WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 15, 2018 11
Ridgewood remembers WWI
at Onderdonk House
Veterans and members of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society at the Nov. 12 exhibit opening
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@CNGLOCAL.COM
The Greater Ridgewood Historical
Society (GRHS) marked the centennial
of the end of World War
I with a ceremony at the Onderdonk
House on Nov. 12 that also featured
the opening of a new exhibit focused
on local troops during the confl ict.
Terrance Holliday, who was
appointed Commissioner of the
Veterans Aff airs by Mayor Michael
Bloomberg in 2010, delivered remarks
acknowledging how the Nov. 11, 1918,
armistice was more than the end of a
bloody war.
The ceasefi re and eventual Treaty
of Versailles would only set the stage
for greater bloodshed in the decades
to come with World War II, which saw
approximately 24 million deaths.
“Countries like Britain, France and
Germany lost about two generations
of their young men, you’re talking
about a country that really didn’t have
a lot to pick itself up of the ground
yet they were held accountable for
war reparations and the Treaty of
Versailles which really didn’t leave
much hope,” Holliday said. “And then
we had the economic downturn 10
years later ... so Germany was ripe
for the nationalistic zeal of the Nazis
and Adolf Hitler.”
World War I alone is estimated to
have resulted in between 37 million
to 40 million deaths, including both
civilians and military personnel.
Photos: Robert Pozarycki/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
The ceremony kicked off a new exhibit
at the Onderdonk House,
located at 1820 Flushing Ave., on the
three World War I memorials in the
Greater Ridgewood area. The Greater
Ridgewood Historical Society, the Allied
Veterans Memorial Committee
of Ridgewood and Glendale worked
together on the exhibit.
The GRHS continues to seek donations
of family photos and other
artifacts related to World War I and
ties to the Greater Ridgewood area
(Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village and Bushwick).
The Onderdonk House stands as
the oldest Dutch colonial house in
the city having been granted by Peter
Stuyvesant and later sold to Paulus
Vander Ende in 1709, which was about
the time the structure was built.
About 300 of the WWI military
casualties came from the Greater
Ridgewood area, Linda Monte of
the GRHS.
The Ridgewood Times — a sister
publication of QNS — has worked to
provide its archives to the GRHS, as
the paper documented the weekly
struggles of the community during
World War I. Editor-in-Chief Robert
Pozarycki expressed hope that the
history of the surrounding area
could soon be digitized.
The ceremony was also attended
by Bob Monahan, president of the
Greater Ridgewood Youth Council,
and Community Board 5 Chairperson
Some of the World War I items on display at the Onderdonk House
Heads are bowed as a trumpeter plays "Taps Vincent Arcuri.
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