Queens Public Library Connection

John Jacob Astor was born in Walldorf near Heidelberg, in what is now Germany. His father was a butcher and Astor spent his youth working in his father's shop. At the age of 20 and emigrated to the United State. Astor made his fortune as a fur trader, among other business dealings. Later in life, he invested in New York City real estate and was the first multi-millionaire in the United States. Astor was a patron of the Arts, and he made many charitable bequests by his will. Notably, he left $400,000 to found the Astor Library, now part of the New York Public Library system.

In 1839 another prominent fur trader, Stephen A. Halsey, bought a large swathe of land along the East River. He incorporated the village and changed the name to Astoria, after his mentor: the millionaire John Jacob Astor, in the hope that Astor would invest in the area. Though Astor only invested $500, the neighborhood and later it's branch of the Queens Public Library, bears his name.