Astoria is in the northwest corner of Queens, accessible mainly
from the N elevated train on 31st Street, or by the Triboro
Bridge from 125th Street in Manhattan.
The people who lived in Queens in the period of the European
middle ages were Native Americans - Algonquians, Matinecocks,
Jamecos, Rockaways. Queens County was settled as farmland in
the 1640s after the Dutch founded Flushing in 1637 - the name
is an anglicization of the Dutch port of Vlissingen.
The village of Astoria was developed in 1839 by one Stephen
Halsey, aided by the creation of a Ferry station at 92nd St
in Manhattan. Bits and pieces of this antebellum Astoria still
exist, colonaded mansions and all - go to 12th Street between
26th Avenue and Astoria Park South to look them over.
The village of Astoria was developed in 1839 by one Stephen
Halsey, aided by the creation of a Ferry station at 92nd St
in Manhattan. Bits and pieces of this antebellum Astoria still
exist, colonaded mansions and all - go to 12th Street between
26th Avenue and Astoria Park South to look them over. In 1870
all of western Queens was chartered as Long Island City, an
entity that lasted until it was consumed by expanding New York
City in 1898.
Until the eighteenth century the area now known as Astoria
was known as Hallets Cove after the Englishman William Hallett
bought 1,500 acres along the shore from the Dutch governor,
Peter Stuyvesant in 1652. It was renamed in honor of the elder
John Jacob Astor, who had his summer home here. Some residents
wanted to call the area Sunswick, an Indian name, but Halsey
persuaded them to change the the name in the hopes that Astor
would donate money to the village's young ladies' seminary;
he eventually sent $500. [ John Jacob Astor was born July 17,
1763 in Walldorf, Germany and died, March 29, 1848, New York
City. His wealth began in the fur trade, but he made real money
in real estate. When he died he was richest man in the U.S.,
and left $400,000 for the founding of a public library, the
Astor Library, later consolidated into the New York Public Library.]
None of this is especially medieval. But with some poetic license,
there is a real medieval slant to the name Astoria. After Visigothic
Spain was conquered by the Muslims, a small sliver of territory
remained in the north. This area was known as the Asturias and
it was from here that the gradual Christian "reconquest"
of Spain took place. Even today the son of the King of Spain
- the heir to the throne - is known as the Prince of the Asturias.
Life and history in Long Island City can be seen mirrored in
its streets. The tight, irregular streets of old Astoria village
hint at the antebellum settlement, while the block grid extending
from the public transportation routes tell the story of fast
expansion in the early 20th Century. Garden communities sprang
up around major boulevards that were built to connect the neighborhoods.
-This information was gathered for us by the Greater
Astoria Historical Society.