20 APRIL 22, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Jackie Robinson’s ties to Queens go beyond the parkway bearing his name
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
One of the most transformative fi gures
in American history, Jackie
Robinson did more than break
baseball’s color barrier.He helped bring
the nation a few steps closer toward
achieving the “more perfect union” that
our Constitution decreed, yet struggles
to fulfi ll even today.
Most Queens residents know that
Robinson’s memory lives on in two
prominent Queens landmarks: the
Jackie Robinson (nee Interboro) Parkway
linking Queens to Brooklynand
the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the grand
entrance to Citi Field, home of the New
York Mets in Flushing.
Few may realize, however, that Robinsonlived
for a time in our borough,
specifi cally the Addisleigh Park section
of St. Albans. Two years aft er joining
the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson and
his family moved there in 1949, buying
a home located at 112-40 177th St.,
in the middle of the now-landmarked
community.
Like Robinson, Addisleigh Park has
a place in civil rights history — though
dubious at the beginning. The suburban
neighborhood was developed in the
early years of the 20th century, but each
single-family home built there included
deed restrictions which mandated that
only white people could purchase them.
Those same restrictions prohibited
white homeowners in the neighborhood
from selling their homes to Black
buyers.
The segregation lasted forseveral
decades, but in the end, justice would
prevail. In the 1930s, white Addisleigh
Park homeowners sold their residences
to prominent African-American entertainers
based in New York, including
Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Herbert
Mills. Some Addisleigh Park neighborsfi
led lawsuits that the segregational
deed restrictions had been broken; their
lawsuits, however, ultimately failed,
and the cause of progress and equality
prevailed.
Robinson moved to Addisleigh Park
in 1949, a year aft er the Supreme Court
ruled that raciallyrestrictive deed
clauses violated the 14th Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution. With his wife,
Rachel, and their children, the Robinson
family would remain there through
1955 — the same year that Jackie helped
the Brooklyn Dodgers win their fi rst
and only World Championship.
“We used it to move on to the next stage
of our lives,” Rachel Robinson recalled
in a 2008 interview with the New York
Daily News. “We had moved around and
hadn’t been sure of anything — whether
Jack would make it with the Dodgers, or
if we could ever aff ord a home.”
The Daily News article notes that
the Robinsons purchased their Addisleigh
Park home for $100 and other
considerations, as outlined in the deed.
They loved the neighborhood so much
thatthey managed toconvince Roy
Campanella, Jackie Robinson’s teammate
and star catcher for the Dodgers,
to purchase a home there as well.
The Dodgers, of course, left for Los
Angeles following the 1957 season;
Jackie Robinson, who had been traded
to the also-relocating Giants, refused to
go west and subsequently retired.Aft er
leaving Queens in 1955, the Robinsons
headed to the suburbs just outside of
Stamford, CT.
For the rest of his life, Robinson
would remain active in the civil rights
movement nationwide, advocating for
an end to segregation while also founding
businesses to improve the lives of
African-Americans across the country.
Aft er his death in October 1972, Robinson
returned to Brooklyn and was
laid to rest in Cypress Hills Cemetery,
which straddles the Brooklyn/Queens
border. He’sinterred there alongside
his son, Jackie Jr. — who preceded his
father in death by a year — and his
mother-in-law.
A short distance away is theroad once
called the Interboro Parkway, which
leads drivers from the Grand Central
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Parkway in Kew Gardens Hills through
Forest Hills, Glendale and Ridgewood
into Brooklyn. The city renamed the
parkway in honor of Jackie Robinson
in 1997, one of many tributes that year
commemorating the 50th anniversary
of Robinson breaking baseball’s color
barrier.
Etched on Robinson’s tombstone is
his most famous quote: “A life is not
important except in the impact it has
on other lives.” That quote also lines
the top of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda
at Citi Field, which honors his legacy in
baseball and American life. Citi Field,
of course, opened in 2009 as the New
York Mets’ new home, replacing Shea
Stadium; it was constructed in much
the same style as Ebbets Field, the old
Brooklyn Dodgers’ home.
In the rotunda, you’ll also fi nd a large
form of the number 42, Robinson’s
uniform number with the Dodgers,
which was universally retired by Major
League Baseball in 1997. Every major
league player, however, wears 42 in
games played on April 15 every season.
* * *
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.
The gravesite of Jackie Robinson at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
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