This interactive map explores the individuals whose names grace public spaces across the borough of Queens.
Spotlight On: Pride in Queens
June is Pride Month! 🌈We are spotlighting LGBTQ+ activists and organizers honored in the borough of Queens with place names. 🏳️🌈
Neir's Tavern Way
Neir's Tavern is one of the oldest and most famous bars in Woodhaven, Queens. The tavern was originally named the Old Blue Pump House and opened near the now defunct Union Course racetrack in 1892. Loycent Gordon bought the property in 2009 and renamed it Neir's Tavern in honor of the family that had owned the property from the 1890s until 1967.
The tavern had many owners and a colorful history. When the Union Course race track closed down in 1898, it was purchased by Louis Neir. Neir added a ballroom, built the first bowling alley in Queens, and added rooms upstairs for a hotel, calling it “Neir’s Social Hall”.
Neir’s Hall was very successful, and was at its height of popularity between 1900-1910. Louis Neir’s nephew Joseph Neir, worked as a cleaning boy, cleaning the racing stables that were across the street and originally part of the Union Course Race Track.
When Louis died in 1929, Julia, his wife, became owner, and Joseph the manager of the business. In 1945, Julia turned over the title and ownership to Joseph, who continued to work at the bar until his own death in 1963. Lulu Neir (until 1967), and Carol (Neir) Foley ran the tavern until an arson fire, and declining revenue led to the Neir family selling the property in 1980.
Detective Raymond Abear Way
The following text was contributed by Det. Abear's widow, Catherine Abear:
Ray Abear [1976-2020] was a Queens native and spent his entire life in this community – he was raised on this block and this is where he would start a family and raise his children as well. He attended St. Nicholas of Tolentine church, P.S. 131 and St. John’s University. His first job was at Mark’s Aquarium on Parsons Boulevard, which gave him his passion for sea life, something he shared with many communities he came into contact with. He even helped businesses, community members and members of the NYPD set up their own aquariums. There’s even a fish tank in his memory at the Queens Special Victims office.
Ray’s passion and commitment to the community was professional as well. His entire 20-year career in the NYPD was spent making the Queens community a better place – first in the 112th Precinct and then in the Queens Special Victims Squad. Local business owners, restaurants, community members – everyone knew Ray and his giant smile.
There are few more challenging tasks in law enforcement than Special Victims, and Ray was passionate about his work with the Queens Squad. Each of the letters from colleagues supporting this honor of a street co-naming highlighted the compassion, patience, sensitivity and skill Ray brought to this most difficult work and the commitment he brought to finding justice for these individuals. One letter even said, “No one performed this difficult work better than Detective Raymond Abear.”
This honor – having their dad’s name permanently affixed to this street corner – is a reminder to his children that their dad was a hero not only to his family but the entire community and he will never be forgotten. Ray’s legacy will live on forever thanks to everyone who helps keep his memory alive.
Malcolm X Place
This street is named in honor of the great civil rights activist Malcolm X (1925-1965), who lived on this block of 97th Street between 23rd and 24th Avenues with his wife, Betty Shabaaz, and their four daughters. The family moved into this small home in 1960 and lived here for five years before Malcolm was assassinated in 1965. One week before his assassination in Harlem, the home was firebombed. The house at that time was owned by the Nation of Islam; at present, it is privately owned.
Curated Collection: Foundations of Queens
This collection celebrates those who were active in building the Queens community through education, construction, and development. 
P.S. 174 William Sidney Mount
William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) was an American painter from Setauket, New York. Although not the first artist to use this style, Mount was the foremost American genre painter of the 19th century. He produced naturalistic portraits and narrative scenes that documented the daily life of the common man.
Mount began painting as an apprentice at his brother, Henry Mount's (1804-1841) sign shop in 1825, spending his free time drawing and painting primarily portraits. Wanting to learn more, Mount enrolled in drawing classes at the newly established National Academy of Design in New York. In 1830 Mount displayed his first successful genre painting entitled, "Rustic Dance After a Sleigh Ride" at the National Academy exhibition. Within two years of this piece, Mount secured full membership to the National Academy of Design and was quickly hailed a pioneer of American art. Mount lived and worked in Long Island, often depicting the yeomen of the area. Mount was one of the first artists to specialize in the American rural scene. Previously, there was a belief that the American daily life of rural areas was not worth depicting. Mount's refreshing and down-to-earth style contradicted this notion and became widely popular.
Music also played a large role in Mount's life. Mount grew up surrounded by music. He maintained this passion not only through his depictions of music and dance in his paintings, but also as a fiddler, fife player, collector of folk songs, and a violin designer. He designed the "Hollow Back" violin and displayed this instrument in the 1853 New York World’s Fair, Crystal Palace, where the violin received praise by contemporary musicians. The violin was designed in a concave shape and a short sound-post to create a fuller, richer, more powerful tone.
Some of Mount's most prominent works featured music and dance. Mount loved to capture his subjects in spontaneous moments of dancing, farming, fiddling, reading, conversing, or playing. When painting musicians, he would often ask them to play while he was sketching because it "enlivens the subject’s face." Two such examples of this liveliness is "The Banjo Player" (1856) and "The Bone Player" (1856), two of Mount's more famous works. "The Banjo Player" is a portrait of a young Black musician smiling while in the midst of playing a banjo. "The Bone Player" similarly depicts a Black musician playing two sets of bones, an instrument connected with African-American minstrels. Because Mount sought to portray real people from his area, his work is much more inclusive than other artists' of the time. Mount used his art to show Black men in a more sensitive and dignified light. He was the first painter to give Black Americans a prominent, non-stereotypical place in his paintings. This aligned with his egalitarian belief that individuals must be accepted for their own worth.
Mount himself was an interesting figure. Along with his egalitarian beliefs, Mount had an interest in Spiritualism. Spiritualism follows the belief that spirits of the dead exist and can be communicated with. Mount became invested in this belief in the 1850s and even reported that he was able to contact the spirits of his deceased relatives. He wrote his experience in his journal, dubbed "The Spirit Journal."
Mount fell sick after dealing with the affairs of his recently diseased brother Shepard Alonzo Mount (1804-1868). Shepard Alonzo Mount was also a well renowned artist who studied under the National Academy of Design. William Sidney Mount contracted pneumonia and died only a couple months after his brother. Mount never married or had any children. In 1965, his family home, surrounding property, and various outbuildings in Stony Brook, became a National Historic Landmark named the William Sidney Mount House. Mounts artwork can be found in various museums across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The New-York Historical Society, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages owns the largest repository of Mount artwork and archival material
Townsend Harris High School
Townsend Harris High School, August 2022.
Benigno Aquino Triangle
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. (1932-1983), a public servant dedicated to his homeland, the Philippines, served as a senator and was a candidate in the country's 1973 presidential election. However, when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972, the election was cancelled. Aquino was imprisoned and eventually sentenced to death in 1977. His sentence was commuted to exile in 1980, allowing him to leave for the United States for medical treatment. He remained there until his assassination on August 21, 1983, as he disembarked from his plane at Manila Airport. Political pressure stemming from the incident forced Marcos to hold new elections, in which Corazon Aquino, Benigno's widow, was elected president.
Black History Spotlight On: Faith Leaders
In February, we celebrate Black History Month by honoring the many Black faith leaders honored by the borough of Queens with place names.
I.S. 238 - Susan B. Anthony Academy
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) was a towering figure in the arena of equality and women's rights, especially in the movement to grant women the right to vote. Born in 1820, she was raised with the Quaker idea that all people are equal under God. Her parents and several siblings were active in the abolition movement, and Anthony herself became a leading speaker and activist in that cause at a young age. When the women's suffrage movement was born following the seminal Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY (1848), Anthony joined the cause with enthusiasm and quickly became its most visible advocate. With her friend and fellow activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony gave speeches and organized protests around the country, and published a newspaper, "The Revolution," focused on women's rights.
In 1872, Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote in the presidential election, and the resulting trial brought significant national attention to the women's suffrage movement. Thereafter, the organization founded by Anthony and Stanton -- the National Woman Suffrage Association -- focused on calling for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote.
Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th Amendment was passed, guaranteeing women's voting rights. Her grave in Rochester, NY, attracts many visitors who often leave thank-you notes and other memorials for her work on women's behalf. In 1979, she was selected as the first woman featured on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House
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P.S. 090 Horace Mann
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P.S. 24 Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh president of the United States, serving from 1829 to 1837. Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in Waxhaws, near Lancaster, South Carolina. He was orphaned at 14, after his father died shortly after he was born, and his mother and brothers died during the Revolutionary War. He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives, and also served in the Senate. Jackson was a general during the War of 1812, and fought against the British successfully multiple times. He quickly gained renown for his feats during the war, and became one of the most widely respected figures in the military in the United States, especially after his force’s stunning victory at New Orleans against the British in 1815. Jackson was elected president in 1828.
As president, Jackson consolidated and frequently used his executive power, which invited critiques from Congress and his political opponents, the Whigs. He was watchful over government expenditures, managing to pay off the national debt in 1835. Jackson also advocated for the removal of Native American tribes to the west of the Mississippi River, claiming that the U.S. policy of trying to assimilate them into white society had failed. Congress authorized the Indian Removal Act in 1831, empowering Jackson to make treaties with the tribes and arrange their removal. More than 15,000 members of the Cherokee nation were forced to migrate to present-day Oklahoma. As many as 4,000 died on the journey known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Jackson left office on March 7, 1837. He died on June 8, 1845, after fighting constant infections and pain. He was buried in the garden of his home, the Hermitage, two days later.
General Hart Playground
Brigadier General Joseph T. Hart (1902-1962) was a distinguished resident of Elmhurst, renowned for his exceptional contributions in both the military and civilian realms. His commendable military career began in 1920 when he joined the National Guard and enlisted in the 69th Regiment, later known as the 165th Infantry. Hart's remarkable leadership skills led to his appointment as brigadier general in 1940. He notably served in crucial World War II battles, including Makin and Saipan in the South Pacific, and commanded the unit during the Battle of Okinawa in April 1945.
Recognized for his bravery and commitment, General Hart received prestigious accolades such as the Silver Star with a Cluster, the Purple Heart, the American Defense Force Medal, and the New York State Conspicuous Service Medal. Post-war, he continued his dedicated service in the Queens Borough President's Office, serving under prominent officials Maurice Fitzgerald and John T. Clancy until his passing. In 1964, the New York City Council name the park in his honor.
General George Washington Tablet
Born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Washington was born into a prosperous family, and was privately educated. He gained early experience as a land surveyor, and then joined the militia, serving as an officer in the French and Indian Wars from 1755-1758. Rising to the rank of colonel, he resigned his post, married Martha Dandridge (1731-1802), and returned as a gentleman farmer to the family plantation at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he resided with his wife, Martha.
He soon reentered public life, and served in succession as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1759-1774), and as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774-1775). Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Washington was made Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. His military prowess and inspirational leadership held the colonial armies together against overwhelming odds, and secured the evacuation and defeat of the British in 1783.
Washington again retired to Mount Vernon, but his dissatisfaction with the new provisional government, caused him to resume an active role, and in 1787 he presided over the second federal constitutional convention in Philadelphia. He was then unanimously chosen first president of the United States, and was inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York City on April 30, 1789. Washington was reelected to a second term in 1893, declined a third term, and retired from political life in 1797. Often referred to as “the father of our country,” Washington is universally regarded as having been instrumental in winning the American Revolution and in the establishment of the new nation.
Ampere Playground
André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836) was a French physicist, mathematician, and chemist who founded and named the field of electrodynamics, today known as electromagnetism. His name survives today in the ampere (commonly shortened to amp), the unit of measurement of electrical current.
The property was acquired by the city on October 22, 1927 and a playground, originally called the P.S. 64 Playground, opened on the site on June 5, 1958. The name of the park was changed to honor Ampère in 1985.
Officer Gabriel Vitale and Officer Anthony J Abruzzo, Jr. Place
Officer Vitale and and Officer Abruzzo were two police officers, both assigned to the 109th Precinct, who died in the line of duty. Officer Vitale was killed on December 24, 1980 and Officer Abruzzo less than a year later, on December 16, 1981.
Murray Fox Way
Murray Fox (1927-2015) served in the United States Navy and later was a long-time Sunnyside resident who was active in the Kiwanis Club of Sunnyside for over 20 years serving as president for a number of those years. He also served as the Kiwanis Club Lt. Governor of the Queens West Division. He also operated Fox’s Variety Store on the north side of Greenpoint Avenue and was very involved with charitable events throughout the community.
Open House New York Elmhurst Scavenger Hunt
As part of the Open House New York weekend on October 21st 2023, the Queens Memory team has created a scavenger hunt with stops at these five sites of interest in Elmhurst, Queens. Visit http://queenslib.org/OHNY for more details.
P.S. 098 The Douglaston School
Douglaston was colonized in the 17th century by the British and Dutch. The original inhabitants who lived there, the Matinecock people, are part of the larger Algonquin nation. While the Matinecock people are said to have sold land to the Dutch, there was also documented violence against them prior to this, as well as a smallpox epidemic that devastated the community years later in 1652. Others were forcibly removed from the land by Thomas Hicks. Members of the Matinecock tribe remain in Queens today.
Douglaston is located on the North Shore of Long Island, bordered to the east by Little Neck, and to the west by Bayside. It represents one of the least traditionally urban communities in New York City, with many areas having a distinctly upscale suburban feel, similar to that of Nassau County towns located nearby.
George Douglas purchased land in the area in 1835, and his son William Douglas later donated a Long Island Rail Road Stop.
Floyd H. Flake Boulevard
Rev. Floyd H. Flake (b. 1945) is a former congressman and the longtime pastor of the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997; served as president of Wilberforce University from 2002 to 2008; and is the senior pastor of the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York in Jamaica. Rev. Flake is also the author of the books "The Way of the Bootstrapper: Nine Action Steps for Achieving Your Dreams" and "The African American Church Management Handbook." In Congress, he funded the nation’s first One Stop Small Business Capital Center; it has been the model for additional centers that are now operating in the Federal Empowerment Zones and provides technical assistance and loans to small businesses.
P.S. 26 Rufus King
Rufus King (1755-1827) was a distinguished lawyer, statesman and gentleman farmer. The son of a wealthy lumber merchant from Maine, King graduated from Harvard in 1777, served in the Revolutionary War in 1778, and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1780. He was a member of the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787, where he introduced a plan that prevented the spread of slavery into the Northwest Territories. King was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and made his most famous contribution to American history as a framer and signer of the U.S. Constitution.
After his marriage to Mary Alsop in 1786, King relocated to New York and was appointed to the first U.S. Senate, serving from 1789 to 1796 and again from 1813 to 1825. An outspoken opponent of slavery, he led the Senate debates in 1819 and 1820 against the admission of Missouri as a slave state. King served as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803 and again from 1825 to 1826. In 1816 he was the last Federalist to run for the presidency, losing the election to James Monroe.
In 1805, King purchased land and a farmhouse in Jamaica; this house is now the King Manor Museum, a New York City landmark. It is located approximately 4.5 miles from P.S. 26, a public elementary school serving grades pre-K through 5.
Benjamin Wheeler Place
Benjamin Wheeler (2006 -2012) was born in New York City and lived in Sunnyside, Queens for the first year of his life before moving to Connecticut. He was just six years old when he was killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Roy Wilkins Recreation Center
Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was a Black American civil-rights leader who served as the executive director (1955–77) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
George Washington Carver High School for the Sciences
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Gregory Razran Hall
Dr. Gregory Razran (1901-1973) was a psychology professor at Queens College from 1940 to 1972, serving as department chair for much of that time (1944-1966). Born in present-day Belarus, he was considered a leading authority on Russian psychological research, especially during the Soviet era.
Razran came to the U.S. in 1920 and studied at Columbia University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1933. He continued at Columbia as a lecturer and research associate until joining the newly established Queens College. During World War II, he also served as a statistical consultant to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1948, and in 1952, took a leave from Queens College to help establish the psychology department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In addition to his teaching and research at Queens, Razran was co-chair of the International Pavlovian Conference on Higher Nervous Activity in 1961, and published "Mind in Evolution: An East-West Synthesis of Learned Behavior and Cognition" in 1971.
Razran retired from Queens College in 1972 to St. Petersburg, Fla., and tragically drowned there the following year. At the time of his death, he was Distinguished Professor at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. His papers are housed at the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the University of Akron (Ohio).
Razran Hall was erected in 1970 as the New Science Facility and renamed to honor Dr. Razran in 1994. Among other purposes, the building houses laboratories for the department of psychology.
Seaver Way
Tom Seaver (1944-2020), also known as “The Franchise” and "Tom Terrific," signed with the New York Mets in 1966 and pitched for the team from 1967 to 1977. He won the National League Rookie of the Year in 1967 and Cy Young Award in 1969. During his time with the team, he was selected to ten All-Star teams, led the league in strikeouts five times, and had five one-hitters and five 20-win seasons. He also led the "Miracle Mets” to win the World Series in 1969 and appeared again in the 1973 World Series.
Fans were heartbroken when Seaver was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in June 1977, where he continued to dominate. He finally pitched a no-hitter in 1978 and recorded his 3,000th strikeout in 1981. He found himself back on the Mets in 1983 and finished his career with the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox from 1984 to 1986. When he retired in 1987, he had a record of 311-205, with a 2.86 ERA and 3,640 strikeouts. Seaver was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1992 and wears the New York Mets cap on his plaque in the Hall.
After retiring from playing, Seaver continued with baseball as an announcer, working for both the New York Yankees (1989-1993) and New York Mets (1999-2005) before retiring again to run Seaver Vineyards in California.
The Mets retired Seaver's uniform number, 41, in 1988. Shortly before his death in 2020, the New York Mets changed their address to 41 Seaver Way, naming the part of 126th street outside the ballpark in his honor. On April 15, 2022, a statue of Seaver created by sculptor William Behrends was unveiled in front of the stadium. The bronze and stainless steel work, which stands 10 feet high and weighs more than 33,000 pounds, depicts Seaver in his trademark pitching stance.
Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge
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Francis Lewis Playground
Francis Lewis was born in 1713 in Wales. He attended school in England then moved to New York for business. Lewis was later taken prisoner in France before returning back to New York where he made a home in Whitestone. He was a member of the Continental Congress for years before the Revolutionary War and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Daniel Carter Beard Mall
Daniel Carter Bear (1850-1941) was a prominent Progressive-era reformer, outdoor enthusiast, illustrator and author. He earned a degree in civil engineering from Worrall's College in Kentucky. He later moved to New York City and studied at the Art Students' Lounge, which inspired him to work in illustration. His works appeared in reputable publications such as Harper's magazine and several of Mark Twain's books. He later wrote and illustrated the American Boys' Handy Book, and moved on to found the Sons of Daniel Boone, which encouraged outdoor and survival activities in boys. This organization became the precursor for what would later be the Boy Scouts of America.
P.S. 151 Mary D. Carter
Mary D. Carter (1930-1988) was a community activist and longtime resident of the Boulevard Gardens apartment complex in Woodside. As Director of the Boulevard Gardens Tenants Association, she arranged entertainment for local children and trips for senior citizens living in the complex. Carter worked for Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and was involved with the Liberty Democratic Club, the Police Athletic League of the 114th Precinct, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Lexington School for the Deaf, and the Corpus Christi School and Church. She was also active in the Girl Scouts, where she served as both a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader. She was married to the late Charles Carter and had four children.
The renaming of P.S. 151 in honor of Carter was recommended by the school's Parent Association, which described her as "a perfect role model" for the school community.
Archie Spigner Way
Archie Spigner (1928 - 2020) was a local politician who served for 27 years as a City Councilman for District 27 in southeast Queens, from 1974 to 2001, serving his last 15 years as deputy to the majority leader. He also served as the head of the United Democratic Club of Queens from 1970 until his death in 2020, a role in which he helped shape the borough’s Democratic Party leadership. During his tenure, he advocated for education, infrastructure, and the underserved community.
Archie Hugo Spigner was born on Aug. 27, 1928, in Orangeburg, S.C., his family moved to New York when Archie was 7, and he grew up in Harlem. As a young bus driver engaged in union activism, Mr. Spigner drew the attention of the labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who charged him with forming a Queens branch of Mr. Randolph’s Negro American Labor Council. While looking for a meeting place for his group, Mr. Spigner met Mr. Kenneth N. Browne, who was running for the State Assembly, and who became the borough’s first Black member of the New York State Assembly and its first Black State Supreme Court justice. Mr. Browne took Mr. Spigner to the local Democratic club and introduced him to the district leader Guy R. Brewer, and Spigner’s career in Queens politics began. Mr. Spigner went on to attend college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Queens College in 1972.
Spigner went on to become a major power house in an area that reliably voted Democratic, a nod from Mr. Spigner all but assured election. He was known as “The Dean,” and considered “The Godfather of Politics” in southeastern Queens. As a local-minded city councilman, Mr. Spigner helped shepherd the sale of the oft-criticized Jamaica Water Supply Company, New York City’s last privately owned waterworks, to the city government in 1997, bringing down costs for residents of southeast Queens. To spur local business, he successfully pushed for the construction of a permanent building for York College, part of the City University of New York, in the Jamaica section; a subway extension to downtown Jamaica; and a regional headquarters of the Social Security Administration.
Spotlight On: Latham Park
Thanks to his granddaughter, Susan Latham, we can tell a fuller story about William Latham, whose name graces a pocket park in Elmhurst.
Baisley Pond Park
David Baisley (1792-1875) was a farmer. he and his wife Sarah owned the land and operated the mill that was located on the pond that now bears his name.
George Washington As Master Mason
Born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Washington was born into a prosperous family, and was privately educated. He gained early experience as a land surveyor, and then joined the militia, serving as an officer in the French and Indian Wars from 1755-1758. Rising to the rank of colonel, he resigned his post, married Martha Dandridge (1731-1802), and returned as a gentleman farmer to the family plantation at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he resided with his wife, Martha.
He soon reentered public life, and served in succession as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1759-1774), and as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774-1775). Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Washington was made Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. His military prowess and inspirational leadership held the colonial armies together against overwhelming odds, and secured the evacuation and defeat of the British in 1783.
Washington again retired to Mount Vernon, but his dissatisfaction with the new provisional government, caused him to resume an active role, and in 1787 he presided over the second federal constitutional convention in Philadelphia. He was then unanimously chosen first president of the United States, and was inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York City on April 30, 1789. Washington was reelected to a second term in 1893, declined a third term, and retired from political life in 1797. Often referred to as “the father of our country,” Washington is universally regarded as having been instrumental in winning the American Revolution and in the establishment of the new nation.
This statue honors George Washington’s close association with the Free and Accepted Masons, a fraternal order founded in 1717, and dedicated to human liberty, religious tolerance, and fellowship. He was installed as first master of Alexandria Lodge on April 28, 1788. The first version of this statue was created by De Lue in 1959 for the Louisiana Lodge. A full-size faux-patined plaster model was displayed at the Masonic Pavilion of the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65 in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Following the fair, the sculptor was commissioned to create this replica in bronze, and with the assistance of former Parks Commissioner and Fair President Robert Moses (1888-1981), a site was selected for permanent placement near the former Masonic Center. The statue, cast in Italy, and positioned on a pedestal of North Carolina pink granite, was dedicated on June 3, 1967, the same day in which the World’s Fair Corporation returned the park back to the City. Additional copies of the statue were installed at the Masonic Hospital in Wallingford, Connecticut and at the Detroit Civic Center in Michigan.
Gwen Ifill Park
Gwen Ifill (1955-2016) was a trailblazing journalist who covered the White House, Congress and national election campaigns. She was the first Black woman to anchor a national TV public affairs show, Washington Week. Though she held positions with The Washington Post, The New York Times and NBC, she spent most of her career at PBS. She worked at PBS NewsHour for 17 years, and along with Judy Woodruff, was on the first all-woman anchor team on network nightly news.
Ifill was born in Jamaica, Queens, and lived in several different cities throughout New England, Pennsylvania and New York, due to her father’s work as a minister. She attended Simmons College in Boston and majored in communications. Her first journalism experience was as an intern at the Boston Herald newspaper in her senior year of college, and she subsequently began working at the newspaper full-time in 1977. Until her untimely death from cancer at the age of 61, Ifill had a prolific career as a journalist for more than 30 years.
The former Railroad Park was renamed Gwen Ifill Park on June 16, 2021.
Louis Armstrong House Museum
Portrait of Louis Armstrong, between 1938 and 1948.
Bishop Moses Taylor Way
Bishop Moses Taylor (1924-2004) was founder of The Long Island City Gospel Tabernacle and the Center of Hope International (COHI), which provides various services to the needy. Taylor, was born in 1924, and came to the Queensbridge Houses/Long Island City community in 1961. He began the Long Island City Gospel Tabernacle with just 12 members, and later opened up the Center of Hope International Church at 12-11 40th Avenue in Long Island City. He was involved in many philanthropic endeavors including an award-winning bread pantry in LIC and the Astoria Outreach Ministries.
P.S. 206 - The Horace Harding School
James Horace Harding was born to an influential publishing family in 1863. He entered the banking world and moved up through connections on his wife's side. Harding served as a director for multiple entities including American Express and numerous railway trusts. Harding enjoyed art collecting and spent time cultivating the Frick collection.
Harding was extremely influential in Long Island and supported Robert Moses' "Great Parkway Plan" to build a highway from Queens Blvd. to Shelter Rock in Nassau County. He also supported the Northern State Parkway and construction of the Long Island Expressway. His support of new roads happened to coincide with his desire for an easier pathway to his country club.
Harding died at 65 from influenza and blood poisoning.
Sergeant Paul Michael Ferrara Way
Paul Ferrara (1969-2014) joined the New York City Police Department in June 1992, and began his career on patrol in the 81st Precinct located in Brooklyn. Immediately after the tragedy on September 11, 2001, he was assigned to Ground Zero for the recovery efforts and spent many weeks thereafter assisting with public safety. After serving the Bedford Stuyvesant /Stuyvesant Heights communities for 14 years, he was promoted to Sergeant in February 2006, and was subsequently assigned to the 110th Precinct. On his days off, he would often be assigned to the elite Patrol Borough Queens North Counterterrorism Unit. This unit is responsible for patrolling “sensitive locations” such as stadiums, malls and other terrorist target locations. During his career he was recognized twice for Excellent Police Duty. Ferrara died on August 28, 2014, as a result of 9/11-related illness.
Henry Waichaitis Road
Henry Waichitis, undated photo
Captain Walter G. Hynes Way
Walter G. Hynes (b. 1954) died on September 11, 2001 during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential figures in jazz, known for both his trumpet improvisations and his distinctive singing voice. He also broke down numerous racial divides in the music and entertainment worlds, becoming the first Black performer to get featured billing in a major Hollywood film ("Pennies From Heaven," 1936) and the first Black host of a national radio show (Fleischmann's Yeast Show, 1937).
Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong grew up impoverished in a racially segregated city. He dropped out of school in fifth grade to work, and developed a close relationship with a local Jewish family that gave him odd jobs and nurtured his love of music. By the age of 11, Armstrong wound up in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he joined the band and studied the cornet in earnest. Upon his release from the home in 1914, he began working as a musician on Mississippi riverboats and other local venues. His reputation skyrocketed, and by the early 1920s he moved north, performing and recording with jazz bands in Chicago and New York.
Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Armstrong made dozens of records with his own and many other ensembles, toured extensively, and began performing in Broadway productions and movies. After some business and health setbacks, and in response to changing musical tastes, Armstrong scaled his group down to a six-piece combo in the 1940s and resumed touring internationally, recording albums and appearing in movies. Some of his biggest popular hits came in the later years of his career, including "Hello Dolly" (1964) and "What A Wonderful World" (1967). His grueling schedule took its toll on his heart and kidneys and in 1968 he was forced to take time off to recuperate, but he began performing again in 1970. Armstrong died in his sleep in July 1971, just a few months after his final engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
The original Louis Armstrong Stadium was constructed as the Singer Bowl for the Singer Sewing Machine Company's 1964-65 World’s Fair exhibit and renamed for Armstrong in 1972. Armstrong had lived in nearby Corona from 1943 until his death in 1971. In 1978, the stadium was refurbished and reconfigured when the United States Tennis Association moved the annual U.S. Open to Flushing Meadows from its previous home in Forest Hills. In 2018, the old stadium was replaced with a brand-new Louis Armstrong Stadium, featuring 14,000 seats and a retractable roof. A bronze plaque from the original stadium's dedication to Armstrong has been installed over the ticket window of the new construction.
Mother Maude Ford Way
Mother Maude Ford (1881-1970) was born in Barbados. She was a dedicated member of the Salvation Army, working first in Harlem in the 1920s with young women. After becoming First Chaplain she was called to minister in Jamaica, Queens, where she went door to door, serving the needs of the people. Soon, she established a church that held its first open-air service in July 1925. After a fire and then winds tore down the tents, the church moved to the basement of Ford's home at 157-01 110th Avenue, where she lived with her husband John.
Mother Ford's dynamic ministry welcomed people of all races to her church, which grew quickly, so that by March 1926, her garage was dedicated as the Gospel Truth Tabernacle. In April 1931, the church was incorporated and its name was changed to Christ Pentecostal Temple, Inc. By 1953, she had negotiated the purchase of land and completed the construction and dedication of the current church edifice, located at 109-45 157th Street. Mother Ford was a forceful and beloved presence in the community of Jamaica until her death in 1970.
Whitey Ford Field
Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (1928 - 2020) was a pitcher for the New York Yankees who was raised in Astoria. Ford was called up to the majors in 1950, beginning a long and illustrious career with the team, though he missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons while serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. During his time with the Yankees, he won 236 games as the team won 11 pennants and six World Series. He was a ten-time All Star, and in 1961 he received the Cy Young Award and World Series MVP. He earned the nickname “Chairman of the Board” for his calm, collected demeanor and pitching style.
Following his retirement in 1967, Ford served brief stints as the team’s first base and pitching coach and assisted at spring training. His jersey, number 16, was retired when he was inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He was the first Yankee pitcher to have his jersey retired.
The site of this field was occupied by Eagle Oil Works in the late 19th century, before the City acquired the land in 1906. In 1907, the U.S. Government leased part of the site for a monthly fee of $16.66 to the Coast Guard so it could maintain a lighthouse and bell along the water at the site. The lighthouse remained on the seawall until 1982. In 1942, NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses petitioned the City for the site and in October 1943, it was assigned to Parks and became known as Astoria Athletic Field. In 1985, the park’s name was changed to Hellgate Field for the water passage that the park abuts. At a special Yankee Stadium ceremony in August 2000, the field was dedicated to Whitey Ford.
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie Residence
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Sergeant Colyer Square
Sergeant Wilbur E. Colyer (1901-1918) was an American soldier who served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and later moved to South Ozone Park, Queens. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the army and served as a member of Company A of the 1st Engineers, 1st Division.
On October 9, 1918, near Verdun, France, Colyer volunteered to lead a team of soldiers to locate and destroy enemy machine gun nests. While advancing on the enemy positions, Colyer became half surrounded by machine gun nests. He killed the gunner of one nest with a captured German grenade and then turned the gun on the other nests, silencing them all. He then returned to his platoon, having saved them from heavy fire.
Colyer was killed in action the following day, October 10, 1918. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery and selfless actions, the first and youngest Queens resident to do to so.
This small triangle in South Ozone Park named in his honor features a historic stone marker and plaque commemorating Colyer's service and sacrifice.
Foch Sitting Area
Ferdinand Foch, (1851 – 1929) was a French general and the marshal of France and who served as Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. He is generally considered the leader most responsible for the Allied victory.
Foch was born in Tarbes, France, his father was a civil servant. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, the 17-year-old Foch enlisted in the French 4th Infantry Regiment in 1868. He entered the artillery corps in 1873 and from 1885 taught military strategy at the war college, becoming its commandant in 1908. After World War I broke out, he commanded an army detachment and planned the strategy that enabled Joseph-Jacques-Césaire Joffre to win the First Battle of the Marne. After commanding at the Battles of Ypres and the Somme, Foch was appointed chief of the general staff in 1917, adviser to the Allied armies, and then in 1918, commander in chief of all Allied armies, winning the battlefield against Erich Ludendorff. When Germany was forced to ask for an armistice, the conditions were dictated by the recently promoted Marshal Foch. Considered the leader most responsible for the Allied victory, he was showered with honors after the war and was buried near Napoleon in the Invalides.
Marie Curie Playground
Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a noted scientist and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Maria Skolodowska-Curie moved to Paris in 1891 to study at the Sorbonne. Soon after, she joined a research laboratory and in 1898, she and her husband Pierre expanded on Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, discovering two new elements, Polonium and Radium. This discovery earned Curie her first Nobel Prize, in Physics. She won a second Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911, becoming the first person to earn two such awards. Curie died in France in 1934 from leukemia, thought to be caused by exposure to radiation.
Marie Curie Playground opened September 6, 1956, as a jointly operated playground at J.H.S. 158. Jointly operated playgrounds are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education and maintained by Parks, so that parklands serve an adjacent school site’s recreational needs as well as the general public. In 1985 the park was renamed for Curie, and later renovations pay tribute to her career: an atom motif is featured in the spray showers, and the hopscotch grid is patterned after a chemistry table. Several plaques also feature Curie’s achievements and quotes.
