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These 10 great historic photos show off Queens’ past: Our Neighborhood, The Way it Was

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.
Photos courtesy of NYC Municipal Archives, reprinted with permission

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.

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.

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.

You can take a look at the massive gallery for yourself online at https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet. Photos are available for downloaded from there for a fee.

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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.