Click to read Queens Chronicle Article "Preservationists Mark 10 Yrs In Richmond Hill" by Noah Zuss - Not available at Queens Chronicle website...
Long before its stately Queen Anne Victorian homes turned heads, or its slew of landmarks commanded awe, or its streets became some of the world’s most diverse, the area now known as Richmond Hill boasted a rich history.The Rockaway American Indian tribe prospered there and both American colonists and British soldiers shed blood on its fields during a pivotal battle in the Revolutionary War.
But the vision of two men—Albon Platt Man and Edward Richmond—paved the way for the Richmond Hill we know today.
The two learned of plans to lay new railroad track between Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Jamaica in the late 1860s. They purchased hundreds of acres of farmland with plans to build a modern, planned community.
While there is still debate over whether the community was named for Edward Richmond, the men succeeded in their plan. Within a few years of their purchases, 250 acres of land were prepared for housing. A restaurant, hotel, saloon, post office, schoolhouse and grocery store sprang up around the community’s train station.
“Richmond Hill, with its neat churches, gardens and summer cottages, presents a pastoral picture,” the Long Island Democrat declared in 1886.
A village developed near the intersection of Myrtle Avenue, Jamaica Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard and the community experienced two building booms: one in the early 1890s and the second between 1901 and 1906.
Brothers Henry and William Haugaard designed most of the area’s Victorian homes that went up one after another. Many included wrap-around porches, libraries, formal gardens and ornate woodwork.
“That was the style of the time,” said Nancy Cataldi, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society. “It was the newest trend for suburban homes. They were like little mansions.”
By 1910, when a fourth train station came to the community, many started spreading out into nearby areas such as Kew Gardens. By then, many of Richmond Hill’s lasting landmarks had already been built, such as Richmond Hill High School, the Richmond Hill Republican Club and the Church of the Resurrection. RKO Keith’s movie theater and Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor followed.
Through the 1920s and 1930s, they were, along with other businesses and municipalities, patronized largely by the German, Italian and Irish families.
The community’s notable residents included the comedians the Marx brothers, New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto, author Jack Kerouac and musician Morton Gould.
Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan visited the Republican club, located near the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard. In 2003, the historical society worked to have the city landmark the 99-year-old Colonial Revival-style structure, which Henry Haugaard designed.
Similar efforts have been made throughout the community to preserve priceless pieces of architecture. In 1996, Richmond Hill received the Queens Historical Society’s Queensmark Award, which led to the landmarking of 10 homes, the Church of the Resurrection and the Richmond Hill Library, located on Hillside Avenue.
Many Queens historians continue trying to preserve parts of the community for its younger residents, many of them Guyanese, West Indian and Hispanic.
“Once these things are torn down, there will never be anything built like them again,” Cataldi said. “Everything in these houses was done by artisans. Now houses are built by construction workers.”
