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 APRIL 2014 I LIC COURIER I www.queenscourier.com 32 Robert Leslie Smith (1880- 1960) continues memories of LIC. This was typed in 1959, a year before his death. Modern street names are in brackets. Walking down Middleburg 39th Avenue you finally came to Jackson Avenue Northern Boulevard. The two streets met at the foot of a fairly steep hill, no longer in existence. Looking south where Bridge Plaza Queens Plaza is now located, there was what might be called a Medical Center, on the east side of the street. Here was Dr. Hitchcock who owned the adjoining drugstore. He was present at my birth. His successors were Dr. Little, and later, Dr. Strong. Traveling down Jackson Avenue and continuing on Borden Avenue to the 34th Street Manhattan ferry, there were several buildings of some historical interest. Opposite the ferry was the Queens County Bank, the only bank at that time between Flushing and the East River. This bank used to open at 8 a.m. giving depositors coming in on trains to LIC an opportunity to do their banking before catching the ferryboat for New York. There were two lines of ferryboats running from the ferry slip at the foot of Borden Avenue – one to 34th Street and the other called the Long Ferry to James Slip, just north of Fulton Street in Manhattan. Many people taking this ferry would walk over to Wall Street, which was pleasant until you had to pass the Fulton Fish Market and inhale the odors. There was another steamboat line which ran a double-deck passenger boat from the Borden Avenue slip to the foot of Wall Street. This was called the “Bankers Line” and the fare was more than on the ferries. At the 34th Street ferry slip the Long Island Railroad built a shed. Patrick J. Gleason claimed that several posts supporting the shed encroached on street property. He personally went on the premises with an axe and chopped down the posts. From then on he was called “Battle Axe Gleason,” a name he became so proud of that he used to wear a diamond stickpin in the shape of a battle axe. LEGENDS OF LIC BY GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEGENDS OF LIC Prior to the building of the elevated railroad structures on 2nd and 3rd Avenues, there were two steamboats on the East River running from lower New York to Harlem, one known as the “Sylvan Dell” and the other the “Sylvan Stream.” The large bell on one of these boats was later acquired by the Woodside Hook & Ladder Company and, on its dissolution, became the property of St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church. The steamboats used to stop at the foot of Broadway, LIC and residents living up as far as Steinway would walk to the East River and board the boats for downtown. Coming back to the foot of Borden Ave., at the intersection of Front Street, was Miller’s Hotel, a rendezvous place for politicians. The Queens County Republican Committee used to meet there.
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