New York City, at one time or another, has had three settlements named Richmond Hill. The one in Manhattan, in what is now the west Village, and the one in Staten Island, in what is now Richmondtown, have pretty much been absorbed into new neighborhoods. Queens’ Richmond Hill has been more enduring. In 1869, developers Albon Platt Man and Edward Richmond laid out a new community just west of Jamaica with a post office and railroad station, and Richmond named the area for himself (or, perhaps, a London suburb, Richmond-On-Thames, a favorite royal stomping ground). It became a self-contained community of Queen Anne architecture west of Van Wyck Boulevard (now Expressway) that remains fairly intact to the present day. Journalist/activist Jacob Riis as well as the Marx Brothers were Richmond Hill residents in the early 20th Century.
On Saturday, June 28, 2014, nearly 50 ForgottenFans, augmented by members of the Richmond Hill and Woodhaven Historical Societies, paid a visit to this anachronistic Queens neighborhood. We visited not only some of the beautiful Victorian architecture, but also a venerable building once frequented by US Presidents; a pipe factory converted to residential housing; and best of all, were given a guided tour of the Church of the Resurrection, where Teddy Roosevelt visited and Jacob Riis was a parishioner.
Photos from Tour #80, Richmond Hill, all by Bob Mulero and Joe DeMarco.
For tour information email me at kevinjudewalsh@gmail.com or Greater Astoria Historical Society at info@astorialic.org. Twitter: @LIChistory
7/3/14