WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 23, 2018 25
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Two years later, Stier built another
48 two-family brick homes on Jeff erson
Avenue (now 68th Avenue), followed
by 38 brick houses on Elm Avenue.
Stier then purchased what was left
of the John C. Debevoise Farm off the
corner of Catalpa Avenue and Fresh
Pond Road and built a number of brick
homes on Foxall Street between Buchman
Avenue and Fresh Pond Road,
and along Edsall Avenue between Buchman
A`venue and Fresh Pond Road.
Additional homes were constructed on
Van Cortlandt Avenue.
THE FIRST APARTMENTS
In 1914, Bauer and Stier commenced
work on developing the Wyckoff Farm,
constructing 80 six-family brick houses
on Gates Avenue, Palmetto Street,
Woodbine Street, Madison Street,
Putnam Avenue and Cornelia Street,
all adjacent to Cypress Avenue. Much
like the Mathews Flats, these structures
were built on 27.6-foot frontages
three stories high, with two fl ats on
each fl oor. Each fl at had fi ve rooms
and a bathroom.
Initially, these apartments were
off ered to renters at $15 per month.
That same year, Bauer and Stier
erected the two fi rst full-fl edged apartment
houses in Queens at the corner of
Cypress Avenue and Woodbine Street.
Each brick structure was four stories
high and had four apartments on each
fl oor. Renters paid $24 per month for
a four-room, steam-heated apartment.
As Stier constructed homes all over
Ridgewood, he also became politically
active; a Democrat, he founded the
Jeff erson Democratic Club and was
elected in November 1915 as Queens
County sheriff .
A LIFE AND LEGACY
CUT SHORT
Having helped to build an entire
neighborhood and now assuming
law enforcement responsibilities for
an entire county, it appeared Sheriff
Stier was on his way toward making
history on an even grander scale. But
the duties of his job would come with
tragic consequences.
On Oct. 21, 1916, two of Stier’s deputies
went to Whitestone Landing
to serve an arrest warrant to Frank
Taff . The Whitestone native lived in a
house leased by the Bradley and Currier
Company and had fallen behind
on his rent. The company took Taff
to court to compel him to pay his bill,
but Taff — upon being summonsed by
a judge — refused to appear.
Subsequently, the judge ordered
Taff in contempt of court and issued
the arrest warrant.
When Stier’s offi cers arrived that
day at Whitestone Landing, Taff —
upon learning of the reasons for their
visit — ordered them to leave, and
threatened to shoot them if they did
not comply with his demand. The deputies
returned to Stier’s Long Island
City offi ce and reported the episode.
Two days later, Monday, Oct. 23, Stier
personally traveled to Whitestone
Landing with Assistant Sheriff Samuel
Mitchell and Patrolman John Durkin
of the Flushing precinct. They arrived
at Taff ’s residence at 1 p.m.
Some of the homes Paul Stier built in Ridgewood
Taff was at the top of the stairwell to
the home’s second-fl oor when he saw
Stier, who announced the purpose of
his visit. Looking down at the sheriff ,
Taff momentarily ducked into a bedroom,
then reappeared with a shotgun
and opened fi re.
Stier, then 42, sustained gunshot
wounds to the chest. Mitchell fl ed the
location seeking assistance.
Meanwhile, Durkin — grazed on the
cheek by one of the shots — attempted
to drag Stier’s body out of the home,
but Taff kept fi ring through the fl oor.
The offi cer returned fi re with his revolver,
then fl ed out of the home.
Fift een minutes aft er the shooting,
30 offi cers from the Flushing precinct
arrived at the home. Taff stood on
the roof when the offi cers arrived,
smoking a cigar and armed with the
shotgun, two .22-caliber rifl es and
hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
A tense standoff ensued, during
which three additional offi cers sustained
injuries aft er exchanging fi re
with Taff . Eventually, Sergeant James
Fitzgerald negotiated with Taff to
allow him into the home unarmed to
tend to the injured Stier.
Taff agreed, but upon entering the
home, Fitzgerald and an accompanying
physician determined Stier had
died. They quickly left the residence.
The standoff came to an end soon
thereaft er when Fitzgerald — who
borrowed a rifle from the nearby
naval destroyer USS Hendley, which
laid at anchor on the nearby bay — shot
Taff in the head aft er the suspect again
failed to surrender.
Meanwhile, Stier’s murder brought
an outpouring of emotion from across
Queens. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the
200 employees of Bauer and Stier
appeared en masse at Stier’s home on
6 Islington Pl. (now 69th Avenue) in
Jamaica, where he was waked, to off er
their condolences.
The following day, Oct. 26, Stier
was laid to rest at Lutheran (later All
Faiths) Cemetery in Middle Village,
where 50 carriages participated in
the procession. Stier was survived by
his second wife, Bertha; his fi rst wife,
Anna (Bertha’s sister); his daughter,
Elsie; and his son, George.
Despite his tragic death, Stier left
an indelible legacy in Ridgewood and
surrounding communities, as Bauer
and Stier constructed more than 2,000
homes. He would be remembered as
the area’s most prolific builder of
his time.
Reprinted from the Dec. 18, 2014, issue
of the Ridgewood Times.
***
If you have any memories and photos
that you’d like to share about “Our
Neighborhood:The Way it Was,” write to
The Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-
15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com. All mailed pictures will be carefully
returned upon request.
The Ridgewood Democratic Club is located at the corner of Putnam Avenue and Stier Place, a street named for
the former Queens County sheriff .