JUNCTION Boulevard’s name is somewhat mysterious. Literally, from Latin, “junction” means “joining” or where things come together. But what originally came together here in western Queens? My guess is either a group of railroads or trolley surface lines, which I plan on researching. I have walked Junction Boulevard’s length in two separate trips and will likely put together a FNY page on it. Currently, the “junction” could be of neighborhoods. These sort of lines are fluid, and heated arguments occur about where the undefended border is, but loosely speaking, west of Junction Boulevard you’re in Elmhurst or Jackson Heights, and east, you’re in East Elmhurst and Corona.
I’m always fascinated when I can find evidence of NYC’s old trolley routes. I have known about the trolley pole on the corner of Junction Boulevard and Corona Avenue for some time. A trolley line ran on both streets; that may be the “junction” right there.
Here’s a photo of the corner in 1940, with the same apartment building in place. And, an actual trolley! on my TROLLEYS FNY pages, actual photos of trolley cars are hard to find, I admit. If you look carefully, that trolley pole has been moved as it’s on Corona Avenue here, and on Junction Boulevard in 2024 and for the past few decades. I wonder what’s the story behind that. I can now see the extant pole in place after looking at it carefully.
The trolley line was likely replaced by the Q58 bus, which winds from Ridgewood through Corona to Flushing, originally using Strong’s Causeway to get through Flushing Meadows, but now the Horace Harding Expressway.
Hey, I’m likely taking tomorrow, March 5, 2024, off from writing a page, since I have a speaking gig at Neir’s Tavern, 88th Avenue at 78th Street in Woodhaven, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of This Thing of Mine. If you’re in the area, stop in, I’ll be speaking and showing off some vintage FNY pix at 8 PM.
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3/4/24
21 comments
I’ve always wondered what became of that huge yard of discarded streetcars in Bay Ridge
we frequently passed back in the ’60s
Most likely sold to a poor country or scrapped.
I’m not sure what makes you believe the pole had been relocated in the interim between photos. In the ca. 1940 photo — though it may be a little difficult to see — there are two poles. In the older photo the one on Corona Avenue appears to either have a thicker base or some kind of sheathing around the pole. The pole on Junction Boulevard does not.
94-67 Corona Ave and the corner of Junction.
Kevin, never to quibble with your work, but I cannot concur that the pole in question has been “moved”. Is that not the currently extant one, indeed captured in that 1940 photo, just a bit to the left of the electrical pole? It certainly blends in with the background of the building, becoming practically invisible as one (tries to) look upward along its height, but take a peek at the ground: you can even see its shadow, before the shadow disappears behind the electrical pole.
You are the second person to mention that. I will take a closer look when I have time.
The fact that the Junction Blvd. “trolley pole” survives seems like an anomaly. However, right here in San Tan Valley, AZ, which was an undeveloped wilderness twenty-five years ago, you will find many wooden utility poles co-existing with huge steel high-tension power transmission structures. But wait, there’s more. On the other side of Hunt Highway, we’re enduring lane closures because of the installation of many new wooden poles. You probably can’t call them new telephone poles because I doubt there are any new landline telephone customers to serve. Their purpose will remain a mystery & my neighbors & I will have to endure lane closures until this mystery project is completed but their purpose might never be revealed.
RSR,
Would you somehow be able to determine which utility is erecting those poles? Like, maybe even just accost a laborer on his lunch break and try to get some info? One wonders if the plan is to put up roadway lights in anticipation of (gulp) future growth on the as-yet unbuilt-upon side…
Chief: A good idea. I have done so in my immediate neighborhood a few times. The various utilities often show up & they spray paint these coded hieroglyphs. I’ve been told they’re a road map for future excavators to warn them about the locations of water, gas, & electric outposts (i.e. “hands off”). Before this, in 2018, the local water utility was completing a water main installation when suddenly I heard a loud hiss & some yelling. A few minutes later, deputy sheriffs gave us evacuation orders because the water main installers had ruptured a gas main. After that, hieroglyphs became a common sight (“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure’).
Don’t know where you’re from, but markouts for utilities have been around for quite awhile, so i don’t know what your local water company was up to. And i have heard that NYC doesnt participate in the markout program, which includes the water and sewer systems.. Maybe your utility was of the same mindset.
Tom+M-: The gas line mishap was caused by the water company crew that was finishing a water main installation. the cause of the accident may have been insufficient labeling. That project ended in 2018 & ever since it’s been one hieroglyph after another. Right now, we have two projects running concurrently. One is ongoing fiber optic cable installation by telephone/cableTV/internet provider Century Link. The other is utility pole replacement by SRP who provides our electric power, They’re replacing their wooden poles with steel poles that have become rust colored& at a distance they appear to be the same color as the wooden poles that are being replaced. This revelation satisfies my curiosity, so ends my quandary. Thank you for the information you have just provided.
The trolley routes that once ran on Corona Ave. and Junction Blvd. have an interesting history. Both were part of the immense Brooklyn BMT trolley network, which spread into western Queens as that borough developed. The Corona Ave. route is now bus B58 and amazingly still follows virtually the entire original trolley route between Ridgewood and Flushing. It is part of the NYC Transit Brooklyn Bus Division even though most of the route is in Queens.
The Corona Ave. route also had a branch going north of Junction Blvd. to the LaGuardia Airport entrance at 94th St. Both were absorbed into the public sector when NY City took over the BMT in 1940, and both were converted to bus in 1949. In 1961, the Junction Blvd. route (now Q72) was sold by NY City to the private Triboro Coach Corp., which extended the route to Queens Blvd. In 2005-2006, Triboro was among a group of seven private bus operators whose networks were absorbed into the public sector MTA Bus Company, where the Q72 still lives today.
In the 1940 picture the trolly pole is just to the left of the telephone pole.I think its the same pole in place & the other removed. . The trolly pole on left has a much wider base.
My grandfather drove that trolly in the 40s
When I moved from our apartment on the border of Rego Park and Elmhurst in 1988, having lived there since
1960, the trolley tracks were still visibly embedded at the intersection of 94th Street and Junction Blvd. I rode the Q/B58 for years and sometimes took the Q72 to reach it, but only vaguely recall seeing the tracks from the afore-mentioned to LaGuardia.
So Cool. When I was a kid in late 80s – mid 90s we still had many visible railroad and trolley tracks in parts of Woodside/Sunnyside/LIC. Sometimes you can still see them when the City digs up the streets for repaving. The most prominent were parrallel to Barnet Ave and the LIRR. The tracks ran from 54th St and Northern Boulevard past what is now The Tower Sq shopping center, a self storage center, and Home Depot, and would continue across 43rd St and into the Sunnyside Yards. Occasionally we would see the weekly freight train rumbling through (my last memory of this is probably 1990 or so).
Larry, talk about jogging a memory! We lived in Jackson Hts. in the ’70’s and ’80’s, but went to and through “Woody”/”Sunny”/LIC with some frequency. I would doubtfully have recalled this on my own, but now that you’ve mentioned it, *yes*, there were definitely occasions when a planned route down one of the streets would be blocked by a big frickin’ RR train sitting right there in the way!
I haven’t ridden in a trolley since the early 50’s on McDonald Avenue. As for what might have happened to the Bay Ridge streetcars, here’s a possibility. Our Scout troop used to go on overnight camping trips to a spot near Holmes NY. It was a former summer camp for the NYC Sanitation workers and their families. The scouts renamed it SANITA Hills (get it)! The cabins at Sanita Hills were made from former NYC streetcars, with a central kitchen area, and bunks at both ends. It was pretty rustic, but for Brooklyn kids, it was it was a great learning experience, especially since the adults stayed in their own cabin. We always had smokes, girlie books, and liquor, and we’d play cards most of the night. Who said Scouting was for sissies?
Those car bodies were retired el cars after the 2nd & 9th Ave els ceased operation.
Bill: “Ah, yes, I remember it well” My troop (Troop 92, Bronx, NY) always booked Sania Hills for the December overnight because of the kitchens & gas heating. However, Troop 92’s adult leaders weren’t as lenient as yours; We Scouts & our adult leaders shared the same cabin. The advantage was that one of the leaders cooked really good spaghetti & meatballs served with his secret sauce. As far as adult supervision in order to preserve youthful innocence, here’s the Boy scout Oath:
Scout Oath or Promise
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
That may have been the Bronx Scout oath, but in Brooklyn it was:
On my honor I will do my best,
To help the Girl Scouts get undressed.
Troop 227 did it’s best to obey the oath!
Thanks,but now Bill Mangahas says the cars I saw in that lot in the summer of “66 were actually
retired “el” cars.Or maybe he was referring to the ones at the Boy Scout camp.