By The Greater Astoria Historical Society
April 1, 1923, was the most miserably cold Easter in Queens for many years. At 6 o’clock that morning the temperature stood at 12 degrees above zero.
The borough’s first auto show, with 65 models, opened at the Astoria Casino the following evening. It was a four-day affair and closed with a resounding success when more than 1,000 people showed up on the last day. Scheduled guest Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, the famous war ace, however, was detained in New Jersey and missed the event.
Scandal found its way into the news. In the day before trucks with plows removed snow, the city hired per diem workers. The controller’s office held up payments when, after letters were mailed out to some payees, a third of the addresses were found to be fictitious. The fraud investigation traced names to a synagogue, a church, a police station, a motion picture studio, a Long Island Rail yard — and a number of saloons and vacant lots! Deputy Controller Frank Prial ordered an investigation of that winter’s snow removal payroll for the borough.
Racism was also a major issue throughout that decade.
The United Societies of Blissville for Civic Improvement met and appointed a committee to draft letters to senators and congressmen to protest the employment of Chinese labor in factories and restaurants and as home domestics and gardeners. In a talk before the group, Inspector John Sheridan of the Fire Department discussed finding the homes of many in the Chinese community in poor condition.
A few days later the Hunter’s Point Community Council discussed the issue of Asian labor in factories at Laurel Hill. They not only went on record opposing the practice of hiring Asian immigrants, but voiced support for state Sen. Peter McGarry, who was trying to pass legislation restricting immigrant labor. The community received a letter from the Secretary of Labor James Davis, who told them, “rest assured everything possible is being done by this department to enforce the Exclusion Laws … There is only one way I know of by which we could deal with this situation, and that is to have compulsory registration of every alien in the country.”
On April 24 a 10-foot flaming cross threw the Elmhurst community into big excitement. Many believed it was the work of the Ku Klux Klan. A crowd who was watching the blaze expected a hooded mob on horseback to arrive, but perhaps to the disappointment of some, none came. Police believed that a group of boys set up the cross, but the local Knights of Columbus were adamant that this was directed at them. A similar incident had occurred a few weeks before in Richmond Hill during a meeting of a local chapter of the Knights in that community.
On a more positive note, musicians in Queens planned to honor famed violin maker George Gemunder of Astoria. Gemunder had died in 1901 at the age of 85. They announced a concert that would feature Gemunder’s daughter, Tilla, and Robert Koecher, one of the rising young violinists from the community. It was to be held on Music Day, on May 1. Tilla Gemunder, a famed soprano of the time, was fluent in six languages and a proficient artist on both violin and piano.
Gemunder’s violins, prized the world over, are widely regarded as the finest stringed instruments made outside of Italy. His violins, violas, and cellos approached the perfection of the Italian instruments made by Stradivarius, Guarnerius and Amati. Gemunder instruments, which fetch prices well over $250,000, are exhibited today in the Rare Instrument Collection at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. They are displayed next to Steinway pianos — and for good reason. Although George made stringed instruments, his family came from Germany when they were hired by Steinway to carve beautiful art case pianos at their Riker Avenue factory. Both Gemunder violins and Steinway pianos proudly bear labels ‘Made in Long Island City’ inside them.
On April 18, thousands of Queens baseball fans attended the first game played in the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. On the way home, Corona- and Astoria-bound trains were crowded with them for some time, all talking about Babe Ruth’s wonderful line drive into the bleachers and about the gigantic new stadium.
The Greater Astoria Historical Society is open to the public Saturdays, noon-5 p.m., at Quinn’s Gallery, 4th Floor, 35-20 Broadway, Astoria. New additional hours Wednesdays 6-8 p.m. Visit the gift shop online. For further information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-278-0700 or visit their Web site at www.astorialic.org.
