Sunswick Creek

Prior to its burial, Sunswick Creek's source was located close to 21st Street north of what is now the Queensboro Bridge and Queens Plaza, within the Long Island City subsection of Ravenswood. The creek passed north near the current site of the Queensbridge Houses and the Ravenswood Generating Station, roughly following the present path of 21st Street. A large city block, now the site of the Long Island City High School, marks the former above-ground course of the creek. Sunswick Creek drained into the East River near the present Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria. == Etymology ==

The term "Sunswick" was a neighborhood name formerly applied to the surrounding portions of Ravenswood and Astoria. It is believed to have originated from a Native American language, possibly the Algonquin word "Sunkisq." The Greater Astoria Historical Society defines the term as "meaning perhaps 'Woman Chief' or 'Sachem’s Wife.'" This name is shared by Sunswick 3535, a bar at the intersection of 35th Street and 35th Avenue. == History ==

17th through 19th centuries In 1664, the land on the northern shore of the creek's mouth was purchased by British settler William Hallet (or Hallett), who obtained the plot from two native chiefs named Shawestcont and Erramorhar. This peninsula, which jutted out onto Hell Gate to the northwest, was acquired in portions and was later renamed Hallet's Cove. Hallet subsequently built a lime kiln on the creek. Sunswick Creek formed a navigable waterway with Dutch Kills, another stream to the south, making it easy for merchants to transport produce and goods along the creek. Joseph Hallett and Jacob Blackwell built a mill on the creek's right bank, near its mouth, in 1753. After outbreaks of disease in 1871 and 1875, the marshes surrounding the creek were drained in 1879. In addition, street cleaners tossed dry rubbish into the lowland to raise the grade of nearby streets. In 1915, residents of Ravenswood sent a letter to the New York City Board of Health to complain about the tide gates along Sunswick Creek, which had been installed to alleviate an infestation of mosquitoes. The residents claimed that the tide gates were actually keeping mosquitoes in the creek, since these gates resulted in stagnant water, and threatened to open the tide gates. In response, the Board of Health suggested filling up their land, which the Brooklyn Times-Union reported would require the infilling of to a depth of . The operation had a projected total cost of over $100,000 (), which was not affordable for most of the neighborhood's residents. Early the next year, in April 1916, residents broke down the barriers with axes. Afterward, the New York City health commissioner told a local newspaper that the residents "prefer to live like hogs," prompting outrage from local residents. Afterward, the Queens borough president, Maurice E. Connolly, announced a plan to install two tide gates on the creek. By the end of 1916, the New York City government proposed to close up Sunswick Creek, mandating that households living nearby divert their sewage elsewhere. A 1920 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article stated that the former path of the creek had been mostly developed with industrial buildings. During excavations for a sewer line at Vernon Boulevard and Broadway in 1957, construction workers found remnants of the former grist mill on the creek's mouth. == Legacy ==

The creek was relocated underground as part of a sewage tunnel, which was documented online by urban explorer Steven Duncan. According to one blogger, during heavy rains, the creek could be heard near the Sohmer and Company Piano Factory, across from Socrates Sculpture Park. In 2011 and 2012, the Socrates Sculpture Park and Noguchi Museum commissioned a work from artist Mary Miss, entitled Ravenswood/CaLL, which consisted of several signs and mirrors along the course of the creek. ==References==