TIMES, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 • 30 The Revolutionary History Of A Major Glendale Street It’s hard to believe, but the picture at right shows how the railroad crossing on 88th Street near 74th Avenue in Glendale looked back in 1940. Over the last seven decades, this roadway became a major roadway used by nearby businesses and homes that developed out of farmland. Note the billboard in the background that advertised “New Glendale Bungalows” available at $5,990 a piece. That’s the equivalent of just over $102,000 in today’s dollars, but homes in eastern Glendale today are worth at least four times that figure. Seventy-five years ago, 88th Street was known as Van Dine Avenue, named for the family that owned land in eastern Glendale. The name was derived from the farm’s founder, Gerrit Cornelisz Van Duyn, a French Huguenot who emigrated to America by way of Holland in 1649. After settling in Brooklyn, his grandson, William Van Duyn, purchased in 1724 an estimated 350 acres of land in the area generally bounded by present-day roads Woodhaven Boulevard on the east; 84th Street on the west; Juniper Valley Road on the north and Myrtle Avenue and Union Turnpike on the south. The farm was divided amongst family members and remained in the Van Duyn family well into the American Revolution. Dow Van Duyn, William’s son, was an ardent Loyalist who wanted the British to remain in power, while his neighbor to the north—the Jeromus Remsen Sr. family—were Patriots seeking American independence. Naturally, the two neighbors didn’t get along, and the family feud reached a tipping point following the Battle of Long Island in August 1776. One of Dow’s sons, Aert, allegedly stole a number of horses from Remsen’s meadow and gave them to British soldiers in need of them following the battle. Once the United States won its war for independence, in 1784, a Commission of Forfeiture was formed to judge whether the government should seize land held by Loyalists remaining in the states. The commission ultimately seized the Dow Van Duyn farm and auctioned off its 200 acres of it to merchant Thomas McFarren. In 1798, McFarren sold the land to Isaac Ledyard, a local doctor. Meanwhile, another 50 acres of land owned by Rem and Elizabeth Garretson—the latter a Van Duyn descendant—were sold in April 1816 to Howard Van Dine, son of Dominicus Van Dine, who owned a 90-acre section of the original family farm. The Ledyard farm was sold in April 1819 to Daniel Sackett Moore, while Howard Van Dine sold his farm to brothers John and Garrett in 1823. Garrett Van Dine purchased Dominicus’ farm following his father’s death in 1830. Arthur Van Dine, another brother of Garrett, eventually purchased the Sackett Moore farm and sold it in 1837 to farmer George Mills. This land was later sold in the 1880s and became part of St. John Cemetery. This 1940 photo shows the railroad crossing along Van Dine Avenue, now known as 88th Street, near 74th Avenue in Glendale. This 1930s photo shows newly developed homes on 87th Street off present-day 78th Avenue in Glendale. Following Garrett Van Dine’s death in 1857, his 150 acres of land were sold in 16 separate parcels. Because each parcel required a public road, a surveyor laid out a road running through the property north to south, from Cooper Avenue (which was built through the farm in 1800) to Union Turnpike. This became Van Dine Avenue. During the 1890s, the Long Island Rail Road installed the railroad crossing shown in the picture. The first crossing had gates raised and lowered by a watchman stationed in a small shanty erected nearby. By the early 1900s, the parcels which were largely kept as farmland were transformed for other uses. For example, the Asco Supply Company occupied 4 1/2 acres of land on Van Dine Avenue near the LIRR tracks in 1923; it manufactured concrete pipes and processed sheet metal. Other parcels located off Van Dine Avenue were developed for residential purposes. If you have any stories or photographs of Our Neighborhood that you would like to share with our readers, please write to the Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386, or send an email to [email protected]. Any print photographs mailed to us will be carefully returned to you. Times Newsweekly Photo Flashback Here’s a picture of the St. Pancras School Marching Band participating in the Ridgewood-Glendale Memorial Day parade during the 1970s. The parade, of course, is an annual tradition, but we wonder if any of our readers have other photos of past Memorial Day marches. They could be spectators watching from the curb or members of bands, veterans posts, scout troops and other organizations taking part in the event. If you’d like to share them with us, write to the Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, NY 11386. We’d love to hear from you!
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