WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 11, 2021 23
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
(between Mount Olivet Crescent
and 67th Street. The two-lane portion
was reconstructed by the city
between 2007 and 2008 to include
a new roadbed, a wider sidewalk
on the eastbound side (adjacent to
All Faiths Cemetery) and antique
replica lighting.
Though the roadway is predominantly
residential, Eliot Avenue is
home to two important religious
institutions in the community: Our
Lady of Hope Church and Catholic
Academy and Resurrection Ascension
Church and Catholic Academy.
There are also two small retail segments
in Maspeth and Middle Village
between 71st and 74th streets,
and between 79th and 82nd streets.
The construction of the Long
Island Expressway in the 1950s
and 1960s, for better or worse,
transformed that highway into the
area’s most important roadway. But
for Maspeth and Middle Village
residents, Eliot Avenue remains one
of the central arteries for the place
they call home.
One more thing: If the name
Andrew Reiff, as mentioned in the
Ridgewood Times excerpt above,
sounds familiar, it should. He’s
the namesake of Reiff Playground,
located in Maspeth on 59th Drive
between Fresh Pond Road and 63rd
Street.
Reiff, who died in 1963, served as
Ridgewood-Metropolitan Civic Association
president for more than 30
years. As noted in a NYC Parks Department
biography, Reiff “played
a leading role in disputes over land
development in his neighborhood
of Maspeth.” The playground itself
“owes its existence to his dedicated
efforts.”
Like many other civic groups in
the area, the Ridgewood-Metropolitan
Civic Association was founded
in 1909 by residents who sought to
band together and receive proper
and necessary services from the
city. The group played a role in the
founding of Grover Cleveland High
School in Ridgewood and M.S. 153
in Maspeth.
Sources: The Feb. 10, 1939, Ridgewood
Times, the NYC Parks Department,
“Our Community: Its History
and People” by the Greater Ridgewood
Historical Society (1976) and the Juniper
Park Civic Association.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or
old photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would
like to share with our readers, please
write to the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood
Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY
11361, or send an email to editorial@
ridgewoodtimes.com. Any print photographs
mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
Eliot Avenue at 78th Street in Middle Village in 1938.
Ridgewood Times archives/Courtesy of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
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