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Queens Historical Society
44th Anniversary Edition The QHS has its own history, too
How the 54-year-old society came to be
by Sophie Krichevsky
Associate Editor
Flushing residents living near 72nd Road and Kissena Boulevard may pass by the triangle at that intersection almost every day — maybe they have even sat on one of the benches there. Yet they may have no idea who it is named for (or that it’s named for anyone at all).
According to the Department of Parks and Recreation website, the spot is called the Abe Wolfson Triangle.
Though residents may have never heard his name, without Wolfson, the borough may not have gotten one of its most distinguished institutions: the Queens Historical Society.
According to QHS Executive Director Jason Antos the beginnings of the society, in a sense, predate Wolfson.
L. Bradford Prince, a Flushing native and former New York State senator and assemblyman, founded the Flushing Historical Society in 1903. In fact, Antos said that President Theodore Roosevelt was the group’s first honorary board member.
But somewhere down the line, the group disintegrated, Antos said.
“In its beginnings. I’m sure it was extremely active, but towards the mid-’60s, it was kind of like a fledgling historical society,” he said.
However, that doesn’t mean the Flushing Historical Society hadn’t made its mark. “In its time, it had amassed a large amount of artifacts from Flushing’s Colonial and Civil War past and, early 20th century history,” Antos said.
So when Wolfson, an 18-yearold with a love of Queens history — particularly that of Flushing — decided to start the Queens Historical Society in 1968, he had quite the collection to work with. Antos said that the few remaining members of the Flushing Historical Society ultimately donated the group’s artifacts and materials. And that was no small collection — Antos said it included hundreds of items.
The Flushing Historical Society’s assemblage of artifacts still accounts for roughly 60 to 70 percent of QHS’s own collection, by Antos’ estimation.
Around that same time, a group known as the Kingsland Preservation Committee had been formed to save the Kingsland Homestead, which then sat at 155th Street and Northern Boulevard. According to Antos, the house — one of few remaining British Colonial-era farmhouses — was in danger of being demolished, as there were intentions to build a shopping center there.
Connie DeMartino, who has worked with the historical society for approximately 40 years now, had just moved to the neighborhood at the time.
“One of the spearhead people was Mary Jane Boldizar, who lived down the hill from there,” DeMartino recalled. “She was instrumental, along with other members whose homes were there.”
And though the Murray Hill Shopping Center was ultimately built, the committee managed to rescue the house from meeting an untimely end:
“The committee saved the house and bought it from the city for $1,” Antos said.
While the group got a bargain on the house itself, finding a new home for it was another matter: Kingsland Homestead was split into three pieces and driven down Northern Boulevard, then south to its current site on 37th Avenue.
DeMartino remembers watching that process with her young children.
“They were fascinated — my son saw ambulances, fire trucks, police cars,” she said. “The street was closed, and you saw this house being moved down the block.”
She added that one committee member was in construction, and that he had orchestrated the house’s division. The three pieces were ultimately put back together at its new spot in Weeping Beech Park.
That land, owned by the Parks Department, previously had a house on it, which had since been destroyed, DeMartino said. The department allowed the committee to put the house there, and it has stayed put ever since.
The preservation of the Kingsland Homestead, Wolfson’s interest in founding a historical society and the donation of the Flushing collection together made for the perfect storm, Antos told the Chronicle.
From there, the Historical Society was able to grow. Though not much is known about Wolfson, Antos said he also contributed to a number of environmental projects at Queens College and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, even founding the Flushing Meadows Park Action Committee, which called for the cleanup of Flushing River and Flushing Bay.
By his 21st birthday in 1971, Wolfson had accomplished quite a bit. For his birthday, he traveled to Montana to learn how to fly a Cessena. He crashed into a hill, and died as a result of his injuries, according to Antos. Despite Wolfson’s life being cut short, the Queens Historical Society lived on.
“They became a 501(c)(3), they start getting funding, building a membership — you had people who were committed to this thing,” Antos said. “I think the fact that there was now a physical location, that was a good motivation to say, ‘No, we’ve got to keep this thing going.’”
That work seems to have paid off; the Queens Historical Society celebrated its 54th anniversary this year, and is housed in the Kingsland Homestead to this day.
For more information on the Queens Historical Society and its programming, go online to queenshistoricalsociety.org. Q
Before the newly founded Queens Historical Society found its permanent home in Kingsland Homestead on 37th Avenue, the house was moved from Northern Boulevard and 155th Street in 1968. QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY ARCHIVES
