24 JULY 30, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
A look back at Woodhaven’s beginnings on its 185th birthday
PRESENTED BY THE WOODHAVEN CULTURAL AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Under diff erent circumstances, Woodhaven
would have been publicly acknowledging a
number of big anniversaries in their history
in the year 2020.
Last month was the 125th anniversary of the
cyclone that devastated Woodhaven (July 13, 1895)
and August marks the 125th anniversary of the
founding of Forest Park. And this July also marks
Woodhaven’s 185th birthday, making it just 15 years
away from the bicentennial mark.
It was on July 1, 1835, that John R. Pitkin purchased
the fi rst piece of property in the village that was
then named Woodville, due to the dense woods that
covered the area.
Pitkin purchased the land as part of his grand scheme
to develop a brand-new city, one that Pitkin hoped would
replace New York City. In fact, he was using New York
City as the basis of the name for his planned city: East
New York.
The land purchased by Pitkin stretched from
Brooklyn to Long Island and the village of Woodville
was earmarked to be the industrial section, with lots
of factories and farms and houses for the workers.
But the Panic of 1837 launched a major recession
that lasted into the 1840s and a lot of investors, Pitkin
included, lost tremendous amounts of money.
As a result, Pitkin had to sell off large tracts of land
to cover his losses and plans for a giant East New
York were dashed (though the name lives on, to this
day, in Brooklyn).
By the 1850s, the village of Woodville was growing
well enough that in 1853 they applied to have
their own Post Offi ce. However, that request was
denied as there was already a village in New York
named Woodville (about 350 miles north of Queens,
on the shore of Lake Ontario).
At that point, the village elders held a public
meeting to discuss and vote upon a new name. The
vote came down to two names: Edgewood (again,
because the entire area was on the edge of woods)
and Woodhaven (Pitkin’s choice for the new name),
which won by a large majority.
Today, the upper/lower boundaries of Woodhaven
extend from Park Lane South to Atlantic
Avenue. But in those days, the residential section
of Woodhaven was south of Atlantic Avenue, in a
section that is known today as Ozone Park. This area,
which was called Woodhaven Village, housed many
of the neighborhood’s earliest settlers and important
families.
Woodhaven Village really took off with the
purchase of a nearby factory by partners Florian
Grosjean and Charles LaLance. The factory began
pumping out metal kitchenware made from tin
through a unique stamping process and was an
immediate success.
Grosjean enticed many of his countrymen to come
here from France and set them up in row houses in
Woodhaven Village that he owned along University
Place (now 95th Avenue). University Place took its
name from a nearby school for making shoes, also
founded by John Pitkin.
University Place was the center of much of
Woodhaven Village’s activities, with the erection
of Woodhaven’s fi rst bank (the Wyckoff Building),
several hotels and other businesses. Many of these
Woodhaven’s fi rst bank opened in this building in 1895 on University Place. This building,
complete with the Wyckoff name on the front as shown, still stands on 95th Avenue, directly
behind the Shop n Stop center in Ozone Park. Courtesy of the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society
buildings and houses are still standing to this day,
in Ozone Park.
Woodhaven celebrated its centennial in 1935,
capped off with a giant parade down Jamaica Avenue
with residents carrying a monstrously sized
cake. Almost 5,000 residents and honored guests
gathered in and around the Willard Theater to
celebrate Woodhaven’s 100th birthday.
The celebration was capped off by a reading of
a telegram from Mae West, who owned a house
nearby on 88th Street, congratulating Woodhaven
on its milestone.
With 15 years to go, residents of Woodhaven (and
Ozone Park) have some time to plan for a 200th
birthday party, but it will be hard to top Mae West
for a celebrity endorsement.
With all of these anniversaries cropping up, there’s
still one terrifi cally fun milestone coming up in
Woodhaven’s long history, a topic we’ll be covering
in next month’s Old Timer.
* * *
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.
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