In honor of Black History Month 2025, this collection spotlights individuals featured in the Queens Name Explorer whose names carry historical significance. From outspoken ministers to pioneering musicians to female leaders in public service, this small sampling provides a glimpse into the histories of Elmhurst, Corona, Flushing, St. Albans, Jamaica, Hollis, and Kew Garden Hills. This collection coincides with an exhibit running from January 30 to April 20, 2025 at Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue, Queens, NY 11101.

Jabez E. Dunningham (1868-1945), was an Elmhurst resident, and celebrated civic leader in New York City, particularly in Queens. Born in England, Dunningham became the London representative for the publisher Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) in the early 1890s. He moved to New York in 1896 and worked for Pulitzer until the publisher’s death in 1911.  After his publishing career ended, Dunningham devoted himself to fighting for public improvements, first as executive secretary of the Community Councils of New York, where he was instrumental in bringing rapid transit to Staten Island where he lived in 1921. Dunningham moved to Elmhurst, Queens, in the early 1920s and founded the Queens Council of Civic Associations, and helped the cause of homeowners in Corona who were being squeezed by a real estate firm. He lobbied against pollution, excessive garbage, and other problems affecting Queens. Dunningham lived at 40-71 Denman Street, within walking distance of this triangle named for him, and died on April 28, 1945, at the age of 77.

State Senator José R. Peralta (1971-2018) made history by becoming the first Dominican American elected to the New York State Senate when he assumed office in District 13. He served from 2010 until his death in 2018. His tenure was marked by a focus on immigration justice, support for working-class families, access to quality education for all children and advocacy for LGBT rights. He was most notable as his chamber's leading champion for undocumented young people whom he believed deserved equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream. He introduced the New York DREAM Act in 2013 and increased its support over the following years. Prior to his election to the State Senate, he served in the New York State Assembly from 2002 to 2010, representing the 39th Assembly District. He was a member of the New York State Senate Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian caucuses, and of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Task Force. As a state legislator, his sponsorship of gun-control legislation and a bill requiring microstamping on bullet-casings has drawn the ire of the National Rifle Association. He was a champion of economic development and job creation, and was a fighter for immigrants’ rights. He worked to heighten awareness of domestic violence and protect battered spouses from further abuse.

Ivan Lafayette (1930-2016) was a longtime champion of the Jackson Heights community who served for 32 years in the New York State Assembly. Throughout his career, he advocated for schools, passed legislation that made it illegal to drive without insurance, and was also one of the first elected officials to support same-sex marriage in New York. He was a founding member of the Jackson Heights/Elmhurst Kehillah, or Jewish Community Council, a member of the Jewish War Veterans Post 209, president of the Jackson Heights Community Federation, and a trustee of the North Queens Homeowner and Civic Association. Born in Monticello, New York, Lafayette grew up in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. He graduated from high school in 1947 and attended Brooklyn College. After serving in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954, he and his wife, Bertine, née Rabin, moved to Jackson Heights where they raised their family. Lafayette worked as a car mechanic and repair person, and then as a general manager of his father’s automotive franchises. He first sought the state assembly seat in 1970, ultimately winning a seat in his fourth race in 1976. Lafayette's career as an assemblyman spanned from 1977 to 2008, and in that time he sponsored hundreds of bills that became law and took on many roles in the Assembly, including leader of the Queens delegation, speaker pro tempore, and deputy speaker, among others. The Uninsured Motorist's Law he sponsored created penalties for driving without insurance coverage, and he took particular pride in helping to establish a statewide pre-K education program in the 1980s. Rather than seek re-election in 2008, Lafayette opted for a spot in Governor Paterson’s administration when he was named the state Insurance Department’s deputy superintendent for community affairs. On his passing in 2013, he was survived by his wife, three sons, and nine grandchildren. On July 29, 2018, on what would have been Lafayette’s 88th birthday, a ceremony was held co-naming the northwest corner of 92nd Street and 34th Avenue in his honor as NYS Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette Way. The site is just two blocks from PS 228Q The Ivan Lafayette Early Childhood School Of The Arts (93rd Street and Northern Boulevard) which was named in Lafayette’s honor in 2019, and one block from the intersection of 92nd Street and Northern Boulevard, co-named in 2024 as Maureen Allen Way in honor of Lafayette’s longtime chief of staff.

Francis Lewis(1713-1802) was born in Wales. He attended school in England then moved to New York for business. Lewis was later taken prisoner in France before returning back to New York where he made a home in Whitestone. He was a member of the Continental Congress for years before the Revolutionary War and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and humanist. Born free in Massachusetts, Latimer was the son of fugitive slaves George Latimer and Rebecca Smith, who escaped from Virginia to Boston in 1842. Upon arrival, George Latimer was captured and imprisoned, which became a pivotal case for the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. His arrest and the ensuing court hearings spurred multiple meetings and a publication, “The Latimer Journal and the North Star,” involving abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. The large collective effort eventually gained George his freedom by November 1842. Against this backdrop, Lewis Latimer was born in 1848. Latimer’s young life was full of upheaval as his family moved from town to town while tensions in the country continued to mount before the Civil War broke out in 1861. In 1864, Latimer joined the Union Navy at age 16. After the conclusion of the war, Latimer was determined to overcome his lack of formal education; he taught himself mechanical drawing and became an expert draftsman while working at a patent law office. He went on to work with three of the greatest scientific inventors in American history: Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim and Thomas Alva Edison. Latimer played a critical role in the development of the telephone and, as Edison’s chief draftsman, he invented and patented the carbon filament, a significant improvement in the production of the incandescent light bulb. As an expert, Latimer was also called to testify on a number of patent infringement cases. Outside of his professional life, Latimer wrote and published poems, painted and played the violin. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens and was among the first Civil War veterans to join the Grand Army of the Republic fraternal organization. He also taught English to immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement.

Police Officer Edward Byrne (1966-1988) was a rookie officer who was killed in the line of duty on February 26, 1988. Byrne was shot several times in the head and died instantly as he sat in his police car while on assignment protecting a drug case witness at 107th Avenue and Inwood Street in South Jamaica, Queens. The cold-blooded killing, which was apparently a plot to intimidate witnesses from testifying against drug dealers, shocked the consciousness of the city. A year after the murder, four men were convicted and sentenced to the maximum sentences of 25 years to life for the crime. Byrne was single, 22, and living in Massapequa, Long Island, at the time he was murdered. He had joined the police force the previous July, and worked at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), and the youngest man and first Roman Catholic elected to the office. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest president to die.

John William Ahles (1848-1915) and Lydia Ann Bell Ahles (1848-1896) were the owners and inhabitants of a prominent home in Bayside in the mid-nineteenth century. Built in 1873 and among the oldest homes in the area, the John William and Lydia Ann Bell Ahles House is the only remaining example of the Second Empire buildings constructed in Bayside during the 1870s and 1880s. The home remained in the Ahles family until the 1940s, and it was designated as a New York City historic landmark in 2016. Known as Will, John William Ahles was born in New York City to George Ahles, a German immigrant, farmer, and textile importer, and Zoe (Chairnaud) Ahles, the second of their seven children. Lydia Ann Bell, known as Lillie, was born in Bayside to Robert M. Bell, a farmer and landowner, and Catherine (Lawrence) Bell, the second of their two children. Will and Lillie grew up next door to each other on their family’s adjoining farms until the age of 15. At that time, George Ahles moved his family to Brooklyn, and Will left school to begin work as a clerk at the Broadway Bank of Manhattan. After working for a period in a broker’s office on Wall Street, he then became a salesman for a produce merchant. In June 1873, Will and Lillie were married and settled in Bayside. That same year, Lillie’s father, Robert M. Bell, built the couple a new home as a wedding gift. Will and Lillie had four children—their eldest, Richard, who died in childhood, followed by Robert, Gertrude, and Emma—and they lived and raised their family in the three-story house. The residence was constructed about seven years after railroad service had reached their area of Bayside and residential subdivisions had begun to replace local farms. It is located one block west of Bell Boulevard (named for Lillie’s family, the Bells) and just north of 41st Street (then named Ahles Road for the Ahles family). In 1924, the home was moved about 40 to 50 feet to the west to a newly created lot to allow 213th Street (then Christy Street) to be cut through to 41st Street. In 1877, Will opened his own business and went on to become a prominent grain merchant and 25-year member of the New York Product Exchange, serving for many years on the Board of Governors. He was active in the local community, where he served as a vestryman at the All Saint’s Protestant Episcopal Church. An avid horseman, he was also a breeder of trotting horses. After Lillie’s death in 1896, Will remained in the home with other family members until his death in 1915. His obituary in the New York Times noted the Ahles home as, “one of the showplaces of the town.” The couple is buried at Flushing Cemetery. On April 12, 2016, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the John William and Lydia Ann Bell Ahles House, located at 39-24–39-26 213th Street in Bayside, as a city landmark.

Detective Picciano (1938-1971), a 10-year veteran of the NYPD, was assigned to the 41st Detective Squad in the Bronx. On February 15, 1971, he was shot and killed at the 41st Precinct building while fingerprinting a suspect that he and other detectives had arrested for abducting a 13-year-old boy. Other members of the Detective Squad were able to return fire, killing the suspect. Det. Picciano resided in Maspeth, Queens, with his wife Theresa and their three children.

Firefighter John Heffernan (1964-2001) was killed on September 11, 2001 during firefighting and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Heffernan grew up on Beach 114 Street in Rockaway.

Albert C. Benninger (1885-1937), a former Queens Parks Commissioner, was born in the town of Germany, Canada. He moved to the United States at age four and later joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in the Spanish-American War (1898-1899). In 1905, after leaving the military, Benninger settled in Glendale, Queens. Seven years later, he was elected Queens Assemblyman and subsequently served on the Board of Aldermen. He briefly held the position of Commissioner of Public Works in 1916. Two years later, Mayor John F. Hylan (1869-1936) appointed Benninger as Commissioner of the Queens Parks Department. He retired from this role in 1928 but was re-appointed two years later, serving until 1933. From 1933 to 1937, he was the Federal Marshal for the Eastern District of New York.

Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and humanist. Born free in Massachusetts, Latimer was the son of fugitive slaves George Latimer and Rebecca Smith, who escaped from Virginia to Boston in 1842. Upon arrival, George Latimer was captured and imprisoned, which became a pivotal case for the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. His arrest and the ensuing court hearings spurred multiple meetings and a publication, “The Latimer Journal and the North Star,” involving abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. The large collective effort eventually gained George his freedom by November 1842. Against this backdrop, Lewis Latimer was born in 1848. Latimer’s young life was full of upheaval as his family moved from town to town while tensions in the country continued to mount before the Civil War broke out in 1861. In 1864, Latimer joined the Union Navy at age 16. After the conclusion of the war, Latimer was determined to overcome his lack of formal education; he taught himself mechanical drawing and became an expert draftsman while working at a patent law office. He went on to work with three of the greatest scientific inventors in American history: Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim and Thomas Alva Edison. Latimer played a critical role in the development of the telephone and, as Edison’s chief draftsman, he invented and patented the carbon filament, a significant improvement in the production of the incandescent light bulb. As an expert, Latimer was also called to testify on a number of patent infringement cases. Outside of his professional life, Latimer wrote and published poems, painted and played the violin. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens and was among the first Civil War veterans to join the Grand Army of the Republic fraternal organization. He also taught English to immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement. Latimer Gardens is a public housing development administered by the New York City Housing Authority. Constructed in 1970, it consists of four 10-story buildings with a total of 423 apartments.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, was born to a wealthy family in New York. She attended boarding school and later, Vassar College where she studied abroad at the Sorbonne. She graduated from George Washington University and worked as a reporter and photographer following this. Jacqueline met Congressman John. F. Kennedy in 1951 and they married two years later. When John was elected in 1960, Jacqueline became the youngest first lady in many decades. She revolutionized the position and began inviting famous artists, actors, and intellectuals to the White House. She also played a large role in restoring the White House and cataloging its contents, as well as supporting a law to distinguish its furnishings as property of the nation. Over the course of her husband's presidency, Jacqueline Kennedy became known for her style, beauty, and ability to speak several languages. After witnessing her husband's assassination in 1963, she remarried five years later to Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy shipping magnate. Jacqueline returned to editing for some years and died in 1994 of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Nicolas A. Nowillo (?-2008) died trying to protect a neighbor from getting robbed on the street. The youngest of four children, Mr. Nowillo moved to New York City from Riobamba, a city in central Ecuador, his family said. After graduating from George Washington High School in Manhattan, he attended Bible study classes and worked as a jewelry appraiser. He enlisted in the Army in the 1960s, but was never sent to Vietnam, his family said. He volunteered at the East River Development Alliance and helped organize a seminar to teach new immigrants how to start businesses. Nowillo, who lived on Crescent Street for more than 34 years, was known as a neighborhood “good guy”, area residents said. The father of two spent countless hours volunteering at the Evangel Christian Church and School, where he was a member for more than 19 years. The street renaming was spearheaded by Nowillo’s daughter, Doris Nowillo-Suda, and backed by Community Board 1, the Dutch Kills community, the Dutch Kills Civic Association and then City Councilmember Eric Gioia.

Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (1928 - 2020) was a pitcher for the New York Yankees who was raised in Astoria. Ford was called up to the majors in 1950, beginning a long and illustrious career with the team, though he missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons while serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. During his time with the Yankees, he won 236 games as the team won 11 pennants and six World Series. He was a ten-time All Star, and in 1961 he received the Cy Young Award and World Series MVP. He earned the nickname “Chairman of the Board” for his calm, collected demeanor and pitching style. Following his retirement in 1967, Ford served brief stints as the team’s first base and pitching coach and assisted at spring training. His jersey, number 16, was retired when he was inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He was the first Yankee pitcher to have his jersey retired. The site of this field was occupied by Eagle Oil Works in the late 19th century, before the City acquired the land in 1906. In 1907, the U.S. Government leased part of the site for a monthly fee of $16.66 to the Coast Guard so it could maintain a lighthouse and bell along the water at the site. The lighthouse remained on the seawall until 1982. In 1942, NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses petitioned the City for the site and in October 1943, it was assigned to Parks and became known as Astoria Athletic Field. In 1985, the park’s name was changed to Hellgate Field for the water passage that the park abuts. At a special Yankee Stadium ceremony in August 2000, the field was dedicated to Whitey Ford.

William Alexander Hammond (1828-1900) was a military physician and a leader in the practice and teaching of neurology. Beginning in 1862 at the peak of the Civil War, he served as the 11th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, with the rank of Brigadier General. Forced out of his position in 1864, he was vindicated 15 years later when he was reinstated in retirement by an act of Congress. Hammond was the founder of the Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health and Medicine) and among the founders of the American Neurological Association. The second son of Dr. John Wesley Hammond and Sarah Hammond (née Pinckney), William Hammond was born on August 28, 1828, in Annapolis, Maryland, and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1848, he earned his medical degree from the University of the City of New York (now NYU). He went on to complete his residency at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. On July 3, 1849, he joined the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon; the following day, he married Helen Nisbit. The couple had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Having served mostly in the territories of New Mexico and Kansas, Hammond resigned from the army in 1860 to accept a position as professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he rejoined the army as assistant surgeon. In 1862, the U.S. Sanitary Commission was in the process of urging medical reforms, including the appointment of a new Surgeon General. With Hammond’s medical military service experience, expertise in research and teaching, and knowledge of hospital design, he was favored by the Commission for the position, and President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army on April 25, 1862. Hammond quickly launched new reforms, including beginning an ambulance corps to more effectively remove the wounded from the battlefield, increasing the number of hospitals, and planning and locating them to better accommodate the thousands of injured soldiers in need of care. However, by 1864, Hammond had clashed with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and their disagreements led to Hammond’s court-martial and dismissal on August 18 of the same year. He returned to New York City, and by 1867, he had rebuilt his professional life, becoming a professor of mental disease at Bellevue Hospital and a leader in the field of neurology. In 1878, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, signed by then-President Rutherford B. Hayes, effectively restoring Hammond on the rolls of the army as surgeon general and brigadier general on the retired list, without pay or allowances. His wife, Helen, died in 1885, and Hammond was remarried the following year to Esther Dyer Chapin. In 1887, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Hammond established a hospital for patients with nervous system diseases. He was among the founders of the New York Medical Journal and the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and he also authored many medical works and several novels. Hammond died of heart failure on January 5, 1900, at his home in Washington. He is buried, along with his wife, Esther, at Arlington National Cemetery. Named in honor of Dr. William A. Hammond, PS 82Q The Hammond School was constructed in 1906 and is located at 88-02 144th Street in Jamaica.

Oswaldo Gómez (1953-2018), more widely known as "Ms. Colombia," was a beloved Queens cultural icon. In Jackson Heights, locals affectionately called her La Paisa (for the region where she was born in Medellín, Colombia). Gómez was renowned for her vibrant presence, flamboyant style, and commitment to living authentically, which was evident in her colorfully dyed beard, extravagant outfits, and striking headdresses. Ms. Colombia was often found attending local parades and festivals throughout New York City and was especially well known at the Queens Pride Parade. She was also a fixture at Riis Beach in Rockaway, accompanied by her parrot Rosita and small poodle Cariño, both of whom were dyed and dressed to match her colorful style. Gómez worked as a lawyer in Colombia before coming to New York in 1975, driven by a desire for freedom of expression and to escape anti-LGBTQ+ persecution. She attended York College and received a degree in law. In 1988, Gómez tested positive for HIV/AIDS and was told she only had a year to live. As a result, she gave up educational and career ambitions. Instead, she decided to focus on living exactly as she wanted, embracing a colorful and public persona that brought joy to countless New Yorkers for the next 30 years. Ms. Colombia, who used she and he pronouns interchangeably, was gay but disliked definitions and wanted to be free to express herself. She loved New York because she felt free to live the life she wanted. In 2018, at age 64, Ms. Colombia was found in the waters off Jacob Riis Park, most likely a victim of the area's riptides. Hundreds of Queens residents gathered in Jackson Heights to mark her life, and a memorial was placed at Riis Beach. Though usually associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Jackson Heights, she had long lived in Elmhurst. In 2025, a local law was approved to name the intersection near her home at Elmhurst Avenue and Broadway "Oswaldo Gómez 'Ms. Colombia' Way" in honor of the joy she brought to the community.

Frank D. O’Connor (1909-1992) was an American lawyer and politician who grew up in Elmhurst, Queens. O’Connor was born in Manhattan to Irish immigrant parents and raised in Elmhurst, he graduated from Newtown High School and worked his way through Niagara University as a lifeguard. He earned his L.L.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1934. During WW II, he joined the Coast Guard and served as a legal officer in Alaska. O’Connor won a seat in the New York State Senate from Queens in 1949 to 1952, and was elected again in 1954 until 1955 when he was elected Queens DA. From 1955 to 1965, O’Connor presided as the Queens District Attorney, after which he served as President of the City Council for three years. As Council President, he promoted distributing public housing throughout the city and creating a civilian complaint review board for the Police Department. This last position hurt O’Connor during his unsuccessful run for Governor against Nelson Rockefeller in 1966. He was elected to the State Supreme Court in 1968 and served until 1976, when Governor Hugh L. Carey appointed him to the Appellate Division, where he served until 1985. O’Connor was active in numerous civic, professional, and cultural organizations, including the Queens County Bar Association, the Emerald Association of Long Island, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a defense lawyer, he gained national attention in 1953, when he defended Christopher Emanuel Balestrero, a musician who had been wrongfully accused of two holdups in Queens. Three years later, Alfred Hitchcock directed "The Wrong Man," a movie based on the case.

Saint Mel of Ardagh (d. 487 or 488) was a missionary and bishop who was active in the early part of the fifth century. One of the earliest Irish saints, he was believed to be a disciple and nephew of Saint Patrick, and his ministry was an important part of the early establishment of Christianity in Ireland. Thought to be a native of Britain, Saint Mel was the son of Conis and Darerca, who is considered to be the sister of Saint Patrick. According to legend, she was the mother of 19 children, the majority of whom entered religious life. It is said that Mel traveled with Saint Patrick into the Irish countryside, preaching and evangelizing the Christian Gospels. While at Ardagh, a village in modern-day County Longford, Patrick established a church and ordained Mel as the local bishop, also making him the abbot of an adjoining monastery. According to traditional narratives, Mel continued to travel, performing manual labor to support his missionary work and giving back much of what he earned to help those in need. He is believed to have professed Saint Brigid as a nun, also giving her abbatial powers on par with those of contemporary bishops. An often-cited legend around Saint Mel tells of his living on a farm during a portion of his ministry with a woman, possibly his aunt, Lupait. This gave rise to gossip, prompting a visit from Saint Patrick. Mel and Lupait produced miracles to prove the innocence of their relationship, with Mel pulling a live fish from his plowed field and Lupait carrying hot coals without being burned. Revered to this day as the patron saint of the Roman Catholic diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Saint Mel died in County Longford, leaving behind a monastery that flourished for centuries. Saint Mel Catholic Academy opened in 1960 and is located at 154-24 26th Avenue in Flushing.

Thomas Anthony Casoria (1972 – 2001), grew up in Whitestone, Queens and went to Holy Cross High School in Flushing, Queens, where he played second base and was captain of his baseball team and an all-city football player. Once in the Fire Department, he switched to softball and played second based on the department team. Serving in Engine Co. 22 in Manhattan, Casoria died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. In a radio contact minutes before the towers’ collapse, he was heard carrying down the body of a paraplegic along with other firefighters. He died one month before his wedding, scheduled for October 13, 2001.

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.

Emanuel Gold (1935-2013) was senior ranking Democrat in the New York State Senate from 1971-1998. He was the prime sponsor of over 80 laws. In 1977, he crafted the nation's first "Son of Sam" law which calls for victims of notorious criminals to be compensated from profits criminals gain from the sale of their stories. He also wrote laws covering health and medicine and the rights of the disabled.  Adam Gold (1972-2012) was an avid fan of comic books, chess and Star Wars. He was devoted to his family and lived his life with courage and dignity.

Mary Vavruska (1932 – 2015) was a well-known Jackson Heights community activist that served the community for over 50 years and was instrumental in the building of Louis Armstrong Middle School, I.S. 227. She worked as the chair of Community Board 3 for many years, and was especially active on issues of land use, economic development, and education. She helped initiate the building of the 115th Police Precinct on Northern Boulevard. Vavruska also helped form the Jackson Heights Community Corp. and organized and implemented volunteer services for the homeless at the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church. She was an active PTA member and championed the Department of Education to receive continual financial support for the maintenance of the Paired Schools under the Princeton Plan to integrate the schools between Jackson Heights, Corona, and East Elmhurst after the decentralization of school districts. She received the Volunteer of the Year from the Regional Alliance for Small Contractors, the Community Service Award from The Asociacion Benefica Cultural Father Billini and the Small Business Person of the Year from the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

Thomas Rainey (1824-1910) a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, was one of the main contributors to the bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. Rainey spent 25 years and much of his fortune on this bridge. The project was initially highly favored by the community, but it lost momentum in the financial Panic of 1873. Due to this, the burden of organizing and refinancing the company fell on him, first as treasurer in 1874, then as president in 1877. However, the project once again lost steam in 1892 . After the consolidation of New York City in 1898, the project gained new momentum and the bridge was finally built at Queens Plaza, a few blocks south of the proposed location. On opening day in 1909, Rainey realized his dream as he crossed the new bridge with Governor Charles Evans Hughes. The new bridge entitled the "The Queensboro Bridge," fulfilled its promise by tying the Borough of Queens into Greater New York. For his efforts, Rainey received a gold medal inscribed “The Father of the Bridge.” In 1904, the City of New York acquired several acres of waterfront property. The concrete “sea wall,” built where the park meets the East River, was completed in 1912, by which time Rainey had passed away. To honor his public spirit, the city named the property Rainey Park.

The Fitzgerald/Ginsberg Mansion is one of the last great Tudor Revival mansions of the 1920s still standing in Flushing. It was built in 1924 for Charles and Florence Fitzgerald, two affluent New Yorkers, who then sold it to Ethel (Rossin) Ginsberg (b. 1905) and Morris Ginsberg (1902-1947) in 1926. While less is known about the Fitzgeralds, the Ginsbergs were a prominent family that made its fortune manufacturing materials for builders. The residence was owned by the Ginsberg family for more than seventy years. Designated as a historic landmark in 2005, it is considered a picturesque example of the Tudor Revival style once prevalent in the wealthy outer neighborhoods of New York City. In 1924, Charles and Florence Fitzgerald engaged the architect John Oakman (1878-1963) to build the mansion. Oakman had designed civic works, including hospitals, power stations, and college buildings, but he specialized in picturesque single-family homes. For the Fitzgeralds, he designed a Tudor-style mansion, also known as the “Stockbroker’s Tudor,” which was particularly popular in the early twentieth century. The two-story dwelling was built on a plot of land purchased by Florence Fitzgerald. At the time, it sat adjacent to Flushing’s Old Country Club (which has since been demolished) and was set back from the street on a winding drive. The Fitzgeralds moved from their residence on Malba Drive in northern Queens to their new home, located about two miles south in the Broadway Flushing neighborhood. Two years later, the Fitzgeralds sold the home to Ethel and Morris Ginsberg. Morris was one of seven children born to Russian-immigrant parents Hyman and Dora (Greenwald) Ginsberg. His father was the owner of D. Ginsberg and Sons, a prominent Queens manufacturer of sash, door, and trim. In charge of the business side of the firm, Morris began work for his father at a young age, and he went on to serve as vice president for 20 years before becoming chairman of the board in 1946. By that time, the company was known as the Empire Millwork Corporation. Morris was active in community and philanthropic activities in and around Flushing, including serving as chairman of the Queens division of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and the United Jewish Appeal, as well as a Vice President of the Woodside National Bank. Ethel and Morris had two children, William and Alane, and Morris died in 1947 at the age of 45. In 2003, the Ginsberg family sold the home, and it now houses the Assembly of God Jesus Grace Church. The site was declared a New York City landmark on September 20, 2005. It stands in its original location at 145-15 Bayside Avenue in Flushing.

The following was received from Helen Day, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society: Ivan Mrakovcic, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, passed away on February 27, 2020, after a valiant battle with brain cancer. Ivan was one of the founding members of the Richmond Hill Historical Society in 1997 with the late Nancy Cataldi and other like-minded individuals who looked to preserve historic Richmond Hill. Ivan loved this community and worked tirelessly in so many ways to preserve its historic character and charm, leading the charge for the historic preservation of Richmond Hill after Nancy’s passing in 2008. Ivan’s perseverance resulted in the establishment of a Historic District in North Richmond Hill on the New York State and National Historic Registers in March 2019. Ivan was much more than our president; he was our dear friend and neighbor, like a brother and definitely a kindred spirit, who will always be with us. As one of our board members said, we were so lucky to have known him and to have had him be part of our lives. That is a great testimony for anyone. Ivan left a legacy of accomplishments that will always be remembered, and we have many memories that bring a smile to our hearts.

Sister Mary Patrick McCarthy (1935–2002) was a nun, educator, and beloved member of the Jackson Heights community in Queens, New York. As a child, she attended Blessed Sacrament Church and School - the same institution where she would return decades later to serve as principal from 1967 to 2002. During her 35-year tenure, Sister Mary guided the school through significant transitions, advocating for the neighborhood’s growing Hispanic community throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She supported many recent immigrants from South America, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba by ensuring access to quality, affordable education.

Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal (1923-1983) 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. The Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library is the main library on the Queens College campus and was named upon its opening in 1988 to honor Rep. Rosenthal. The 350,000-sq.-ft., six-story building also houses the school’s Art Library and Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. Its hilltop location provides striking views of the Manhattan skyline to the west. Rep. Rosenthal’s papers are housed in the library’s Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Officer Robert J. Rogerson (1920-1975), a 29-year veteran of the NYPD who worked as an inspector in the License Division at the 114th Precinct in Astoria, was struck by a car, ultimately succumbing to his injuries. On June 24, 1974, he was at the station, standing in the middle of 35th Street near Astoria Boulevard to direct a cab driver into a driveway for the car's inspection. The cab went out of control, hitting Rogerson and dragging him 20 feet, striking and pinning him against a utility pole. The crash left Rogerson with a fractured skull, two broken legs, and internal injuries. He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition. Several of his fellow officers donated blood to assist with his internal hemorrhaging. Left in a coma, Rogerson tragically never recovered, and he passed away from his injuries on March 3, 1975. He was survived by his wife and two children, whom he lived with in Ridgewood, Queens, close to where this street was co-named in his honor. Inspection of the cab revealed no mechanical defects. The cab driver told police his foot had slipped from the brake pedal to the accelerator. He was given a summons for speeding.

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. 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. Located at the intersection of 157th Street and 32nd Avenue in Flushing, Paul A. Vallone Way borders the southern edge of Bowne Park, just a few blocks from the Vallone’s family residence. In addition, the Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center in Ridgewood was also named in his honor, 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.

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (1919-1972) will forever be remembered and honored as the first Black player in Major League Baseball. Born in Georgia, he was raised by a single mother along with his four siblings. His early success as a student athlete led him to UCLA, where he became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports (baseball, football. basketball and track). After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1944 and was selected by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey as a player who could start the integration of the white major leagues. Robinson was recognized not only for his baseball talents, but because he was thought to have had the right demeanor for the challenges he would ultimately face. Robinson made his National League debut on April 15, 1947, as Brooklyn's first baseman. In spite of the abuse of the crowds and some fellow baseball players, he endured and succeeded in the sport. He won the Rookie of the Year Award that year. Two years later, he was named the National League MVP, when he led the league with a .342 batting average, 37 steals and 124 RBI. A few select players, like Dodgers’ shortstop Pee Wee Reese, were particularly supportive of Robinson in spite of the taunting and jeers and helped him excel. In Robinson’s 10 seasons with the Dodgers, the team won six pennants and ultimately captured the 1955 World Series title. Robinson’s struggles and achievements paved the way for Black players in baseball and other sports. When he retired after the 1956 season, he left the game with a .313 batting average, 972 runs scored, 1,563 hits and 200 stolen bases. After baseball, Robinson operated a chain of restaurants and coffee shops but continued to advocate for social change, serving on the board of the NAACP. He died of a heart attack in 1972. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as its first Black player in 1962. On April 15, 1997, 50 years after his major league debut, his uniform number 42 was retired from all teams of Major League Baseball, a unique honor to this day. Ten years later in 2007, April 15 was declared to be Jackie Robinson Day. In Robinson's honor, all major league players, coaches and managers wear the number 42 on that day.

Private William Earl Gray (1947-1967), was a Corona resident who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country during the Vietnam War. Born in Stanton, Tennessee, Gray moved to New York with his family, including four sisters and five brothers, in 1956. He attended Brooklyn Automotive High School, where he enjoyed playing basketball. At 18, Gray enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as a Private First Class with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam, beginning his tour of duty in December 1966. Tragically, he was severely wounded in combat in Gia Dihn, South Vietnam, in February 1967 and soon died from his injuries. The playground, located on 98th Street between Northern Boulevard and 32nd Avenue, officially came under the Parks Department's care in May 1967, when they obtained a permit from the Department of Real Estate. Its development was funded by a Federal Urban Beautification Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Edward Fisher (1904-1970), a neighbor, friend, and mentor to Gray, and a member of the East Elmhurst – North Corona Community Board 3, spearheaded the effort to name the park after Private Gray following his death. Mayor John V. Lindsay and Parks Commissioner August Heckscher attended the dedication ceremony in the summer of 1968. In 1990, the Parks Department installed new play equipment with safety surfacing, along with benches and plantings. However, the City did not officially transfer ownership of the property to the Parks Department until 1992.

Pianist, band leader and composer Edward K. "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. Born in Washington, D.C., he studied piano as a child and began playing professionally at age 17. He moved to New York during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and, with his band, was a fixture at Harlem's Cotton Club. After gaining much wider popularity through radio broadcasts and recordings, Ellington and his band began touring the world in 1931, a model he followed for the rest of his life. After the popularity of big-band and swing music waned in the later 1940s and 1950s, Ellington began working with the younger generation of jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Max Roach and Charles Mingus. He died in New York City in 1974. Ellington wrote more than 2,000 works throughout his career, and often worked closely with composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn. Among the jazz standards he composed are "Sophisticated Lady," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." During his lifetime, Ellington won 11 Grammy awards, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an honorary doctorate of music from Yale University, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, among many other honors.

Highlighting women from across Queens - from Long Island City to Jamaica - whose contributions reshaped their neighborhoods. These educators, activists, and public servants broke barriers to create systems of change. Their names mark more than physical places; they represent legacies of collective action. We invite you to explore these stories and consider how we choose which contributions to celebrate in our public spaces.

Kurt Richard Schmeller (1937-2022) was a historian, professor, and executive-level college administrator. He served as president of Queensborough Community College in Bayside from 1966 to 1999 and is among the longest-serving college presidents in the United States. Schmeller presided over a period of historic growth and change at Queensborough. Over his 32-year tenure, he established a strong business and technical curriculum, created programs in electrical and computer engineering, attracted new funders, and doubled enrollment to more than 10,000 students. Schmeller was born in Johnson City, New York, to parents Rudolph F. Schmeller, a civilian employee of the U.S. Army who later worked for a shoe manufacturer, and his German-born mother, Liska L. Schmeller, who worked for a department store. The second of three siblings, he moved with his family to Munich in 1947, where the Schmellers made their home before returning to upstate New York in 1953. He graduated from Binghamton Central High School in Binghamton, New York, going on to receive an undergraduate degree in European history from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1959, and a Ph.D. in modern European history from Princeton University in 1962. While working as an assistant to the president and as a history professor at Wisconsin State University, he met his future wife, Beata (Sowka) Schmeller, a native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. In 1967, at the age of 29, Schmeller was named as Queensborough Community College’s third president. He and Beata moved to Glen Cove, New York, where they made their home. During his presidency, Schmeller upheld academic standards while advocating for giving students who did not meet typical admission standards a chance to attend college. In response, Queensborough’s College Discovery Program launched strong support efforts, including counseling, remedial courses, tutoring, and other academic assistance. In 1969, Schmeller blocked the reappointment of English professor Dr. Ronald Silberman, an openly Marxist scholar, citing budget cuts. Some critics argued Schmeller’s decision was politically motivated, and the act resulted in a period of student protests around this issue and other pressing societal and cultural tensions. Despite these early challenges, Schmeller oversaw many changes at the College, including the construction of nine new buildings, and the founding of the Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, the Holocaust Center (now the Kupferberg Holocaust Center), and the Port of Entry program. The first of its kind in the U.S., this program was designed to enhance cultural orientation for international students at Queensborough, particularly those from China. In addition to his work for the College, Schmeller was active in local community affairs, serving as chairman of the board of The Flushing Cemetery Association, as well as chairman of the City of Glen Cove School Board, and as president of Queens Council of the Boy Scouts of America. At the time of his death in 2022, he was survived by his wife, Beata, their three children, Rudolph, Sylvie, and Jesse, and four grandchildren. The main campus library at Queensborough Community College, located at 22-05 56th Avenue, was named in his honor as the Kurt R. Schmeller Library.

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.

Ethel Plimack (1910 - 2018) Lived on her block in Sunnyside, Queens from 1941 until 2018, when she passed away at age 107. Plimack worked for more than 40 years with the NYC Board of Education until she was 70, and then took an administrative job at Marymount Manhattan College until she was 96 years-old. She was active in the community and served as treasurer and secretary of her block association, Washington Court, and was also heavily involved in gaining landmark status for Sunnyside Gardens. Ethel was an exceptional knitter, making many hundreds of sweaters, hats and scarves for family and friends. In her younger years, she was an avid folk dancer, traveling the world to learn new dances and meet others who shared her passion for dance. A legend in Sunnyside, she received recognition from local elected officials and former President Barack Obama.

Nancy Lucia Cataldi (1953- 2008) was a life-long Richmond Hill resident, co-founder and president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, and the historian for Maple Grove Cemetery. She was an active preservationist for the Victorian-era homes in Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, and Kew Gardens, and succeeded in securing the special designation of the Queens Historical Society’s “Queensmarks” for twelve local homes, thereby preserving their architectural and historic value. Cataldi was a graduate of Richmond Hill High School and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she studied photography, and worked as a photographer for the New York Rangers, Rolling Stone Magazine, the New York Times, and People Magazine.

Billie Jean King, (b. 1943) Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient for her advocacy for women in sports and LGBTQ+ rights, Billie Jean King won 39 Grand Slam titles in her tennis career and led the fight for equal pay in tennis. Known for beating Bobby Riggs in 1973’s “Battle of the Sexes,” at age 29. She pushed relentlessly for the rights of women players and helped establish the Women’s Tennis Association, and the Women's Sports Foundation. Billie Jean King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. Her father, Bill, was a fire fighter and her mother, Betty, was a homemaker. An athlete from a young age, King played basketball and softball as a child. In her career she won 39 major titles, competing in both singles and doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup. King and her husband, Larry King (married 1965–87), were part of a group that founded World Team Tennis (WTT) in 1974. She came out as a lesbian in 1981, and after her divorce from Larry King, she publicly embraced her homosexuality and became an advocate for gay rights. King retired from competitive tennis in 1984 and the same year became the first woman commissioner in professional sports in her position with the World Team Tennis League. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. In 1972, she was the joint winner, with John Wooden, of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award and was one of the Time Persons of the Year in 1975. She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1990.\*\* In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.\*\* In 2018, she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor. In 2022, she was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

Remsen Hall on the campus of Queens College

The legendary punk rock group The Ramones formed in 1974. The original lineup consisted of John Cummings (Johnny Ramone), Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone), Douglas Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) and Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone) all attended and met at Forest Hills High School. The Ramones are often cited as one of the original pioneers of the punk rock sound and was a major influence on the 1970’s punk movement in the United States and United Kingdom. The band was recognized in Rolling Stone’s, 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and was ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine. In 2002, the original members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Shri Guru Ravidass was a great Indian thinker, reformist, traveler, spiritual leader, and mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, which emphasized love and devotion to god and preached against the caste system. Active during the 15th or 16th century CE, he attained recognition as a most learned Guru and was venerated as a teacher in the regions of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. The devotional songs of Ravidass have had a lasting impact on the Bhakti movement, and 41 poems attributed to him were included in the Adi Granth, the sacred scripture of Sikhism. A great social reformer, he fought the caste system in India with great courage when the system was at its peak, and upper caste kings became his followers. He was born in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh in the Chamar caste. The Chamars are a Dalit (formerly "untouchable") caste group numerically prevalent across North India, and traditionally associated with leatherwork and animal carcass disposal, connoting ritual impurity according to the Hindu religious system of caste hierarchy. In the face of enduring discrimination by wider Indian society, a sense of collective identity and solidarity remains strong amongst Chamars. The Ravidassi movement promised a collective religious identity for Chamars outside the existing socio-religious order, and Ravidas’s teachings focused on equality, social justice, and the unity of all humanity. Centered around the Punjabi city of Jalandhar, this movement has seen temples constructed across North India, including in the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi. Through these temples, religious leaders and reformers have promoted a separatist religious identity for Ravidassia, or those who follow the spiritual teachings of Guru Ravidas, one that rejects the ritually impure status afforded to Chamars as leatherworkers by Hindu cosmology. The Shri Guru Ravidass Temple was established in Woodside in 1987. It is the only known Ravidassia temple in New York City and the East Coast as a whole. On September 15, 2024, in a dedication ceremony held just outside the Temple, the intersection of 61st Street and Broadway was officially co-named Shri Guru Ravidass Marg in honor of the great poet and social reformer. The event was presided over by New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian-American ever elected to the New York City Council.

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.

Thomas X. Winberry (d. 2011) was born and raised in Forest Hills, where he was an active member of the community. Winberry enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 19 and served in the Korean War. After coming home, he joined the American Legion, eventually becoming commander of the Forest Hills American Legion Continental Post 1424. He served as commander for seven years until becoming Queens County Commander. Under his leadership, the American Legion Continental Post No. 1424 became a focal spot for our community provided a location for “Kidz Care Home Alone Thanksgiving” dinners, a place to distribute new school supplies, or for civic associations to hold meetings. Winberry was also a mounted officer for the NYPD and was awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor for rescuing a drowning swimmer in the East River. This was only one of fifteen times that he was cited for acts of courage in his 20 years on the force. He was an advocate of veterans’ rights and worked to preserve the St. Albans Veterans complex, a healthcare facility for veterans and their families. He was 78 when he passed away on June 29, 2011.

Horace Greeley (1811–1872), the founder and editor of the New York Tribune, was born in New Hampshire and apprenticed to a printer. When his master closed his business in 1831, Greeley set off, with $25 and his possessions in a handkerchief, for New York City. He worked a succession of jobs there, edited several publications, and in 1841, founded the New York Tribune, which he edited for the rest of his life. Widely known for his ideals and moral fervor, Greeley advocated many causes, including workers’ rights, women’s rights (though not woman suffrage), scientific farming, free distribution of government lands, and the abolition of slavery and capital punishment. By the late 1850’s, the Tribune had a national influence as great as any other newspaper in the country, particularly in the rural North. Greeley always wanted very much to be a statesman. He served in Congress as a Whig for three months from 1848 to 1849, but ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1850, 1868, and 1870, and for the U.S. Senate in 1861 and 1863. \[His] political career ended tragically with his campaign for President as the Democratic and Liberal Republican candidate in 1872. In that campaign, Greeley urged leniency for the South, equal rights for white and blacks, and thrift and honesty in government. For these positions, he was attacked as a traitor, fool, and crank, and was derisively referred to by noted cartoonist Thomas Nast as “Horrors Greeley.” Greeley’s wife of thirty-six years died two weeks before the election, he was soundly defeated by Grant at the polls, and he returned to his beloved Tribune only to discover that its control had passed to Whitelaw Reid. Greeley’s funeral, held on December 4, 1872, was attended by President Grant, cabinet members, governors of three States, and an outpouring of mourners who remembered him as a beloved public figure.

Betty Smith (1896-1972) was a Brooklyn-born novelist and playwright who is best remembered for her 1943 publication of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, majority of which was allegedly penned while she lived at this house in Woodhaven, Queens. Smith did not graduate from high school and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan instead to support her new husband’s pursuit of a law degree. After becoming the mother of two daughters, Smith enrolled as a non-matriculating student of journalism, drama, writing, and literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Through a series of awards and fellowships earned by her work, Smith continued her studies at Yale Drama School until she returned home to New York with her daughters in 1934 to continue her writing career. A job opportunity through the WPA’s Federal Theater brought Smith and her daughters to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1936, where she further pursued writing and drama endeavors including newspaper editing, stage production, playwriting, and working on novels. Some of her most famous novels written after A Tree Grows in Brooklyn include Tomorrow Will be Better (1947), Maggie-Now (1958), and Joy in the Morning (1963).

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.