Maspeth, Queens

The name "Maspeth" is derived from the name of Mespeatches Native Americans, one of the 13 main tribes that inhabited Long Island. It is translated to mean "an inundating tidal river" as determined by William Wallace Tooker. The area known today as Maspeth was chartered by New Netherlanders and British settlers in the early 17th century. The Dutch had purchased land in the area known today as Queens in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642, they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty, making Maspeth the first English settlement in Queens. The deed that was signed between the Native Americans and the settlers was the first one signed on Long Island. As part of the deed's signature, the "Newtown Patent" granted to settlers. Conflicts with the Maspat tribe forced many settlers to move to what is now Elmhurst in 1643. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Americans, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan. In 1652, settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat location. This new area was called Middleburg, and eventually developed into what is now Elmhurst, bordering Maspeth. Originally, 28 English Quakers had founded the village of Maspeth, which had sizable water and milling industries along Newtown Creek and Maspeth Creek. What was Laurel Hill in the post-colonial era has become West Maspeth, bounded by Calvary Cemetery, and later the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, in the west, the Queens-Midtown Expressway on the north, 58th Street on the east, and 56th Road and the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch on the south. Laurel Hill Boulevard (56th Road) is a remnant of the neighborhood's previous name, although all traces of the former Laurel Hill railroad station are gone. Following waves of immigration during the 19th century, Maspeth was home to a shanty town of Boyash (Ludar) Gypsies between 1925 and 1939, though this was eventually bulldozed. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had become home primarily to German, Irish, Lithuanian, and Polish residents. Maspeth was considered relatively safe compared to other New York City neighborhoods experiencing crime increases, and multiple generations of the same family often lived in Maspeth. ==Demographics==

The entirety of Community Board 5, which comprises Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale, had 166,924 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.4 years. This is about equal to the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of 0–17, 31% between 25 and 44, and 26% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 13% respectively. In 2018, an estimated 19% of Maspeth and Ridgewood residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in seventeen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 46% in Maspeth and Ridgewood, lower than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying. The Polish population in Maspeth is relatively large; the New York metropolitan area is home to the second largest community of Polish Americans behind Chicago. 2020 census In the 2020 census data from the New York City Department of City Planning, Maspeth is part of a neighborhood tabulation areas of the same name. Maspeth had 43,257 residents. The racial makeup was 47.9% (20,731) White, 1.4% (607) African American, 16.0% (6,916) Asian, 0.9% (409) from other races, and 1.5% (635) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.3% (13,959) of the population. 2010 census Based on data from the 2010 United States census, the population of Maspeth was 30,516, an increase of 1,600 (5.5%) from the 28,916 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of . The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 59.2% (18,080) White, 0.8% (253) African American, 0.1% (31) Native American, 12.0% (3,676) Asian, 0.0% (1) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (115) from other races, and 0.8% (245) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.6% (8,115) of the population. ==Land use==

's freight-only Bushwick Branch runs through the Maspeth Industrial Center. going below the Bushwick Branch Maspeth is zoned for a mixture of uses. The area consisting of 43rd Street through 58th Street, including the former Furman Island, is mostly industrial lowlands. The blocks from 60th Street to 74th Street are mostly residential, but there is a small industrial presence on Grand Avenue. Industrial The Phelps Dodge Corporation was present from 1920 to 1983, during which matter from their premises contaminated Newtown Creek, which separates northern Brooklyn from western Queens and serves barge traffic. In the 2000s, politicians started to make efforts to clean up the Newtown and Maspeth Creeks. The Maspeth gas tanks were also located in the area until they were demolished. Residential and commercial Single and multi-family dwellings make up most of Maspeth. There are few apartment buildings, except for the Ridgewood Gardens co-ops along 65th Place. There are many community organizations, which have, among other things, preserved the neighborhood's small-town-like character; for example, they blocked the construction of a Home Depot at the site of what is now the Elmhurst Park. The adjoining Mount Zion Cemetery contains a memorial to the victims of the fire. ==Police and crime==

Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are patrolled by the 104th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 64–02 Catalpa Avenue. The 104th Precinct ranked 21st safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. However, the precinct covers a large diamond-shaped area, and Maspeth and Middle Village are generally seen as safer than Ridgewood. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 19 per 100,000 people, Maspeth and Ridgewood's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 235 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. == Fire safety ==

Maspeth contains a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, Squad 288/Hazardous Materials Co. 1, at 56–29 68th Street. Another fire station, Engine Co. 291/Ladder Co. 140, is located at 56–07 Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood, just outside the Maspeth border. The firehouse of Squad 288/Hazmat 1 was designed by Morgan & Trainer and opened in 1914. During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Squad 288/Hazmat 1 were among the first to respond. The firehouse lost 19 firefighters in the collapse of the towers, the largest loss from any firehouse in the city. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission considered the firehouse for official city landmark status in 2013. ==Health==

, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Maspeth and Ridgewood than in other places citywide. In Maspeth and Ridgewood, there were 70 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 17.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births, compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide. ==Post office and ZIP Code==

Maspeth is covered by ZIP Code 11378. The United States Post Office operates the Maspeth Station at 55–02 69th Street. ==Economy==

Hagstrom Map, the best-selling brand of road maps in the New York metropolitan area from the mid-20th to early 21st century, was based in Maspeth. ==Community institutions==

The Maspeth Town Hall community center is located on 72nd Street. A one-room schoolhouse between 1897 and 1932, it was then occasionally used by a local girls' club and the Works Progress Administration until 1936. It was a New York City Police Department precinct until 1971. The building was renovated and made into a community center in 1972. Other neighborhood institutions include the local Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, and the Maspeth Federal Savings Bank. ==Parks and plazas==

A September 11 memorial has been erected at 69th Street and Grand Avenue to commemorate the local FDNY Squad 288 and HAZMAT 1 firehouse's casualties from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which were the largest of any FDNY unit. The monument, adjacent to the LIE, faces the World Trade Center site, where the One World Trade Center can be seen. An annual memorial ceremony is held at the monument on September 11. The Walk of Honor, unveiled on Memorial Day 2006, is also in the square, and honors activists and visionaries who lived in the area. as well as Principe Park at Maurice and 54th Avenues. Traditionally known as Maurice Park, it was renamed in 2005 in tribute to the community leader Frank Principe, who played a key role in its creation and continued welfare throughout his life. The smallest park in New York City, Luke J. Lang Square, is located at the triangle caused by the intersection of Fresh Pond Road, 59th Road, and 61st Street. The park, which honors a local resident who died in World War I, occupies of land. Luke J. Lang Square consists of hedges, but formerly contained "a flagpole, several benches, and three Norway maples." Another very small park, Garlinge Triangle at Grand and 57th Avenues, honors other residents who died in World War I. Maspeth is also home to the Metropolitan Oval, a playing field for soccer players, which contains a view of the Manhattan skyline. At Grand Avenue and the LIE, a plaque to "Horse Cars Rest Stop" exists. There used to be a horse cart barn at Brown Place, one block east of Grand Avenue. When the LIE was built in the 1950s, it also demolished many streets; the construction of the LIE left many small triangular plazas behind, such as at 57th Road and 73rd Place, where the "Quick Brown Fox Park", another pocket park, is located. The park is named after a story about a quick brown fox. ==Points of interest==

and Grand Avenue, where a sign marks the separation of former streetcar linesA sign at the intersection of Flushing, Grand, and Maspeth Avenues marks the place where streetcar lines (now the bus routes) used to split. while provisions for a new site for the church in All Faiths Cemetery had been approved. The Ridgewood Gardens apartment/co-op complex, on a hill known as the Ridgewood Plateau, was built on woods owned by James Maurice and donated to the Episcopal Church in 1850. Maurice Woods was bounded by Maurice Avenue, Jay Avenue, 66th Street, and Borden Avenue. 53rd Avenue went down a slope to 64th Street. The apartment complex was built later. The wheelwright was patronized by farmers from Long Island who stayed at the Queens County Hotel, built in 1851 along Grand Avenue, on their way to the markets. There were also many other theaters in Maspeth in the 1920s. At Clinton Hall, a 1920s-built venue that had interior balconies and a large chandelier, there is now a laboratory and industrial offices. It is named after a mansion built by Judge Joseph Sackett. Sackett had built a wood-framed mansion behind the hall; later, New York Governor DeWitt Clinton planned the Erie Canal. The lands of the Sackett-Clinton House, as the mansion was called, were turned into a park by 1910, and the mansion burned down in 1933. The Queens Head Tavern, nearby, was an American Revolutionary War-era tavern and was used as a stagecoach stop later on. Notable streets • Fresh Pond Road goes south to Myrtle Avenue and was named after a former pond named "Fresh Pond". • Flushing Avenue goes west to downtown Brooklyn. • Grand Avenue used to be a winding road before being straightened. • Maspeth Avenue is discontinuous in the area because of the Newtown Creek and because of the location of the former Maspeth tanks. • Maspeth Plank Road, a no-longer-extant road made of planks of wood, went from Williamsburg to Newtown, and crossed the English Kills. • Melvina Place, off Maspeth Avenue, is named after a small section of Maspeth, which was to the east of the approximate intersection of Maspeth Plank Road and Rust Street. • North Hempstead Plank Road, present-day 57th Avenue, split off of Grand Avenue at Mazeau Street and extended to Corona; the road was named after North Hempstead, New York, now in Nassau County, which split from Queens in 1898. 57th Avenue has a lot of old houses dating from the 1850s, as well as some former barns that were later repurposed for other uses, such as for garages. == Education ==

Maspeth and Ridgewood generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . While 33% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 16% have less than a high school education and 50% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. Maspeth and Ridgewood's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Maspeth and Ridgewood, 14% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, lower than the citywide average of 20%. • PS 58, The School of Heroes, was dedicated in 2002 in honor of the victims of the September 11 attacks at the site of the original Finast supermarket. It is named one of the best schools in Maspeth for its wide range of extracurricular activities and programs. • PS 153, Maspeth Elementary School. The school has Dual Language Program (DL) for students who want to learn Polish. • Maspeth High School is the first public high school in Maspeth. It opened on September 6, 2012. It was originally located in Middle Village. Private schools in the area include: • Holy Cross R.C. Church—Maspeth: Polish School and CCD classes on the weekends. • Saint Stanislaus Kostka School (Nursery–8 Catholic School under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn) • Martin Luther High School (9–12 private school) Library The Queens Public Library's Maspeth branch is located at 69–70 Grand Avenue. ==Transportation==

Maspeth is devoid of direct transit connections to Manhattan, as there are no New York City Subway stations and no express bus stops in Maspeth. The Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue station is served by the M train in Middle Village, bordering the southeast corner of Maspeth. Local buses provide connections to the subway, but off-peak service on these buses is often unreliable. Local bus routes include: • B57 bus along Flushing Avenue • bus along Eliot Avenue Another stop is proposed at Eliot Avenue on the eastern border with Middle Village. The narrow Grand Street Bridge carries Grand Street eastward across the English Kills and Newtown Creek from Williamsburg where it becomes Grand Avenue, Maspeth's main street for dining and business. Grand Avenue continues eastward to end at Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst. ==Notable people==

• Juan Ardila, member of the New York State Assembly • June Blum (1929–2017), artist • Hermine Braunsteiner (1919–1999), female camp guard at Ravensbrück and Majdanek concentration camps; first Nazi war criminal to be extradited from the United States to face trial in Germany • Joe Massino (1943–2023) former boss of the Bonanno crime family • John J. Pesch (1921–2010), national director of the Air National Guard from 1974 to 1977 • Vincent Piazza (born 1976), film, television, and stage actor best known for his roles in Boardwalk Empire, Rocket Science, and as Tommy DeVito in the film adaptation of Jersey Boys • Philip Rastelli (1918–1991), mobster and former boss of the Bonanno crime family • Jimmy Ring (1895–1965), Major League Baseball player • John Seery (born 1941), artist • Richard Vetere (born 1952), playwright and author of The Third Miracle ==References==