USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101
BAYSIDE.
Bayside, a pleasant line of handsome villas and sub- stantial farm houses, was settled very soon after the first immigration to Flushing. Here the Indians lived on friendly terms with the whites until the edicts of the Dutch governor required their disarmament, when they drifted to the south side of the island. Dr. John Rod- man, an eminent Quaker physician and minister, lived here some forty years, and died in 1731, respected by all who knew him. His family were some of them residents till long after the Revolution; and one of them, John Rodman, recovered in 1787 a judgment against the in- famous Hamilton of £2,000 for the wanton destruction of his spruce timber by the tories, who were quartered here during his administration. The fine view of the sound and the healthfulness of the locality made it known as an eligible locality for country residences, and in Revolutionary times some of its residents were New York business men. The larger proportion of the property owners are of that class, including a number of retired professional men and a few Southern families. It is and probably always will be a country home; and as the sur- veyed village plot contains some five thousand building lots there will be ample room for years to come for all who are attracted by its many advantages. The enter- prise and refinement of the residents of Bayside have led to important improvements.
THE UNION FREE SCHOOL.
This school was organized from school district No. 2, which now has a population of about one thousand. The date of its establishment is January 15th 1864. The building, which was erected in 1860, is on leased ground on the property of James Cain; but the sum of $1,000 was voted in 1880 for the purchase of a site, and steps are being taken to select a more convenient location and one fully under control of the school board.
Hon. Luther C. Carter was the first president of the board, and served in that capacity until his removal to New York. The school has two carefully selected li- braries, one of which, containing some four hundred volumes, was the gift of President Carter.
Three teachers are employed; the school is graded, and the reports for 1880 show a school population of 300, with a registered attendance of 170. The total valuation of the district is $460,500, and the tax rate averages twenty-five cents to $100.
The board of education for 1881 consisted of John
W. Harway, James W. Cain, Abraham Bell, John Strait- ton and John W. Ahles.
THE BAYSIDE LITERARY SOCIETY.
In November 1868 the late Edward R. Sheffield organized an educational society, and it was named after the place. Its object was mutual improvement in reading, recitations and debate. Its meetings were held weekly during the winter season, at the school-house, and a large membership was attained. In 1872, the older members having mainly withdrawn, the school board refused to allow the society the further use of the school-house, which was perhaps the very thing needed to quicken it into life again. Meetings were held that winter at the homes of the members and others, and on February 7th 1873 articles of incorporation were obtained by Eugene C. Roe, James W. Cain, James O'Donnell, T. Whitney Powell and Frank C. Bouse as trustees for the Bayside Literary Society-an organization for the pur- pose of encouraging home talent and the cultivation of the art of debating, as well as for literary and scientific purposes generally.
A fine plot of ground, one hundred feet square, was donated to the society by Messrs. Straitton & Storm, and on Decoration day 1874 the corner stone of a hall was laid by Robert Willets, president, in presence of a large gathering of people. Hon. L. Bradford Prince delivered an address, and an important work was pleasantly and safely inaugurated. On the 16th of October of the same year the building was completed and formally opened. Bands and glee clubs from adjacent villages discoursed music, and Hon. B. W. Downing, Hon. L. B. Prince, J. W. Covert, Eugene C. Roe and M. D. Gould made short and appropriate addresses, congratulating the people on the successful completion of Bayside Literary Hall.
The trustees of the institution in 1881 were John Straitton, John W. Harway, James W. Cain, Frederic Storm and William Ahles.
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
Some years since a feeble effort was made to establish a class of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, which resulted in failure. On the completion of Bayside Liter- ary Hall its trustees voted its use to any and all religious denominations who would make an effort to establish reg- ular services on Sunday. Immediately after the open- ing of the hall St. George's P. E. Church of Flushing ac- cepted the offer and established here a Sunday-school and mission, under the care of George R. Vandewater, lay reader, then in the theological seminary, now rector of a prominent church in Brooklyn. The meetings, which at first were largely attended, are still conducted, and with the Sunday-school form the only local religious interest.
Some time about the year 1861 the Society of Friends contributed a fund with which they erected a small frame building on land the use of which was donated to them by Mrs. Bell, and opened a school, which they supported until 1877, when, the necessity for it having
IOI
BAYSIDE-LITTLE NECK-WILLET'S POINT.
ceased by reason of the excellent character of the public schools, it was abandoned.
PROMINENT RESIDENTS.
Messrs. Straitton & Storm, of New York, who built here country seats for themselves and homes for some eighteen or twenty families of the skilled workmen in their great cigar factory, have recently introduced the Holly water system, by an arrangement with the village of Flushing which permitted the tapping of one of its mains, and during the past year have effected a thorough system of sewerage on an improved plan, which applies to all of their buildings here and adds materially to their value from a hygienic stand point.
James Cain, a well known and active Democratic poli- tician in the last generation, came to Long Island in 1828, engaging in farming and the milk business on land now covered by parts of Fifth avenue and Bergen street Brooklyn, and at one time tilled land within two blocks of where the City Hall now stands. He afterward oc- cupied the place known as Washington's headquarters, the farm-house on which was built in 1692. For twenty - three years he supplied a milk route in New York, and during eighteen years of that time claimed that he had never failed to serve his customers twice daily. In 1852 he became a resident of Bayside, purchased the farm on which he died, and took a general interest in political matters, though never as an office-seeker or in any official position. He died December 7th 1880, at the advanced age of seventy-six years.
LITTLE NECK.
Little Neck, in the extreme eastern part of the town, on a bay of the same name, is one of the most interesting localities in the town from an archæological point of view. The vast quantity of clams and oysters found here made it a favorite residence of the Indians, and here much of the wampum used by the Five Nations was said to have been manufactured. Traces of Indian occupancy are frequent, and a large variety of relics has been unearthed in the vicinity. The part now known as Douglaston was first settled in the latter part of the seventeenth century by Thomas Hicks, who, assisted by a party of adherents from the mainland, drove off the Indians and forcibly seized their lands. This is perhaps the only part of the town of Flushing where such rank injustice was practiced. The Hicks family have been represented in the locality down to the present time, although what was afterward called Point Douglass passed from them to one Shief, a Hollander; thence to Thomas Weeks, who sold it to Wynant Van Zandt, who in 1824 constructed the causeway connecting it with Flushing, and built the bridge at his own expense. His course was marked by the utmost liberality in all things, and the people of the town and of his neighborhood have in Zion's P. E. Church, which he erected and furnished, together with the glebe donated to the people of the place, a monument to his memory that will be far more lasting than any which wealth or affection could have erected for him.
A post-office was established in 1859, with J. A. Chap- man as postmaster.
A woolen-mill was built here at a place called "the Alley," by John Bird, who operated it until 1850, when it was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of $10,000 and putting an end to the manufacturing interests of the place.
The Van Zandt farm on Douglass Point was sold to George Douglass, and by his son W. B. Douglass has been laid out in a village plot and thrown on the market. Inducements are offered to purchasers that have been taken advantage of to some extent, and as the place is supplied with fair railroad facilities hopes are entertained that it will eventually become a popular place of residence for city people.
The principal industry now carried on at Little Neck is the shipment of the clams, now famous throughout the country. In this a number of sloops are engaged. The bay was planted with oysters and for several years the yield was satisfactory, but, owing to the depredation of oyster thieves, the supply is now nearly exhausted.
The docks were built in 1862, and are now used prin- cipally by the Van Nostrands for the coal business.
WILLET'S POINT.
This neck of land putting out into the sound east of Whitestone remained an unimportant farm district, owned by the family whose name was given it, until the com- mencement of the late war, when a speculator, noting its strategic value, purchased it of the owners, and soon after transferred it for a large sum to the United States government, which commenced the erection of a massive fortress that was to command the approaches to the East River. In May 1861 a Maine regiment was quartered here, and during the war, while the erection of the fort was being carried on, the reservation was used to some extent as a hospital.
The revolution in maritime warfare begun by the " Monitor," and completed by the torpedo, proved the futility of such defenses as this, and the government wisely decided not to complete it, but to establish here a head- quarters for a general system of coast and harbor de- fenses, by forming a permanent camp and school for the engineer corps of the regular army. It would be inter- esting to know how much of the success that the public attributes to skillful generals and brave soldiers is really due to this little body of men, whose organization up to 1846 consisted only of a few commissioned officers, and whose first company of sappers, miners and pontoniers, organized during that year and drilled by Lieutenant George B. McClellan, were the forerunners of the brave body of hard workers who were sneered at during the war for the Union as " McClellan's Pets." This.com- pany first saw service in the Mexican war, where during the siege of Vera Cruz they proved their value. From that time to 1861 the members of the company were scattered throughout the entire army, surveying, superin- tending the construction of forts and roads, and at West Point giving practical instruction to cadets. In 1861
102
HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
four additional companies were created, making a total of five companies, with 10 sergeants, 10 corporals, 2 mu- sicians and 128 privates in each. After their laborious services in the late war-the worth of which every mili- tary man now appreciates-it was decided to make Wil- let's Point the headquarters of the engineering depart- ment, with three companies forming its garrison. (One company went to Goat Island, on the Pacific coast, an- other to West Point). Two reductions ordered since then have reduced the garrison at headquarters to 5 ser- geants, 4 corporals, 2 musicians and 39 privates in each company.
The importance of this post consists in the fact that it is the only military engineer depot of the United States, the arsenal for all sapping and mining tools and pontoon material needed for the equipage of its armies, the school for submarine mining, and the depot for all material per- taining to the present system of torpedo defenses.
Here are to be found men bearing only the rank of pri- vate who are trained to be good mining engineers and fair mechanics, and given a knowledge of the proper method of handling armies, as well as of constructing buildings, bridges and entrenchments, that fits any one of them for the command of a division of men. Such men cannot be readily found in the rank and file of an army, but they have been, and the enlistment of intelligent men is encouraged by the high pay offered and the advantages which such training might afterward afford in private life.
The department and post are under the command of General Abbott, who has been in charge here since 1865 He is a courteous and accomplished gentleman, and his influence and that of his family, who reside with him, have had a refining effect on the men of his command, difficult to measure, but readily seen by any one conver- sant with the tendencies of garrison and camp life.
The reservation contains-besides the incomplete fort of huge masses of granite, presenting a semicircle of port-holes toward Hart's Island, and the really strong and fine earthworks crowning the point and commanding the entire sound-the parade-ground, a few hundred yards from the parapet of the fort, and on the west side of this the residence of the commandant, facing the bar- racks of the troops, which are ranged to the east of the parade. The south side is enclosed by three buildings containing officers' quarters and the " castle," a casino for them. On the north of the parade is the headquar- ters building, flanked on the right and left by two large buildings, accommodating married officers. The hos- pital and a few smaller buildings complete the immediate surroundings of the parade. In the background the company kitchens, post theater, model rooms, engine house, observatory, photographic and lithographic build- ings on the south, with a line of gardens between them and the parade, and from the hospital south the post school, library, and six buildings each sheltering the families of four married soldiers, form a street leading to the quartermaster's and subsistence departments; with shops for carpenters, painters, tinsmiths, blacksmiths and other artisans, warehouses, bakery, coal and wood
yard, with stables and wagon yards closing on the south- western portion of the miniature city, which is covered with sheds and warehouses containing the entire pontoon bridge materials for an army, wagons to transport them, and also a fire-proof building where are stored large quantities of valuable instruments.
The garrison seems composed of a busy, energetic, soldierly body of men, well satisfied with their lot but willing and ready to put their training into practice whenever it is needed. They have many friends among the citizens, and are the recipients of frequent invita- tipns to entertainments, both public and private, outside the reservation.
CREEDMOOR.
Creedmoor, widely known as the location of the na- tional rifle ranges and the scene of spirited contests be- tween the sharpshooters of this and other countries, lies on the southern border of the town. It derives its name from the Creed family, its former owners. It was selected by the National Rifle Association as a suitable place for rifle practice, land was bought, and the ranges were fitted up. It has a hotel and restaurant, owned by the associa- tion, and a post-office established for their convenience. Dreary and desolate in winter, it is in summer thronged by thousands of lovers of the range, and the scene of all the more important trials of skill between those who aim to shoot aright. The members of the association are but few of them residents of Queens county; and as the information most desired by those interested in such matters is already contained in the very complete annual reports issued by them, and to be had on application at their offices in Park row, New York, it is unnecessary to say more in a work of this character.
THE VILLAGE OF FLUSHING.
It is to be regretted that there can be found no definite date of the first settlement within the present village limits, although the early ownership of the soil indicates that it was made on what is now the Parsons estate, in 1645, by the Bowne family. Early records give but little clue to business interests at that period, but it is believed that Michael Millnor kept the first inn, prior to 1657, and that at a corresponding date a man whose name was forgotten long since opened a small re- tail store at the landing, where farm products were re- ceivable for molasses, salt, and a few other necessaries of life that could not be coaxed from the fertile soil. Dr. Henry Taylor was the first physician, who is known to have practiced during the last years of the seventeenth century, and the town clerk, Edward Hart, supplied the good offices of a conveyancer, and so made good the void which the absence of lawyers-of whom we find no mention until a much later date-must have otherwise left.
The village, being for so many years merely the center of a farming country and devoid of manufacturing inter-
103
EARLY HISTORY OF FLUSHING.
ests, was of slow growth, and its first onward impetus is believed to have been gained from the success of Prince's Linnæan Gardens, which furnished employment for a few men. The events of the Revolution tended to increase its population temporarily, and at the commencement of the present century there were probably more houses "to let " than can be found at present. In 1800 the village presented a somewhat forlorn appearance. Main street was a rough, hilly country road; what is now Broad- way was so narrow that it was with difficulty that two vehicles could pass each other. The water front was a disagreeable swamp, and near the foot of Main street, where is now the Town Hall, was a noisome frog pond. The entrance to Prince's nursery was at what is now the southeast corner of Broadway and Prince street, and Bloodgood's nurseries were a long way out of town. The old guardhouse at the corner of Union street and Broadway was the eastward terminus of the village. Main street had perhaps a dozen buildings on it, and in the radius of a mile might have been counted fifty dwellings, not one in five of the streets now crowded with human habitations having at that date any existence save perhaps in the imagination of some enthusiast whose vagaries were frowned upon as unwise and reckless.
But within a few miles lay a city outgrowing its bounds, with thousands of people panting for country air and country quiet; and long ere convenient arrangements for transportation were effected the farmers of Flushing were selling corner lots, and two or three enterprising men were building to meet this growing want. Among these we have reason to mention Cyrus Peck and the senior Parsons, as well as Dr. Samuel Bloodgood, who became the village physician in 1812. The labor re- quired to grade and open streets involved a large ex- pense, and after the incorporation of the village, in 1837, some $25,000 was paid out by individual subscriptions for such purposes. Private schools found a footing here at an early day, and the movement in favor of the free school system was inaugurated about 1841, and carried into successful operation in 1848.
St. George's church, a small frame building, and the Friends' meeting house, were the only church buildings in the village prior to the building of an African M. E. church. Besides the nurseries of the Messrs. Prince, Bloodgood and Parsons, a sandpaper factory and the shipping and lumber business of the Pecks gave employ- ment to a considerable number of persons; and when, in 1837, the people of the village decided on incorporation, the population had increased to about two thousand peo- ple. The hard times following the panic of that year checked the growth of all places, and temporarily de- stroyed the value of real estate; but under judicious management Flushing village held her own, and in 1855 reported a population of 3,488-nearly one-half that of the entire town.
Real estate speculation has of course been rife; but while at times prices were perhaps too high for business sites and houses on the most popular streets, there has never been a time that a family of moderate means could
not build for themselves a home in a really pleasant locality at much less expense than in many other of the suburbs of New York city, as these semi-metropolitan villages may be termed.
The earliest direct communication with the city by stage was made by Willett Mott, in 1801. It consisted of a daily coach running from this village through New- town and Bedford to Brooklyn. He continued it seven years, charging fifty cents for a single fare: His succes- sors were Carman Smith and Mesrs. Greenwall, Kissam and John Boyd, who commenced running to Williams- burgh, across Grand street ferry, up Grand street, New York, to the Bowery, and thence to Chatham square, for a fare of fifty cents. This route was run until 1854, when the opening of the Flushing and North Shore Railroad ren- dered it no longer necessary. As has been said, canoes and sailboats were the first means of transfer by water, and the old landing was where the Peck coal docks now are. After the erection of the bridge a water dock was built. A packet run by Howell Smith was the next im- provement, and this, run afterward by Samuel Pryor and finally by Jonathan Peck, who replaced the old vessel by one with more ample and luxurious fittings, was the chief means of water communication until 1822, when a small steamboat ran as an experiment, and was followed, in the ensuing year, by one built expressly for this route, and commanded by Captain Peck, the son of the old packet master. This boat was named the " Linnæus," and is said to have been well built and neatly furnished. In 1833 she was transferred to the New Rochelle route, and has since been followed by the "Flushing," Captain Curtis Peck; the "Statesman," Captain Elijah Peck; the " Star," by the same; the " Washington Irving," Captain Leonard; "Island City," Captain S. Reynolds, and " Enoch Dean," Captain William Reynolds. In 1859 a company known as the Flushing, College Point and New York Ferry Company was organized, who purchased the " Enoch Dean," and built the People's line.
The channel in Flushing Bay has required the outlay of considerable sums to make it available for general travel by large boats, and has been the subject of various government grants. It was dredged and deepened in 1833, 1857, 1859, 1880 and 1881.
The opening of the two railroads which pierce the village has made it convenient of access, and with its steamboat facilities renders it to a great extent independ- ent of those attempts at extortion which carrying com- panies have been known to practice at places where there was no competition for the business.
The first post-office in the town was at what was known as the Alley or Little Neck, and was kept in a woolen factory there until about 1822, when it was removed to the village. Mandeville relates that many of the villagers were opposed to the change, as they said that their let- ters and papers were " now left at the public-house, where they could get them at any time, which they could not do if the office was kept in the village, and only open at certain hours." The present postmaster is John W. Rickey. Among early incumbents were Curtis Peck,
104
HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
William Peck, Dr. Joseph Bloodgood, Dr. Asa Spaulding, Francis Bloodgood and Charles W. Cox.
The charter of the village of Flushing bears date April 15th 1837. At the first election Robert B. Van Zandt became president of the board of trustees, whose first meeting was held June 6th 1837. The number of real estate owners assessed that year was one hundred and three, and the assessed valuation $465,300.
Up to the year 1843 the meetings of the village officers were held at the places of business or residences of the members; but in that year a town hall was built at a cost of $1,000.
EDUCATION IN THE PAST AND PRESENT.
The first school-teacher in the town is believed to have been John Houldon, who taught a private school from about 1660 to 1670, and of whom nothing more is known. Elizabeth Coperthwaite, a daughter of the Quaker preacher, who was a power among his people, taught from 1675 to 1681. John Urquhart, who is first mentioned in 1690, was a man of family and kept board- ing scholars to some extent.
The Quakers, foremost in good works, seemed to tire of this desultory system of education, and in 1803 took steps toward purchasing a lot and erecting a school building. It is probable that this plan was abandoned eventually, for when their meeting-house was repaired in 1705 an upper floor was laid and the story thus con- structed was divided into two rooms, which were used for school purposes. The first male teacher employed there is believed to have been Thomas Makins, who after- ward became a somewhat noted teacher in Philadelphia, and is credited with the authorship of a number of Latin poems.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.