Brooklyn NY Daily Star 1926

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RECALLS COLLEGE POINT
I OLD BEER GARDEN
LIFE IN THE EIGHTIES j 0 N L y
"College Point of the '70s Was
very, very 'wet.' It w a s with entire- justification classed e s the
•wettest' town on Long Island for
Its size.
•
"It was estimated that there was
then a beer saloon for nearly every
100 inhabitants. Yet despite this
College Point w a s ono of the most
orderly and law-abiding communities tn the entire state.
. "The village's f a m e a s a picnic
resort w a s already established and
several of the largo resort hotels
Which' have gone out of existence
only in the last ten years were well
known to New Yorkers and visitors
to New York.
"One of the most famous of the
resorts, however. Point View Island,
then known as Garvey's Island, was
stilt farm land ami orchard.
"The India Rubber Company fnow
the American Hard Rubber Company) was the manufacturing mainstay of tho hamlet. Its machines
formed the nucleus around which
the town grew. That concern, then
employing several hundred persons,
chartered a special excursion train
in 1876 and transported all its employes for a brief visit to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
Those left at homo sat up till mldrtight to greet tho excursionists on
their return and listen to the tales
of wonders of tho big Philadelphia
fair.
"Socially, College Point of those
days was divided, literally, by a
stone wall which ranged along
First avenue, north of whom lived
those whom fortune smiled upon;
A MEM0Rv
"Stone Jug" Wat Alto Famous for Itt Cool Steins
a Half Century Ago.
OSCAR WEISS.
'rcg'lar fellers' in every sense of
the word.
The orchards were
raided continuously,
particularly
those where trespassing w a s e x pressly forbidden.
"Winter spofts were particularly
enjoyable. There was ampio opportunity for bob-aloddlng, tobogganing and skating. Fink's Pond, now
covered by the site of a group of
buildings at Fourth avenue and
Sixteenth street occupied by the
postonVc and various stores, was a
favorite Spot for the skaters, and
Sixth avenue hill, from tho Lutheran Church to the bay, tho 'best
place in the world' for sledding.
"In those days the village was an
up and down dale sort of place and
only through the years wcro the
hills levelled and the hollows filled
In. Gradually In these fifty years
the. old trystlng places, tho swimming holes and the diving rocks
have all disappeared to make way
for the spreading town. Tho growth
was never phenomenal but steady
Tho population rose from a village
HARLEM
2174 3rd Ave.
A touching picture of College
Point fifty years ago is recalled In
the remembrances of William Kollmeler, one of the Point's earliest
residents.
Mr. Kollmeier recalls
the old beer garden which In those
easy days adjoined the Long Island
Railroad station and which w a s tt
favored resort for all the thirsty
travellers of that bygone era.
Here in the shade of low hanging
poplars, obsequious and understanding waiters bustled about the
round green tables serving such
foamy refreshments a s have not
been seen in College Point for
many dry and dreary years.
And
while the patrons took their ease
nt the cool steins a German band
blared forth a. Ktrauss waltz, or
"America," sandwiched In between
"Der Wacht
uw
Rheln"
and
"Ta-Ra-Ra-Eoom-Te-Ay."
"Der Garten." as the place w a s
known, was a vantage spot from
which to view tho parades tmd celebrations marking national holidays,
for these public celebrations were
Invariably held In Fourth avenue,
lending from the station to Thirteenth street, and which w a s then
as today the broadest thoroughfare in the Point.
Though "Dor Garten" hns long
since vanished, a great round porthole-like window m a y still be seen
under the central eaves of the old
station from which the "camera
fiends" of the day were wont to
snap pictures of festivities In College Point,
"Shot" Many Views.
From this loop hole fifty years
ago one might command a view of
the entire village, for tho few buildings that stood on the north side
of Fourth avenue were squat one
" « TWO BIG STORES &°
BRONX
3251 3rd Ave.
OPEN MONDAY & SATURDAY EVENINGS
N. W. Cor. 163d St.
Below 119th S t
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Lawrence Homestead. TMrt avenue and Twenly-nrst street, oldest
house hi College Point.
of t.OOO to a small city of 20,000
today.
"College Point in Its early days
was essentially 1 German town and
German was taught in its schools
as extensively as English. That
portion of the population that was
not of German birth or origin w a s
of Celtic Htock but. curiously
enough, most of the Irish boys were
as conversant with the German
tongue as their 'Deutscher' neighbors.
"Today this situation has changed
and although the population Is still
predominantly. Germanic, the last
Federal census accounted for sixteen nationalities resident in this
section.
*
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"More school room then, as now
was a matter which was receiving
especial attention. The old school
on Sixth street, which l» stilt doing duty, was the main school of
tho village and there w a s a oneroom structure situated on the hH?h
MIL now disappeared, under the
level of Fifth Avenue Park.
"This small building w a s flanked
by the fire-houses of Union Hose
Co. No. 1 and Bogle Hook ft Ladder Co. No. 2.
Enterprise Hose Co. No. 3, had
its quarters in the building known
P. S. 3ft, Sixth avenue and Sixteenth street, oldest school In
College Point.
m
story structures, and a cow path
well trod ran from the "fair
grounds," a block below the station at Fourth nvenue and Seventeenth street, clear through the
Village almost to the Point at the
factories of the India Rubber
Company, now the American Hard
Rubber Corporation.
Along With "Der Garten" havOj I
passed many well-known
land-'
marks 'of 1S76; the old Logan
House, a popular tavern In Thirteenth street between Third and
Fourth avenbes; the "Stone Jug" a
place of cheeV and brave merriment,
located on the hill that once rose
In Fourth"avenue at Tenth street;
the "Eighteen Houses" built by the
India Rubber Company for its employees In Third avenue between
Third and Fifth street and replaced
by fine brick dwellings; the Btrntton homestead on the Heights,
which was only recently demolished, and which w a s reputed to have
been more than ISO years old.
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Inauguration of tlio Sheriff of
Queens County, especially when, AH
was usually tho case, ho happened
let In; a Democrat, used to bo regarded as quite a. formal dress occasion, as ono may Judge from tho
dress of the high hatted, frockcoated gentleman shown on the
steps of tho old courthouse in a picture li. tho art gravure section of
this Issue.
Tho picture reproduced In this instance is one, treasured highly, in
tho possession of James Siangan,
fir., which was taken on the occasion of the inauguration of John
J. Mitchell, as Sheriff of Queens
County and Includes the most Influential Democrats in tho county
at that time.
Among those In the picture were;
Judge Hteven Cavanaugb, Edward
ShooC James McNally, William
Clancy, John Hayes, Henry Sharkey,
F n d e i - Sheriff
Matthew
Goldner,
Sheriff John J. Mitchell. John Kelly,
Alderman Michael Clavar. ex-Dlstrlct Atloreny Matthew Smith, WllHma Nurge.
Joseph Cassldy, John Trumble,
George Stiles, Alex Grady, William
Delahanty, Edward Todd, Charles
Laughlln, John Colten, John Monahan. Big Dreyfoos, William Hargrove, Thomas Conroy, Louis Walters, James Roonoy, Ben Lynam,
Michael Mitchell, John Hargrove,
Thomas Rlgney,. J a m e s Doreey.
James McKenny, Luke Keenan,
Joseph Hargrove, Chris Corwln,
Constable Conrad Dlestel, present
city marshal, Richard Conroy, Chris
Grabis and William Gette.
1
3"Bc9Bdlro®iiti
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INDUCTING SHERIFF
FORMAL CEREMONY
ONCE IN QUEENS
substantial business men, most of as "The Rams." next to the P o p whom came from Hamburg, Ger- penhusen Institute.
"Tho school in With avenue, now
many, or its vicinity. This northern
section' ot the Point contained many known as P. S. 2», w a s erected In
fine homes and estates, several of l l f l , and t w a s among tho first to
which were show places of Long bo enrolled as a pupil.
Island.
"Tho old school on Fifth avenue
"South of the wall dwelt those hill was moved down to Blxth avewho tolteU tn tho factories, the nue and Thirteenth street where
small business people and lesser It waa altered as an annex to a n other building. 9t. Fldelli R. C.
lights.
_<—
"At election time the village w a s Church conducted its parochial
WANT TRAIN* TO %TOP. ,
usually rent with bitter strlfo ovor schools In Fifteenth street and 8t.
the opposing v i e w s of the pros- John's Lutheran Church had a secu(Ittm from Th* Star of 1*7«.)
perous burghers north of the wall lar school tn connection with tho
The people of Bllsavllle and
church,
and the tollers to the south.
I.aurcl Hill are endeavoring to se"Tho College Point Academy and cure tho stoppage of the HoutU Bide
"It was during one of the hot villa** contests over selectmen that Fuerst's Institute, both flourishing Railroad trains at Penny Bridge.
tho dwellers o n the south end of boarding schools with college pre This place, years ago, w a s quite an
the town were dubbed 'Holdclber-Oparatory
courses,
had
enrolled Important station on the old Flushgsrs* and these retaliated by calling many well-to-do N e w Yorker* of ing Railroad, and quite a traffic
the north enders 'Hamburgers.'
today.
could no doubt again be hullt up
"Justice waa dispensed b y a local It the necessary facilities were af"Tho Point of 187« had an e n tirely different aspect from tho magistrate or Justice of the Peace forded.
bustling Industrial Point of today. and the trials for petty misdemean"Along Third avenue from Fif- ors held at various halls in the
teenth street down past tho old village were the occasions for not with each other in providing hnledrink.
a
Lawrence homestead, the oldest a little Jocularity. Touhg men of some pleasures and food sVnd
Colfteg* Point's orchards and
building tn College Point, large the town who would attend and
apple orchards flanked tho road and refuse to be awed by the solemnity woodlands aro now memories but
the host of pleasant recollections
extended down what Is now.Avenue of Justice
A and what then marked the edge
•Real sociability existed In Col- of those olden days when pleasure
Ot a wood. Orchards also covered lege Point and has iteier died out. coot so much less in nervous strain
Stratum's Hill to Nostrand's Woods There were many clubs and fra- and material wealth will recur often
111 Grantvlllr,
ternal organisations, singing socl- to color and mellow the remitntnf
boys «i tho o» 4aaa war* •Uaa aj«n turn veraina. The* v M roars af ' D » bona at 1*1*4" •
X
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IN COLLEGE POINT
Oscar Weiss, Printer, Sighs
As He Tells of the
\
Old Days.
The t.'oniego Point of ISIS, ths
year -when The Star flriit appeared
aa a dally, Is recalled fondly by
Oscar Weiss, veteran printer, a
College Pointer by birth and lifelong residence, who for sixteen
years prior to 1920 reported the
n e w s of his home community for
the Dally Star.
Brushing away the cobwebs of
time, Mr. Weiss sees again "the
orchards, the meadows, the deeptangled wlldwood and every loved
spot which his infancy knew," but
he also sets forth the scene of a
typical American village.
Mr. Weiss speaks: "Collage Point
of 1876, the Centennial Year, recalls
to my mind my boyhood home. Its
dusty roads. Its orchards, tho
beaches with their diving rocks,
scenes that have long passed, rise
In review for recollection. Inseparable with the scenes aro the memories of many friends and comrades,
many of whom have also gone further on the long, long Journey.
"College Point bock in '76 was
but a straggling village- Even thon
it bore tho air of s m u g respectability and dignity which has ever
characterized the community. -Just
a s at present, tho Point w a s then
in the throes of a land and building
boom occasioned by the construction through the Tolnt of the
Whltestone branch of the Long
Island Railroad.
"The advent of rapid transportation roused to somo activity the
sleepy little vlltago of 4,000 and
made It feel for the first time tho
dignity of Its incorporation. It had
been incorporated a3 & village in
1870.
"The railroad brought to College
Polnt'the only rapid transportation
it ha«' p to that time, for travel
t o t'..-s outside world depended entirely upon the horso and buggy
and nearly every resident kept a
stable. There was, however, some
service by water to Manhattan.
Thrice weekly the steamboat Ossoo
would ply between the old dock,
since fallen into disrepair, a t tho
foot of Third avenue. College Point,
and Twenty-third street, Manhattan.
"Somo of the streets had been
laid out, curbed, guttered and macadamized, but the sidewalks were
for the most part worse than they
are now In the most unimproved
parts of the community.
Soon
after, however, flagging w a s put
down on one side of each prtnjtfpal
street and avenue and conditions
appeared greatly improved.
Petitions Get Attention.
"Tho taxpayers of those days
fared better than those of today,
for if they wanted Improvements
and made proper petition for them
they invariably received prompt attention from tho village fathers
and were not obliged to wait fifteen
years until tho improvements were
completed.
Page Eleven B
Telephone Stillwell 6600
THE DAILY STAR, QUEENS BOROUGH, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 24, 1926.
Telephone Stillwell 6600
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HARLEM
3251 Third Art.
2174 Third Ave.
ITT. W. Cmr. 1«M I M
(Bstsw IlOth St.I
JUST TAKE THE THIRD AVE. i l /
Untitled Document
Thomas M. Tryniski
309 South 4th Street
Fulton New York
13069
www.fultonhistory.com
BRONX

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