Detective Keith L. Williams (1954 - 1989) Williams was killed on November 13, 1989, while transporting a prisoner from court to back to Riker’s Island. Williams was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. He attended Jamaica High School, where he played varsity basketball for four years, and Long Island University in Brooklyn. He began his career in the Department of Corrections where he worked until his appointment to the Police Academy in 1981, serving in both Bushwick and South Brooklyn before becoming a detective for the Queens District Attorney’s Squad in 1987. Williams was a dedicated officer and citizen who coached teen-agers in a neighborhood basketball league and started the Keith Roundball Classics, a basketball tournament in Liberty Park. He also sponsored an after-school program at P.S. 116. He received two Excellent Police Duty citations and was honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor in 1990. 

Conrad Poppenhusen (1818-1883) was an early developer of College Point, Queens and a local entrepreneur and philanthropist.  Born in Hamburg, Germany on April 1, 1818, he emigrated to the United States in 1843. He started a whalebone processing plant in Brooklyn and then manufactured rubber goods, eventually moving his firm to Queens, then a farming village. Poppenhusen developed the Village of College Point, which was formed in 1870, to accommodate his factory workers. In 1868, he also opened the Flushing and North Side Railroad, connecting College Point to New York City. At the same time, he founded the Poppenhusen Institute, which was comprised of a vocational high school and the first free kindergarten in the United States. It is still in existence today.  After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his family lost much of its fortune due to financial mismanagement by his three sons. He died in College Point on December 12, 1883. The bronze memorial was created by Henry Baerer (1837-1908). Baerer, born in Kirscheim, Germany, came to the United States in 1854. He created six sculptures in New York City Parks, including statues of Ludwig von Beethoven in Prospect and Central Parks. 

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school (1849) and obtain an MD degree.  Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 to Quaker parents in Bristol, England. Although education for women was generally discouraged at the time, Blackwell’s parents disagreed. Throughout Blackwell’s childhood, her parents were very supportive of her educational endeavors. By the age of 11, Blackwell and her family immigrated to the United States. During Blackwell’s mid-20s, she had experienced the passing of a close friend. Prior to death, her friend had told Blackwell that she would have experienced less suffering if she had a female doctor. This inspired Blackwell to pursue a career path in medicine. In 1847, multiple medical schools rejected her because she was a female applicant. Fortunately, Geneva Medical College accepted her application but for improper reasons. The college allowed the all-male student body to determine her acceptance through a vote. Many of the students voted “yes” as a joke since she was a female. Blackwell experienced an extremely difficult time in medical school, she was constantly harassed and excluded by classmates and faculty. Despite the hardships Blackwell had to endure, she graduated in 1849 and was ranked first in her class. In the mid 1850s, Dr. Blackwell returned to the United States and opened a clinic to treat poor women. In 1857 Dr. Blackwell opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with the help of her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell and colleague Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. This infirmary would be the nations first hospital that had an all-female staff. This hospital still stands and is currently known as the New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and is helping millions of people in New York to this date. Additionally, in 1868, Dr. Blackwell created a medical college devoted to providing education for future female physicians which is now apart of Weill Cornell Medicine. In 1869 Dr Blackwell returned to England where she continued to advocate for women in medicine until her death in 1910.

Carlos Lillo (1963-2001), a paramedic, was killed while assisting in rescue operations on September 11, 2001, following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Poet, novelist and playwright Langston Hughes (1901-1967) grew up in the Midwest and moved to New York City to attend Columbia University. Hughes is known as a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural mecca for Black intellectuals and artists in the early 20th century. He wrote about African American life between the 1920s and 1960s, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Montage of A Dream Deferred," and "Not Without Laughter," which won the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature. His ashes are interred beneath a mosaic in the NYPL's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem.

This walking tour explores individuals whose names grace several public spaces in Hunters Point, Queens.

Statue of Tom Seaver at entrance to Citi Field.

Catharine Turner Richardson (1903-1988), a local civic activist, was a former president of the Douglaston Garden Club. She moved to Douglaston in 1932 and worked to preserve the residential nature of the community, as well as its wetlands. The park was named for her in 1991.

Julian “Julie” Wager (1929-2010) was founder of the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition and its president for over 30 years. He was also president of the Steinway Astoria partnership and the Steinway Street Merchants Association, and served on Community Board 1 for 30 years. Wager died in January 2010 at the age of 80; he had been sick for the previous 10 years after being left paraplegic after a spinal cord injury. He had six daughters.

Conrad Poppenhusen (1818-1883), entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Hamburg, Germany on April 1, 1818. After working for a whalebone merchant as a whalebone purchaser in Europe, Poppenhusen moved to the United States in 1843 to set up a whalebone processing plant on the Brooklyn waterfront. In 1852 he obtained a license from Charles Goodyear to manufacture hard rubber goods, and then moved his firm to a farming village in what is now Queens. Poppenhusen is credited with creating the Village of College Point, which was formed in 1870 when it incorporated the neighborhoods of Flammersburg and Strattonport. In order to accommodate his factory workers he initiated numerous developments; including the establishment of housing, the First Reformed Church, and construction of streets.. In 1868, he opened the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which connected the town to New York City. In that same year he also founded the Poppenhusen Institute, which was comprised of a vocational high school and the first free kindergarten in the United States, and is the oldest school in Queens today. After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his family lost much of its fortune due to the financial mismanagement by his three sons. Conrad Poppenhusen died in College Point on December 12, 1883.

Harry Suna (1924-1992) was born in the Bronx. He worked for Todd Shipyard at age 17. After completing his apprenticeship, Suna joined the Central Sheet Metal Company and in 1946, at 22, became the company's secretary and treasurer. The next year, Suna established A. Suna & Company, which became a multimillion-dollar construction and sheet metal fabrication firm. He successfully developed more than 1,000 units of affordable housing throughout New York City. Suna visited the Silvercup building in December 1979 and purchased it for $2 million in 1980. His sons Stuart and Alan, who were architects, saw the potential for movie sound stages. Suna was chairman of Silvercup Studios, which he turned into New York City's leading film and TV production facility. He passed away suddenly just before his 68th birthday.

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.

John Bowne (1627-1695) was an English emigrant who arrived in in New Netherland, or Vlissingen (now Flushing) in 1649. He fought against Governor Pieter Stuyvesant's edict to restrict religious freedom by allowing Quakers to meet in his home. Bowne was arrested, fined and imprisoned for months by Gov. Stuyvesant and even deported due to his religious activities, though he was later set free by the Directors of the West India Company. He returned to his home later and acquired more land, including that designated for the Flushing Quaker Meeting House and a burial ground, where he was buried upon his death in 1695. Flushing had the previous name of Flushing Creeke by the original inhabitants who lived there, the Matinecock people, part of the larger Algonquin nation. While the Matinecock people are said to have sold land to the Dutch, and possibly to Bowne as well, there was also documented violence against them prior to this, as well as a smallpox epidemic that devastated the community years later in 1652. Members of the Matinecock tribe remain in Queens today.

Dr. Marie Maynard Daly (1921 - 2003) was a groundbreaking American biochemist who shattered barriers in science. Born in Corona, Queens, Daly's father immigrated from the West Indies and began studying chemistry at Cornell. However, he faced financial hardship and had to leave his studies to become a postal clerk. Daly's mother, a Washington D.C. native, fostered her daughter's love of learning by reading to her extensively. This instilled a strong value in education and inspired Daly to pursue her own passion for chemistry. Daly earned her B.S. from Queens College and her M.S. from New York University, both in chemistry. She then went on to complete her Ph.D. at Columbia University, becoming the first African-American woman in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry. Daly went on to a distinguished career as a professor and researcher, primarily at Yeshiva University. Her research delved into crucial topics like protein synthesis, heart disease, and the circulatory system. Beyond her impactful research, Daly was a champion for diversity and representation in science. Recognizing the challenges faced by minority students, she established a scholarship fund at Queens College to support aspiring chemists and physicists from underrepresented communities. Daly's dedication to science and advocacy was widely recognized. She was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and honored by the National Technical Association as one of the Top 50 Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology in 1999.

Cavaliere Vincent Iannece (1925-2005) served the community for many years and in many ways. He was the founder of the Federation of the Italian American Organization of Queens, and was instrumental in organizing and hosting the Queens Columbus Day Parade for more than four decades. Iannece was also the founder of the St. Michael’s Society and an active member of the Astoria Civic Association; he was appointed as a member of Community Board 1 in 1993.

James B. Colgate (1818-1904) was the son of multimillionaire William Colgate, founder of Colgate Soap Company – now known as Colgate-Palmolive. James started a New York Stock Exchange brokerage firm in 1852. During his lifetime, Colgate donated over a million dollars to Madison University in Hamilton, NY., which was later renamed Colgate University in his honor. With this he supported the construction of various buildings and the university’s endowment fund. Upon his death, he left money to the Baptist Educational Society in New York.

Program booklet for the dedication of the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clock Tower in 1989.

In the course of his 25 years in politics, Joseph Addabbo (1925-1986) won much respect from his colleagues, constituents and community for his ability to be just, compassionate and effective. A lifelong resident of Ozone Park, he was educated at City College and St. John’s University, where he received his law degree in 1946. Addabbo began his career as a lawyer. First elected to represent the 6th District in Queens in 1960, Addabbo, a Democrat, was re-elected to Congress 12 times. He supported legislation to benefit the elderly, education, small businesses, veterans benefits, and appropriation of funds for economically depressed areas. As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (1979-1986), Addabbo played a powerful role in both shaping and challenging national defense policy. He worked to curb defense spending, sponsored legislation to halt the Vietnam War, and advocated a nuclear freeze while at the same time bolstering defense contracts for New York. Addabbo served in Congress until he died on April 10, 1986.

English explorer and navigator Henry Hudson (1575-1611) is credited as the first European to “discover” the North River, later named for him. On September 2, 1609, Hudson, the captain of the Dutch ship Halve Maen (Half Moon), directed his ship to drop anchor in the lower bay of what is now known as New York Harbor. Henry Hudson had been hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a sea route through North America to the Far East. The ship sailed up the river that now bears his name, docking off Spuyten Duyvil and attempting travel even further upstream before abandoning the quest, realizing that the river was narrowing. Hudson’s last voyage was in 1611 when, after discovering Hudson’s Bay and claiming it for England, his crew mutinied and cast him adrift. The Dutch East India Company soon afterward establish an outpost that became New Netherland, and eventually the metropolis we know as New York.

Lewis Mumford (1895 - 1990) was a literary critic, historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology and city planner, who was an expert on urban architecture and cities. Mumford was an original homeowner in Sunnyside Gardens, where he lived with his wife, Sophia, and their two children from 1927 to 1936, at 40-02 44th Street. Mumford was born in Flushing and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1912. He studied at the City College of New York and The New School for Social Research. Showing his early interest in utopianism, he wrote his first book at the age of 27, entitled, The Story of Utopias, where he argued that utopian literature could provide useful ideas for the present. Mumford had a broad career as a writer whose literary output consisted of over 20 books and thousands of articles and reviews. He was also the long-time architecture critic at The New Yorker magazine. In 1962, his book, The City in History, won the national book award for nonfiction. Mumford was arguably the most read and influential urbanist of the mid-20th century.

Edward Irving Koch (1924-2013) was born in Crotona Park East in the Bronx, NY. He was the second of three children to Louis and Joyce Silpe Koch, Polish Jewish immigrants. His family then moved to Newark, NJ, where he was raised. Koch worked at a hat-and-coat check concession when he was just 9 years old. Later, he worked as a delicatessen clerk and attended South Side High School in Newark. He was president of his school debating society and enjoyed stamp collecting and photography. He graduated from high school in 1941. After Koch’s graduation, the family moved to Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. Koch attended City College of New York and worked as a shoe salesman. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II and earned two battle stars in Europe as a combat infantryman in the 104th Infantry Division (1943-1946). After the war, Koch went to New York University Law School and graduated in 1948. He took the New York Bar, practiced law (1949-1968) and became a founding partner of Koch, Lankenau, Schwartz, and Kovner in 1963. Then Edward Koch made a significant impact on New York City politics. He joined the Democratic Party and defeated power broker Carmine DeSapio to become the Greenwich Village district leader (1963 and 1965). He served on the City Council from 1966 to 1968 and in the U.S House of Representatives from 1969 until December 1977. In 1978, Koch became the 105th mayor of New York City, serving three terms. He was known for his intelligence, strong opinions and colorful personality. He supported gay rights, addressed the AIDS epidemic, reduced crime in the city, and helped resolve the city’s financial crisis. In honor of Koch’s 86th birthday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed to rename the Queensboro Bridge after him. It was officially renamed on March 23, 2011. Ed Koch passed away on February 1, 2013, at the age of 88. The bridge itself was designed by engineer Gustav Lindenthal and architect Henry Hornbosted. Construction began in 1901 and it eventually opened to traffic on March 30, 1909. The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge has upper- and lower-level roadways. Major renovations have been made over the years and in 1973 the bridge was designated as a national landmark.

Rev. Dr. Timothy P. Mitchell (1930-2012) was pastor of Flushing’s Ebenezer Baptist Church for 47 years, from 1961 until his retirement in 2008. His father, Rev. James B. Mitchell, had also been pastor of the church from 1930 to his death in 1947. Mitchell was born in Whitestone and graduated from Flushing High School. He continued his education at Queens College, Hartford University and the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Prior to his position at Ebenezer, he served as pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Hartford. Mitchell had a strong interest in social justice and participated in many regional and national organizations, including the social service committee of the National Baptist Convention and the special affairs committee of the New England Baptist Missionary Convention. He marched on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and was one of the principal strategists of King’s Poor People’s Campaign in 1968. In his later years, Mitchell took on causes including police brutality and affordable housing for senior citizens. He also worked on the presidential campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the mayoral campaign of David Dinkins.

Christopher Racaniello (b. 1971) a Little Neck native, worked for Cantor Fitzegerald at the World Trade Center. He was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

Captain Malcolm A. Rafferty (1861 - 1903) was a hero of the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. A Long Island City native, he returned home after the war and worked for the Barber Asphalt Company. He died of malaria in Trinidad in 1903.

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James Alan Bland (1854-1911) was an African American musician and composer of popular songs, including "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," formerly the official state song of Virginia. Bland was born in Flushing to educated, free African American parents. While attending Howard University he became enthralled with the banjo and learned to play it. In the late 1870s, Bland began his professional career as a member of the first successful all-Black minstrel company, the Georgia Minstrels. Later he worked in minstrel shows throughout Europe and the United States, becoming the highest-paid minstrel singer in the country. He performed for Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace and President Grover Cleveland and Gen. Robert E. Lee in Washington. After living for 20 years in Europe, Bland returned to the U.S. in 1901. His fortunes declined as minstrel shows were replaced by vaudeville, and he died alone of tuberculosis in Philadelphia in 1911. Though Bland was buried there in an unmarked grave, a memorial was later erected by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. This playground is located adjacent to the James A. Bland public housing complex.

Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was a Civil Rights activist and NAACP leader. In his early days, he became the editor of the Kansas City Call in 1923, a weekly newspaper serving the Black community of Kansas City, Missouri. He also helped organize the historic March on Washington in August 1963 and participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965 and the March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966. Under Wilkins's direction, NAACP played a major role in many civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act.

This collection celebrates those who were active in building the Queens community through education, construction, and development.

Edward F. Guida(1924-2014), nicknamed Eddie by those who knew him, was born and raised in Corona, Queens. He was a City Marshal for 29 years and owned a family-run funeral home, the Guida Funeral Home, opened in 1909 by his Grandfather. The Corona community loved and respected him for his compassion and ethics in both jobs. He was sympathetic to all the families that mourned the deaths of their loved ones in his funeral home. His wife, Mary Guida, remembers him as "generous, loving, caring, and respectful." As Guida ran his funeral home, he was highly involved in the community of Corona, working with the Corona Lion's Club, The Latino Lawyers Association, The Italian Heritage Foundation, The American Diabetes Association, The Golden Age, and the local Precinct Council. The funeral home was also involved with the Northside Democratic Club, St. Leo's Church, and St. Leos School. He assisted in creating St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital's Queens Chapter in 1991, earning him the title of "Man of the Year." As a City Marshal, Guida would show compassion to those he needed to evict as it was part of his job. He would try to assist the people he was evicting by giving them information and showing a kind heart. Although kind, he was still "tough when he had to be," according to his wife. When Guida passed, his wife, Mary and their son, Edward Guida Jr., continued to run the funeral home. Eddie Jr. would also continue his father's City Marshal business, even taking up his badge number, #14. The intersection of 104th Street and 48th Avenue was named after him, Edward F. Guida Sr. Way, this same intersection being the location of the Guida Funeral Home.

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. Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, purchased their home in Corona in 1943, shortly after they were married, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. P.S. 143 is located approximately half a mile from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs.

In February, we celebrate Black History Month by honoring the many Black activists and organizers honored by the borough of Queens with place names.

Henry Engelhard Steinway was born Heinrich Engelhardt Steinweg in Germany on February 15, 1797 . He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and opened up a piano-making business before moving to America and starting a shop there. He moved his company, known as Steinway & Sons from Manhattan to Astoria, Queens, forming the "Steinway Village." This factory is still operating today.

Gregory Razran Hall on the campus of Queens College, July 2022.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) was born in New York City to immigrant parents, attended public schools and graduated from New York University Law School in 1910. After practicing law for several years, he was elected as the nation’s first Italian American member of Congress in 1916. He served as a U.S. Representative until 1919, when he resigned to join the Army Air Service and serve in World War I. Upon his return, he was president of the New York City Board of Aldermen in 1920 and 1921, and was re-elected to Congress from 1923 to 1933. LaGuardia then served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. Among LaGuardia's many achievements as mayor, he is credited with unifying and modernizing New York City's public transit system, consolidating much of the city government, cracking down on illegal gambling, and beginning transportation projects that created many of the city’s bridges, tunnels, parkways and airports. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Queens College. In September 1937, Mayor LaGuardia broke ground on this airport's site. Its construction was funded through a $45 million Federal Works Progress Administration grant. More than half of the 558 acres on which the airport was built was man-made, filled in with more than 17 million cubic yards of cinders, ashes and trash. The new airport opened in 1939 as New York City Municipal Airport. In August 1940, the Board of Estimates renamed the facility for LaGuardia, who considered the project one of his greatest achievements. Today it is the third largest airport in the New York metropolitan area.

Ann and two gentlemen (probably members of the board) at Annual Dinner, some time in the 1960's, taken at Waldorf-Astoria.     Library Dedication at then Boys Club of Queens, Ann is the woman in a dark dress standing in doorway facing camera, Taken in the 1960-70's.   Mary Demarkos Ann Buehler and Lucille Hartmann posting before bleachers in gym at Variety Boys and Girls Club, taken some time in the early 2000s Ann working on a crafts project with kids, Taken sometime in the early 2000.  

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.

August Harvey “Augie” Martin (1919-1968) was an American pilot. He was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and later became the first African American to pilot a commercial aircraft in the United States. Martin was born in Los Angeles but moved with his family to New York City during his childhood. In 1938, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. He returned to California to attend San Mateo Junior College and the University of California. While there, he washed airplanes at the Oakland Flying Service to pay for flying lessons. On January 8, 1940, Martin completed his first solo flight. He continued learning how to fly at the federally sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program at the University of California. There, he earned his flight instructor rating, a qualification that allows pilots to teach flight training. In 1942, he returned to New York and worked as a civilian inspector at the Navy V-12 Program at Cornell University. In 1943, Martin joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and went to Tuskegee, Alabama, for flight training, earning his wings on September 8, 1945. He was slated to go overseas with his bombardment team, but WWII ended before that took place. In 1946, Martin left the military and looked for a job in commercial aviation, but found it challenging to find a pilot's job as a Black man. He instead worked as an aircraft maintainer at Willis Air Service in Teterboro, N.J. From then until 1955, he was also a part-time pilot for different airlines. When he did not have any flying jobs, he worked as a stevedore on the New York City docks to support his family. In 1955, Martin joined Seaboard World Airlines as a pilot, becoming the first African American captain of a U.S. air carrier. In 1968, Martin helped establish Negro Airmen International (NAI) with Edward A. Gibbs and other African American pilots. NAI's mission was to foster the inclusion of African Americans in aviation. After the outbreak of civil war in Nigeria in 1967, Martin volunteered to bring emergency relief supplies into the Biafra region for the International Red Cross. On June 30, 1968, he and his wife Gladys died in a plane crash while attempting to land in Biafra during a rainstorm. In 1971, the August Martin High School opened on the site of the former Woodrow Wilson High School. The school is known for its aviation training program. Martin was also honored by the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration in 1980 with its publication of the August Martin Activities Book, a 20-page children's book. It was reprinted in 1993.

This park opened to the public in 1932. That same year, the Board of Aldermen named the facility Andrews Playground for one John F. Andrews "to do honor to the memory of one active in the civic affairs of the Borough of Queens during his lifetime." Unfortunately, very little is known about Andrews, save that he was born on December 15, 1896, in Long Island City and died in August 1980. Soon after the playground first opened, it underwent massive reconstruction and reopened in 1936 equipped with a children's play area and comfort station. In the 1950s, Andrews Playground was enlarged twice. The City of New York acquired one of the park's additions by private purchase in 1951, and the other by condemnation in 1955. These two additions brought the park to its current size of 2.542 acres.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was born in Scotland and received higher education at the University of Edinburgh and the University of London. In 1871, he immigrated to Canada and then the U.S. in 1871. Bell’s research centered on speech and sound and the ways it can be manipulated to be more accessible. He was inspired by his mother who was deaf to create the first international phonetic alphabet. Bell’s experimentation of sound went way beyond the lab. He started to play with vibrations in hobbies and everyday life. He observed how his dog's barking patterns and pitch concerned the throat’s vibration. While practicing piano, he also discovered that you could mimic the chords of a piano in another room by the echo of it, leading him to realize they were being transmitted through the air. From this observation, he experimented with the ideas of waves and wires coming together to form an invention that could carry sound over differing distances. In 1876 this invention was patented as the telephone. Soon after, in 1876, Bell founded the Bell Company to distribute the communication device to the public. Although Bell was most famous for the telephone, a way to transport sound, he also participated in the invention of other transportation devices. He developed blueprints of airplanes, kites, and watercrafts. Bell's Silver Dart successfully flew a half mile in 1909 and his HD-4 was the fastest watercraft in the world. In 1888, Bell and his son-in-law invested their work into National Geography, an up-and-coming journal which bloomed into a well renowned science entity. P.S. 205Q Alexander Graham Bell School was established in 1954.

Maureen Walthers (1934 – 2020) was the owner and publisher of the Ridgewood Times and Times Newsweekly. Walthers was a homemaker in the 1970s when she wrote a letter to the editor of the Ridgewood Times about drug use at a playground a block away. The letter impressed the paper’s then-publisher, and she was offered a job as a writer - it began a five-decade association with the weekly newspaper covering the Greater Ridgewood area (Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, and Middle Village). She was on the front lines covering the civic scene in Ridgewood and neighboring Bushwick, Brooklyn, during the 1970s. She would ride along with police officers and firefighters as they responded to emergencies in both communities and chronicled the rampant urban decay in Bushwick an award-winning seven-part series, “The Agony of Bushwick,” published in the Ridgewood Times in the summer and fall of 1977. The series brought further public awareness of the community’s woes, and action from the city to reverse the decline. Walthers was one of the founding members of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society and took an active role in helping to preserve and landmark the Onderdonk House, a colonial farmhouse on Flushing Avenue. She was also an active member of Queens Community Board 5 for many years and served for a time as the chair of its Public Safety Committee. She was also involved with the Greater Ridgewood Restoration Corporation, which promotes the preservation of the neighborhood’s housing stock. In 1981, she became the Ridgewood Times’ first female editor, as well as executive vice president and co-owner. She became owner of the paper and expanded it over the next three decades beyond the Greater Ridgewood area. She launched the Times Newsweekly in 1989, a version of the Ridgewood Times distributed in northwestern and southwestern Queens communities, extending out as far north as Astoria and as far south Howard Beach. The Times Newsweekly sponsored Cop of the Month awards at eight precincts covering western Queens and Bushwick.

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Gloria D’Amico (ca. 1927-2010) was Queens County Clerk for 19 years, the first woman ever to hold that position. Under her guidance the county became the first in the city to implement a jury duty call-in system, making it easier for potential jurors to find out if they had to serve. Among her many community activities, she served on the board of Sharing and Caring, an agency providing support for women with breast cancer.

Henry Waichaitis (1919 – 1982) was a community leader in Broad Channel, who lived on West 20th Road. Born in Maspeth, Waichaitis was a veteran of World War II and a United States Merchant Marine. After the war, he moved to Broad Channel where he met and married Helen Hutchinson, and started a career as a civil servant in the Department of Sanitation. His love of the Broad Channel community prompted him to become involved with the local Democratic Club, of which he would later serve as president. He joined and revitalized the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department, where he worked his way up the ranks to Chief and was responsible for the acquisition of the first volunteer ambulance on the Island. He was Chief of the department from 1960 to 1963. He also served as President of the Civic Association, and became the first Chairman of Community Board 14.

Aristotle (384 BCE-322 BCE) lived in ancient Greece, and is known as one of the most highly regarded philosophers and scientists in human history. Though he was prolific in many fields, some of his most famous contributions include creating a discipline of formal logic, zoology, and his ethical and political theories. He studied under and with Plato in Athens, which is reflected in many of his writings. In his later years, Aristotle founded his own school called the Lyceum where he taught students and lectured to the larger public for free.

Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Wilson Rantus Rock, October 27, 2022.

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Abigail Adams (1744-1818) had the distinction of being the first Second Lady of the United States and the second First Lady. She was also the mother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. A political influencer, she is remembered for the many letters of advice she exchanged with her husband, John Adams, during the Continental Congresses and throughout his political career. In 1776, Abigail wrote her most famous letter, exhorting the Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies.” She added, “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”