WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 19
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
The growth of Glendale’s neighborhoods
An unidentifi ed woman stands before unfi nished homes in the Liberty Park section of Glendale following a February 1926 snowstorm.
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Before the early 20th century,
picnic parks dotted the landscape
of our neighborhood,
giving local families beautiful places
to enjoy spring and summer days in
nature.
These parks, however, faded away
as Ridgewood and Glendale became
developed. In fact, one portion of
present-day Glendale — Liberty Park
— is named for a picnic park in the area
south of Cooper Avenue and west
of what was then called Fresh Pond
Road and currently dubbed Cypress
Hills Street.
The 31- acre picnic grounds where
much of the neighborhood was developed
was originally part of Jacobus
Kolyer’s farm, which he established in
the 1800s. The 92 acre farm was on the
north by what is now Cooper Avenue
and bisected by present-day Cypress
Hills Street, with 47 acres to the east
and 45 acres to the west.
Kolyer died in 1819. One of his surviving
sons, Theodorus, bought the
farm from his father’s estate for $6,000.
When he died in April 1854, he left his
estate to his wife for use during her
lifetime.
Following her death, following Theodorus
Kolyer’s wishes, the farm was
divided among his sons John, Jacobus
and Ditmars.
Aft er John Kolyer died in 1895, his
heirs petitioned the court and auctioned
off 19 acres of the farm at Louis
Dowling’s Hotel at the corner of Fresh
Pond Road and Myrtle Avenue.
Henry W. Meyer of Glendale, former
owner of the Ivanhoe Tobacco Company,
was the highest bidder, paying
$18,228 for the swath of property on
the west side of present-day Cypress
Hills Street with 146 feet on the north
fronting Cooper Avenue. Meyer leased
the land to Charles Zimmer for $400
per year.
In June 1896, Meyer purchased an
additional eight acres of the Kolyer
farm to the south of his purchase.
Subsequently, he purchased another
three acres.
Henry Meyer died in October 1898,
and when Zimmer’s lease expired in
1902, a picnic park was built with an
entrance on Cooper Avenue between
Dill Place (now 61st Street) and Charlotte
Place (now 60th Lane). A lake for
boating was built on the property.
Ridgewood Times archives/Courtesy of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
Subsequently, the Liberty Park
Amusement Company, a stock corporation,
was formed and held annual
meetings at the park.
In the early 1920s, most of the
picnic park’s land was sold to Joseph
Hartman for $100,000. The developer
subdivided property and began constructing
the Liberty Park Homes,
erecting 800 structures, none of
which sold for more than $6,000.
On Aug. 25, 1925, the Ivanhoe
Company — which was owned by
the Henry Meyer estate — sold to
Alden Terrace Corporation, which
was owned by Hartman, land on the
southwest corner of Cooper Avenue
and Fresh Pond Road. Additional land
was sold to Alden Terrace in June 1926.
The following July, Alden Terrace
— operating out of 78-20 Wilton Ave.
(now 64th Lane), began off ering detached
one-family homes in the area of
Cooper and Wilton avenues in Liberty
Park for $7,800 and up, with an $850
cash down payment required.
In 1927-28, Hartman operating under
Alden Terrace Corp. and McKinley
Homes, purchased additional
land from the Ivanhoe Company. In
January 1928, McKinley Homes began
selling one-family houses erected at
Edsall Avenue (present day 70th Avenue)
and Fosdick Avenue (present
day 69th Street) in Glendale at $7,250
each, with a required $750 cash down
payment.
They were six-room houses with
city sewers, bathtubs, showers, twocar
garages, paved streets, cement
driveways, copper gutters and leaders.
By August, the price increased to
$7,650 as they had sold 200 homes in
the previous eight months.
In the same month, Alden Terrace
Homes advertised their one-family
Liberty Park Homes and stated they
sold 550 in the past two years. There
were on Cypress Hills Road (now
Cypress Hills Street) south of Cooper
Avenue and priced at $7,950 with $850
cash down.
Reprinted from the Jan. 29, 2015
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.
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