Queens Awakens To Development In Feb. 1913

Grand Central Terminal c. 1918 Get into a conversation with a long-time Queens resident and you're likely to discover a subscriber of the Long Island Star-Journal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star-Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper's name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal--The Flushing Journal (1841). Welcome to February, 1913!

This was an exciting time to live in New York, for the face of the modern city was taking shape. A number of notable projects throughout the five boroughs were well underway.

Two thousand workers toiled night and day to complete the tallest structure in the world, the 984-foot Woolworth Building. Sixtysix caissons were bored down to solid bedrock some 130 feet below sea level to support the building. Twenty-four thousand tons of steel went into a skyscraper that weighed an estimated 250,000 tons. The new building, which boasted some 2,000 offices with 3,000 windows, had 34 elevators that served its 33 acres of floor space. The spire was to be capped off with a gigantic flag and powerful searchlight. It boasted a 54th floor observatory and in the basement, a swimming pool, restaurant, and a rathskeller. F. W. Woolworth, who was born poor in Rodman, New York, opened his first "Five Cent" store in 1879. By 1913, he had a chain of some 300 stores around the country. The company financed most of the building's $13.5 million price tag directly.

Woolworth Building c. 1913 Although several months away from its completion, the new Grand Central Terminal opened on February 1, 1913 with 33 miles of track on two levels, a waiting room accommodating 5,000 people, and a massive main room that at 275 feet in length, 120 feet in width and 125 feet in height, was one of the great interior spaces in New York. Its steel frame was clad in terra cotta, marble and light stone. There are no stairs in the station; all levels are reached by ramps.

Although most rail traffic on Long Island was diverted to the new Pennsylvania Station opened only few years before, more than three million people still used the Long Island Rail Road station in Hunters Point. Leaving out Sundays and holidays, that made more than 10,000 people each working day. The industrial development of Long Island City was expected to increase the traffic. A rail official was quoted as saying, "I think Long Island City and Queens Borough are just awakening to a great industrial development."

The railroad had a lot of confidence in its future. Although the system was bleeding money, millions of dollars in improvements were planned for the coming year. Not only were the new Jamaica Yard improvements 85 percent complete, but the main line through that community, as well as the northern route through Flushing, were soon to be elevated, thus eliminating all grade crossings. A mammoth 200-foot-wide steel bridge over Queens Boulevard, a grade crossing elimination for Bushwick Junction and a new station for Newtown (Elmhurst) were among the many projects announced for the coming months.

The Astoria "el" contract was awarded to the New York firm of Cooper and Evans, which submitted the lowest of 13 bids for the section from Beebe Avenue to Ditmars Avenue. Although details of the shared operating responsibility between the Interboro Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit dragged on, the line's construction was to proceed forward, much to the relief of the local community. The contractor issued a statement reassuring the public: "We expect to have all our material on hand. We anticipate no delays and will be ready to start work on the pier foundations as soon as the frost is out of the ground, perhaps the middle of March."

The firm expected to wrap up the work within the allotted time of 18 months. Across the city, work was also proceeding on the Corona and Lexington lines.

The Committee of Forty, which pushed along the Queensboro Bridge when it was little more than a plan on paper, had suggested that the city acquire the block between Second and Third Avenues and 59th and 60th Streets for a spacious entrance plaza. This space would be the entrance for two lanes of the proposed Seventh Avenue subway, which along with the four lanes of the Second Avenue elevated, would join to make a rapid transit corridor over the upper promenade of the bridge. The committee opposed an alternative idea of running the subway across the lower deck as too restrictive for auto and truck traffic. The lower deck rail lines would provide only 30 feet for automobile and truck traffic, and in light of the anticipated development of Long Island City, was understood to severely compromise the future usefulness of the bridge.

The first two wireless (radio) stations in Queens began operations under government licenses. The Bryant High School Radio Club, which had been in existence for two years, had 20 young (male) members. During the 1911 World Series, the club made a name for itself by broadcasting the game. They were able to receive signals from 800 miles away and transmit them over 10 miles. The other station, located on Jackson Avenue, was more powerful and with a 40-foot mast on the roof of the building it occupied, was able to receive signals from 2,000 miles and send them more than 100 miles.

Long Island City fell under the unwelcome spotlight of a graft probe when James Purcell, an old-time gambler and poolroom operator, took the stand before the Aldermanic Police Investigating Committee. For several days the newspapers carried startling stories of protection money payments to prominent people in Queens. Purcell, who testified under oath, told of giving $400 to ex-Sheriff Herbert Harvey at the time when Harvey was the Democratic leader in the borough. He further stated that Harvey demanded that the money be divided with the District Attorney (Frederick DeWitt.) The $50 per week in protection money was to be doubled to provide for the District Attorney's share.

When questioned, however, Purcell could not state that DeWitt ever got any of this money. He never saw DeWitt and had no knowledge that DeWitt ever knew of this arrangement that was set up with Harvey at the Shinnecock Democratic Club in Flushing.

Purcell also fingered Police Captain Maude of the Hunters Point police station, indicating that Detective Lieutenant Herbert Graham (Purcell called him a "wardman") was his collector. Joe Cassidy, the former Borough President, was also mentioned in the testimony. Purcell said that somebody came to him and said that Cassidy wanted $300 for "election" expenses.

At the suggestion of Louis Windmuller, Woodside's "grand old man", the most exclusive, distinguished and enthusiastic walking club in the country had just been organized. The mayor's office announced the formation of the "Pedestrians Club". The charter members were Mayor William J. Gaynor, Joseph Choate, a former ambassador to Great Britain, William Hornblower, a Wall Street financier and John Parsons, a senior judge of the New York Bar. Other notables contemplating joining included Andrew Carnegie, financier Jacob Schiff and General George Wingate (co-founder of the PSAL and instrumental in organizing the NRA).

Windmuller, who walked at least four hours each day, suggested that the first walk start at City Hall and end up somewhere in Bronx Park, Coney Island or Queens. Said he, "I delight in people. To enjoy walking one must use his eyes and the brain as much as he does his legs. I prefer to look at the faces of people to looking at buildings and into shop windows. Don't let automobiles frighten you. Learn to dodge. They nearly got me once, but they can't and I'm 78 years old." The combined age of the five charter members was 367 years, making an average age of 73.

That's the way it was in February, 1913!

Upcoming events: Monday, March 5, 7 p.m. "The Magic of Steinway" Rare images from the personal collection of Henry Z. Steinway. Saturday, March 10: time to be announced: Bix Biederbecke's 104th Birthday Celebration. Both events at Quinn's Gallery, 4th Floor, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City

For more information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-278-0700 or visit www.astorialic.org. Visit the Society at Quinn's Gallery and Lecture Hall, open to the public on Saturdays noon to 4 p.m.