Erected by the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood Veterans Association in 1907 to memorialize the "men of 1865-1867"
This chunk of median at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 58th Street seems to believe it is located at the geographic center of NYC. The Department of City Planning, however, says that the city's geographic center actually lies about two and a half miles away, on Stockholm Street between Wyckoff Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Bushwick.
Used to be a HOTELHOTELHOTELHOTELHOTELHOTEL...
According to the Department of City Planning, the city's geographic center (specifically, the city's centroid) lies somewhere near this spot in Bushwick on Stockholm Street between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas Avenues.
(We recently passed a different spot on Queens Boulevard with its own claim to this title, although it's not clear what that claim is based on.)
From the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission's designation report:
The Stockholm Street Historic District, located in the western part of Ridgewood, Queens, is a one-block ensemble of brick rowhouses representing one of the most intact, harmonious, and architecturally-distinguished enclaves of working-class dwellings built in New York City during the early twentieth century. The historic district consists of thirty-six houses, one former stable, and two garages, lining both sides of a brick-paved street. Thirty-five of the houses were constructed between 1907 and 1910, when Ridgewood was being developed by German-Americans and immigrants from Germany. The rows, which feature full-width wooden porches with columns, projecting bays, uninterrupted cornice lines, and bricks produced by the Kreischer Brick Manufacturing Company of Staten Island, were designed by the architectural firm Louis Berger & Company and built by Joseph Weiss & Company. In addition, the historic district has Ridgewood's only-extant brick street pavement. The district retains a high level of integrity and the ambience that has distinguished it since the early twentieth century.You can explore the block yourself in Street View.
This appears to be a personal residence sitting on cemetery property at the edge of Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery.
at Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery (which abuts Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery, where the previous three photos were taken)
"While yet in love with life, he passed to silence and pathetic dust; yet it may be best just in the sunniest hour of all the voyage, while eager winds are kissing every sail, to dash against the unseen rock and in an instant hear the billows roar above a sunken ship. Were every one to whom he did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep to night beneath a wilderness of flowers."
(Adapted from a eulogy given by Robert G. Ingersoll, "the Great Agnostic", for his brother.)
According to the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society, this house, which now serves as a museum, dates back to 1709. The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, however, reports that, based on its architecture, the structure looks to have been built no earlier than the mid-18th century, and possibly as late as the first quarter of the 19th century, although the commission's report suggests it's possible that "parts of the foundation or stonework of the house exist from an earlier period of construction and that the house was enlarged, rebuilt, or remodeled." Regardless, much of the current building is actually considerably newer: the house was reconstructed in 1980-82 after being severely damaged by a fire in 1975. Prior to the fire, the building had been used by various 20th-century owners "as a scrap glass business and livery stable, a speakeasy, the office of a greenhouse company and a factory for spare parts for the Apollo space program".
Sitting in the house's backyard, enclosed by a white picket fence, is a large rock that was unearthed by city workers in 2000 at the direction of a local Queens historian. Some believe (though many disagree) that the rock is Arbitration Rock, a glacial boulder that was used in 1769, "along with a heap of stones and an oak tree, to mark the border between Kings [Brooklyn] and Queens Counties, ending a bitter boundary war that had festered for more than 100 years."
The longtime home of Monsignor James Kelly, who celebrated his 50th year with the parish in 2010: "Today I want to thank the Lord for the gift of survival . . . This survival has been a gift, not an accomplishment. It is no credit to me that I have received the gift of life, good health, and friendship — gratuitously given, willingly received."
The Dongan Oak was "a large white oak mentioned in 1685 in the patent of Governor Thomas Dongan [that] was cut down by Colonial soldiers and thrown across the road to impede the advance of the British army" during the Battle of Long Island. This monument, one of several Revolutionary War memorials found in Prospect Park, "commemorates the contribution of this important tree". It was dedicated in 1922, but the eagle on top has been stolen and replaced twice since then.
This unassuming little structure standing by the Prospect Park carousel looks like a ticket booth, but it's actually a surviving 19th-century tollbooth from the old Flatbush Turnpike.
This house was built sometime around 1783 after the original Lefferts family homestead was burned down by American troops in 1776 to keep the British forces from using it during the Battle of Long Island. It was relocated from several blocks away to this spot in Prospect Park in 1918.
Corbin Place in Manhattan Beach is no longer named for Austin Corbin. The 19th-century developer fell out of favor back in 2007 after a crusading Daily News columnist shouted loudly (and falsely) about Corbin's (fictional) role in the (fictional) American Society for the Suppression of the Jews, and the local community board voted to rename the street for Margaret Corbin instead. But what about Corbin Court? Could this unsigned, block-long alleyway a few miles north of Manhattan Beach still be carrying the name of the despised Mr. Corbin?
We've already passed the newer Staten Island outpost of Doody Home Centers, but Sheepshead Bay is the original home of Doody. Two facts I can't resist mentioning:
1) The company's slogan apparently used to be "Depend on Doody".
2) There is a "Doodys Savings Club".
This vacant strip of land, seen here from the edge of the Doody Home Centers parking lot, is a remnant of Emmers Lane. Other traces of the long-gone roadway can be spotted in an aerial view, running diagonally between East 13th Street and Ocean Avenue.
