WINFIELD, Queens

by Kevin Walsh

By CHRISTINA WILKINSON
Forgotten NY correspondent

MOST OF US CAN name famous generals of the American Revolution and the Civil War. But how many of us can name those who served in between?

During his time, Winfield Scott was considered by many to be the world’s greatest general. He served in the Army for 53 years, and was the longest active-duty general in U.S. history. It was he who authored the Army’s first “code of conduct” manual. He was often lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) called “Old Fuss and Feathers” due to his strict adherence to those rules and his fondness for military pomp and circumstance.

 

Born in Virginia in 1786, Winfield Scott proved himself a hero during the lesser-known War of 1812 (1812-1815) and the forgotten Black Hawk War (1832). He peacefully restored tranquility to the Canadian border during Martin Van Buren‘s presidency, and garnered a reputation for being as strong a peacemaker as he was an aggressor. In 1838, Andrew Jackson ordered him to enforce the Treaty of Echota. Scott voiced his disagreement, but ultimately followed the order of his Commander-in-Chief and forcibly relocated the Indians. History refers to this incident as the Cherokee Trail of Tears (1838-1839). The travesty turned out to be the biggest blemish on General Scott’s record.

His return to glory came when, as General-in-Chief of the Army, he successfully commanded our forces during the Mexican War (1846-1848). From that, he brought home many spoils – one being the bell that hangs inside the Bell Tower at West 249th Street and Henry Hudson Parkway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. [For more information about the Bell Tower’s fascinating history, read itshistorical sign posted on the NYC Parks Department website and visit Forgotten NY’s Duyvil in the Details page.]

Winfield Scott had always been heavily involved in politics, and in 1852, he set his eyes on winning our country’s biggest political prize. He bested both Daniel Webster and, surprisingly, incumbent President Millard Fillmore to win the Whig Party nomination for President of the United States. In the general election, he was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce (who, incidentally, was a distant cousin of former first lady and native Manhattanite Barbara Pierce Bush).

In 1853, General Scott moved to New York and brought with him the Army’s command center. A group of his friends, led by Hamilton Fish, purchased a four story Anglo-Italianate style house at 24 West 12th Street in Greenwich Village, for him for the price of $26,000 (what a deal!). [This site was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and now houses theItalian Studies program of New York University.]

Fussy instantly became a member of high society and a local New York celebrity. In 1854, Manhattan developers G.G. Andrews and J.F. Kendall built a hamlet in northwestern Queens and named it in his honor.

The new settlement was called, simply, “Winfield.”

The rest of the page will chronicle what remains of this part of forgotten New York

The lost town of Winfield

Winfield was situated roughly in the area within the following borders: Hurl Gate Road (Woodside Avenue) to the north, Mount Zion Cemetery, Calamus Road (Avenue, today) and Maurice Avenue to the south, the New York Connecting Railroad to the east, and New Calvary Cemetery to the west. Its major intersection was where North Shell Road (45th Avenue), Thomson Avenue (Queens Blvd) and Fisk Avenue (69th Street) converged. This was an excellent place for a settlement, as it was located in close proximity to Newtown, and along the road that connected Long Island City and Jamaica. The adjacent town of Woodside was called so because the area sat beside what was then the Winfield Woods – a.k.a. “Suicide’s Paradise” – where, legend has it, despondent early colonists went to commit suicide.

Though you won’t find Winfield listed on modern maps, the village was, at one time, a major center of industry and railroad. The largest employer in the area was a foundry located at the crossroads mentioned above. The factory manufactured metal coffins – a good trade to be in with so many cemeteries in the area. Business later expanded when major rail lines converged at Winfield. During WWI, the factory was converted into an aircraft-making center. The same factory, at another time, also made Singer sewing machines. Alas, the entire complex is now gone.

The 1873 map of Winfield seen above and used as the background for this site can be viewed on the Brooklyn Genealogy Information Page.

St. Mary’s of Winfield

To minister to the predominantly German Catholic population, the church of St. Mary’s was built during the same year that the town was born. “Winfield” was later added to the name to distinguish this parish from St. Mary’s in Long Island City, when the latter was founded in 1868. St. Mary’s of Winfield, today known as Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2004.The St. Mary’s Drama Guild has some great old photos of the school and church posted on their website.

St. Mary's has seen several name changes.

The original convent, built in the 1800's, was demolished in the mid-2000s.

The original St. Mary's

St. Mary's today

Original bell and cornerstones

Winfield Junction

In 1854, the Flushing and North Side Railroad (now the Port Washington LIRR line) was extended to the area. The FNSRR ran at-grade down present-day Garfield Avenue. The FNS Winfield stop was located near Madison Avenue (70th Street) and Monroe Street (50th Avenue). The Winfield LIRR stop opened in 1865 less than a half mile away. Finding itself redundant, the LIRR stop closed in 1876, and patrons used the FNS stop, renamed “Winfield Junction,” in its place. Both lines were moved about one block north of their former locations and elevated for safety between 1912-1915, which is when the Winfield Junction station closed. There are no traces of either stop remaining, however, the present-day point in Woodside where the LIRR splits is still referred to as Winfield Junction. Another rail line called the New York Connecting Railroad, built around 1915, runs along what was the eastern border of Winfield. The handsome arches carrying the NYCRR over Queens Boulevard can be viewed on the Forgotten page entitled Got Connections.

Early Queens railroad map (from aRRtsaRRchives.com)

Tower at Winfield Junction (from TrainsAreFun.com)

An alley near the railroad called Henry Avenue, likely a remnant of what was Henry Street in the 1800’s, is profiled in Alleys of Queens.

Fussy’s Farewell

Winfield Scott was 75 years old when the railroad was first introduced to his namesake neighborhood, and the country found itself on the brink of war once again. Scott was the General-in-Chief of the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, but due to age and infirmity, he was soon forced to retire. He was succeeded by Major General George B. McClellan, who disagreed with him on most major issues, often publicly ruffling Old Fuss’ feathers. However, prior to his departure, Scott developed the Anaconda Plan, which was his well thought out strategy to defeat the Confederate Rebels. He presented the plan to President Lincoln, but it was not adopted until well after the General retired. Three years of devastating casualties were suffered by both sides before the plan was finally put into effect in 1864 by Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General William T. Sherman. It was ultimately credited for the North’s victory in the war. General Scott proved that he certainly had been “the man with the plan” all along.

Scott did live long enough to see the Union Army emerge as the winner of the Civil War. He spent his final years at his beloved West Point, and passed away there in 1866. (His wife, Maria, died in 1862.) Below are pictures of his grave marker at the West Point Cemetery.

Photos by Russ Dodge at Findagrave.com

The day of his funeral, cannons fired at every Army post, and federal offices and the New York Stock Exchange were ordered closed for the day in his honor. It’s a good bet that Old Fuss and Feathers thoroughly enjoyed the attention, from wherever he was watching.

By 1866, the General was gone. But the town in Queens that had been named after him was just beginning to thrive as a community.

Winfield Reformed Church

The Winfield Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1880 by members of the Reformed Church of Newtown. The building was originally closer to Queens Boulevard, but was moved intact to its present location on 67th Street off of Woodside Avenue in 1907. Since the 1960’s, the church’s congregation has been made up mainly of Taiwanese immigrants.

Winfield Reformed Church

Winfield Reformed Church Annex

A Winfield Homestead

This picture of a Winfield house was taken in the 1890s. Notice the farm animals in front of the house and the railroad running at-grade through the backyard.

Photo courtesy of Ann of Winfield
 (full name withheld by request). This was her grandmother’s house.

Here is the same house, today. Ann says, “When you look at the old picture, the water pump was by the yard entrance. The street level was 4 feet lower then (before sewers went in; there are a lot of sunken houses around here) so you can see that lower level porch has been cemented over.”

Socialist and Suffragist Central

Socialist Revolutionary Leon Trotsky spoke several times in Winfield in 1917. The building where this took place was called Urban Hall. It burned down in 1940 and elevated LIRR tracks now occupy the spot where it stood. Winfield was also a central location for the women’s movement. Outspoken suffragists rallied support at the Mothers’ Club of Winfield and passed out pamphlets at area railroad stations in the years prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Winfield War Memorial

In 1926, a memorial called “Victorious America” by sculptor James Novelli was installed at Winfield Plaza by the Winfield Honor Roll Association. The base of the sculpture listed the names of seven residents of Winfield who had made the ultimate sacrifice during WWI.

The Plaza, once a central community 
gathering place, had to be moved to present-day 65th Place and Laurel Hill Blvd near a BQE off-ramp in 1939 when the highway was built right through the heart of town.

Since that time, the statue has been through the wringer. 
She not only has had to withstand the effects of weathering, but she also has had her head cut off, frequently found herself covered in graffiti and was hit by cars on three occasions. She was successfully restored each time she had suffered an indignity, but the last car crash in 2001 knocked the old girl out of commission. After a few years in a Parks Department vault, she was restored to the corner in 2011.

Winfield Spur – IND Second System

The IND “second system” was proposed in 1929 and work began sometime in the 1930’s.

From NYCsubway.org:
 This was designed to provide through service to the Rockaways from midtown, and also to serve the neighborhoods of Maspeth and Ridgewood. It would have been a two-track line from Roosevelt Avenue to a connection with the Central Avenue line…It would have run as subway to 45th Avenue, elevated to Fresh Pond Road, and again as subway to the connection with the Myrtle/Central Ave line. In anticipation of this line being built, trackways measuring 750 feet along with a completed station with full tile work were built that connect to today’s IND Queens Blvd line at Roosevelt Avenue — Jackson Heights.

Unfortunately, the Great Depression put a quick halt to those plans, and the area is now used as storage and office space.

Photos of the underground tunnel may be viewed at NYCSubway.org and HopeTunnel.org.

A Walk Through Winfield

After World War II, the name “Winfield” became disused and the town was divided between Woodside and Maspeth. Since the decline of industry and the railroad in the area, the center of what was Winfield has become dotted with chop shops, cheap motels, and residential shacks. But there are also nice little parks and quaint dwellings to be found. Below are some of the scenes one may see while walking through Winfield today:

More of these photos are available in my Winfield slideshow.

 

Engine 292, the FDNY unit on Queens Boulevard at 65th Street, still carries the area’s former name.

The Winfield Cougars 
are what these Bravest call themselves, and they sport a flaming firekitty on their company patch.

Old Fuss and Feathers
 would be proud.

Sources:

aRRt’s aRRchives
Brooklyn Genealogy Information Page
Find-A-Grave
NPS National Landmarks Program
NYC Parks Dept
NYC Subway.org
Queens Tribune
Trains are Fun
The White House

Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott, by John S.D. Eisenhower, The Free Press, 1997
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

The Encyclopedia of New York City, by Kenneth T. Jackson, et al, Yale Univ Press, 1995
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

Novelli: A Forgotten Sculptor, by Josephine Murphy, Branden Publishing Company, 2002
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory,
 by Timothy D. Johnson, University Press of Kansas, 1998
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

 

44 comments

jonathan kuhn July 22, 2013 - 9:02 am

I hope you can update your on-line information on the Winfield War Memorial to reflect that the monument was restored in 2010-11, and reinstalled in November 2011. The internal supporting structure of the statue was disassembled, then refitted for stability and reinstalled. Numerous dents in the bronze surface of the figure were filled with bronze, chased (cleaned and re-sculpted), chemically patined to match the rest of the sculpture and recoated with wax and buffed. Matching stone replacement elements (known as “Dutchmen” repairs) were carved and inserted into damaged areas of the granite pedestal where loss had occured when the sculpture was severely injured by a car travelling at high speed on December 27, 2001. These repairs were conducted by our in-house monuments restoration crew, principally by Monuments Conservation Manager John Saunders.

Here is a link to our on-line monuments cataslogue entry that includes a picture of the restored monument in situ in the fall of 2011:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/art-and-antiquities/permanent-art-and-monuments/info?monId=1711

Additional information and pictures of the restoration and reinstallation are available should you need them.

Thank you.

Jonathan Kuhn
Director, Art & Antiquities
New York City Parks & Recreation

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Kevin Walsh July 22, 2013 - 9:13 am

Done! I forgot it was mentioned there.

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Louis Weber September 28, 2013 - 10:07 pm

My grandfather, Louis Weber, who died in 1919 and is buried in Lutheran Cemetery, lived at 140 Hyatt Ave. Is this address located in Winfield?

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Carolyn T January 4, 2014 - 1:20 pm

Hyatt Avenue has since become 65th Place and the house numbers are now typical to that of of the rest of Queens. for example 52-14 69 street (Fisk Ave) would have a cross street of 52 Ave or 52 road.
The FIrst 21 number indicate the cross street/Ave/Rd and the 2 or 3 numbers after the dash indicate the house or lot number.
If you could identify the nearest cross streets on Hyatt ave to your grandfathers house you could google the intersection to see if the house remains. We have lost far too many older, well made, large and beautiful houses in the past 20 years to “developers” building cheap divided shoe boxes all attached to one another.

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Bernice March 25, 2014 - 2:13 pm

I love the triva and information on the areas surrounding where I grew up and my parents. My Mom went to Newtown High School and my sons played basketball against St. Mary’s Winfield and always where the name originated. Thank you

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Debbe Hagner March 27, 2014 - 12:03 pm

I would like know the timeline when Winfeld was established and then it was change to the following towns – woodside, middle village, elmhurst. If those town was change from winfeld.

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Eric Fettmann August 3, 2014 - 8:32 pm

According to the New York Times of April 30, 1928, there is an even stronger connection between Leon Trotzky and Winfield. It was at the Red Men’s Hall on 71st Street in Winfield that Trotsky was said to have planned the Bolshevik Revolution. Earlier, it had been a meeting place for New York’s anarchist leaders, including Emma Goldman. The hall was being torn down to make way for a new apartment house.

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Willie September 30, 2014 - 5:36 pm

Does anyone have info or photos of old PS78. It was in Winfield and was torn down in the 60’s to build another school. It was a block off of 69th street on Maurice Ave right where Maurice and Calamus intersect. I have never seen a mention of that old school by anyone, anywhere on the internet. Did I dream going to that school all those years.

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diane January 15, 2015 - 5:31 pm

Yes, I too attended PS78 for kindergarden in 1961. I then went to grammar school at St Mary’s. PS229 was built on the old site of PS78, which my daughter attended until1980 when we moved away. PS229 still stands.

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Caroline March 30, 2018 - 4:00 pm

Hi, There is a “PS 78 Maspeth Queens” Facebook page – even thought it is technically woodside. There are a few great photos on that site, and I am a teacher at the school that was built in it’s place. PS229. I am searching for photos of when the two schools were standing together, which would be 1967. It was the fall of 1967 that PS78 was torn down – quite a shame too.
If you tell me what year you were there I might be able to find a class photo – if there isn’t one already on that Facebook page I mentioned.

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Mary Haneman October 31, 2014 - 8:33 am

I too went to PS 78. If you type in PS 78 Maspeth or Woodside you will find very old picture of the school that looks like it is still under construction. It is under flickr. My grandfather was a young bricklayer from Greenpoint and worked on the construction site. We lived on 52 ave. two blocks from the school. Type in Calamus Ave and 69 St Maspeth and present day will appear. Gone is Bohack and Bill’s service station along with laundry and shoemaker on 69th St. Change is always with us.

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Willie June 4, 2015 - 7:25 am

Moved to Maspeth from Ridgewood (PS 123) in 1955 and went to PS 78 from ’55 to ’57. Lived at the top of the hill on 69th St. I had friends on 52nd Ave. Billy Kruger (his father was a metal shop teacher at JHS 73) and Sammy Dorish live in the first house with the large staircase over looking the cliffs before they built all the brick buildings on 69th street. Obviously, my LONG term memory isn’t the problem, since I’m pulling these names out of my ass.

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Iva July 15, 2015 - 1:33 pm

Does anyone have any pictures of the Bohack on 69 Street (Fisk Avenue)? I was told that there was a Bohack in the building that I own on the corner of 52nd & 69 Street. I wonder if it’s true.

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Patricia September 3, 2015 - 11:36 pm

Yes there was. I lived on 52nd. Ave in the 50’s and my mom used to shop there. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of it. There was also Lombardi’s Cleaners, Jerry Janis Grocery, Ernie the Butcher and a Bakery all in the same row as the Bohack.

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Caroline March 30, 2018 - 4:01 pm

Yes, there’s a few pictures of it in the background of photo of PS78 on the “PS 78 Maspeth Queens” Facebook page. take a look!

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Patricia September 3, 2015 - 11:51 pm

OMG, Yes I lived on 52nd Ave. went to St. Mary’s. I used to play with Karen Kruger and Robbie Peterson. Knew Sammy too, he shot me with a BB gun in the arm one day. We used to slide down the cliffs on cardboard all the time. Lucille Dunn was my best friend. Do you remember Billy Falk, we all called him Falkey, and the twins Anthony and Johnny. Those were the good old days.

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Patricia September 3, 2015 - 11:41 pm

We lived on 52nd Ave as well. Went to St Mary’s. Did you know the Vito’s boys Billy and Vinnie. Gusty Singerburger, Lucille Dunn, (me) Patti Kruck, I had 4 sisters and a brother August, but every one called him Augie. The Lutz family also live on our block. We had a girl named Mary Harms and quite a few more families.

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Mary Haneman September 24, 2015 - 6:45 pm

Hello, I am Mary Harms. Good memories, good neighbors on 52 Ave. still tell my grandkids about great sleigh riding we used to have. I remember BillyKrieger.and his family. Gusty, Lucille, Jeanette and the Reiher girls were friends. My brother, Bob, has passed, but we had many good memories of our childhood.

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Patricia October 27, 2015 - 11:51 pm

Hi Mary,
I don’t know if you remember me, but we used to play together. I remember there was a round dining room table in your house. You lived near the Vitos and the Cunninghams. Lucille, Rosemary Lutz, it was a great block to grow up on. Gusty, my brother Augie and Joey Dunn were good friends. I remember the sleigh riding of course. We lived on the hill. I had sisters Arlene, Denni, Lorraine and Debbie. My brother Augie and sister Arlene passed. It is great to hear from someone
that grew up on the same block. I too have told my grandchildren how much fun we all had on 52nd Ave. Please feel free
to keep in touch. We live in Florida now and love the weather. I do have a Face Book page under the name Patricia K. Salamone. If you would like to connect feel free.

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Willie December 10, 2015 - 2:12 pm

Mary, I think we went to school together. PS-78 Mrs German, Mr Koppinger, Mrs Cicalese …. JHS-73 9th grade Mrs. Piccone, Mr. O’Mara, Charlie Dane. any of this ring a bell.

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Mary Haneman December 16, 2015 - 10:26 am

Hi Willie, I had Mrs Calder,Maywood,Sweeney and Mr Jaufmann. I did have Mrs Piccone, Mrs Enon in 7th grade. My friends and I corresponded with Mrs Piccone for many years. I had Mrs Mulholland in 1st and 2nd grade and Mrs Lydon in Kindergarten. Wasn’t walking from one end of the building to another scary passing by those furnaces? The building was quite lovely by today’s standards. Looked like a historic English home. I was thinking about Mr. O’Mara not long ago. He was a good teacher. Mrs. Sweeney on the other hand freightened me to death. Went to Cleveland HS after that.

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Caroline March 30, 2018 - 4:04 pm

Is it at all possible that anyone would have photos of the construction of the new school, PS229 or the destruction of the old school – PS 78? I am doing a research article on the two schools.. a photo of them standing together would be amazing!

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Anonymous January 27, 2019 - 12:23 am

Mary hello after a million years.
I’m 68 living in Austin Texas
George Gueperoux

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Mary Haneman September 25, 2015 - 8:22 pm

Hi Iva, yes there was a Bohack on that corner. I went there with my mom. The manager was Mr. Wagner. The vegetables with a hanging scale were on the right as you entered. The counter with the cash register was on the left. There was a coffee grinder there and the milk refrigeration showcase was behind the counter if I remember cottectly. Up the hill after that was a small ice cream soda place. My brother worked as a stocking clerk at the newer Bohack on Maurice Ave. Mr. Uhlenhutt was the manager and Joe was the Butcher.

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Linda Metzger February 3, 2016 - 3:53 pm

Do you know if records of St. Mary’s exist from its inception and where they might be? Thanks

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I’m y0 January 21, 2018 - 4:39 pm

0

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Anonymous December 18, 2017 - 9:30 pm

I just started reading all the Information regarding the old neighborhood.I love this stuff
I’M A St. Mary’s grad…..Larry H

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joe Neubauer January 21, 2018 - 2:45 pm

Just came across this site while researching parents and my old neighborhood. Lived at corner house at 69St &52Dr ( house that always flew the American flag) and went to St. Mary (52-58) and Cleveland HS (58-62). Had many friends on 52 Av ( Possivits, Drobinko,Reynolds). younger brother was Ray & older sister Evelyn.

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Marilyn Pope February 11, 2018 - 5:52 pm

I lived in Winfield from 1939 until 1943. We move when I was 5 or 6 years old. I remember and old delicatessen with a live parrot. On nice days it would be outside on a perch. I remember a supermarket with an Elsie the cow statue inside. We rented an apartment in a two family house wit an empty lot next door. On the opposite corner I used to climb a hill and pick blackberries. We move to Ridgewood and I never was back to Winfield after moving. Just some vague information I thought I would contribute.

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Caroline March 30, 2018 - 4:07 pm

Hello, I am a teacher at the new school, PS229 that replaced PS78, I am highly interested in obtaining a photograph of both schools standing at the same time, which would make the photo from 1967 – right when color film was being used more.
please contact me by text – 917-416-5171

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Anonymous February 4, 2019 - 9:38 am

Hello George, so good to hear from you. Have thought many times of you, your father and your Mom’s family – the Crowley’s, Patrillos, I believe, and a sister that lived in Huntington. Your a Dad was a good man. I was so happy he married and found a new life. I will always remember those horseshoe games in the summer. I also hope life has been good to you. I now live in Virginia. My mother moved here in 1975 and passed in 1997. God bless you. Mary

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Mary Harms Haneman February 4, 2019 - 9:51 am

Hi George. So good to hear from you. I think of your a Dad and your mothers’s family. Many happy memories of your Dad, the horseshoe playing and Texaco trips to Bear Mt. on the boat and our trip in your father’s new Olds. I have lived in VA since 1968 when I married. My mother and later my brother moved here also. Mom passed in 1997. I was so happy your father found Eleanor and created a new life for himself. I went on Google to look up a 360 of our street by address and it is so different. Your house has been replaced and there are two houses where the Markey’s garden once was. Hope you have enjoyed your life. Time flies. Take care and God bless you. Mary

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Anonymous February 6, 2019 - 7:24 am

I attended Winfield Scott Elementary school (PS-140/118) on 59th st and 4th ave. in Bay Ridge.

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Maria T. Alonso October 26, 2019 - 1:23 pm

I attended PS 140 , Winfield Scott 59th and 4th from 1962 to 1965, then went on to Ft. Hamilton High. Recently returned to Brooklyn and of course everything is different, but I have many happy memories.

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Jen T. December 29, 2019 - 2:23 pm

I grew up on 49th Ave, off 69th St. St. Mary’s was my local parish, but I went to PS 229 for kindergarten through 6th grade, then Holy Cross on Maspeth for 7th and 8th grade, and finally, Grover Cleveland in Ridgewood for high school.
The zoning for where I was in Woodside was weird; you’d have though I would’ve been zoned for either Bryant or Newtown High Schools, but it didn’t work out that way.
My mother’s family originally moved to Winfield/Woodside in 1921. Their house was in our family until 1998.
I’m still living in Queens, and have great memories of growing up in Woodside!

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JOHN MASON January 19, 2020 - 2:22 pm

HI IWENT TO PS12 THEN PS 73 IN THE 60s LIVED ON 44TH AVE& 72ND STREET HUNG OUT ACROSS QUEENS BLVD FATHER WENT TO PS 78 WAY BACK WHEN MOM WENT TO PS 12 WE USED TO BELONG TO GANG CALLED JUNIOR SPARTENS MOST OF MY FRIENDS PASSED DUE TO BOOZE AND DRUGS I AM ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES THANK GOD!!!! ANYONE STILL AROUND? LOVE TO HEAR FROM YA, JOHN MASON

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LINDA RICHTER April 4, 2020 - 11:47 am

John, do you remember the Lynch girls? Mary, Eileen and Kathleen? I have tried to find them on FB and been verified…but their last name is so common that it is almost impossible. We were all friends growing up and I lost touch with them. The last one I ran into was Mary in Forest Hills…that was in the late 80’s I think.

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migwar June 8, 2021 - 1:10 pm

There was an Elizabeth Halloran née Lynch who lived on the corner of 68th Street and 43rd Avenue, directly across 68th Street from my grandparents’ corner house (that was later bought by Saint Jacobus and used as its rectory.) Don’t know if she was related to the Lynch girls you remember. She was an old lady (to 5 year old me) by 1955. Maybe she was their aunt or cousin.

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migwar June 8, 2021 - 1:14 pm

I attended PS 12 from 1955 (Kindergarten) to 1962 (6th grade graduation,) though the school had a 7th and 8th grade during at least part of the time I attended. My sister and parents also attended PS 12. Apparently, when my parents attended (around 1915-1923) the school had an Annex down on Maurice Avenue, to which they had to hike.

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LINDA RICHTER March 24, 2020 - 10:43 am

Hi John, I remember you and the Jr Spartans AND the Spartans. I lived on 44th Ave between 74 and 76 Streets. My parents owned the corner candy store on 74th street and Woodside Avenue, (Eddie and Edna) Maiden Name Linda Mergel.

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Joseph Donati April 1, 2020 - 8:18 am

I went to St.Mary’s from 1952 to 1960and as a teenager hung out byPS12 school yard on woodside ave.Some of our friends names were Richie O’Brian,Donald McCarthy, Billy Crowther ,John Gilkes , Chuck Mistretta , Whitey Johnson,Tony Ferrara, Charlie Morgan ,Freddie Nealon,Frank Falcone ,Louie Falcone ,Carol Lodatto, Bea Bea Pilabosian, Ann Menzazama ,Marlene Dietrick, Judy Dietrick, Gilla Nolan ,Carol Ferrara ,Nancy Stondell and many more. Growing up in Woodside was great.

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Amanda June 20, 2020 - 4:49 pm

I just discovered this page and information! Do you have any insight to someone listing their address as “Walnut of Winfield”? My Great-great Grandfather listed that address on his Naturalization papers.

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Chuck Mistretta July 30, 2020 - 7:32 pm

Hi Joe
Nice to see this article brings back old memories. We did have good times. Hope you and your family are doing well. How is Ronnie doing. Think of you guys often

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Reginald Pitts August 1, 2021 - 12:05 pm

Hello! I am looking for Fifth Street in Winfield–a family named Mangin ran a coal yard on Fifth Street in Winfield from about 1890 to the death of Mr. Mangin in 1909. The family remained at the address until they moved to Danbury, Conn. after World War I.

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