Photos courtesy of NYC Municipal Archives, reprinted with permission
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Most of our readers in Queens and beyond probably know the thrill of thumbing through a family photo album, taking a trip back in time to reminisce on great events and people in their lives.
This week, we’re fortunate to once again open up the photo album that is the New York City Municipal Archives and take a gander at some images of how Our Neighborhood once looked.
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The time range of this week’s photos starts as early as the 1920s, with the most recent photo taken in 1979. The amazing images, in most instances, are almost difficult to comprehend. It’s hard for many readers to believe that the area looked more rural than urban as recently as 80 years ago.
At the height of World War II, this patriotic crowd gathered on 58th Road in Maspeth on Aug. 2, 1942 for a public celebration of the troops. The top of the banner behind them read, “Our boys in service God bless them.”
Did you know that Queens once had signs that pointed you in the direction of certain neighborhoods? That’s what this Feb. 25, 1931 photo shows with this striped sign pole at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue in Maspeth. The signs point drivers the way to Ridgewood, Brooklyn, Maspeth, Corona and Jamaica.
Long before the modern machinery in use today, it took a horse-drawn carriage and men to clean up the streets of Queens. This Aug. 13, 1926 shows one such team at work at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Avenue (now Boulevard) in Elmhurst.
This 1941 photo shows three two-story brick rowhouses and a frame house along 71st Street off Central Avenue in Glendale.
This 1928 photo shows the famous “DeWitt Clinton House,” located near 58th Street and 56th Road in Maspeth and named for the former New York City mayor and New York State governor who once lived there. You can see ads for tobacco painted on the side of the house, which sadly burned five years after this picture was taken.
Glendale residents will certainly recognize this view of Woodhaven Boulevard looking south toward the Interboro (now Jackie Robinson) Parkway overpass, as shown in this Jan. 25, 1939 photo.
A movie poster for the Fox Maspeth Theater, advertising a flick starring Gary Cooper, can be seen on the side of this building along 57th Avenue, looking east at 83rd Street, in Elmhurst in this image taken on Oct. 3, 1930.
Mayor Ed Koch can be seen in this Aug. 22, 1979 image during his private walk of Ridgewood. At this point, he’s standing on Flushing Avenue outside the Onderdonk House, located at 1820 Flushing Ave., which became a New York City landmark.
The opening day ceremonies at Engine Company 319, located at 78-11 67th Road in Middle Village, on Oct. 11, 1930. The firehouse, nicknamed the “Lone Wolf,” remains in service to the neighborhood and surrounding areas.
If you look carefully at this picture taken on June 27, 1972, you’ll see a classic car parked along 73rd Place off Penelope Avenue in Middle Village. Can any of our readers identify it?
We’re again grateful to the NYC Municipal Archives for allowing us to share these images with you. The archives contain tens of thousands of archival images and documents spanning the decades, including files from each of the five Borough President’s offices and mayors from Fiorello LaGuardia to Rudolph Giuliani.
If you have any remembrances or old photographs of “Our Neighborhood: The Way It Was” that you would like to share with our readers, please write to the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com. Any print photographs mailed to us will be carefully returned to you upon request.
