QUEENSLINE
January 1913: Communities abuzz over plans for elevated train system
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 22-JAN. 28, 2021 13
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Welcome to January 1913!
Communities around the
borough were abuzz over
plans for an elevated train
system. They expressed outrage
in a series of meetings
and hearings.
The Star reported on
Jan. 10 that many residents
in Flushing did not want a
transit line, declaring that
they would rather live as an
exclusive enclave. Angered
at the prospect of an elevated
trestle slicing through downtown
Flushing en route to
eastern Queens out to Nassau
County, irate citizens
held a meeting and passed
resolutions condemning the
plan. Although some thought
subway service was far better
than an elevated line,
everyone insisted that nothing
be built beyond Flushing
Creek.
Attendee Eugene Loweree
shared his discussions
with Amity Street residents
(as Roosevelt Avenue was
then called) who opposed the
noise and dirt of an elevated
structure on their doorstep.
Dr. Bloodgood went as far
as saying an elevated train
would “destroy his home.”
William Parsons, also present,
declared he was “unalterably
opposed” to the train.
He further noted that it was
not necessary since the Long
Island Rail Road was a few
blocks away.
The real fear was, however,
that mass transit would
bring, as they expressed
it, “undesirable residents.”
Former Manhattan resident
John Baumeister claimed
that the “elevated destroyed
residential areas ‘turning
out’ churches and establishing
cat and dog hospitals in
what had been fine residences.”
T
he elevated would create
“a general hodge-podge of a
community. It would bring
the tenements and tenement
dwellers which was something
that was not desired.”
All agreed that the beauty of
Flushing was its homes and
its desirability as a place of
quiet residences.
Mass transit proposals
had rough sailing Long Island
City, too. Heated meetings
where held on the Ely
Avenue (23rd Street) route
where John Klagas, president
of the Long Island City
Business Men’s Subway
League declared that “not
only would property owners
and residents along 23rd
Street suffer many annoyances,
but inmates of both
St. Johns Hospital and the
Queens County Court House
would be inconvenienced.”
Real estate agent George
Clay declared that the line
would depreciate property
values as far away as 21st
Street.
He declared, “the character
of the neighborhood
would be changed adversely
affecting stores in the neighborhood.”
When someone
asked if he would be willing
to wait ten years for a subway
rather than have the elevated
line built now, he responded
“I would wait twenty!”
Overnight resistance to
the plans collapsed. It was
so sudden as to be almost orchestrated.
Almost immediately, the
Dutch Kills Citizen’s Association
endorsed the plan
favoring the elevated line.
Five days later, the commissioners
from the Public Service
Commission gave a fatal
blow to the subway lobby by
declaring that the land was
already acquired for the elevated
line. They flatly stated
it would be virtually impossible
to change plans. Their
hearings on the issue were
rendered moot.
“Three years ago a public
meeting of 2,000 people was
held in Astoria to discuss
both funding and routes for
mass transit in Queens. Fully
90 percent of the property
owners I spoke to thought
a good plan was devised for
better transit. Where was
Flushing? Most of them were
quiet or bitterly opposed the
plan.”
That’s the way it was in
January 1913!
For further info, call the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society at 718-
278-0700 or www.
astorialic.org.
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