28 AUGUST 16, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Eliot Avenue and the growth of
Maspeth and Middle Village
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Eliot Avenue isn’t as old as some of
Queens’ most historic roadways,
but for a time in the 20th century,
it was one of the borough’s most
important thoroughfares.
The oldest segment of the two-mile
roadway stretches about a half-mile
from Metropolitan Avenue to Mount
Olivet Crescent. The remainder of the
roadway, from Mount Olivet Crescent
to Queens Boulevard, wouldn’t open
until 1938, just a few months before
the opening of the 1939-40 World’s
Fair in what’s now known as Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park.
Indeed, aft er the fair opened, Eliot
Avenue would become the main thoroughfare
for residents from Ridgewood
and points west in Brooklyn to
travel to and from the fairgrounds.
This was a period long before expressways
criss-crossed the city.
Eliot Avenue was named for Walter
G. Eliot, who served in the Queens
Topographical Bureau as an engineer
and, later, its leader. The roadway was
laid over part of what had been the
Juniper Swamp, a vast wetland covering
much of present-day Maspeth and
Middle Village. Juniper Valley Park,
located only a couple of blocks from
Eliot Avenue in Middle Village, was
part of the very same swamp.
For many years in the early 20th
century, the city had plans to widen
and lengthen Eliot Avenue, but were
stymied due to a variety of factors. The
Great Depression, of course, greatly
pained the city’s fi nances, so public
works like road-making were delayed
or scrapped.
Mount Olivet and Lutheran (present
day All Faiths) cemeteries also
balked at giving up land to the city
for the construction of Eliot Avenue.
Aft er much negotiation, however, the
city was permitted to construct a thin,
two-lane strip between the cemeteries.
The widened, lengthened Eliot Avenue
was offi cially dedicated on Feb.
4, 1939, with a ceremony held at the
western end of the roadway, at Metropolitan
Avenue on the Ridgewood/
Maspeth border. The Ridgewood
Times documented the Eliot Avenue
opening — a feat that “fulfi lls 25 year
dream,” as the headline noted — with
a front-page story in its Feb. 10, 1939,
issue.
“With a crowd of about 500 men and
women on hand notwithstanding the
cold, Eliot Avenue, recently widened
and paved from Metropolitan Avenue to
Queens Boulevard, was offi cially opened
to traffi c on Saturday aft ernoon with
appropriate ceremonies at Eliot and
Metropolitan Avenues.
“The ceremonies, conducted under the
auspices of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan
Civic Association, were presided over by
Andrew J. Reiff , president of the association.
...
“Herman Ringe Sr., pioneer of the community,
member of the Queens Borough
Planning Commission, director of the
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce and
member of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan
Civic Association, spoke of the improvement
as a ‘dream of twenty-fi ve years
come true.’ He cited the fact that he and
other property owners in the vicinity
had been assessed for the thoroughfares
fi ft een or more years ago.
“Alluding to the thoroughfare as a direct
connecting link to the World’s Fair,
Mr. Ringe declared that the opening of
Eliot Avenue represented one of the outstanding
improvements in the history of
the community.”
The road’s opening, of course, did
more than just bring visitors to the
World’s Fair. It also fueled the transformation
of Maspeth and Middle
Village from farmland to a residential
community featuring predominantly
one-family rowhouses along with little
hubs of commerce with mom-and-pop
stores.
The Eliot Avenue Civic Association
was founded in 1938 to represent
homeowners in the new residences
being developed in the area of Eliot
Photo via Google Maps
The two-lane stretch of Eliot Avenue between All Faiths and Mount
Olivet Cemeteries
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