26 MARCH 7, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Take a look at Our Neighborhood
from 80+ years ago
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
No one has perfected a time machine
to take us back in time, so
the next best thing we have to
get a glimpse of our past is photography.
In this column, we rely upon some
great sources of archival photos such
as the Greater Ridgewood Historical
Society and The Archives at Queens
Library. Both offer a wealth of great
knowledge about our history and
hundreds of images showing how our
community used to be.
We’ve also dug through the NYC
Municipal Archives and found some
amazing pictures of the Queens streetscape.
These photos were taken on behalf
of the Queens Borough President’s
office between 1920 and 1940, and are
among the thousands of images within
the Municipal Archives.
We’re incredibly grateful to the NYC
Municipal Archives for sharing with
us these 10 photos with us that offer a
high-resolution glimpse at our past.
For more images like these, visit http://
nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet.
* * *
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
With Lutheran (today All Faiths) and St. John Cemeteries located nearby,
Middle Village was once the home of many monument businesses. This
1930 photo shows one of them: Carl Bartasek, who sold tombstones at
the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and 70th Street, directly across from
Lutheran Cemetery.
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 pho
tographs mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
This photo was taken in March 1926 and shows Metropolitan Avenue
looking east toward Woodward Avenue in an industrial area of
Ridgewood. This vantage point is located about 600 feet east of the end
of the Newtown Creek, which marks the border between Brooklyn and
Queens in this area.
The long-gone Elmhurst Gas Tanks are shown in this June 1926 photo
towering over Elmhurst. This image was taken during a street construction
project, looking west along Grand Avenue near Carter Place
Anyone who drives frequently along Queens Boulevard in Woodside can
probably recognize this spot where this May 1926 photo was taken.
You’re looking eastbound at Queens Boulevard near the stone arches
of the New York Connecting Railroad overpass. The bridge is still used
today by freight trains within the CSX system.
It’s hard to believe, but at one point in time, residential streets in Queens
didn’t have asphalt. This February 1927 photo of 60th Lane off Flushing
Avenue in Maspeth is proof of that. Note the tire marks in the dirt leading
onto the cobblestone-paved Flushing Avenue.
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