New Inventions Of The Day And Chicken Thieves In 1888 – Western Queens Gazette

Kodak Camera advertisement c. 1888, Roosevelt Island, originally called Blackwell Island and a Civil War era Gatling gun. Get into a conversation with a longtime Queens resident and you’re likely to discover a former subscriber of the Long Island Star Journal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper’s name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal–The Flushing Journal (1841).

Welcome to January 1888!

The year 1888 dawned on a world with one eye to the 20th century and the other firmly on the past. While Brazil abolished slavery, Jack the Ripper terrorized London residents with a string of grisly murders. In the United States, with the slogan “you press the button, we do the rest”, George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera. The presidential election pitted Republican Benjamin Harrison against Democrat Grover Cleveland, with Harrison emerging as the victor, winning 20 of 38 states, despite losing the popular vote. On January 12, the Schoolhouse Blizzard struck from Texas to the Dakota Territory, claiming 235 victims, many of them children on their way home from school. Closer to home, Katz’s Delicatessen was founded on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Queens, not yet incorporated into New York City, extended from the East River to the sedate countryside that encompassed all of present day Nassau County.

The people of Queens rang in the New Year each in his or her own special way. “Carriages commenced to flit hither and thither shortly after noon and towards evening the houses commenced to light up and the sounds of merry music and joyous songs reached far out into the starry night and told of the happiness and enjoyment within.” (Long Island Weekly Star, January 6, 1888.) On Steinway Street, Max and Christina Halfmann turned out for a stroll on New Year’s Day, the wife attired in her husband’s clothing. When questioned by the Deputy Sheriff, Mrs. Halfmann replied that “the big young officer was not half a man to object to her having a little fun and her spouse Max, backed her up in her opinion.” Both husband and wife spent the first day of the New Year in the county jail.

In 1888, the docks and factories on the East River were bustling with industry. On the evening of January 19th, an explosion ripped through the Standard Oil yards on 10th Street in Long Island City. The flames quickly spread through the refinery, lighting up the evening sky for a great distance. To the relief of local residents, the conflagration was quickly extinguished by the hook and ladder companies from surrounding neighborhoods including Dutch Kills and Blissville.

Meanwhile, citing the great increase in traffic over the nearby Brooklyn Bridge, traversed by more than 2.6 million people in the previous month, the January 20 Long Island Weekly Star called for a similar structure to link the growing borough of Queens to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. “Already the want of another like avenue is beginning to be felt, and the pushing through of the Blackwell’s Island structure cannot much longer be deferred, as it is growing to be an absolute necessity of the times.” People crossing the proposed bridge would visit the Steinway section of Astoria, which was booming with local families snapping up lots and building homes. The Steinway family, after building a piano factory in the neighborhood in 1870, offered 400 acres of land for manufacturing and construction of new houses. As it was, residents could take a short trip on the Steinway and Hunter’s Point Horse Railroad to the Astoria ferry or travel through the German Settlement down to the Hunter’s Point ferry.

A time traveler exploring Queens in January 1888 would recognize many venerable aspects of American life and timeless human foibles. Housewives baked with Fleischmann’s yeast, and stocked pantry shelves with groceries from the “The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company.” Local papers lured savvy shoppers to long forgotten retailers with New Year’s clearance and closeout sales. Patent medicines breathlessly trumpeted miracle cures, with Lyons Medicine claiming “It will cure cancer. It has done it!” In the snowy, chill winter of 1888, residents who neglected to shovel icy sidewalks within four hours of a storm faced a steep fine, not to mention the ire of their neighbors.

As always, not all locals were out for good, innocent holiday fun. The streets of Queens have always played host to a darker side, to those troubled few who turned to crime to make ends meet or to alcohol to escape some inner demon. Drunks were rounded up and thrown into jail by police, their names a roll call of shame in the daily news. Brawls frequently erupted in saloons as tempers flared after a few drinks and a long days toil. With Queens still largely a patchwork of farmland, thieves often raided barns and chicken coops, depriving their owners of their next meal. One outraged local resident purchased a Gatling gun to protect his livestock from the chicken snatchers.

Throughout its long history, Queens has always been a global hub. At Scheutzen Park, German immigrants toasted the New Year and sang along to rousing tunes that reminded them of home. The park, which stood at the southeast corner of Broadway and Steinway Streets, welcomed all, from German singing groups, African American church outings and presidential candidates stumping for votes. Ships from all corners of the globe tied up at the piers of Long Island City, carrying materials such as wood for Steinway pianos and refined oil from the Standard yards. At the Inman and International Offices in Astoria, those with an itch to see the world could purchase steamship tickets to destinations as far afield as Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Australia. The Greater Astoria Historical Society is open to the public, Saturdays, noon until 5 p.m. and is located at the Quinn Funeral Home, 4th Floor, 35-20 Broadway in Long Island City. Additional hours include Wednesday 6 to 8 p.m. Visit our gift shop on line. For further information, call 718- 278- 0700 or, visit www.astorialic.org.