautiful structure and an important part of the Astoria landscape, when I think of this bridge I see it as the endpoint of an Inclined Plane that begins in the Sunny Side Yards, goes through Maspeth and ends up in Astoria. A “Simple Machine” whose only task is to slowly lift millions of tons of freight and passengers from the ground to a point more than 100 feet in the air, before the train safely accesses the bridge or crosses the river.
HELP US MOUNT THIS HISTORIC PLAQUE IN THE KIOSK
We have just acquired this wonderful plaque from the Elevator Storehouse Building. We need your help to pay for the mounting of this 130 pound bronze tablet in the kiosk
To donate online go to www.rihs.us, choose donations and select amount.
You can send us a check to: R.I.H.S., P.O. BOX 5, NY NY 10044
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19th PROGRAM AT THE RI NYPL BRANCH
Here is the flyer and registration link.
https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2021/10/19/rihs-lecture-dead-queens
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
Sources
https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18097555/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-nyc-history
https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/when-long-island-city-was-the-next-big-thing
https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18097555/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-nyc-history
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rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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