Queens’ North Beach, Co-Created By the Piano-Making King
The man who was pivotal to the growth of Queens also helped develop a popular 19th-century beachfront resort.
by Rich Watson
La Guardia Airport was established in 1929. Before that, the site on which it resides was home to a popular resort and amusement park.
It was built by an influential figure in the history of modern Queens, particularly the Astoria neighborhood: piano manufacturer William Steinway.
William Steinway and the development of Astoria
After coming to America from Germany, William Steinway (nee Steinweg), with his father and brothers, founded Steinway & Sons, a maker of grand and upright pianos, in Manhattan in 1853.
By 1871, after his father died, he ran the business. One year before that, however, he began building a company town in what is now Astoria, Queens. He did this partly for greater worker control after a period of labor unrest, but also to avoid the congestion of Manhattan.
Steinway Village included, among other things, employee housing, schooling, a church, a post office and a fire department. It also included a trolley line. Steinway would, in fact, go on to head the commission responsible for building the New York City subway system).
North Beach and the Gala Amusement Center
During his search for land to develop, Steinway also uncovered land in the waterfront area known today as East Elmhurst, along the Bowery Bay. In partnership with brewer George Ehret, Steinway developed the property into what became known first as Bowery Bay Beach in 1886. Five years later, it became North Beach to avoid association with Manhattan’s Bowery.
Steinway Village residents, as well as other New Yorkers, frequented the resort thanks to hourly ferry service. In addition to swimming facilities, the beach had a boathouse, a picnic area, and restaurants.
Over time, Steinway added carousels, a Ferris wheel (the first on the east coast), even a zoo. An amusement park grew there, known as the Gala Amusement Center. By 1906, Stella Park was also added.
World War One, including a measure of anti-German propaganda, cut into North Beach’s prosperity. Plus, increased pollution plagued Bowery Bay. Prohibition was also a factor in North Beach’s decline. By 1921, the Gala Amusement Center closed.
Curtiss Airport and LaGuardia Airport
By 1929, air travel became more of a thing. New York Air Terminals Inc. opened first a private seaplane base, then, a year later, an expanded airport dubbed Glenn H. Curtiss Airport, named for a recently deceased aviator.
In the thirties, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, an advocate of air travel, pushed for an expanded airport. With assistance from the federal government, the Bowery Bay waterfront became first the New York Municipal Airport in 1939, and eight years later, LaGuardia Airport.
Steinway’s legacy
As for William Steinway, he died in 1896. A Steinway Street exists in Astoria today, which is a stop in the New York City subway system. The Smithsonian Institution has collected his diary. The North Beach name still pops up as part of Queens’ history.
@byrichwatson
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Do you know someone who remembers the name North Beach?