24 AUGUST 23, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
A Ridgewood builder’s
promising start — and tragic end
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Most of the communities in our
neighborhood have smaller
subdivisions within them
such as Liberty Park in Glendale and
Winfi eld in Woodside — and Ridgewood
is no exception.
For years, people referred to the
northern area of the community near
the Brooklyn/Queens border as “Upper
Ridgewood.” Howard Beach has
a couple of subdivisions — including
Hamilton Beach and Ramblersville —
and Bayside has the communities of
Oakland Gardens, Windsor Park and
Bay Terrace.
Few people, however, know about
the “Stierville” section of Ridgewood.
This actually is an antiquated name
for the area of Ridgewood northwest of
Myrtle Avenue and Fresh Pond Road
where Paul Stier built hundreds of
one- and two-family brick rowhouses
in the early part of the 20th century
that have withstood the test of time.
The story of Stierville and the man
behind it is quite fascinating, yet comes
to a tragic and sudden conclusion.
Stier, who constructed more than
750 homes in Ridgewood and Glendale,
was born in Germany in 1874 and emigrated
the United States at the age of
17. He fi rst settled in upstate Buff alo,
where he worked as a mason. He traveled
around the state for a while, working
at various construction sites, until
fi nally settling in our neighborhood.
In 1898, he married Anna Muller,
and four years later constructed his
fi rst home. By 1905, he built a row of
two-family brick houses on the east
side of what was then called Yale
Avenue (currently 64th Place). Three
years later, he purchased land on Foxall
Street (now 69th Avenue) between
Forest Avenue and Buchman Avenue
(now 60th Lane). He purchased additional
land on Edsall Avenue (now
70th Avenue) between Anthon Avenue
(now 60th Street) and Buchman
Avenue.
On this land, Stier constructed
two-family brick homes sold for
$5,600 each (less than one percent of
the market value of a similar home in
Ridgewood today); buyers had to off er
a $500 down payment, then paid the
remaining balance over time.
Each home had 11 rooms on two
floors, plus two tiled bathrooms,
separate furnaces in the basement
and hardwood trim throughout the
structure. But this was only the beginning
for Stier, who built 200 homes
the previous two years and had plans
to build another 144 in the immediate
years ahead.
In May 1909, Stier joined Ridgewood
National Bank as one of the founding
members of its organization committee.
He joined several prominent local
members of the community, including
attorney Alfred Denton, who went on
to become a justice of the municipal
court, and Sebastian Hofmann, owner
of Hofmann Hall picnic park.
One year later, the bank’s president,
Louis Berger, helped create Bauer and
Stier Inc. to build residential housing
in the area. August Bauer served as
president; Stier was vice president;
and Berger served as secretary and
treasurer.
Bauer and Stier purchased part of
the Wyckoff Farm and held the land
for several years, while Stier continued
his own business in the interim.
By 1910, Stier acquired a large part
of the 14.8-acre Frederick Ring Farm
on the west side of Fresh Pond Road
from Elm Avenue (now Catalpa Avenue)
north to 68th Avenue and west
to Buchman Avenue. He laid out two
east-west streets through the farm:
Silver Street, on which he built 38
homes, and Hughes Street, where he
built 48 houses.
Selling for $5,600, the two-family
brick homes were constructed by a
team of carpenters who worked six
days a week, 10 hours a day, for $18
per week.
Next, Stier built 54 three-family
brick homes on Van Cortlandt Avenue
(now 71st Avenue), which sold for
$7,400 each.
Paul Stier
Construction underway along Elm Avenue (later renamed Catalpa Avenue) in Ridgewood
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