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THE WEEK OF JANUARY 17, 2002
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Shows Flags, Patriotic Residents
We encourage our readers who would like to share their remembrances or old photographs of our neighborhood, to contact us. Recently Herbert H. Pope of Ridgewood delivered to the Times Newsweekly an interesting photograph that he had obtained from Ms. Elizabeth Scannevin of Forest Hills. We thank both Mr. Pope and Ms. Scannevin for sharing this photo with us. On the back of it was written “Block party taken during last war 1918 on Linden Street between Cypress Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue, Ridgewood.”
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| A 1918 block party on Linden Street between Cypress Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Ridgewood. |
The housing boom started in Ridgewood in 1906, when the decision was made to extend the Myrtle Avenue Elevated Line at ground Level from Wyckoff Avenue along Palmetto Street to Fresh Pond Road and then across the fields to Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village with the terminal adjacent to the entrance to Lutheran Cemetery. For a 5¢ fare, these trains ran from Park Row (City Hall) in Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge, along Myrtle Avenue to Wyckoff Avenue and with the extension to Middle Village. From Fresh Pond Road to Park Row, the trip on the trains took 23 minutes and during rush hours reportedly there was only four minutes headway between trains. As a result, the price of farm land in Ridgewood rose sharply and eventually over 50 different builders were converting farm land in Ridgewood into residential housing with Gustave Mathews, August Bauer and Paul Stier, among the volume builders. With all of this business activity in Ridgewood, there obviously was a need for a commercial bank. In December 1908, a group of businessmen in Ridgewood held some discussions and then formed an organization committee for a proposed bank to be run by local people with the funds to be raised by selling stock at $10 per share.
Louis Berger, an architect who had designed 90 percent of the houses in Ridgewood, volunteered to hold a series of meetings to promote the sale of the stock. When the rows of brick houses were being built in Ridgewood, the last house was usually on the corner of an intersection and was built with a store on the ground floor with apartments above. These stores were ideally suited for saloons, groceries, bake shops, drug stores, etc. The neighborhood saloon was the social center for the area. Men would meet in the bar room, but families entered the saloon by the side door (family entrance) and sat in the back room. Ladies never sat in the bar room. To dignify the saloons, the local newspapers usually referred to a specific saloon by the name of the proprietor and called it his hall.
Louis Berger held a series of meetings on funding the proposed bank at the following saloons: Kreuscher’s Hall (Cypress and Myrtle avenues); Ernest Lutz’s Hall (St. Nicholas Avenue and Ralph Street [Menahan Street] ); A. Sprunek’s Hall (Onderdonk Avenue and Harman Street); Wm. Meyer’s Tyroler Hall (Cypress Avenue and Norman Street); Andrew Goetz’s Hall (Forest Avenue and Palmetto Street); Fred Heerlein’s Hall (Cypress Avenue and Halsey Street); Conrad Reinheimer’s Hall (Myrtle Avenue and Harman Street) and George Rehkamp’s Hall (Covert [Seneca] and Gates avenues).
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| A postcard view of Myrtle Avenue and Cypress Avenue in Ridgewood. |
The first meeting of the shareholders was held on April 8, 1909 at Kreuscher’s Hall. Louis Berger was elected president. To avoid any conflict of interest, he sold his architect business to a longtime employee, Ms. E. Gastmeyer. At the meeting after an appropriate discussion, it was decided the bank would be located on the southwest corner of Cypress and Myrtle avenues, Ridgewood. Charles Eisenhofer had his saloon at this location. The bank purchased the saloon building and had it razed. On the site they contracted for a three-story brick bank building which cost $36,000. The bank opened on May 29, 1909 in a store on the corner of St. Nicholas and Myrtle avenues owned by Charles Baum the leather merchant. They moved into their permanent quarters in January, 1910.
As was the custom at the time, Louis Berger and all the other officers and directors, served without pay. Mr. Berger was a shrewd businessman. He saw that when the bank opened, the only farm land in Ridgewood still available for housing and adjacent to public transportation, was the remainder of the Peter Wyckoff Farm. Mr. Berger suggested to August Bauer and Paul Stier that they form a joint venture and buy this land from Peter Wyckoff and then build on it while still continuing their individual building activities. They agreed, and in early 1910 Bauer & Stier, Inc. was founded with August Bauer as president, Paul Stier as vice president and Louis Berger as secretary and treasurer. On prior sales of his farm land, Peter Wyckoff agreed to accept partial payment in cash with the balance a purchase money mortgage which had to be paid off in 10 years. The buyer had the option if he wanted to start building on a portion of the land, he could pay down the purchase money mortgage on that portion. By early 1910, Peter Wyckoff was getting on in years and possibly no longer was willing to wait 10 years for the purchase money mortgage to be paid down. He would not agree on a sale to August Bauer and Paul Stier, Peter Wyckoff died on February 9, 1910 at age 81. His wife, Catherine, had predeceased him in 1900. Their daughter, Sarah, in 1886 had married Milford Streeter, and he and Samuel Meeker, were the executor for Peter Wyckoff’s estate.
In 1911 on three separate deeds, the Estate of Peter Wyckoff sold to Bauer & Stier, Inc., a total of about 8.32 acres of land which included the adjacent roadbed of the streets for an estimated $190,000 ( an average of $22,836 per acre which was a very high price). The land was a strip from Cypress Avenue westward 310’ on the south side of Linden Street to the dividing line between the farms of Nicholas N. Wyckoff and Peter Wyckoff. When Nicholas Wyckoff died in 1813, his 216-acre farm was divided in half between his sons, Nicholas N. and Peter with each receiving 108 acres. The main farm ran from Newtown Creek south to what is now Summerfield Street. The northern portion of the farm from Flushing Avenue to Putnam Avenue was about 1,350’ wide, with each son receiving 675’ with Nicholas N. getting the southwestern part of the farm and Peter the northeastern part. If you walk through Ridgewood, about 105’ to 110’ east of sidewalk on St. Nicholas Avenue, on some of the side streets you can see the imaginary dividing line as over the years the Wyckoffs sold off parts of the farm and different builders ended their construction at the line.
The portion of this strip that Bauer & Stier, Inc. purchased was from the southern side of Linden Street to the north side of Gates Avenue and from mid-block between Gates Avenue and Palmetto Street all the way south to the north side of Putnam Avenue.
On this land between 1911 and 1915, Bauer & Stier, Inc. built hundreds of brick row houses, as follows: a two-story, two-family sold for $5,650 with $500 cash down; a three-story, three-family as per the houses on the south side of Linden Street, sold for $8,000 with $1,000 cash down. These flats rented for $20 and $21 per month. Three story- six family sold for $11,400 with $2,000 cash down. These cold water flats rented for $15 and $16. In addition, they also built two apartment houses which were four-story brick, with four apartments per floor. Each apartment was four rooms, was steam-heated and rented for $24 per month.
As noted above during the joint venture building activities of August Bauer and Paul Stier, they both continued their individual building activities and to that extent they were competing with themselves. Usually, the houses built by August Bauer and Paul Stier as individuals, were cheaper than the houses built by the joint venture.
The row houses in the photograph were from 16-66 to 16-94 Linden Street, and were built on 20’x100’ lots. The houses from 16-66 to 16-92 have “landmark” status. By mid-1912, the Ridgewood National Bank under the leadership of Louis Berger, was the largest bank in Queens County, with assets of more than $1,000,000.
As noted, the photograph was taken in 1918 and there is a lavish display of American flags and bunting. A block party was to be held on Linden Street. A bandstand had been erected down the street. The photograph was apparently standing on the second floor of a building and was looking down the south side of Linden Street toward St. Nicholas Avenue.
World War I had started in 1914, and large armies were locked in bitter combat in Europe. The United States, however, was neutral and only had a small standing army. However, in 1916 there was trouble along the Mexican border and in March of that year Pancho Villa, a guerrilla, crossed the border with his Mexican followers and raided Columbus, New Mexico. (Today I guess he would be called a terrorist.) As a result of this raid, the United States in 1916 expanded its Regular Army and National Guard to 200,000 men, and General John Pershing led American troops into Mexico and chased Pancho Villa.
In 1916 and early 1917, our relations with Germany deteriorated and on April 6, 1917 the U.S. declared war on Germany and Italy and entered World War I as a combatant. On May 18, 1917 the U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the president signed it into law. Draft boards were formed, men between the ages of 21 and 31 were required to register on June 5, 1917 and on that day 9,586,508 men complied with the law. By September 1917, large numbers of draftees had been sent to training camps all over the U.S. By January 1918, 42 divisions had been formed using a cadre of Regular Army and National Guardsmen. When their training was completed, the divisions were shipped on troop transports as part of the American Expeditionary Force under the command of General Pershing with their final destination being France. As the American troops engaged in combat, the folks back home in Ridgewood wanted to express their support by holding block parties at which service flags were dedicated and funds raised for the American Red Cross.
In September and October 1918, there were a number of block parties in Ridgewood with the main theme of the October parties to sell Liberty Bonds. Because of the German ancestry of many of the residents of Ridgewood, the community went all out to excel in the purchase of these bonds to show they were good American citizens. We believe the photo of Linden Street was probably taken in October 1918.
On Thursday, November 7, 1918, a rumor spread that the war was over. On Friday, November 8, 1918, the Ridgewood Times published banner headlines: Peace on Earth To Men, Good Will Let Hate Be Buried—Let Love Prevail.
The story below the headlines read: “A thrill of joy spread throughout Ridgewood yesterday afternoon at the news of prospects of peace. Flags were unfurled, whistles blew, fire engines rang gongs, church bells rang and schools closed early. Many local factories closed down as the news spread.”
Subsequently this news approved to be premature. The actual armistice was on November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. In later years when the American Legion was organized, the various posts celebrated the ritual of the Great War ending on the 11th month, of the 11th day, on the 11th hour.
A review of the newspapers of November 1918 and December 1918 showed there were a few victory block parties in Ridgewood, but because most of the men were still overseas, Ridgewood was relatively quiet. In late April 1919, the troop transport brought the 77th Division home to New York. This was the Statue of Liberty Division and was New York’s own.
Old Timer’s Note–If you would like to share your remembrances or old photographs of our neighborhood with our readers, please write (regular mail, please, no e-mail) to the Old Timer c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 299, Ridgewood, NY 11386. All photographs will be carefully returned to you.