Lost Battalion Hall and Lost Battalion Park, between Queens and Junction Boulevards just south of the Horace Harding (Long Island) Expressway and wedged between the Queens Center and Rego Center shopping malls, are named for World War I American patrols numbering about 550 soldiers, who became separated from the rest of their division while attempting to liberate Charlevaux, France from the Germans, from October 3 to October 7, 1918. The patrols were only able to communicate with their division by using carrier pigeons and relay messengers, while the Germans had the advantage of telephone lines. Despite losing 107 men, the companies successfully held off the Germans until the 77th Division arrived with reinforcements.
The present Lost Battalion Hall was constructed in 1939 by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration for $100,000 as a firing range and drill hall for the Queens Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. It came under NYC Parks administration in 1960; by 1962, it became a Parks recreation building (with the VFW moving to upstairs offices) and a new playground was constructed next door. New renovation and additional park construction was done in 1998.
Developers Henry Schloh and Charles Hausmann of the Real Good Construction Company named their new Queens development Rego Park in the 1920s. The company’s row houses still standing in the area contrast with the modern high-rise apartment buildings along Queens Boulevard.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
9/21/17