22 FEBRUARY 11, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Eliot Avenue and the growth of Maspeth and Middle Village
BY THE OLD TIMER
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
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Eliot Avenue isn’t as old as some
of Queens’ most historic roadways,
but for a time in the 20th
century, it was one of the borough’s
most important thoroughfares.
The oldest segment of the twomile
roadway stretches about a
half-mile from Metropolitan Avenue
to Mount Olivet Crescent. The
remainder of the roadway, from
Mount Olivet Crescent to Queens
Boulevard, wouldn’t open until
1938, just a few months before the
opening of the 1939-40 World’s Fair
in what’s now known as Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park.
Indeed, after the fair opened,
Eliot Avenue would become the
main thoroughfare for residents
from Ridgewood and points west in
Brooklyn to travel to and from the
fairgrounds. This was a period long
before expressways criss-crossed
the city.
Eliot Avenue was named for
Walter G. Eliot, who served in the
Queens Topographical Bureau as an
engineer and, later, its leader. The
roadway was laid over part of what
had been the Juniper Swamp, a vast
wetland covering much of presentday
Maspeth and Middle Village.
Juniper Valley Park, located only a
couple of blocks from Eliot Avenue
in Middle Village, was part of the
very same swamp.
For many years in the early 20th
century, the city had plans to widen
and lengthen Eliot Avenue, but were
stymied due to a variety of factors.
The Great Depression, of course,
greatly pained the city’s finances,
so public works like road-making
were delayed or scrapped.
Mount Olivet and Lutheran (present
day All Faiths) cemeteries also
balked at giving up land to the city
for the construction of Eliot Avenue.
After much negotiation, however,
the city was permitted to construct
a thin, two-lane strip between the
cemeteries.
The widened, lengthened Eliot
Avenue was officially dedicated on
Feb. 4, 1939, with a ceremony held
at the western end of the roadway,
at Metropolitan Avenue on the
Ridgewood/Maspeth border. The
Ridgewood Times documented the
Eliot Avenue opening — a feat that
“fulfills 25 year dream,” as the headline
noted — with a front-page story
in its Feb. 10, 1939, issue.
“With a crowd of about 500 men and
Ridgewood Times archives/Courtesy of Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
women on hand notwithstanding the
cold, Eliot Avenue, recently widened
and paved from Metropolitan Avenue
to Queens Boulevard, was officially
opened to traffic on Saturday afternoon
with appropriate ceremonies at
Eliot and Metropolitan Avenues.
“The ceremonies, conducted under
the auspices of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan
Civic Association, were
presided over by Andrew J. Reiff,
president of the association. ...
“Herman Ringe Sr., pioneer of the
community, member of the Queens
Borough Planning Commission, director
of the Ridgewood Chamber of
Commerce and member of the Ridgewood
Metropolitan Civic Association,
spoke of the improvement as a ‘dream
of twenty-five years come true.’ He
cited the fact that he and other property
owners in the vicinity had been
assessed for the thoroughfares fifteen
or more years ago.
“Alluding to the thoroughfare as a
direct connecting link to the World’s
Fair, Mr. Ringe declared that the
opening of Eliot Avenue represented
one of the outstanding improvements
in the history of the community.”
The road’s opening, of course, did
more than just bring visitors to the
World’s Fair. It also fueled the transformation
of Maspeth and Middle
Village from farmland to a residential
community featuring predominantly
one-family rowhouses along
with little hubs of commerce with
mom-and-pop stores.
The Eliot Avenue Civic Association
was founded in 1938 to
represent homeowners in the new
residences being developed in the
area of Eliot Avenue. This organization
would later merge with another
civic group, the Residents of Juniper
Park Homes, to form the Juniper
Park Civic Association — which, to
this day, remains one of the most
active civic groups in Queens.
Most of Eliot Avenue serves as
the border between Maspeth and
Middle Village, stretching from
Metropolitan Avenue to 74th Street.
It had also been the border between
Middle Village and the area known
as “South Elmhurst” (south of the
Long Island Expressway between
74th and 86th streets) until that section
was added to Middle Village’s
11379 ZIP code in 2003.
Eliot Avenue between Metropolitan
Avenue and Woodhaven
Boulevard remains four travel
lanes wide (two lanes in each direction)
except for the two-lane
segment sandwiched between All
Faiths and Mount Olivet Cemeteries
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