WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 18, 2020 31
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
This aerial shot taken between 1939 and 1940
shows the widened Woodhaven Boulevard and
the then-new Eliot Avenue — built to help bring
visitors to the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows
Corona Park.
There’s quite a bit to unpack from this image taken
from above Middle Village and Rego Park.
In the background, the roadway running from left
to right is Queens Boulevard, including the viaduct
that runs under both Woodhaven Boulevard and
the Long Island Expressway.
Where is the expressway? That wouldn’t be
built for another 15 years or so aft er this photo was
taken.
The Queens Center mall, which is today located
at the corner of Queens and Woodhaven Boulevard,
wouldn’t be built for another three decades.
The barren site in the photo was, for many decades,
the home of Fairyland amusement park.
As a further point of reference, Resurrection
Ascension School/Church can be seen in the bottom
left of the photo at the corner of Eliot Avenue and
Woodhaven Boulevard.
The relatively new Whitestone Bridge connecting
northeast Queens with the Bronx is shown in
this April 1940 photo, looking northbound.
Built in part to ease congestion on other East
River crossings, the span had, at one point in
time, a pedestrian pathway, as seen on the left
side.
The sign warns walkers to “be careful” and to
“grasp rails inside black mark,” words of warning
as pedestrians confronted strong headwinds
while crossing.
Bicycles were prohibited from using the
pathway, more than likely due to the winds.
For many years, the wooden Union Course bridge
stood on the Woodhaven/Ozone Park border as a
means to carry pedestrians safely across the electrifi
ed Long Island Rail Road line above the intersection of
Atlantic Avenue and Rockaway Boulevard. The bridge
would be torn down soon aft er the tracks were moved
underground.
The cross is named for the old Union Course, a
colonial horse racetrack that is considered to be
one of the fi rst major racing venues in the United
States.
Oh no! Another traffi c jam. This image taken
on July 28, 1940, shows a line of cars standing still
along the eastbound lanes of Queens Boulevard
near 67th Street in Woodside. They’re approaching
the prominent bridge that carries the Long Island
Rail Road Main Line over the boulevard.
In the right of the photo, you can see the former
Elmhurst Gas Tanks standing in the background.
The tanks — which later became a traffi c landmark
aft er the Long Island Expressway was built near
them — would come down at the end of the 20th
century, and the site was redeveloped as a public
park.
Finally, here’s a work in progress in Long Island
City taken in January 1931. The foreground and left
side shows the construction of traffi c lanes on the
upper level of the Queensboro Bridge as well as a
viaduct leading to 21st Street.
You can see train tracks on the right side of the
bridge, which then carried subway trains connecting
Manhattan and Queens. These tracks were
removed once new subway tunnels were created
nearby.
The bridge, of course, was renamed for former
Mayor Ed Koch back in 2010.
Our thanks, again, to the NYC Municipal Archives
for their help with this story. 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 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.
Long Island Railroad Bridge at Woodhaven
Boulevard and Eliot Avenue (Aerial view), 1939-
40.
Whitestone Bridge approach northbound, April
1940.
Union Course bridge, Rockaway Boulevard and
Atlantic Avenue, January 1941.
Queens Boulevard near 67th Street, July 1940.
Construction of upper roadway of Queensboro Bridge and viaduct, 1931.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
/nycma.lunaimaging
/nycma.lunaimaging
/ridgewoodtimes.com
