22 OCTOBER 8, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
The growth of Glendale’s neighborhoods
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
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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.
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, two-car 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 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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