ridgewood


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It's in Queens but looks and feels like Brooklyn, with a smattering of attached brick buildings that are so prevalent in the westernmost Long Island community, but at the same time also has plenty in common with its northeastern neighbor, Maspeth.

Its nickname is unofficial but Ridgewood Terrace seems clustered around either side of Metropolitan Avenue between Flushing Avenue and Fresh Pond Road; on its west it melts into Ridgewood and on the east with Maspeth...

GOOGLE MAP: RIDGEWOOD TERRACE

Ridgewood Terrace is the name of a long-ago housing development centered on 60th Street (formerly Collins Avenue). It's marked by a number of handsome brick posts topped by concrete globes. The housing stock in the area is now quite diverse, and it's hard to make out at this late date what the original styles were.

59th Place, formerly St. Andrews Place, runs south from 59th Drive (the Queens street numbering in Maspeth and Ridgewood is mighty confusing--both east-west and north-south streets are in the 50s and 60s). Steps are used to allow pedestrians access from the street to the sidewalk.

Queens past, Queens future at 59th Place and 60th Avenue, with charming one-story homes in bright colors now giving way to bland Fedders Specials. The site on the right was once the site of Trinity Lutheran Church, and 60th Avenue was once Pacific Avenue; when streets here had names, oceans and seas were favored, since it was paralleled by Baltic and Adriatic Streets.

The Long Island Railroad is a presence in Ridgewood Terrace...just west of the Andrews Avenue Bridge is Bushwick Junction, where a the Bushwick Branch runs west to Bushwick Place and Montrose Avenue, while the slighly busier west end of the Montauk Line runs to Long Island City.

The Andrews Avenue Bridge in 1999 (left, looking NE) and in 2008 (right, looking SW.) It was a garbage-filled rattletrap span that looked every bit of its 80 years when I first saw it, but a lengthy rebuild in the early 2000s produced a neat, albeit bland, crossing. The light stanchions in the background illuminate Metropolitan Oval.

A pair of defunct street sign frames remain on the telephone pole at the unusually-named Tonsor Street and Metropolitan Avenue. "Tonsor" is Latin for "barber"; I wonder what the story is behind this street name.

ForgottenFan John Schorn:

I've always understood Tonsor Street to have been named after Dr. Charles A. Tonsor, the first principal of Grover Cleveland High School. My father grew up at 1246 Greene Avenue in Bushwick and graduated from Grover Cleveland HS (see below) in 1948.

The massive Grover Cleveland High School is nearby, on Himrod Street between Tonsor Street and Grandview Avenue. It was constructed in 1931 and seems poised between the older Beaux Arts style and the more streamlined styles that had been on the rise at the time. The school can count among its alumni Bob Sheppard, the longtime New York Yankees public address announcer, and "Big Joe" Massino, the last don.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), the only president who served two non-consecutive terms and the second bachelor elected President (he married during his first term) is an interesting presence in Ridgewood Terrace. Though he was born and died in New Jersey, he was elected mayor of Buffalo, NY in 1881, Governor of NY State in 1883, and President for the first time in 1884. A high school, park, and even a dead-end street in Ridgewood Terrace were all named for him. He appeared on the 1,000 dollar bill, which was taken out of circulation in 1969.

The King of All Buildings is the backdrop of Grover Cleveland Park, which is basically the northeast corner of Linden Hill Cemetery (which we've seen on FNY's Stockholm Street page) and is chiefly accessible from Grandview Avenue and Stanhope Street.

NYC Parks: In July 1924, the City acquired this land located at the intersection of Grandview and Fairview Avenues and Stanhope Street, adjoining Linden Hill Cemetery. Developed in 1927-1928, the park contained two playgrounds, three tennis courts, two basketball courts, and a comfort station. Ridgewood residents knew it as Anawanda Park, a name taken from a small political organization of Tammany Hall-style politics proponents called the Anawanda Democratic Club (c.1921-1940s). The park hosted a number of activities, including summer drama productions and ice-skating during cold winter months.

In December 1939, this park's name was changed to Grover Cleveland Park amidst much controversy. The anti-reformists of the Anawanda Democratic Club protested the renaming of 'their' park after New York reformist president Grover Cleveland and their nearby rivals, the Grover Cleveland Democratic Club.

Over the years renovations and additions to the park have included a fenced-in softball field with two backstops, handball courts, a basketball court, a wading pool, a small playground and a comfort station. In July of 1997, Council Member Tom Ognibene allocated nearly $1 million to renovate the park. In 2001 Ognibene allocated another $20,000 for the parkís comfort station near Stanhope Street.

Photographed April 19, 2008; page completed April 24.

erpietri@earthlink.net