Queens and Manhattan are separated into distinct political entities. New Amsterdam (specifically lower Manhattan island) is organized into an autonomous unit. The rest of New Netherland colony (including the towns that became organized into Queens County three decades later) would be absorbed into the British empire in less than a dozen years.
February 06, 1655
Gov. Nicolls confirmed a patent to Daniel Denton, William Hallett, Robert Coe, Anthony Waters and others on “a certain tract of land purchased for and on behalf of the Town of Jamaica.” Founded less than ten years before, this action secured the rights to the fledgling settlement’s official status under English rule. Jamaica Township, along with Newtown and Flushing Townships, comprises modern Queens.
February 19, 1674
On February 19, 1674, a treaty returned New York for the second and final time to Dutch rule. The Dutch considered Surinam, a sugar colony on the north coast of South America, as fair exchange.
The previous July, a Dutch squadron under two grim sea-dogs, Admirals Evertsen and Binckes, suddenly appeared in the lower bay. They sent word to the English commander “they had come for their own, and their own they would have.” After the local militia refused to fight and Evertsen’s frigates fired a couple of broadsides into the fort, the English surrendered to Dutch troops under the command of Capt. Anthony Colve.
The Dutch language was again made official, and schepens, burgomasters, and schout replaced sheriff, mayor, and aldermen. The Dutch towns along the Hudson submitted gladly, but Long Island was sullen and appealed to Connecticut for help. Colve and Evertsen, backed up by seasoned troops and a well-equipped squadron, warned the Long Islanders that they must submit. They did.
In November 1674, when the city was again turned over the English, Colve was on such cordial terms with the incoming English governor, Edmund Andros, that he gave his personal carriage and three horses to him.
February 10, 1704
The “Out Plantations” were incorporated into the Town of Newtown. The earliest land grants, starting from the first settlement at Maspeth in 1643, were a crazy patchwork of conflicting titles for small farms and large estates. These claims ran up both the Dutch Kills and the East River, and extended over to Bowery Bay.
Under British rule, in an effort to standardize the colony's government, all property claims were resurveyed and recorded. A new system of counties and townships are set up. All lands north of Newtown Creek and west of Flushing Meadows became part of Newtown Township. The ‘old town,’ Maspeth, disappeared after 60 years.
February 15, 1797
Heinrich Englehard Steinweg is born. The master cabinet maker crafted some 400 pianos in Germany before leading his family to America. By 1853, he formed Steinway & Sons.
Known as the “Instrument of the Immortals,” Steinway pianos are the standard piano for the world. By their 150th Anniversary in 2003, the firm built over 550,000 pianos (each one carefully numbered and recorded in master ledgers at the plant). Today, more than 99% of all concert and recording artists use a Steinway piano.
Heinrich died, aged 73, on February 7, 1870.
February 22, 1808
On February 22, 1808,. Masepth’s DeWitt Clinton became mayor of New York. One of the most remarkable citizens of Queens, he served in every level of government, from local (Mayor of the City of New York), to state-wide office in Albany, (the state assembly, state senate, and later as governor), and in Washington (senator). He was regent of New York University, and organized both the Historical Society of New York and the Academy of Fine Arts. Clinton was a major proponent of the Erie Canal.
Notable quote: “Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space and indefinite in duration.”
February 13, 1844
New York State&rsqup;s Board of Regents chartered the Astoria Female Seminary. The 1828 building was older than the community of Astoria. In 1839, residents of Hallets Cove had renamed their village as a tribute to John Jacob Astor who donated money for the school. Rev. John Walker Brown, pastor of St. George’s church ran the institute for many years.
In its short term it was one of the finest such schools for young ladies; one of the women who taught there later went to China as a missionary and went on to write one of the first Chinese-English dictionaries. Although the seminary collapsed at Brown’s death, it reopened briefly in 1858. The building eventually served as the parsonage of St. George’s Church for over 150 years. The community’s namesake was demolished to build senior housing in 2005.
February 28, 1854
The ‘Astoria Hook & Ladder Company No 1’ is organized. Although four companies are ultimately created in the Village, fire fighting remains hazardous and primitive at best. With no fire hydrants, the Astoria Village relies on cisterns built at intersections. Equipment from Astoria and later companies at Steinway and Long Island City can be seen today at the New York City Fire Department Museum in Manhattan.
February 21, 1861
The first postmaster is appointed in Long Island City. Postal service was founded by Benjamin Franklin in the early years of the republic, and post offices were soon set up in stores in Jamaica, the Alley in Flushing and Newtown.
Mail was delivered by circuit riders on horseback who traveled out to Long Island, then back, on a regular basis. The recipient used to pay for the postage until stamps were introduced in the mid-1800s.
Today post office stations exist for Far Rockaway, Floral Park, Flushing, Jamaica, and Long Island City.
February 18, 1869
Sheet music publisher and Woodside developer Benjamin Hitchcock distributed 972 lots to shareholders of the new Village of Woodside. After convincing the heirs of the Kelley estate to develop their property, he came up with a novel scheme to encourage investors. All lots were priced at $300 (with monthly installments at $10). After he received 25% of the amount, a lottery determined the actual distribution of property, with the best locations with buildings going first, and the less desirable at the end.
February 1871
The Centerville Race Track, southeast of the intersection of Woodhaven and Rockaway Blvds., is sold to the New York and Hempstead Railroad for $40,000. The railroad is not interested in racing horses, but wants the property for a right-of-way. Between the 1830s and 1850s, ads for spring and fall meets at the track list all the famous horses from that era. Centerville was an important element of the nation’s horse racing industry whose hub was on the Hempstead Plains during the Nineteenth Century.
February 15, 1873
On February 15, 1873, the name “Corona” first appeared in the newspapers replacing the former name, West Flushing. Thomas Howard, a local resident, found that the name confused both outsiders and the post office with neighboring Village of Flushing.
He petitioned Washington for a name change in 1870 proposing “Corona” that suggested, in his eyes, that the community was the “Crown of Long Island”
The application indicated that Corona had 600 residents who lived within a mile of the rail station. The application was approved two years later with Howard himself as the first postmaster.
February 28, 1883
The first Chinese immigrant moved into Newtown, an event considered noteworthy enough for the time to be reported in the press. Today, Newtown Village is known as Elmhurst. Its census tract is home to undoubtedly the most diverse population in the world. It is conceivable that every nation on earth has a citizen walking its streets.
February 04, 1914
When Queens Borough President Joseph Cassidy was sentenced to Sing Sing on February 4, 1914, the Long Island Star newspaper posed a pertinent question: “Queens Borough Presidency An Unlucky Office?” Out of four former presidents, three came to grief in one way or another.
The first, Joseph Bermel, who was elected in 1905, resigned his position (while still under charges) on April 28, 1908, and the following day sailed for Europe and political oblivion. The second, Lawrence Gresser, was elected by the Board of Aldermen to succeed ex-President Bermel for the latter’s unexpired term in 1908. He was reelected in 1909 and served less than two years of his four year term before being ordered removed by Governor Dix on September 28, 1911.
For the third, Joseph Cassidy, tribulations came long after his term of office closed. He was indicted by the Grand Jury of Kings County in 1912 (after the Grand Jury of Queens County had refused to) on charges of conspiring to sell a Supreme Court nomination to William Willett (who was also charged with bribery.) Cassidy’s trial, which began on January 27th, resulted in a guilty verdict only a few days later on February 2nd. He was sentenced to twelve to eighteen months in prison, required to pay a $1,000 fine, and on appeal, slapped with the additional fee of $3,500 to cover the rent on his Manhattan real estate company offices.
February 15, 1916
At one minute past midnight, the guard on the train at
Jackson Avenue slammed the door and announced loudly: "Hunterpoint Avenue next!"
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) train ran from Jackson Avenue in
Long Island City to Lexington Avenue and 42nd St in Manhattan. (These tracks,
today known as the #7 Line, was then called the 'Queensboro Subway'.)
February 01, 1917
The Astoria "el" rapid transit line from Queensboro Plaza
to Ditmars Boulevard opened. The three track elevated line runs from the former
Bridge Plaza along Northern Blvd. for only a quarter mile to 31st Street, where
the train runs along the top of the ridge to beyond the Grand Central Parkway.
February 04, 1918
The United States was in the thick of Word War I. It was a
year and a day after the U.S. broke off diplomatic ties with Germany. The
American government began the process of taking photographs and fingerprints of
resident aliens. They could register at the Elmhurst Post Office.
February 1921
A heavy snow brings on 1,200 shovelers assisted by an
array of motor and horse-drawn plows, sweepers and trucks. Earning 55¢ an hour,
they dumped snow down sewers, into the river, and onto empty lots. As volunteers
were easier to recruit in older communities, snow is first cleared in Long Island
City. Although the #7 Line still ran even when the trolleys stopped, a train
that left Grand Central at 11 PM staggered into Flushing by 8 AM the following
morning.
February 1925
The Benevolent &' Protective Order of the Elks launches
their clubhouse on Queens Blvd in Elmhurst. Nearly 3,000 men make their way
past the massive bronze elk that guards the portals, some members traveling
from distant cities to participate in the colorful and impressive ceremonies
formally opening the building. That evening, the club initiates over 100 new
members.
February 1926
Borough Presidents Maurice Connolly of Queens and Julius Miller of Manhattan sent a letter to the Board of Estimate, proposing an East River tunnel to relieve congestion on the Queensboro Bridge. The original plan was to have portals at thirty-eighth street in Manhattan, Borden Avenue in Queens, and beyond to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The project cost was projected to be $40,000,000 with an option to extend it to Tenth Avenue on the West Side if Manhattan for an additional $16,000,000. (As with many New York City transportation projects, this idea, in a different form, was not implemented until years later, when the Queens-Midtown Tunnel opened in 1940.)
February 16, 1936
On February 16, 1936, Carl Icahn is born in Queens. Called ‘corporate raider’ by his foes, or ‘shareholder activist’ by his supporters, he has remained for two decades as a powerful force in American business. Using junk bonds pioneered by Michael Milken, Icahn took important stock positions in such diverse companies as USX , TWA, Viacom, Time-Warner, Western Union, Texaco, Revlon, Kerr-McGee, Motorola, and even Marvel Comics.
Carl grew up in a middle-class area of Queens, New York, where his father was a lawyer and his mother a school teacher. Icahn attended Princeton University and graduated with a bachelor of arts in philosophy. After college he was an apprentice broker with Dreyfus & Company. Starting with $4,000 (won supposedly in a poker game), he began to make and lose $50,000 in a week. Icahn, who went out on his own in 1968, is today one of the wealthiest people in the country with a net worth estimated to exceed $8 billion. He recently he has taken an active role in philanthropy and helped to fund the Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island
Notable Quotes: “We’re not about liquidating companies, but if you do that, why is that terrible? We're not blowing up the factories. The person who buys it should be able to make the asset more productive…You learn in this business: if you want a friend, get a dog.”
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February 15, 1940
When eight inches of snow fell in the city on February 15, 1940, the borough grinds to a halt. A small army of 38,000 men (5,500 in Queens alone) dug the city out of snow that had drifted several feet in places. After dozens of cars stalled out, traffic was closed to the Grand Central Parkway Extension and rerouted to Northern and Astoria Boulevards. The Bronx-Whitestone approach between Corona and Whitestone was closed. In Bayside, parts of Flushing, Jamaica, and Springfield the fire alarm box system collapsed. Falling wires disrupted telephone and electric service throughout the borough.
February 28, 1948
Actress and singer Bernadette Peters was born as in Ozone Park to her parents Peter and Marguerite Lazzara. She has two siblings, Joseph and Donna.
Bernadette's mother was the one who started her on the road to show business, securing a place for Bernadette on the show “Juvenile Jury” when she was just three and a half years old.
Her mother suggested she changed her professional name from Lazzara to Peters at age nine to broaden her appeal. The name 'Peters' came from her father’s first name.
Acknowledged as one of the Great White Way's natural wonders, Bernadette Peters is a performer of unparalleled versatility on stage, film and television.
A quote: “You've gotta be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?”
February 13, 1949
In of the largest parades in Queens’ history, 52,000 marchers in Jamaica protested the imprisonment of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty by the Communist government of Hungary.
The Star-Journal reported that Protestants and Jews joined Catholics from all the 88 parishes in Queens in a display of borough-wide unity.
Placards read “We Protest Kangaroo Trials”, “Communists Veto God”, and “It CAN happen here.”
February 1950
Congressman James Delaney of Astoria raised eyebrows in February 1950 when he announced, somewhat tongue in cheek, that he wanted to make the State of Long Island.
A member of the House Rules Committee investigating admitting Hawaii and Alaska as states, he claimed that Long Island would make a much better case for statehood, and “if you throw in New York City, there is no comparison.”
He continued, “Alaska, with 90,000, has 1/4 the members of my district.”
The proposed state, with 26 members in Congress, would have about the same sized congressional delegation as California or Illinois. Jamaica would be the proposed capital of the state of 9 million.
February 10, 1960
The new, top of the line American Airlines Terminal at Idlewild Airport introduced “jetways.” This innovation, quickly copied by the other airlines, enabled passengers to pass from the terminal to the plane without setting foot on the tarmac or dealing with inclement weather.
February 12, 1961
Flushing Meadow is to close for construction of World’s Fair. The price tag is about a billion dollars, with exhibitors putting up structures costing an additional $550 million. On the 16th, the Queens Botanic Gardens close. Skating was allowed in the NYC Building through April.
February 07, 1964
British rock band The Beatles landed at JFK Airport aboard Pan Am Clipper flight 101. The press corps snapped hundreds of photographs as the Fab Four walked down the stairs and on to American ground to the delight of hundreds of fans.
Less than three months after the assassination of President John Kennedy, The Beatles took New York by storm as they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show two nights later. It was American rock and roll with a British twist and a sound that became their own.
February 15, 1965
The Star-Journal reported the fire-bombing the previous day at the Queens home of civil rights leader Malcolm X, with the headline: “Dawn, Home Shattered-Police Guard the Fire-Scarred Home of Malcolm X-Cops Probe Bombing.”
The article continued, “Police today are still searching for leads in the fire-bombing of Malcolm X’s East Elmhurst home early yesterday morning. Their basic questions are: Who tossed the Molotov cocktail at the house on 23-11 97th Street? And why? Malcolm, who aroused his wife and four daughters at 2.30 in the morning to escape the flames, flew to Detroit that evening. Before leaving, Malcolm said of the bombing: ‘It doesn’t frighten me. It doesn’t quiet me down in any way or shut me up.”
A week later he would be assassinated.
February 01, 1966
On February 1, 1966 the immortal Joseph Frank Keaton IV, better known by his stage name “Buster,” died of lung cancer, aged 70. The story is told that while touring with his parents, vaudeville actors, he tripped down a flight of stairs, and the name supposedly supplied by fellow vaudevillian Harry Houdini.
Called the “Great Stone Face,” he would do silent movie stunts without batting an eye. This former resident of Little Neck and Bayside’s career spanned most of the twentieth century, from the era of silents through the sixties, when he was rediscovered by a new generation who adopted him as one of their own.
Of Keaton, fellow comedian Mel Brooks said, “His eyes shone with a certain intensity, fire and love. His face had little expression, but his eyes were always dynamically alive. His eyes spoke more than any script could speak.”
February 01, 1966
On Tuesday, February 1, 1966, winter was in full force and all New Yorkers agreed to one thing: the weather was cold! After spending all weekend digging out of a blizzard, the city was under a snow emergency.
Local papers warned “More of Same on Way.” An accompanying photo showed a small tanker frozen in icy waters off Far Rockaway. As far south as Florida, the weather was so cold and snowy. Not only were orange crops destroyed, but so were the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn, and beans.
The next day, the front page of the Long Island Star Journal had more ominous things to say about the weather: “Shhh! Snow's Due Friday” and “Groundhog Sees Its Shadow; 6 More Weeks of Winter.”
The accompanying article went on to explain ruefully that every time that winter the Weather Bureau had predicted snow, they'd been right. Travel in the city remained paralyzed.
February 16, 1986
Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. died in Queens. A popular labor
leader, Van Arsdale became a member of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3 in 1925. It is said that he was the most
powerful labor leader in the city by the late 1950s. The former Jewel Avenue was
renamed "Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. Avenue" in Forest Hills and Kew Gardens Hills.
February 15, 1996
Queens born Tommy Rettig died of natural causes, at 55. In 1954, Rettig became the first boy cast in the role of Lassie’s master on the hit TV show Lassie. Following his four-year stint on this show, his acting career stalled for casting directors had few roles for an aging child star that stood 5’ 4.” He led a checkered life of arrests and convictions for growing marijuana and importing cocaine, bankruptcy, and divorce. He held a string of jobs including photographer, tool salesman and health club manager. In the last years of his life, he managed to turn himself around and became a successful software developer.
February 1998
Two incidents notched airport security to "a high priority"
at JFK Airport. First, international tensions reach a favor pitch when Saddam
Hussein blocks a U.N. team's access to potential weapon sites in the face of
American retaliation. More ominously, two men who are arrested Las Vegas had
both anthrax and maps of the city's subway system. Congressman Charles Schumer
of Queens accuses New York as "woefully unprepared if targeted by a biological
or chemical attack." Mayor Giuliani sharply disagrees, pointing to New
York being better prepared than most of the country.
