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.

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.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District of England. He was one of the founders of English Romanticism and one its most central figures and important intellects. Wordsworth's collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge led to one of the most famous collections of poetry, entitled "Lyrical Ballads." Wordsworth was Britain's poet laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850. He is remembered as a poet of spiritual and epistemological speculation, being deeply concerned with the human relationship to nature and for his fierce advocacy of using the vocabulary and speech patterns of common people in poetry.

In 1967, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School was named after Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870-1938), former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1932-1938). Justice Cardozo is notable for both his defense of the New Deal’s social programs during his six short years at the Supreme Court and his advocacy for the common-law approach throughout his judicial career.  Born in New York City to a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family, Justice Cardozo was tutored by Horatio Alger and various home tutors as a youth, before being admitted into Columbia College at age fifteen. Cardozo had ambition to restore his family’s honor, after his father, Judge Albert Cardozo of the Supreme Court of New York, achieved notoriety for his involvement with the corrupt Tweed ring. The elder Cardozo resigned in 1872, just before he could be impeached. After the younger Cardozo’s graduation from Columbia College and a few years at Columbia Law School, he joined his father’s law practice and entered the bar. In 1914, Cardozo was appointed to the Court of Appeals, he would serve eighteen years at the court - five of which at the head. Following Oliver Wendell Holmes’s retirement from the United States Supreme Court in 1932, Justice Cardozo was named to the Supreme Court by President Herbert Hoover. This appointment earned him the distinction of being the second Jewish judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court, after Justice Louis Brandeis. Despite later describing himself as an agnostic, Justice Cardozo volunteered within the Jewish community throughout his life. He was a member of the Judean Club, a board member of the American Jewish Committee, and a member of the Zionist Organization of America at various points. At the point of his appointment to the Supreme Court, he resigned from all offices except for his membership on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Welfare Board and on the Committee on the Advisor to the Jewish students at Columbia University. On the Supreme Court, he was one of the “Three Musketeers” - the nickname given to the three liberal members of the Court that supported the New Deal agenda, including Justice Brandeis and Justice Harlan Fiske Stone. He is noted for his defense of social security and old-age pensions in particular.

Paul Raimonda (1922 – 1988) was a community leader and life-long resident in Long Island City and head of the Astoria Heights Homeowners and Tenants Association. Raimonda attended P.S. 126 and William C. Bryant High School and served for four years in the Army Air Corps during World War II.  He was an active member in the Long Island Seneca Club, but his most notable contribution was the creation of the Astoria Heights Homeowners and Tenants Association in 1971. Through the Tenants Association, Raimonda and community members sought to give a unified voice to residents. He was an instrumental leader in a successful campaign to block a state takeover and expansion of Rikers Island in 1980. In addition, Raimonda was a member of Community Board 1 and of the Liberty Regular Democratic Club. In April 1987, the Italian American Regular Democratic Association of Queens named him Man of the Year, and he received the good wishes of Governor Mario Cuomo.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was born in the Italian seaport of Genoa in 1451, to a family of wool weavers. He went to sea from an early age, and was an experienced sailor by his twenties. In 1476 Columbus moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and for many years attempted to gain support for a journey he was planning to find new trade routes to the Far East. Eventually Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain, agreed to finance him. He is known for his 1492 ‘discovery’ of the 'new world' of the Americas on board his ship Santa Maria. In actual fact, Columbus did not discover North America. He was the first European to sight the Bahamas archipelago and then the island later named Hispaniola, now split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On his subsequent voyages he went farther south, to Central and South America. He never got close to what is now called the United States. Columbus called all the people he met in the islands ‘Indians’, because he was sure that he had reached the Indies. This initial encounter opened up the 'New World' to European colonization, which would come to have a devastating impact on indigenous populations. Columbus died in 1506, still believing that he had found a new route to the East Indies. Today his historic legacy as a daring explorer who discovered the New World has been challenged. His voyages launched centuries of European exploration and colonization of the American continents. His encounters also triggered centuries of exploitation of Indigenous Peoples. The City acquired this land on July 19, 1910, and since the 1920s Italian-Americans of Queens have gathered here to celebrate Columbus. The Board of Aldermen, on April 1, 1930, named the site for the famed explorer. The Italian Chamber of Commerce installed a bronze tablet here on October 12, 1937, indicating its intention to build a full monument to Columbus. In 1938, with funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Italian sculptor Angelo Racioppi was commissioned to create the seven foot tall bronze of a youthful Christopher Columbus standing in front of a ship’s tiller.

Photos are of signs displayed on the front of the school building.

Dr. Richard R. Green (1936 – 1989) was the first black New York City Schools Chancellor. He served in this capacity from March 1988 to May 1989.

Detective Anastasios Tsakos (d. 2021) was a 14-year veteran of the NYPD’s highway patrol unit, the 43 year old was killed when he was struck by an intoxicated driver as he directed traffic away from another fatal accident on the Long Island Expressway in Queens. Tsakos was born in Dover, N.H. and then moved with his parents to Greece, their home country, where he lived until he was 14. The family then came to Astoria, Queens, where Tsakos graduated high school. Tsakos earned his undergraduate degree in aviation administration from Dowling College on Long Island - he had a dream to fly airplanes and helicopters. After college, he worked at his father’s Port Washington diner for a while, and then returned to Greece and enlisted in the Greek army, where he became second lieutenant. In 2007, he moved back to the U.S. and joined the NYPD with the goal of flying an NYPD helicopter. He worked in the 75th and 83rd precincts before joining the highway patrol unit.

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.

Firefighter Richie Allen (1970-2001) died during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Manuel de Dios Unanue (1943-1992) was a Cuban-born journalist and radio host who was killed in New York City in 1992. De Dios was born in Cuba in 1943 and moved to the United States in 1973, after time spent in Spain and Puerto Rico, he settled in Elmhurst, Queens. He worked as a journalist for several Spanish-language newspapers in New York City, before becoming editor-in-chief of El Diario La Prensa, the largest Spanish-Language newspaper in NYC, in 1984. De Dios was best known for his investigative reporting on the Colombian drug trade. He wrote extensively about the drug cartels that operated in Queens, and he named names. His reporting made him a target of the drug traffickers, and he was slain on March 11, 1992, by a hitman for the Colombian drug cartel in the Meson Asturias restaurant on 83rd Street in Queens. This small park on the border of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst in Queens was named in his honor in 1993.

Malcolm X (1925-1965) was a civil rights activist and a prominent leader in the Black nationalist movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. On February 21, 1965, while preparing to deliver a lecture at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, he was assassinated when several gunmen rushed the stage and shot him at close range. Three members of the Nation of Islam were tried and sentenced for his murder, though two were later exonerated. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Malcolm X in collaboration with author Alex Haley and published posthumously, is considered a classic of American autobiographical literature. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he was the fourth of seven children of Reverend Earl Little, who worked as a local president and organizer for the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a Black nationalist group led by Marcus Garvey, and Louise (Norton) Little, a Grenadine-born American who worked as division secretary for the UNIA. His father’s work led to death threats from the Ku Klux Klan, forcing the family to relocate several times, and they eventually settled in East Lansing, Michigan. When Malcolm was six years old, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident, though he was possibly the victim of white supremacists. In 1939, his mother was committed to a mental institution. After living in foster homes for a period, Malcolm eventually moved to Boston. In 1946, he was arrested on charges of larceny and served time in prison, where he converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malcolm X. After his release in 1952, he began working with the movement’s leader, Elijah Mohammad, to expand membership nationwide. In 1958, Malcolm married Betty Sanders, and together the couple had six daughters. In 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam following disagreements with the leadership. He traveled widely in North Africa and the Middle East and underwent a second conversion to traditional Islam, changing his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In 1965, he established the Organization of Afro-American Unity as a secular platform to unify Black Americans with the people of Africa and to build solidarity with the developing world by shifting the focus from civil rights to human rights. The Malcolm X Garden is located in North Corona at 33-02 112th Street and 111-26 Northern Boulevard. In addition to the Garden, Malcolm X Place in East Elmhurst is also named in his honor.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) took up multiple pursuits in his life including writing, inventing, and representing the U.S. in the government. As a child and young adult, Franklin did not have access to formal education but independently studied through books, experiences, and relationships. Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and started off working under his father as a candle maker and then his brother as an anonymous writer. In 1723, he left his family life in Boston and moved back and forth between London and Philadelphia. After 18 months he settled in Philadelphia he supported himself by owning a print house and managing a news publication ‘Pennsylvania's Gazette’. The paper gained the colonies’ favor and became one of the major newspapers competing with brands like The Essex Gazette, The Connecticut Journal, and The New York Gazette. Franklin retired from the communications and media business in 1748. Leaving him with time to explore other sectors of his life. He began to pour into shaping his country by becoming a part of the conversations in Congress. Spending 28 years as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, concocted the Albany Plan which fought against imposing British taxes, and collaborated to create a draft for the Declaration of Independence. Amongst his political endeavors, he continued his education in research of electricity, eventually inventing the lightning rod in 1752. Franklin’s love of education was not only harbored in personal studies but manifested in the establishment of a library and school which are now known as the University of Pennsylvania. In 2014, Benjamin Franklin High School For Finance & Information Technology was established by the NYC School board. It specializes in allowing its students to get professional certificates in computer science.

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.

Patrol Officer Phillip Cardillo (1941 - 1972) was an NYPD police officer assigned to the 28th Precinct in Harlem. On April 14, 1972, he and his partner, Patrol Officer Vito Narvarra, responded to what would later be determined to be a false call about an officer in distress. The officers arrived at the location, a Nation of Islam mosque in Harlem, and they entered to investigate. While inside, both officers were severely beaten. Cardillo was shot with his own gun, and he died six days later. A suspect was later arrested, but no conviction was obtained, and the case remains open to this day. Navarra went on to achieve the rank of first grade detective, completing 27 years of service in the NYPD before he retired in 1995. Born in New York City, Cardillo was the son of Frank J. and Helen E. Cardillo. His father worked as a platform man for a trucking company. In 1963, Cardillo married Claudia Reese, and the couple had three children. He joined the NYPD in 1967 and was partnered with Navarra a year later. On his death in 1972, Cardillo was survived by his wife and children. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside. On October 19, 2015, a dedication ceremony was held to co-name the intersection of 28th Avenue and Ulmer Street, in front of the New York Police Academy in College Point, as Ptl. Phillip Cardillo Way. In 2025, the northeast corner of the same intersection was co-named for Navarra as Detective Vito Navarra Way, reuniting the fellow officers and partners at a place symbolic of their service.

Adrien (Adriaen) Block (1567-1627) was a Dutch explorer, trader, and ship’s captain best known for his early exploration of the northeast coastal regions of North America. He was among the first to establish trade with various North American Indigenous peoples, and the map of his 1614 voyage was the first to note Long Island and Manhattan as separate islands. This served as an important step in the establishment of the Dutch New Netherland settlement in 1624. Block was born in Amsterdam. Though little is known about his early life, he was married in 1603 to Neeltje Hendricks van Gelder, and they settled in his hometown where they raised their family. He became active in the shipping trade in the 1590s and made four voyages to North America between 1611 and 1613. While there, he helped to establish the fur trade and to chart coastal areas that were first explored by Henry Hudson for the Dutch in 1609. In 1613, he sailed on the Tyger for what would be his last voyage to the New World. While moored off of Lower Manhattan, the ship caught fire and was destroyed. With the help of the local Lenape, the crew built a new ship that they called the Onrust (Dutch for “Restless”), and they continued to explore up the East River. They entered Long Island Sound through a passage Block called “Hellegat” (Hell Gate), a narrow and dangerous waterway separating modern day Randall’s Island and Astoria. The first known European to sail from the Hudson into Long Island Sound, Block went on to explore the Housatonic River and the Connecticut River, sailing as far as Hartford and also through Narragansett Bay. The crew later rendezvoused with another ship near Cape Cod and returned to Europe. Block compiled a map of his travels that showed for the first time many details of the northeastern coast from present day New Jersey to Massachusetts and was the first to describe the region as New Netherland. The “figurative map of Adriaen Block” also identified several Indigenous communities, including the Pequot and Narragansett, who were future trading partners with the Dutch. Block died in 1627, and he is buried in Amsterdam’s Oude Kirk. Named in his honor, I.S. 025 Adrien Block is located at 34-65 192nd Street in Flushing and construction for the school was completed in 1970.

Nathaniel E. Schneider (1896–1969) was born and educated in New York City. During World War I, he served in France as a Sergeant Major of the 102nd Field Artillery. After the war, he worked variously as a magician, a set designer for the Ziegfeld Follies and other vaudeville acts, and a writer for radio. He belonged to several Democratic Clubs and held leadership positions in local civic groups, serving as president of the Elmhurst Allied Civic Associations, president of the Forest Hills Homeowners Association, and president of School Board 47. He was also a member of the Forest Hills and Kew Gardens Chamber of Commerce. Schneider was highly active in Veterans’ affairs. He held leading positions in two American Legion Posts, Maspeth Post No. 783 and Continental Post No. 1424. He edited post publications and was involved in American Legion affairs at the county level. In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt invited Nat, his wife Dorothy, and their sons Bruce and Robert to attend the opening of the World’s Fair in recognition of Schneider’s contributions to the local community.

Luis Alvarez (1965-2019) was a retired NYPD bomb squad detective who died from complications of cancer linked to 9/11-related illness. He worked with other first responders during the search and rescue operation at Ground Zero. He also worked tirelessly for an extension of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Shortly before his death, Alvarez, alongside television host Jon Stewart, testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee in Washington to replenish the fund.

Kenneth C. Ledee (1963-2001) worked for Marsh & McLennan at the World Trade Center. He was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

Lance Corporal Michael D. Glover (1978-2006), a native of Belle Harbor, died during combat operations in Iraq as part of the Marine Forces Reserve. Born January 19, 1978, Glover grew up on Beach 134th Street, moving to Garden City, NY when he was 6 years old. He graduated from Xavier High School and then studied business at the University of Albany, graduating in 2001. He spent a year at Pace Law, but dropped out to join the Marines in 2004, as a response to how he felt following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks impacted him and his community deeply. His uncle, Peter Hayden, was a fire chief who led rescue operations at the site, and one of his close friends who worked in the World Trade Center died during the attack. He sought out opportunities to help throughout his life. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, he drove to the city with supplies and helped with boat rescues, for which he was awarded the Navy And Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve in Albany, he was on patrol in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on August 16, 2006 when he and his platoon commander, Captain John McKenna of Brooklyn, were surprised by insurgent fire and killed. Glover was loved by many. He had a tight-knit family and developed friendships during every period of his life. Hundreds of community members came out to honor him for his funeral services at Saint Francis De Sales Church in Belle Harbor on August 26, 2006. This street near his childhood home, at Beach 134th St at the corner of Beach Channel Drive, was named in his honor on August 3, 2013, and is just one of a few memorials to Glover in the area. There is also a flag pole located near the corner of Beach 129th Street and Newport Avenue was dedicated to him on June 14, 2024.

Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal (D-NY) represented northeast Queens in the U.S. Congress from 1962 until his death in January 1983. Born in Manhattan, Rosenthal attended New York City public schools, Long Island University and City College before serving in the U.S. Army during WWII. He received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1949. In 1962, Rosenthal won a special election to the Eighty-Seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused when Rep. Lester Holtzman won a seat on the state Supreme Court; Rosenthal was then reelected to the 11 succeeding Congresses. During his congressional tenure, Rosenthal was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and a champion of consumer protection causes. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee for Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs.

Paul A. Vallone (1967-2024) was an attorney and civic leader whose political career in the service of northeastern Queens and New York City was cut short when he died of a heart attack on January 28, 2024, at the age of 56. Part of a noted Queens political family, Vallone served as City Council member for District 19 from 2014 to 2021, and then as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the New York City Department of Veterans' Services from 2022 to 2024. His grandfather, Charles J. Vallone, was a judge in Queens County Civil Court. Both his father, Peter Vallone Sr., and his brother, Peter Vallone Jr., represented Astoria on the City Council, from 1974 to 2001 and 2002 to 2013 respectively, making for a 47-year run of City Council service by the Vallone family. Born on June 2, 1967, and raised in Astoria, Vallone attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School, graduated from Fordham University, and received his law degree from St. John's University. He was admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations in 1992. Prior to his political career, he was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone and Vallone LLD, which was founded in 1932 by his grandfather. Vallone moved from Astoria to northeast Queens and, failing in a bid for City Council office in 2009, he followed in his family’s footsteps in 2014 when he won the District 19 seat. He was known as an advocate and champion for the Queens communities he served. During his tenure, he sponsored 800 pieces of legislation — 128 of which he was the first primary sponsor — and was credited with fundraising nearly $40 million in funding for his district. He was at the forefront of adopting participatory budgeting, which allows constituents the opportunity to vote for and prioritize the capital projects they want funded by their councilmember’s office. As Vallone shared with the Queens Daily Eagle in 2021, “It was a beautiful way to create community involvement in your own tax dollars.” Vallone was dedicated to supporting students and seniors in his district. While on the council, he helped expand school capacity by 4,500 seats and reinstated the New York City Council Merit Scholarship, known as the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship, awarding high school graduates up to $350 per semester. He also helped to launch a free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. In addition, he spearheaded a project that brought $3.6 million in improvements to Flushing’s Bowne Park. The work was completed in the spring of 2023 and included upgrades to the playground, pond, plaza, and bocce court. In his time on the City Council, he also advocated for the creation of animal shelters in every borough. The Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center, located at 1906 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood, is the first public animal shelter in Queens, and a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 10, 2024, served as the official opening. The shelter is run by Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC), a nonprofit that operates the city’s animal shelters on behalf of the Health Department. Vallone was a champion of ACC and its mission to end animal homelessness in New York City. As a strong advocate for veterans, Vallone voted as a city council member in favor of a measure that established the New York City Department of Veterans' Services in 2016, making it the first City agency in the country dedicated to serving veterans and their families. After his tenure on the city council ended due to term limits in 2021, Vallone lost a bid for a Civil Court seat in eastern Queens. But he continued his public service in 2022, when Mayor Eric Adams appointed him as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the new Department of Veterans' Services. Vallone held that role until his death in 2024. In addition to his government work, Vallone was active in his Flushing community as a soccer coach for St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy, winning two championships for the school, and also coaching his two daughters, Lea and Catena, and his son Charlie (Charles J. Vallone III). Vallone was survived by his wife, Anna-Marie, and three children. Two other city locations are named in Vallone’s honor. They include Paul A. Vallone Way, at the intersection of 157th Street and 32nd Avenue in Flushing, and the Paul Vallone Community Campus at 18-25 212th Street in Bay Terrace, an addition to P.S. 169 Bay Terrace School and Bell Academy.

Robert Sorrentino (1944 - 1980), was a police officer with the 101st precinct the the Rockaways. he was killed in the line of duty on April 24, 1980.

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.

Jeanne and Jules Manford were the parents of LGBTQ+ activist and Lawyer Morty Manford, Jeanne was the founder of PFLAG. Jeanne Manford (1920 - 2013) Born Jean Sobelson in Flushing Queens, she married Jules Manford, had three children (Charles, Morty and Suzanne) ; she earned her bachelor's degree from Queens College in her 30s and joined the faculty of PS 32 in Queens in 1964. After her son Morty, who was openly gay and an activist, was beaten in April 1972 for protesting news coverage of the gay rights movement, Jeanne wrote a letter to The New York Post criticizing the police for not protecting him. Jeanne also gave interviews to radio and television shows in several cities in the weeks that followed. Two months later, on June 25, she walked alongside her son in a gay liberation march, carrying a sign: “Parents of Gays: Unite in Support for Our Children.” These turned out to be the first steps in the founding of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – PFLAG, now a national organization. In 2013, President Barack Obama honored Manford posthumously with the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian award given by the United States, for her work in co-founding PFLAG and ongoing years of LGBT advocacy. Dr. Jules M Manford (1919 – 1982) was born in New York and was a dentist and advocate who lived with his wife and three children in Flushing Queens. He helped his wife Jeanne Manford to start Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – PFLAG, and was the proud father and supporter of his son the LGTBQ+ activist and lawyer Morty Manford.

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.

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.

Father Joseph David Colbert (1933–2000) was born in Brooklyn and baptized at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. He was educated at St. Francis of Assisi School, Cathedral High School/College, and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York. He was ordained on May 30, 1959, at St. James Pro-Cathedral in Brooklyn. Following his ordination, Father Colbert ministered to the people of the Diocese as an Associate Pastor at St. Mel’s Parish in Whitestone, New York; as an Associate Pastor and later Pastor at St. Pascal Baylon Parish in St. Albans; and finally as Pastor at St. Pancras Parish in Glendale. At St. Pancras, Father Colbert led the restoration of the church, improved the grounds, and maintained the school. He aimed to make St. Pancras “the showcase of the eastern seaboard.” He loved being present at school assemblies, class masses, student programs, and graduations. He always stressed to his students that they should do everything with “grace, dignity, and poise.” A lover of the arts, Father Colbert incorporated this passion into his daily life and his homilies. He approached all that he did with vigor, energy, and pride. Father Colbert continued as pastor of his parish until his death on October 10, 2000.

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was well-known for being ahead of his time in the world of natural science. He sought to find cash crop alternatives to discourage straining labor of cotton picking. In addition, he invented tools and methods to make agriculture more efficient. As a Black man born in the early 1860s, Carver faced significant barriers to obtaining his education and pursuing his research interests. He developed his understanding of agricultural labor for three years on his own plot of land before becoming the first Black student at Iowa State University. After graduating Iowa State in 1896 with a Master of Science Degree, he went on to teach agriculture at Tuskegee Institute. Carver taught for 47 years passing down lessons such as crop rotation and other farmer techniques. Carver was a prodigy in learning, specifically curious as to the different uses of produce like peanuts, and the invention of new products. His many contributions include glue, the Jesup Wagon, a vehicle to carry agricultural exhibits to town, instant coffee, shaving cream, and 325 uses for peanuts. George Washington Carver High School for the Sciences in particular was established after the closing of Springfield High School by the NYC school board in 2007. Springfield High School became an educational campus housing George Washington Carver, as well as Excelsior Preparatory High School, and Queens Preparatory Academy. G.W.C. High School is most known for maintaining Springfield’s veterinary program.

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.

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. The Louis Armstrong Community Center is located several blocks away from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs. The Community Center, opened in 1996, offers local residents a variety of activities and programs, including basketball, soccer, martial arts programs and dance classes for both young and old.

The following was written by Christopher's sister, Patricia Cardona: Christopher grew up always wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. He wanted to be a firefighter. While in school, he learned that to be a firefighter, you would need to take the test and then wait to be called. He was attending Queens College, and decided as a backup plan, he would get an education degree so he could teach. He had a passion for history and social studies. He favored the older kids. He graduated from Queens College with a teaching certificate in middle school social studies. He got his foot in the door as a substitute teacher in the middle schools of District 30. He worked at PS 2, IS 10 and IS 141. He was offered a permanent position teaching middle school social studies at IS 10, and he turned it down because he had gotten called to the academy of the FDNY. He was on his way to becoming a firefighter. He was technically on the job for eight months as a trainee.("probie"). He was then asked where he wanted to be stationed and was given a choice since his father had just retired as a Deputy Chief of the FDNY. He was well-respected and so they wanted to grant his son a choice. Christopher chose midtown Manhattan. He wanted action. This house \[Engine 54] is known as one of the busiest firehouses in all the five boroughs. He had never been to a fire prior to 9/11. He was at that firehouse for only a couple of months. The morning of 9/11, he was expected to be off duty at 8:30 a.m. The bell rang, and he jumped on board, eager to go to his first big fire. He was excited (as told to us by his housemates). He re-suited up and jumped on board along with 14 other guys (between the two trucks). He never came home. Meanwhile my parents, who were at home in Long Island City (you could see the Twin Towers from their high rise), got a call from his fire station lieutenant, asking him to come to work. My father reported that he never came home. It was then that they realized that he had gone down to the site. My father, with all his experience, had looked out the window and knew that the towers would fall by the way that they were burning. My parents watched the burning buildings from their window, not knowing that their son was there and had perished. Meanwhile, I was teaching at a Jackson Heights school that morning (PS 149) and was watching the events on the TV. It was only that evening when he didn’t come home that we realized he was there. We called hospitals, put up signs and held out hope that he was trapped and would be found. Fifteen guys never came home from his house -- the biggest loss out of any firehouse in the five boroughs. My parents attended many funerals and memorials from his firehouse, as well as all the people my dad knew. A few days after 9/11, they recovered the body of a member of his firehouse, Jose Guadalupe. Jose was a 6-foot, dark-skinned Hispanic male. My parents attended his funeral. The next few months, they attended every funeral and memorial service. We still had not recovered Christopher. In December, a few weeks before Christmas, my parents were visited by the Coroner of the City of New York. They admitted to making a huge mistake. Jose was misidentified. The body that was buried as Jose Guadalupe was in fact Christopher Santora. (Christopher was 5’8", Caucasian with blue eyes.) According to them, they were unrecognizable. They were identifying them based only on a rare neck bone anomaly that coincidentally both had. The body had to be exhumed, and we finally had Christopher’s remains. We had a funeral for him, and he is buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens. Jose was never found. A few months later, Dr. Angelo Gimondo (former District 30 superintendent) reached out to my parents. D30 wanted to build a school and name it for a fallen firefighter of 9/11. When they learned that Christopher taught in D30, they knew they wanted to name it for him. My parents agreed. They began building the school, and it was scheduled to open in September of 2002. I put in an application to transfer. I was interviewed and released from my school, and I have been there ever since. The father of one of the newly hired teachers, Rani Skopelitis, was a carpenter for trade. He built the case in the lobby of the school which has Christopher’s firefighter uniform. They had a big dedication and opening ceremony, and we are still here today at the FF Christopher A. Santora School, PS 222 \[in Jackson Heights]. Editor's note: Christopher Santora Place is located near the neighborhood basketball courts where Santora played as a child.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. At the 1968 U.S. Open, Ashe defeated several competitors to win the men’s singles title. By 1975, he was ranked the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After this string of athletic successes, he began suffering heart problems. Retiring from the sport, he underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe was likely given an HIV-tainted blood transfusion and he soon contracted AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained involved in public life. His participation in many youth activities, such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program, and his role in protests against South African apartheid earned Ashe recognition as 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, long after his athletic career had ended. He died of pneumonia in New York at age 49.

Helen Marshall (1929-2017) was the first African American Queens Borough President from 2002 – 2013. Marshall was born in Manhattan to immigrant parents of African descent from Guyana. The family moved to Queens in 1949, settling first in Corona and then in East Elmhurst. Marshall graduated with a B.A. in education from Queens College. After teaching for eight years, she left to help found the Langston Hughes Library in 1969, where she was the first Director. She served in the State Assembly for 8 years and then served on the City Council for 10 years, before becoming the first African American and the second woman to serve as the Queens Borough President. She supported job training programs and economic development and was a devoted supporter of the Queens Public Library. The Helen M. Marshall School was founded in 2010 and moved to it's current building on Northern Boulevard between 110th and 111th streets in 2013. It serves students in Kindergarten through Grade 5.

Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837-June 24, 1908) served as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the first to serve non-consecutive terms, and the first Democrat elected after the Civil War. Born in New Jersey and raised in upstate New York, Cleveland became a lawyer in Buffalo in 1859, and soon after pursued politics as a reformer. He served as the Assistant District Attorney and then Sheriff of Erie County, Mayor of Buffalo, and New York Governor. As governor, he took on Tammany Hall, the political machine based in New York City, even though it had supported him in the election. A sex scandal threatened to bring him down during the 1884 presidential election, but he admitted to the possibility that he had fathered a child with a woman out of wedlock, and with that bit of honesty he held onto his supporters. (Cleveland had the mother institutionalized against her will so he could take custody of the child, who he named Oscar Folsom Cleveland.) In the election of 1888, Cleveland won a larger share of the popular vote, but the business-backed Benjamin Harrison defeated him in the Electoral College. The Republican alienated many in his party, and, in 1892, Cleveland defeated Harrison. During his second term, Cleveland faced a nation suffering from its worst depression. During this period, he sent federal troops to break an enormous railroad strike and arrest its leaders. His other social attitudes were varied. He was opposed to temperance, spoke against injustices facing the Chinese in the West, sympathized with the South in its reluctance to accept African Americans as equals, thought Native Americans should assimilate, and never supported women's right to vote. He is remembered for his record-breaking use of the presidential veto, through which he attempted to balance the power of the executive and legislative branches. The city acquired this land in July 1924 and developed it from 1927 to 1929 into a park with two playgrounds, three tennis courts, two basketball courts, and a public restroom. It was originally known as Anawanda Park, a name taken from a small political organization of Tammany Hall-style politics proponents called the Anawanda Democratic Club. When its name was changed to Grover Cleveland Park, following the name of the new high school nearby, anti-reformists of the Anawanda Democratic Club protested the move.

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.

Richard S. Newcombe (1880-1930) had a long and illustrious career in public service, including as the Queens County District Attorney in the 1920s, where he prosecuted several notable cases, including a scandalous murder trial that was dramatized as a famous Hollywood film. Newcombe was born in Manhattan on in 1880. His father, also named Richard, was a law partner to Albert Cardozo, whose son, Benjamin, also became a lawyer and then a judge who served on the New York Court of Appeals and as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. After attending public school, Newcombe went to Phillips Andover Academy, then to New York Law School, passing the bar in 1904. After working for a law firm and launching an unsuccessful bid for Justice of the Supreme Court, Newcombe began his career in public service when the corrupt Queens Borough President Maurice Connolly appointed him as Queens Public Works Commissioner. The two clashed and he didn't last long in the position, next running for Queens District Attorney in 1923, defeating the incumbent, and then winning reelection three years later by a substantial margin. One of the cases he pursued was a $16 million sewer contract scandal in Jamaica, which ultimately caused Connolly to resign. The most famous case he prosecuted, however, came in 1927. On March 20th of that year, Ruth Snyder and her lover, Henry Judd Gray, murdered Snyder’s husband, Albert, in the couple’s Queens Village home, staging it to appear as a robbery. Their sloppy alibi was further diminished by the discovery that Snyder and Gray had recently taken out a double indemnity insurance policy together, which, if Albert died accidentally, would pay twice as much. The trial was a sensation from the start, with a media circus that resulted in unprecedented news coverage, but it culminated in even more sensationalism. After being found guilty and sentenced to death by electrocution, a Daily News reporter snuck a camera into Snyder's execution room. The photograph that captured the moment of her electrocution was on the front page the next day, and the paper sold out in 15 minutes. The murder gained more notoriety following the release of James Cain’s 1943 novella Double Indemnity and its 1944 classic film adaptation, all based on this true-life story. Newcombe did not live to see these dramatizations, however. He was elected as Surrogate of Queens County in 1929, and May 7, 1930, was Newcombe's first day as a judge. He had a packed schedule, presiding over three jury trials and overseeing the installment of another jury. In addition, the city was in the middle of a heat wave. At the end of this exhausting workday, Newcombe, along with his wife, Rosena Reis Newcombe, and accompanied by his secretary, visited a heart specialist. He and his wife then joined his brother-in-law for dinner before returning home. Just after 10pm, Rosena contacted the secretary to notify him that Newcombe had died, having collapsed as he was dressing for bed. Though it was a modest ceremony, more than a thousand people gathered for his funeral, held at his home at 75 Greenway Terrace in Forest Hills. Newcombe had been a leader with the Boy Scouts for some time, and the only official ceremonial aspect to the funeral was led by them. Twenty Eagle Scouts served as a guard of honor at his home, and they played taps as Newcombe's casket was lowered in Woodlawn Cemetery. Newcombe had been a leader across many areas. In addition to serving as president of the Boy Scouts Sustaining Association of Queens, and having inspired the naming of Camp Newcombe in Wading River, Long Island, he had been a director of Flushing Bank, helped to organize the Boulevard National Bank in Forest Hills, and served on the board of the American Trust Company. By January 1937, friends and colleagues of Newcombe set out to petition the Board of Aldermen and the Transit Commission to rename this triangle and the nearby Kew Gardens subway station, which had just opened a week earlier, in his honor. On November 18, 1939, around 100 of those supporters gathered to unveil a granite block with a bronze plaque to designate the area as Newcombe Square.

Saint Michael, also known as Saint Michael the Archangel or Archangel Michael, is the only angel mentioned in all three sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is considered the leader of all angels who fights evil with the power of good. Never formally canonized as a saint, he has historically been assigned important religious significance as a protector and a defender. His earliest appearance can be traced to Jewish writings dating from the third and second centuries BCE, where he is depicted as a guardian and caretaker of Israel. Biblical passages that mention Michael include the Books of Daniel, Jude, and Revelation. Based on these passages, Michael is traditionally assigned four main roles: head of the army of God, a champion of God’s people, an angel of death who accompanies souls to heaven, and a weigher of souls in their final judgment. Michael is considered the saint of police officers and military personnel, as well as bankers and grocers (because of the association with the weighing of money or goods). According to Roman Catholic tradition, Michael is commonly cited as the chief or principal angel, or the “archangel,” and among the guardians or attendants at God’s throne. Artists’ depictions of Michael over the ages often reference the Book of Revelation, which tells of a war in heaven. In the conflict, Saint Michael leads angelic forces against Satan, eventually casting him out. Michael is often shown as a warrior with a helmet and sword, standing triumphant over a dragon or demon-like figure and yielding a shield inscribed with the Latin phrase “Quis ut Deus,” a translation of Michael in Hebrew, meaning “Who is like God?”, with the phrase serving as the war cry of the angels in their battle with Satan. Michael often holds a scale as well, representing his role in divine judgment. Over history, many sanctuaries and churches have been dedicated to Michael. One of the earliest was Michaelion, which was built in the fourth century under Constantine the Great in modern-day Turkey on the site of a pagan temple. Among the many sites that followed are the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo in Italy and Skellig Michael off the coast of southern Ireland, both around the sixth century, and Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, France, in the eighth century. In August 1853, Father John McMahon of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Flushing dedicated St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, making it the first Catholic parochial school in Queens. The school is located at 136-58 41st Avenue in Flushing.

Rev. Edward F. McGoldrick (1857-1930) was the founder and first pastor of St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic church in Flushing. The parish was established in 1914 in response to a growing Catholic population in Upper Flushing, and for its first two years, Mass was celebrated at the Ritz Theatre on Broadway and 14th Street (now Northern Boulevard and 154th Street). The first church -- a small wooden structure with a capacity of 567 -- was built several blocks down Broadway in 1916; the present cathedral-like building was dedicated in December 1940. The parish's school (now the St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy) was opened in 1925. Fr. McGoldrick also sought to bring a public library to the residents of Upper Flushing. In 1921 he joined the Queens Public Library's Board of Trustees to advocate for a new branch in that community, and in 1929 the Broadway- Flushing Community Library was opened. Just one year later Fr. McGoldrick passed away, and in 1933 the branch was renamed in his honor. A plaque displaying Fr. McGoldrick's photo and describing his role in establishing the library was installed at the branch in a public ceremony in November 2017.

Edward Mandel (1869-1942) was an associate superintendent of the New York City schools. His family immigrated to the United States when he was young, settling in New York. He graduated from NYC public schools, City College at NYU and Teachers College at Columbia University. He also earned a law degree. He taught in city schools before becoming principal of several schools and eventually becoming Associate Superintendent of Schools from 1923 until his retirement in 1939. He helped develop educational policy and was founder of the teacher's pension system. He believed that vocational education was needed in public schools and that schools should teach "good citizenship." After his retirement he started a law practice with his son Austin. He lived in Forest Hills, Queens for much of his adult life and was a member of Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.

Francis Lewis (1713-1802) was a merchant, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Wales, he attended school in England before working in a mercantile house in London. In 1734, he came to New York to establish a business. While working as a mercantile agent in 1756, Lewis was taken prisoner and sent to prison in France. Upon his return to New York, he became active in politics and made his home in Whitestone, Queens. A member of the Continental Congress for several years before the Revolutionary War, Lewis played a significant role in the nation's founding.

Sheikh Hamoud Saeidi (1937-2023), a good samaritan who had once saved a girl from a kidnapping, was killed by a person on a shooting spree while heading to his mosque. Born on January 25, 1937 in Yemen, Saeidi moved to New York City in the 1970s. He worked to eventually own several bodegas and delis in the city, employing dozens. Once, when he saw a person in a van attempting to lure a small girl inside with candy and toys, he intervened. The van drove away, but Saeidi remembered the license plate and reported it to the police, who caught the suspect. On July 8, 2023, a man on a scooter randomly shot several people, killing Saeidi and injuring three others. The 25-year-old shooter, Thomas Abreu, was later caught and arraigned on charges including murder and attempted murder. If convicted, he could face 25 years to life in prison. Saeidi was the central figure in his family. He and his wife were married for nearly 60 years, and they had six children, 30 grandchildren, and 31 great-grandchildren. Nearly 2,000 people, including Mayor Eric Adams, filled a mosque for the funeral of this beloved member of the Yemeni community. “This person did not kill one person only, he did not kill my father only, he killed the whole community, my whole family," his son, Main Saeidi, told the news at the time. Council Member Lynn Schulman proposed co-naming this street, which is the site where Saeidi was killed, in his honor in 2023, and an unveiling ceremony took place on June 26, 2024.

Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870-1938), former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1932-1938). Justice Cardozo is notable for both his defense of the New Deal’s social programs during his six short years at the Supreme Court and his advocacy for the common-law approach throughout his judicial career.  Born in New York City to a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family, Justice Cardozo was tutored by Horatio Alger and various home tutors as a youth, before being admitted into Columbia College at age fifteen. Cardozo had ambition to restore his family’s honor, after his father, Judge Albert Cardozo of the Supreme Court of New York, achieved notoriety for his involvement with the corrupt Tweed ring. The elder Cardozo resigned in 1872, just before he could be impeached. After the younger Cardozo’s graduation from Columbia College and a few years at Columbia Law School, he joined his father’s law practice and entered the bar. In 1914, Cardozo was appointed to the Court of Appeals, he would serve eighteen years at the court - five of which at the head. Following Oliver Wendell Holmes’s retirement from the United States Supreme Court in 1932, Justice Cardozo was named to the Supreme Court by President Herbert Hoover. This appointment earned him the distinction of being the second Jewish judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court, after Justice Louis Brandeis. Despite later describing himself as an agnostic, Justice Cardozo volunteered within the Jewish community throughout his life. He was a member of the Judean Club, a board member of the American Jewish Committee, and a member of the Zionist Organization of America at various points. At the point of his appointment to the Supreme Court, he resigned from all offices except for his membership on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Welfare Board and on the Committee on the Advisor to the Jewish students at Columbia University. On the Supreme Court, he was one of the “Three Musketeers” - the nickname given to the three liberal members of the Court that supported the New Deal agenda, including Justice Brandeis and Justice Harlan Fiske Stone. He is noted for his defense of social security and old-age pensions in particular.  The City of New York acquired the land for this playground in April 1955, and it opened in August 1957 as J.H.S. 198 Playground. The playground contains benches and a softball field for the school and the community. Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern changed the name in 1985 to Benjamin Cardozo Playground, physically commemorating the life of a man who left an indelible mark on New York City.

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was a Japanese American artist, sculptor, landscape architect and industrial designer who also designed stage sets for works by the dancer Martha Graham. Noguchi was born in Los Angeles and spent his early years in Japan. After studying in New York City with Onorio Ruotolo in 1923, he won a Guggenheim fellowship and became Constantin Brancusi’s assistant for two years (1927–29) in Paris. He did work for UNESCO and worked on the design and art for institutions all over the world. The first major retrospective of his work was at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City in 1968. Noguchi started Nisei Writers and Artists Mobilization for Democracy in 1942 to raise awareness of the patriotism of Japanese Americans during WWII. He received the Edward MacDowell Medal for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to the Arts in 1982, the National Medal of Arts in 1987, and the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government in 1988. The U.S. Postal Service issued a 37-cent stamp honoring him in 2004. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum was founded and designed by Noguchi to display his artworks; it opened in May 1985 in Long Island City. The museum is located in an old photogravure plant and gas station, which Noguchi purchased in 1974, across the street from the studio where he had worked and lived since 1961.

Firefighter Robert "Bobby" Dismas McMahon (b. 1965) was killed at the World Trade Center during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was a member of Ladder Company 20 on Lafayette Street, and with his wife Julie, bought and renovated the house he grew up in in Woodside, Queens.

Rose M. Singer (1896-1991) was a longtime jail reform activist and an original member of the New York City Board of Correction. She volunteered for the Board for more than three decades, beginning with its inception in 1957. In the early 1950s, she was founder and first president of the Friendly Visitors, a service group that helps women in prison. Singer was born in Brooklyn to Russian-immigrant parents Samuel Singer, a presser, and Molly (Cluhock) Singer. After graduating from Brooklyn College, she continued her studies at Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in child psychology. In 1956, she received an award for distinguished and exceptional service to New York City from Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., in recognition of 20 years of volunteer work. A year later, Wagner appointed her as one of nine members to the Board of Corrections, a newly formed volunteer citizen watchdog group formed to assist the Department of Corrections with managing and planning and to serve in a monitorial role on behalf of the public. Singer continued to serve on the Board until her death in 1991, when she was the last of the original nine. Active in civic affairs, Singer fulfilled many roles, serving at various times as chairwoman of the voluntary advisory council to the Department of Correction, chairwoman of the executive committee of the Women's Prison Association, vice chairwoman of the Citizens Union of the City of New York, and trustee of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. At their 50th anniversary celebration in 1977, the National Conference of Christians and Jews named Singer as one of 50 Women of Achievement. On June 20, 1988, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to dedicate a new $100 million jail for women on Rikers Island as the Rose M. Singer Center in Singer’s honor. Singer died of heart failure at her home in Manhattan on March 14, 1991. She was survived at the time by three sons (Ronald, Edward, and Martin), seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Wilson Rantus (1807-1861) was a free African American businessman, farmer and civil rights activist who owned land in both Flushing and Jamaica in the mid-1800s. He built a school for Black children and took part in the struggle for equal voting rights in New York State, seeking to end property requirements for African American citizens. He also was a financial backer of Thomas Hamilton’s "Anglo-African" magazine and newspaper. The Rantus family farm and cemetery were located adjacent to the site on the Queens College campus where this commemorative boulder is found.

Staff Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez (1982-2007) dedicated his life to public service in the U.S. Army. On May 12, 2007, his unit was attacked and captured by enemy forces in Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraq. His body was recovered 14 months later, on July 8, 2008, confirming his death. Jimenez was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, based out of Fort Drum, New York. On June 20, 2009, the corner of 104th Street and 37th Drive in Corona, Queens, was named in his honor. The street sign is just a few feet from the home where Jimenez grew up.

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