legends Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 MARCH 2014 I LIC COURIER I www.queenscourier.com 32 This story would date the earliest memories of our Long Island City community from the 1890s. Robert Leslie Smith graduated from Columbia Law School in 1901, and while in private law practice, served as a civic and business leader in Woodside. The following was typed in 1959, a year before his death. Modern streets are in brackets. “LOOKING AT OLD LONG ISLAND CITY ACROSS THE LINE” - BY: R. Leslie Smith I happen to have been born on Woodside Avenue in Woodside just 17 feet east of the LIC line. When I had reached sufficient height to look out of our front bedroom window I would gaze upon the mansion of the late Elias Bragaw on the northwest corner of Woodside Avenue and Middleburg Avenue 39th Ave.. His estate consisted of several acres. At the northerly end of the property, adjoining the Long Island Railroad tracks, was a fair sized pond where we young Woodsiders spent our winter afternoons skating. Adjoining the pond and running up toward the Bragaw mansion was a steep hill which provided a convenient place for sleigh riding. This pond had several large gold fish. The older boys, seeing a fish, would throw a large stone at the spot, just above the fish that would cause a break in the ice. Water would bubble up out of the ice bringing up the fish. The youngsters did not enjoy this as the holes made in the ice interfered with our skating. The pond also contained many silver fish. In my younger days, I had a large Newfoundland dog which was very fond of swimming, and while enjoying a swim in the pond one early spring day she came out of the water with a silver fish on her back. One of my playmates discovered a tin can nearby, took the fish home and put it in his brother’s aquarium... About a half mile west of this pond, and also adjoining the Long Island Railroad tracks, was a larger pond with a big exposed rock in the center of it. This pond was known as the “reservoir” as the LIC authorities had at one time laid pipes from the pond with the intention of making use of the water for the city supply system; but the plan was never carried out. The pond was very deep and several Woodside and Astoria boys would enjoy it. One evening one of our local boys was swimming and didn’t come up to the surface. His body was recovered late that night. LEGENDS OF LIC BY GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEGENDS OF LIC One of the farms on Middleburg Avenue was occupied by Charles Conklin and family, and one Sunday morning Mr. Conklin asked his wife to come out and see how nice the pigs were. She followed his advice and a glance into one corner of the pigpen showed a shiny substance, which when dug up turned out to be British coins valued at $2,000. The Bragaw property had been occupied by British soldiers during the Revolution and the coins were probably buried by someone in the British Army who did not get them honestly. In the old mansion one of the doors of a china closet had a deep gouge and rumor had it that the damage was done by a British soldier’s bayonet.
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