religion. He also developed the nearby roadway that is currently
called “College Point Boulevard.”
The institution once housed a courthouse, a bank, the area’s
first library, a sheriff’s office (two vacant jail cells are still
there), and various singing societies. Nowadays, the site, which
obtained landmark status in 1970, houses a community cultural
center offering programs such as karate, piano lessons, lectures,
workshops, historical exhibits, a summer concert series, and a
resident theater company.
Inside scoop: Poppenhusen opened the first free kindergarten in
the United States on July 1, 1870.
Address: 114-04 14th Rd., College Point, and www.
poppenhuseninstitute.org.
VANDER-ENDE ONDERDONK HOUSE
This house was built by Paulus Vander Ende, a Dutch farmer, in
about 1709. The smaller wooden wing was erected much later;
in the early 1800s, when the property was purchased by the
Onderdonk family.
With federal, state and city landmark status, the house’s features
include heavy fieldstone walls, a wooden-shingle gambrel roof,
and large brick chimneys. The interior is mainly exposed postand
beam construction with wooden floors. There are double
Dutch doors and numerous shuttered windows. In the cellar
stands the original fireplace and kitchen that was restored by
the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society. On display inside
the house are objects found during excavations conducted in the
1970s and 1980s as well as architectural and historical exhibits.
Inside scoop: This is a one of the rare examples of an
18th-century Dutch-American stone farmhouse with a gambrel
roof in New York City.
Address: 1820 Flushing Ave., Ridgewood, and www.
onderdonkhouse.org.
VOELKER ORTH MUSEUM
In the 1890s, German immigrant Conrad Voelcker, who ran a
printing business with his brothers, bought his dream house in
Flushing. He loved his garden. And so did his daughter, Theresa
Voelker (notice spelling change), who married Rudolph Orth,
and their daughter, Elisabetha Orth.
96 QUEENS IN YOUR POCKET • www.itsinqueens.com