4 TIMES • MAY 26, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com MASPETH MIDDLE VILLAGE: OUR NEIGHBORHOODS BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport Maspeth has a unique history compared to many of its neighbors in Queens. The town of Maspeth was founded in 1642 by 28 English Quakers and was the fi rst English settlement in Queens. Maspeth was named for the Mespeatches Native Americans who once lived there. The word “Mespeatches” means “at the bad waterplace,” and describes the many stagnant swamps that had once existed in Maspeth. A decade after its founding, Maspeth’s industrial roots were laid as it became the central hub for water trade with New Amsterdam, and was the center for milling, as tide mills that ground grain into fl our were created due to the town’s proximity to Newtown Creek and Maspeth Creek. Nathanial Hazard and Francis T. White have the distinction of being the very fi rst shop owners to open their stores in Maspeth. During the late 1700s, their food and clothing stores were located at the Maspeth Town Dock, at 56th Terrace and MASPETH Rust Street. According to the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce, other early businesses that called Maspeth home included Peter Cooper’s Glue Factory, Sampson Oil Cloth Factory, A. Fisk Metal Casket Company, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Laurel Hill Chemical Works, Haberman’s Tin Factory, Gimpel Brothers Dairy, Gruebel Plumbing, Maspeth Press and K-Ting Rope. Fast-forward almost 400 years later and Maspeth continues to thrive as a community in Queens with a large industrial center, popular restaurants and eateries, and a growing diverse population. In 2016, Maspeth is home to everything a resident would need, including a wide variety of restaurants to cater to every craving; bars and pubs; several banking institutions including Maspeth Federal Saving’s main branch; elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, including the recently built Maspeth High School, which is the town’s fi rst public high school; parks including Frontera Park and Frank Principe Park; houses of worship; and an array of local and national businesses. “I always liked to look at Maspeth as the small community in the big city,” said Joseph B. Papavero of Papavero Funeral Home. “I have lived in Maspeth since 1965, and the funeral home has been in business since 1960. There are a lot of longtime institutions that made Maspeth what it is today; businesses like Maspeth Federal Savings bank and Rosas Pizzeria. A friend once told me that Maspeth is the land that time forgot. That always stuck with me as a nice comment.” One institution that has helped Maspeth grow is Maspeth Town Hall, which offers a wide variety of programs for people of all ages, including help for students, a drama club and senior programming. “I still love the community and I think what makes it so viable is that is so close to Manhattan,” Papavero said of Maspeth. “It’s convenient to the big city and convenient for local things. It’s the center of it all.” LIVING IN Martin Luther High School 1960 - 2010 50 Years of Golden Opportunities! When schools flourish, things go well and the church is secure. Let us make more doctors and masters. The youth is the church’s nursery and fountainhead. When we are dead, where are others to take our place if there are no schools? God has preserved the church through schools. Now in its new location, Martin Luther High School continued to grow and thrive. In the late 1960s, realizing the need to assist families with the rising costs of tuition, the Board of Directors established the Scholarship Fund. It is worth noting that by May, 1980, six fund-raising campaigns raised more than two million dollars for the school. The 50th anniversary of the founding of the school was observed during the 2009-10 academic year. This comment made by Dr. Martin Luther himself in 1540 appropriately concludes this brief history of Martin Luther High School, 1957 to 2010. “If I were not a preacher, I do not know any position on earth that I would rather have than that of schoolmaster. But one must not look at how the world rewards and regards it but at how God will consider and praise it on that Day.” MARTIN LUTHER SCHOOL 60-02 MASPETH AVENUE, MASPETH, NY 11378 718-894-4000
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