COLLEGE POINT, NEW YORK A TRANSPORTATION HISTORY

College Point is “a small town” in the middle of New York City with a strong transportation-based history. Separated

geographically from the rest of Queens it has been listed as one of the most isolated places in the region. Given its

isolation and wonderful waterfront it could have retained its early wealth and maybe even a bit of its grandeur. Sadly it

hasn’t turned out that way. This is a bit of history and childhood recollections. Alan E. Pisarski

THESE MAPS HELP LOCATE “THE POINT” AND SHOW HOW IT FIT INTO THE REGION. ONE CAN SEE WHY FERRIES WERE IMPORTANT BEFORE THE WHITESTONE BRIDGE WAS BUILT IN THE 30’S AND THE THROGGS NECK IN THE

60’S. IN THE ERA WHEN WATER TRANSPORTATION WAS KEY IT WOULD BE A CENTRAL LOCATION FOR MANY ACTIVITIES. NOTE THE CLOSE PROXIMITY TO WHAT BECAME LAGUARDIA AIRPORT

( I SWAM THE DISTANCE FROM THE PARK TO THE BRONX ONCE IN MY YOUTH-REALLY DUMB)

EARLY YEARS

IN ITS EARLY YEARS THE TOWN WAS THE SITE OF ST. PAULS COLLEGE WHICH CLOSED IN 1850. THE TOWN DEVELOPED INTO A DAY TRIP RESORT DESIGNED TO ESCAPE THE CITY HEAT, AND ACCESSED BY FERRIES FROM THE OTHER BOROUGHS OF NEW YORK. THUS TRANSPORTATION WAS A KEY FACTOR IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE TOWN. LOTS OF GERMAN BEER GARDENS ALONG THE WATERFRONT WITH VESTIGES STILL REMAINING TODAY. WITZEL’S WAS 27 ACRES AND HAD UPWARDS OF 15,000 VISITORS A DAY.

I VISITED THE COLLEGE POINT POPPENHSUEN LIBRARY LAST YEAR STUDYING THE GREAT COLLECTION THEY HAVE ON THE TOWN’S FOUNDING AND EARLY HISTORY

Mr. Poppenhusen made the town BICENTENNIAL

MR POPPENHUSEN CAME FROM GERMANY IN THE 1840’S AND FOUNDED THE TOWN IN THE 1850’S. HE WAS AN AMERICAN MIRACLE. FOUNDED, AS WE WERE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL, THE FIRST AMERICAN FREE KINDERGARTEN – THAT’S WHY THE GERMAN NAME – FOR THE CHILDREN OF FACTORY WORKERS WHOM HE BROUGHT FROM HIS OLD VILLAGE TO WORK IN HIS FACTORIES. HE TAUGHT THEM ENGLISH, STARTED A LENDING LIBRARY. HE MADE A DEAL WITH GOODYEAR TO USE THEIR RUBBER PATENTS AND PRDUCED ALL KINDS OF GOODS FOR HOUSEHOLD USE AND CLOTHING – DIAPERS ETC. THE AMERICAN RUBBER COMPANY, ARCO. DURING WWII THEY MADE MILITARY MATERIAL AND OTHER FACTORIES TURNED OUT TORPEDOES AND FLOATS FOR NAVAL AIRCRAFT GIVEN THE READY WATER ACCESS. A CLASSIC FACTORY TOWN. WHEN I WAS GROWING UP THE TOWN WAS MOSTLY STILL GERMAN WITH SOME IRISH AND ITALIAN LIKE NEW YORK ITSELF IN THE 40’S WITH AT LEAST ONE BAR ON EVERY CORNER.

Book prepared for the bicentennial 1976

A MORE DETAILED MAP – HARD TO TELL FROM THIS BUT THE POINT WAS ONE OF THE MOST ISOLATED PLACES IN THE NY AREA. ONLY 4 ROADS LED OUT OF TOWN – TYPICALLY THREE OF WHICH WERE UNDERWATER WHEN IT RAINED. THE CAUSEWAY (OR COLLEGE POINT BOULEVARD); LlNDEN, THE AIRPORT ROAD; 20TH AVE AND 14TH AVENUES . THE AIRPORT CLOSED IN THE 50’S– FILLED RECENTLY BY BIG BOX MALLS. THE TOWN WAS BUILT ON A HILL SURROUNDED BY SWAMPLAND AND LONG ISLAND SOUND – I LIVED AT 9TH AVENUE AND 120TH STREET A SHORT WALK TO THE WATER IN THREE DIRECTIONS – MY CHILDHOOD PLAYGROUND .

ONE CAN SEE HOW CLOSE LAGUARDIA AIRPORT IS WHICH CAUSED THE CLOSING OF OUR LITTLE AIRPORT. LAGUARDIA HAD A SEA PLANE BASE IN ITS EARLIEST PERIOD WHEN KNOWN AS GLENN

CURTIS FIELD. I RECALL SEEING THE RAMPS – NO SIGN OF THEM NOW. THE BLOB OFF THE AIRPORT IS RIKERS ISLAND PRISON – SWAM THERE TOO.

COLLEGE POINT TRANSPORTATION SCOREBOARD

PAST TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

• MULTIPLE FERRYS

• TROLLEY ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY TO FLUSHING

• RAILROAD CONNECTED TO FLUSHING AND LONG ISLAND

• SEAPLANE BASE

• AIRPORT

PRESENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

• FERRYS GONE

• TROLLEYS GONE

• RAILROAD GONE

• SEAPLANE BASE GONE

• AIRPORT GONE

• THREE BUS ROUTES – COLLEGE POINT BLVD (CAUSEWAY)

– LINDEN PLACE

– 14TH AVE

– The bus routes haven’t changed in 70 years.

DONT KNOW WHERE THIS FERRY SLIP WAS FOR SURE. THERE WERE MANY ALONG THE ENTIRE SHORE LINE OF TOWN MOSTLY OUT AT THE FARTHEST POINT – WHAT I KNEW AS A CHILD WERE

PILINGS AND WRECKAGE OF SOMETHING THAT HAD ONCE EXISTED WHERE WE SWAM IN SUMMER.

BIG TIME AIRCRAFT VISITS CAME LATER – MOSTLY SEAPLANES – REMEMBER THE TOWN WAS ACROSS FROM LAGUARDIA BUILT ON AN OLD AMUSEMENT PARK. THIS IS A VISITING DORNIER FLYING BOAT ON AN AROUND THE WORLD SALES TOUR ON ITS WAY TO SOUTH AMERICA JUST

BEFORE WW II

GIVEN ITS ISOLATION COLLEGE POINT HAD TO BE A TRANSPORTATION TOWN TO SURVIVE. IT HAD TROLLEYS RUNNING TO FLUSHING. THE RAILROAD, FOUNDED BY MR. POPPENHUSEN, RAN THRU

TOWN FROM FLUSHING TO THE FERRIES AND THEN OUT THE NORTH SHORE TO WHITESTONE AND GREAT NECK, I BELIEVE.

“THE DEPOT”, WHICH WE KNEW AS A BALL PARK WITH GRAVEL AND NO GRASS, HAD BEEN A DEPOT ONCE UPON A TIME. WE WONDERED WHAT THE NAME MEANT! TRAINS DIED IN 1932.

THE FAMILY CAME TO NEW YORK FROM MILWAUKEE BECAUSE THERE WAS WORK HERE DURING THE DEPRESSION – FROM ONE GERMAN TOWN TO ANOTHER.

MY GRANDFATHER BUILT A HORSESHOE COURT RIGHT NEXT TO THE FORMER DEPOT SURROUNDED BY FACTORIES – CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT.

FARRINGTON’S GARAGE STARTED IN 1868 – LISTED AS OLDEST GAS STATION IN QUEENS, IN NY AND SOME SAY IN US AT FIVE CORNERS A BLOCK FROM

THE HOUSE WHERE I GREW UP

EARLY MAIN STREET SHOT – THE TOWN NEVER HAD MORE THAN 25,000 POPULATION, (2010 CENSUS POP. 23,400), MOST OF WHOM WORKED IN THE FACTORIES OR COMMUTED ACROSS THE SWAMPS TO FLUSHING. IN

MY EARLY YEARS WE LIVED WITH MY GRAND PARENTS WHO NEVER OWNED A CAR IN THEIR LIFETIMES. WE WALKED TO EVERYTHING – TODAY WE’D CALL IT A HIGH ACCESS NEIGHBORHOOD BUT BACK THEN I JUST

THOUGHT WE WERE POOR!

THIS IS PART OF THE OLD MAIN STREET AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

Part of old Main Street Koch’s butcher shop – my step-father’s gas station was next door

ANOTHER SCORBOARD

MAIN STREET RECENTLY AT 20TH AVE – A WIKIPEDIA SHOT

Movie theatre is long gone

A new immigrant population, see signs

Most of the bars are gone

Some of the older beer gardens persist

A classic New York story in many ways:

One can say gosh things have really gone downhill.

But yet, everyone who left and everyone who arrived since are all better off than they were. The town has been an acculturation tool for immigrants throughout its history.

IN THE OLD DAYS 14TH AVE HAD BEEN THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR. SOMETHING I NEVER NOTICED WHEN I WAS A KID. THE LOW NUMBERED AVENUES TOWARD THE WATER HAD ALL THE OLD MANSIONS – MANY DECREPIT OR IN USE AS APARTMENTS BY THE TIME WE WERE

YOUNGSTERS. YOU CAN SEE SOME PRETTY GRAND HOMES – OF COURSE THE RULE IS THAT THE CLOSER TO THE “GOOD WATER” YOU GET THE HIGHER PRICED THE HOUSING GETS.

THIS WAS DOWN BY THE FACTORIES – WHERE THE DWELLINGS WERE CLASSIC OUTSIDE-THE-FACTORY-GATE HOUSING. IT WAS BUILT DURING THE GRANT

ADMINISTRATION, I REMEMBER THIS AS A SCRUFFY BEER GARDEN IN SUMMER (ON THE LEFT IN THE PICURE). A FAMILY GATHERING SPOT SINCE 1872. STILL THERE I

HOPE!

THIS ALSO LOOKS UP 14TH AVE. TAKEN FROM THE ROOF OF THE POPPENHUSEN INSTITUTE WHICH WAS JUST OFF 14TH NEAR THE WATER

YOU CAN SEE HOW CLOSE TO THE WATER THE INSTITUTE WAS ON THE SOUTH SIDE –TOWARD FLUSHING – NOT “GOOD WATER” – AND HOW LOW THE TOWN WAS HERE.

ANOTHER BEACH WE USED TO SWIM AT. HOUSES MUCH MORE MODEST.

WALLS LIKE THIS ARE EVERYWHERE IN THE TOWN. THE WALLS ARE STILL THERE, BUT THE MANSION THAT WAS BEHIND IT IS GONE. ABOUT A HALF DOZEN VERY NICE HOMES ARE THERE

NOW. ACROSS FROM PS 27 WHERE I WENT TO GRAMMAR SCHOOL

THIS IS AN AIR VIEW, 1931. YOU CAN SEE THE GRAND HOUSES IN THE COURT. PS 27, MY FIRST SCHOOL AND AN ANCIENT FACILITY BUILT PRE 1900, IS THE BIG BUILDING RIGHT OF CENTER, NOW GONE – IN THE LOWER MIDDLE LEFT THERE IS A MANSION REMAINING . WHEN I WAS A KID WE COULD WALK UP THE HILL TO THE MANSION AND

AROUND IT TO THE WATER. CARS COULDN’T GO THRU. AS THEIR PROPERTY WAS SOLD OFF THE MANSIONS BECAME THE CENTER OF TRAFFIC CIRCLES. IN THE UPPER RIGHT EDGE OF THE PIC YOU CAN SEE A WATER TOWER AT

THE HIGHEST POINT IN TOWN. AS A CHILD I LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE TOWER IN KIND OF NEW YORK STANDARD IN-FILL HOUSING ON 20 X 50 LOTS-WHERE MY GRANDFATHER RAISED CHICKENS AND TURKEYS AND

GREW VEGETABLES.

THIS IS CHISHOLM’S, NOW MCNEIL, PARK. TWO BLOCKS FROM WHERE WE LIVED IN MY HIGH SCHOOL YEARS. MAYOR LAGUARDIA USED TO COME OUT TO STAY IN THE MANSION HERE AS HIS SUMMER HOME. THE MANSION IS GONE. THE AREA COULD HAVE CONTINUED TO BE AN

ATTRACTIVE AREA WITH GREAT WATER VIEWS. BUT THE FACTORIES AND CHEAP INFILL DEPRESSED IT. NOW MOSTLY GARDEN APARTMENTS

LIKE THIS– SIC SEMPER SOMETHING OR OTHER!

A WEBSITE FOR MORE HISTORY

http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/05/college-point-queens

happy to discuss

Alan E. Pisarski

alanpisarski@alanpisarski.com