By Kenneth Kowald
Andrew Carnegie, Antonin Scalia and I have a little in common.
Carnegie money built the Elmhurst branch of the Queens Library. I used that branch for many years, as I grew up in Elmhurst and attended JHS 73 in Maspeth and Newtown High School. Many days, I detoured down the hill from Newtown after class and spent time in the library. I spent long hours there many Saturdays.
I became a member of a group, set up by a wonderful librarian, to read and suggest books suitable for teenagers. I remember the beautiful children’s room and the magnificent fireplace, which, if I recall correctly, is the first fireplace I ever saw.
I remember the building as one I wanted to see and use again and again. I remember the landscaping was always lovely.
Antonin Scalia may remember this, too. He lived in Elmhurst with his family from the early 1940s. He attended PS 13, at 55-01 94th St. On a full scholarship, he went to Xavier High School in Manhattan, where in 1953 he graduated at the top of his class.
I would like to think I may have crossed paths with him in the Carnegie building. We may not agree on much, but the associate U.S. Supreme Court justice knows how to speak and write. I may groan about his opinions, but acknowledge his intellect.
Thanks to another Queens original, Jimmy Breslin, I found a 1986 column of his about Scalia’s Elmhurst, which is worth reading. The young boy, an only child, and his parents lived at 48-22 O’Connell Court. This L-shaped street is near 50th Avenue and 88th Street. It gives you a great view of Newtown HS. It is closer to the library than was my home, on 57th Avenue near 84th Street.
I cannot find proof of it, but O’Connell Court may have been named for Daniel O’Connell, known as “The Liberator,” a 19th-century Irish leader. In its early days, that area of Elmhurst had a large Irish population, as Breslin notes in his column.
The Elmhurst branch that Carnegie money helped build — it opened in 1906 — is no more. A new building, more suitable to the uses of the 21st century and to the fact that this is the second most-used branch in the Queens system, is set to open next year. We are told it will use some bricks from the original building and that the fireplace will be saved.
Let us hope that, architectural values aside, the new building will be as important to many more people as it was to this Elmhurst kid — and perhaps another one — many years ago.
In the meantime, the Richmond Hill branch, also a Carnegie building which opened in 1905, remains a source of local pride. It has been renovated, but it is still a good work of architecture and its landscaping continues to be worth a visit. Elaine and I used it many times in the decades we lived on Park Lane South.
The Astoria, Poppenhusen and Woodhaven libraries were all built with Carnegie generosity. Far Rockaway burned down. Flushing was replaced a few decades ago because, like Elmhurst, it needed to be updated for greater use.
I hope the four remaining branches, each a work of fine architecture, will remain with us for a long time.
Carnegie, Scalia and I. We had something in common, I believe: The thirst for knowledge that is quenched by every visit to a library. It makes you want to come back for more. A good habit, I think.
Carnegie, on behalf of Scalia, this writer and millions of others, I thank you for using your fortune to help those who have profited from your generosity.
