NOVEMBER 1912, WHEN QUEENS HAD ‘NEVER
Dutch Kills terminal project.
The Degnon Terminal and Realty
Improvement Company,
contemplated building huge
warehouses and loft buildings
between Northern Boulevard,
Van Dam Street and Newtown
Creek surrounding the Sunnyside
Rail Yards. It would be one
of the largest industrial-transportation
projects ever built.
The plan contemplated the
erection of warehouses and
factories and the laying out of
railroad tracks in such a way
that every plant would have its
own railroad siding at its back
door. The general intent was to
create an industrial and commercial
community where the
cost of handling goods would
be reduced to a minimum.
Water transportation was to
be supplied by Newtown and
Dutch Kills Creeks.
If Long Island City became
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 12 - NOV. 18, 2021 13
QUEENSLINE
In conjunction
with the Greater
Astoria Historcal Society,
TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
On Nov. 5, 1912, Woodrow
Wilson was elected president.
Queens had “never been more
Democratic” than it was on
that day. Wilson carried the
county by 13,000 votes over
Republican President William
H. Taft and Bull Moose Party
candidate Teddy Roosevelt.
The total vote cast was
about 52,000. A democratic
New York legislature was
swept into office also; in fact,
the entire Queens delegation
to Albany was Democratic.
On election night, the Star
projected election returns on
a large bulletin board covered
with a sheet on the opposite
side of the street from its
Borden Avenue offices. At its
peak, the crowd was estimated
at 2,000 and was quiet and well
behaved. But occasionally, an
ardent Bull Moose supporter
“would cut loose a yell when a
bulletin favorable to Roosevelt
was shown, which was not
very often.”
On Nov. 13, a number of
Long Island City manufacturers
and property owners appeared
before the Dock Commission
to discuss plans for the
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the home of a large industrial
terminal, then it was reasonable
to assume that hundreds
of manufacturing concerns
would locate there and bring
with them thousands of employees
who would prefer to
live in the area, if housing
accommodations could be
provided.
Justice James C. VanSiclen,
in Queens Supreme Court, disposed
of a calendar containing
100 applicants for U. S. citizenship.
He was assisted by U. S.
Examiner C. P. Miller. The
candidates were put through
the usual severe test. Fifty-one
were admitted and the remainder
were either dismissed
or “set over” to allow the applicants
to complete further
study.
Of the 51 admitted, 14 were
from Germany; eight from
Italy; six from Russia, seven
from Ireland; four from Austria;
four from England; two
each from Holland and Sweden;
and one each from Greece,
Scotland and Switzerland. A
remarkable fact was the ages
of the new citizens: one was
68 and had been in this country
for 50 years; seven in their
fifties; twenty in their 40s and
none younger than 25.
One of the oldest landmarks
in Long Island City was
to be demolished, the old Payntar
Homestead, at the corner
of Jackson and Skillman Avenues
in Sunnyside, that had
occupied the corner for close
to 200 years. It was the home of
the long vanished tide-mil that
was built in the mid-1600s.
For further info, call the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society at 718-278-0700 or
www.astorialic.org.
BEEN MORE DEMOCRATIC’
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