Bayside History: People and Places

All Saints Episcopal Church

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(40th Avenue and 214th St.) Built in 1892, this beautiful church is not only one of Bayside's earliest, but contains local examples of reputed works executed by Tiffany in his Queens studio located in Corona from 1893 to 1924. Over the alter is the triptych window attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany. Though the Records of the Tiffany Studio are incomplete, church documents corroborate this claim. The window was a gift from a member of the Lawrence family.

The Alley and APEC (Alley Pond Environmental Center)

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Named for the long narrow ravine created by Alley Creek, the "Alley" was settled in 1648, and was a stopping point for travelers between Flushing and Roslyn. This image shows the creek, and wetlands with the Throgs Neck Bridge and Bay Terrace developments in the distance (use your View Image option to see full size photo). Alley Pond, a man-made mill pond, was once the focal point of a thriving village community. William C. Buhrman's store was widely known both as a supply center of almost any article local farmers might need and as the site of the first Flushing Post Office. As a result of the efforts of the Alley Restoration Committee and the Bayside Historical Society, the Alley wetlands was saved from development and became a vital community resource. (See listing below.)

Information About APEC (photo left).

(228-06 Northern Blvd., Douglaston/Little Neck) After the Alley Pond Environmental Center was established at in 1976, the Alley became a vital modern community resource. The center provides educational and children's programs on the environment, history, and folklore. (718-229-4000, Hours 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)

See the paragraph above in The Alley for more information.

Ahles House - One of the oldest mansions in Bayside.

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(213th St. & 39th Ave.) In 1873, Robert Bell, nephew of Abraham Bell, built this house for his daughter, Lillie and her husband, John Ayles as a wedding gift on "Ahles Road" (now known as 41st Avenue). This road ran then from 208th Street to present day Bell Boulevard. Old maps show a portion of 41st Avenue as Ahles Road as late as l941.

The naming of Ahles Road was no accident for the road supervisor at the time was Abraham Bell II, and John William Ahles married Robert Bell's daughter, Lillie, in June of1873.

Known for his integrity and business acumen, John William Ahles died in 1915 after amassing a large fortune. The Ahles "mansion" still stands today at 39-26 213th Street and the street named in his honor now is known only by its number...41st. Avenue; one of the few remaining that not fallen victim to real estate development. See also the Bell family, and Bell Blvd. (C) Copyright 1996, Joan Wettingfeld

Battery at Fort Totten

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(Area Site) The Fort, a seacoast fortification, has a unique history. Early in the 19th century when first considered for fortification, the eleven acre point of land known as Willets' Point jutting out into the East River and Long Island Sound posed unusual engineering problems. Several solutions were tried from the early 1800's on, but it was the engineering expertise of General Joseph Gilbert Totten, for whom the Fort was named in 1898, that solved the complicated problems associated with designing a shore battery built of granite blocks with specially designed gun emplacements called the "third" or "Totten" system.

In 1974 that part of the reservation called "The Battery" was designated a New York City Landmark and the Commission described it as " one of the most impressive sights in the Borough of Queens." It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

(C) Copyright 1996, Joan Brown Wettingfeld

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Service came to Bayside in the 1870's when Conrad Poppenhysen of College Point began consolidating the various competing rail companies into the Long Island Railroad. This made the "country" life more accessible to city residents, who eventually bought homes in real estate developments being carved from the rapidly vanishing farms. The station land was originally donated (1866) by the Bell family. Prior to World War II, the Bayside tracks ran at ground level, but were lowered around the time the structure shown here was erected. The photo shows a remaining part of the 1940's Bayside station house, previously painted barn red with white trim.

Bayside Yacht Club

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(28th Avenue and Little Neck Blvd.) Founded in 1902 and later admitted to membership in the highly prestigious Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound, the club was situated on Little Neck Bay. The Bayside Yacht Club was the center of Bayside's boating and social gatherings for decades; famous members of the Club included:

W.P. Stevens - Editor of the Registry of American Yachts and author of the "Deed of Gift" establishing possession of the America's Cup, the most famous racing trophy in the world.

Ralph Wilkinson- Music arranger for Glenn Miller

Thomas Lamb - Famed architect of nearly 300 theaters around the world including the Mark Hellinger in Manhattan and the RKO Keith's in Flushing.

In its heyday about the time of World War I, the Yacht Club had 260 active members and a fleet of 100 boats. Members came from Bayside, Flushing, Jamaica, Douglaston, Great Neck , College Point, Whitestone and Brooklyn. The fleet had a wide variety of boats: schooners, sloops, yawls, and the famous Star Class racing sailer. Motor boats were also represented in the large fleet in the Bay. In the 1930's Robert Moses' parkway along the West side of Little Neck Bay changed forever the way things were in Bayside. All property owners along the shore would lose portions of their property. In 1994, the club closed and was purchased by the Grace Presbyterian Church of New York.

Play sound: Bayside Yacht Club Fox Trot >

Bay Terrace/ Shore Acres

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(Area Site) During the 19th century, this 200 acre property between 20th Avenue and Fort Totten connected three important Bayside families. In 1850 Robert Willet built a spacious mansion overlooking Little Neck Bay. In 1899, the property was inherited by his daughter, Amelia and her husband, A. Howland Leavitt. In 1923 it transferred to Leavitt's daughter, Sarah and her husband, Charles Garrison Meyer. The property was sold in 1939 and is now a highly developed residential and commercial area in Bayside, Bay Terrace. The mansion was demolished in 1963.

Bell Blvd.(Bell House)

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(Bell House 39 Ave Bell Blvd.) Abraham Bell was the first member of this family to acquire land in Bay side. He had been a successful shipping merchant, living in Manhattan on Pine Street. In 1824 he bought a farm of 246 acres from Timothy Matlock which extended from Little Neck Bay to present 204th Street and from Crocheron Avenue (35th Avenue) to somewhat south of present 39th Avenue. This farmland later became the heart of Bay side. The farm was divided by a lane into two parts, known as the upper and lower farms. This lane later became Bell Boulevard. The original purchase included a home near the shore, not far from the present Corbett Road, an extension of 35th Avenue.

Bell built a country manor in 1849, establishing the Bells as one of the most influential Bayside families for the next century. The street, originally Bell Avenue, was the main road to the property. Abraham Bell's home on Bell Blvd. and 39th avenue was all that remained into the 1970's of his vast properties. Though many Baysiders sought to preserve this landmark, it could not be rescued from demolition by developers in 1971. Today, the Bell legacy continues as Bell Blvd. remains the center of Bayside social and business activity.

Thomas Bell, Abraham's son, married Eliza Bell, shown below, a prominent person in her own right.

Eliza, was one of the founders of Swarthmore College, and her prominence is shown by the letter from President Benjamin Harrison's wife, Caroline, received in December 1891. The letter, now in the archives of the Bayside Historical Society, refers to their having met in Cape May, New Jersey and in it the President's wife thanks Mrs. Bell for praising the President and his administration. Eliza Bell had presented the President with a silk quilt (now on view at the Smithsonian Museum) and Caroline Harrison had sent Eliza Bell a collection of the President's speeches.

Thomas and Eliza's son, Abraham Bell II, was active in community affairs as a member of the local School Board and as Road Supervisor, creating, caring for and naming streets in the area. He also donated land and helped establish the first school for the Society of Friends (Quakers) on his property near Crocheron Avenue and 210th Street, and first brought running water from a pipe line to "Bay side."

Belleclaire Country Club/Bayside Hills

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(Area site: Bell Blvd. & 48th Ave.) Organized in 1916 on the site of the James Cain farm, Belleclaire Golf Club used the 1852 Cain House as its clubhouse. The club was sold in 1936 to make way for the Bayside Hills development.

Bayside Hills, can be traced on l9th century maps to the 117 acre farm purchased by James W. Cain in l852. When James W. Cain died in l917, his farm was sold to the owner of the Belleclaire Hotel in Manhattan, and soon after, the farm was converted to a golf club known as the Belleclaire Country Club. By 1929 it was operated on a semi-public basis as Queensboro Golf and Country Club. In 1931 the club was reorganized and again became a private club called the Old Belleclaire. Bayside Hills came into being when the property was sold to the Gross Morton Company for development in the mid-1930's. Mounds of soil were removed for use in the 1939 World's Fair construction at this time.

There are those who still remember those hills-- Located in the center of the golf course was one that was most prominent known as the "fourth hill". It was here in winter that Baysiders brought their Flexible Flyers for sleigh rides and the daring braved skis. In the early l930's the "fourth hill" was used as the launching site for a Glider Meet attended by famous glider pilots and designers. (C) Copyright 1996, Joan Wettingfeld

Joseph H. Brown Memorial Park

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Joseph H. Brown, Founder and First President Bayside Historical Society (b. Feb. 20, 1892, d Dec. 10, 1974)

Joseph H. Brown founder, and first President of the Bayside Historical Society, also helped organize the Bayside Beautification Committed, and the Alley Restoration Committee. As a result of the efforts of the Alley Restoration Committee and the Bayside Historical Society, the Alley wetlands was saved from development. In 1976, the Alley Pond Environmental Center was established at the site to educate the public on the environment.

Shortly before his death in December 1974, Mr. Brown had completed the body of a major essay on Famous Families and Personalities in Bay side's Past from Colonial times to 1900. He did this in preparation for the approaching Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1976.

His introduction to this product of his research reads, "In this period of preparation for the Bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, much respect and admiration will, and of course, should be given to the Founding Fathers of the Republic.

"The purpose of this article is to point up the sterling qualities of the Founding Fathers of the old town of Flushing. They were made of the same stuff and possessed the same determination and spirit as their illustrious successors displayed some 130 years or more later."

Since Joseph H. Brown died before he was able to complete this project, his three daughters attempted to fulfill his intent and edited the material researched and drafted by him and presented it as a monograph. In some instances additional research and composition was needed to confirm as well as flesh out his original draft. The booklet, "Founding families of Bayside," is available at the Queens Borough Public Library, and through the Bayside Historical Society (718-XXX-XXXX).

Play sound: Joseph Brown History Speech Excerpt >

Cigar Factory

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Built c. 1872, The factory was the largest cigar manufacturer in America. The three story, wood frame building was of the French Second Empire style.

Frederick Storm left his mark upon the community as a businessman, developer, nurseryman, and Congressman. Born in Alsace, France on July 2, 1844, he moved to America at age two. By the time he was 21, in 1865, he had founded the Straiton and Storm Tobacco Company in Bayside. That company later became the Owl Commercial Company and eventually the American Tobacco Company.

In 1874 Storm purchased a large tract of land at Bell Avenue (Bell Boulevard today) and Lawrence Boulevard (now 43rd Avenue), and began his activities as a builder/developer. He developed the section of Bayside south of the Long Island Railroad. There is a legend that the famous "White Owl" Brand cigar was named after a white owl which flew into the bedroom his Bayside home.

Gentleman Jim Corbett

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(221st St. and Corbett Rd.) The heavyweight boxing champion of the world from 1892 to 1897, "Gentleman" Jim Corbett was originally from San Francisco. He traveled widely after the turn of the century, and settled on the East coast, purchasing his "Corbett" house with his wife Vera in 1902. Corbett spent the rest of his life in Bayside as a writer, lecturer, and well-respected resident until his death in 1922.

Crocheron House Hotel (Crocheron Park)

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(35th Ave. at Little Neck Bay.) In 1854, Andrew Lynch advertised the first restaurant and hotel on Little Neck Bay. In 1867, a well-known restaurateur, Joseph C. Crocheron, became it's proprietor. The hotel, with it's famous clambakes, was a popular resort for New York society, celebrities, and politicians. It was also a rendezvous for fishermen and well known for its annual "Harvest Home Festival", the last of which, held in 1906, brought visitors from all parts of the country.

Destroyed by fire in 1878, it was rebuilt, but burned down again in 1907. The City acquired the property in 1924, which is today the site of Crocheron Park.

Tammany Hotel - Boss Tweed's Refuge
In its better days Crocheron's reputation attracted not only wealthy and famous boarders, but infamous New York politicians. During the 1870's, at the height of Boss Tweed's Tammany regime in New York City, the hotel reached its greatest prominence. Tweed made the hotel an auxiliary "headquarters" and so did many of his cronies including the infamous Harry Genet.

There are many stories which allude to Tweed's hiding out there and escaping from the hotel at the height of the city graft exposures, but today some leading historians give evidence to dispute that. It is still a mystery that demands further research.

After a disastrous fire in 1878, and with the passing of the Tweed gang, the political "elite" of the time, the hotel suffered a decline in popularity and the loss of many of its wealthy patrons. It was succeeded by the Garrison Hotel on Little Bay which gained the reputation as the best resort in the area.

Early on the morning of July 24, 1907, the then proprietor of Crocheron House, George H. Cochlar, was awakened by the smell of smoke. James A. Dayton, then assistant District Attorney of Queens, saw the fire from his home on the bluff and summoned the fire department. By morning all that was left of the once famous hotel were the charred remains of the chimney and foundation.

Dermody Square

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(216th St. & 48th Ave.) This site is dedicated to the memory of Captain William C. Dermody, an ardent abolitionist who volunteered early in the Civil War and was mortally wounded at Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12, l864,

The park was dedicated in 1866 to his memory. A maple tree representing the North and a sycamore representing the South were planted to symbolize a "better union." The Square is the site of the Bayside Historical Society's annual Memorial Day observance.

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