Two

FROM FARMING
TO INDUSTRY

As the development of Glendale continued, more and more of the original farms were sold off and the land subdivided to accommodate additional home building. Open land was becoming harder to find in the surrounding communities, so Glendale experienced its own building boom in the early part of the 20th century. Along with the new home building came commercial growth, as many different types of businesses opened up to service the growing population. Myrtle Avenue, which was the main thoroughfare in the town, drew most of the retail stores, and before long, both sides of the street running from Fresh Pond Road out to Woodhaven Boulevard were lined with the usual array of small shops and service businesses.

Around 1904, the area of Cooper Avenue near Eightieth Street began to see other types of industry move in as well. Developers started building factories and warehouses in an area adjacent to the Long Island Railroad, and this came to be known as Atlas Terminal. In 1922, one of the earliest tenants, a man named Henry Hemmerdinger, began expanding the site until there were a total of 16 industrial buildings. The industries that chose Glendale for their operations included everything from a safety match company and an oil distributor to one that made fine china known throughout the world and another that manufactured small aircraft. In its peak years, Atlas Terminal accounted for 60 railcar loads of materials moving in and out each day.

While some of those early tenants are still in business at other locations, the site itself has become one of the most popular shopping centers in the Queens County section of New York City. It is now known as The Shops at Atlas Mall.

In this 1912 photograph, proprietor George Mader and some of his employees are standing outside of the George Mader Home Furnishings & Hardware Store, located at Sixty-ninth Place and Myrtle Avenue. The flag decorations indicate that this photograph was taken during a holiday celebration. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This 1917 photograph shows the Finley farm, which dates back to 1889 on a plot that would be in the area of Sixty-ninth Street and Seventy-second Avenue. In addition to farming, the family operated manufacturing plants that built furniture and lighting fixtures. To the right in the image, barely visible in the background, is the Trinity Lutheran Church. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Proud store owner Andrew Kehl posed for this picture in 1910 in front of his butcher shop on Myrtle Avenue. The old address shown on the awning, 2512, later became 6910 Myrtle Avenue when the street numbering system was changed. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Still waiting in 1904 for someone to snatch it up, this open field was located at Cooper Avenue and Sixty-fourth Street. Toward the left rear portion of the photograph is the Frank Brewery, situated on Cypress Avenue, and the last building on the right, with the large smokestack, is the Darling Match Company. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Railroad construction continued in Glendale in 1913, as seen in this photograph showing an embankment and trestle being built along Cypress Hills Street. Based on similar photographs from another angle, the Dietz Coal Company yard would be just on the other side of the trestle. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This 1938 photograph of the Cooper Avenue Long Island Railroad crossing shows some of the different industries that were moving into Glendale; in this case, a plumbing supply house and a coal and coke distributor. Neighbors on the residential street to the right would have had to contend with the coal dust as well as the noise of passing trains. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Even as late as 1935, there were still a number of unpaved streets in Glendale. This photograph was taken on Edsall Avenue near Cooper Avenue, showing a local ice distributor and a service station right next to the railroad tracks. Before electric refrigerators were widely used, everyone used blocks of ice at home to keep their food fresh. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The owner of this gas station made the unusual decision to not completely clear the property when he opened his business. This photograph, taken in 1934, shows the south side of Cooper Avenue near Seventy-fourth Street, and the large tree in the middle of the property gives the scene a nice rural feel and conveys some of the small-town atmosphere that made Glendale so appealing. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Considering the location of this 1935 photograph, taken on Cypress Hills Street near Cypress Avenue, it would have been an unusual place to have boats for sale. The lakes in the early picnic parks were long gone, and the Interboro Parkway was scheduled to be opened in June of that year. Construction of the parkway changed the entire nature of this part of Glendale. It had been proposed in 1901, and it required a change in the New York State Cemetery Act to move many of the graves along the proposed route when construction finally began in 1933. Ironically, in spite of efforts to minimize the impact to the cemeteries and local parks, the resulting 4.7-mile parkway, with all of its sharp curves, was ranked as one of the most dangerous roads in New York State as recently as 2007. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The local coal yards were probably not the best neighbors to have in 1936, when this photograph was taken. Eagle Coal Company, located on Dry Harbor Road near Seventy-first Avenue and the railroad tracks, must have had a steady stream of railcars and trucks coming into its yard to transport coal. The property shown was at the edge of a piece of farmland that had been owned by Henri Wulfurst. In 1902, he sold 18.72 acres of his land to American Grass Products, and the company began construction of a 40,000-square-foot, multistory brick factory building that became one of the first buildings in the Atlas Terminal industrial complex. Several years later, that building was sold to a Rhode Island company that operated part of it as a knitting mill and the remainder as a power plant to provide steam and electricity to the industrial park’s tenants. Eagle Coal could not have been at a better location to satisfy their energy needs. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

By 1939, America’s love affair with the automobile was in full swing, as this view looking east on Cooper Avenue from Cypress Avenue shows. Most commercial areas had a multitude of businesses to service the rapidly growing automotive market. The small box with the handle on the utility pole to the right is a fire department call box. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This 1929 photograph shows a couple of small businesses typical of early Glendale. The building located on Seventy-fifth Avenue near Eighty-eighth Street is unusual in that it is not attached on either side. In many cases, store owners lived in apartments right above their place of business. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The intersection of Cooper and Myrtle Avenues looked like this in 1945. It is probably the most photographed part of Glendale, since it is in the center of the town. The monument in the center is still there, but in earlier years, it included a small cannon in the grass. The Gulf station was replaced by a McDonald’s in later years. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The diversity of local business is apparent in this 1928 image taken along Myrtle Avenue. It features a men’s and children’s clothing store with a flair for advertising. Note their claims of “Wild & Reckless Selling” and “Prices Torn to Shreds” to highlight the bargains that they offered. The old Evergreen telephone exchange shown (EV 4848) pays tribute to an earlier name for part of Glendale. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Coke, which is a refined form of coal after processing, was one of the main heating materials for residents of Glendale in the 1930s. This view of the Eagle Coal Company yard identifies Kopper’s Coke as one of the many companies that supplied their products to local distributors to meet the energy needs of the growing Glendale community. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Pictured is another local service station in 1934 at the intersection of Edsall and Cooper Avenues. It is not clear whether the raised car on the right is an advertising gimmick or the way a mechanic could get underneath an automobile to check out its exhaust system. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This 1936 photograph of Eightieth Street near Seventy-seventh Road shows some of the large buildings marking one entrance to the Atlas Terminal industrial park. It was begun in 1922 when Henry Hemmerdinger purchased a tract of land in the area of Cooper Avenue and Dry Harbor Road, which would later become Eightieth Street. His father was what used to be described as a “rag merchant,” who made his living buying and reselling fabric strips that could be used in a number of different industries. That business evolved into a company named Atlas Waste Manufacturing, which Henry later moved into the Glendale site. The few industrial buildings that were already on the land at one time manufactured underwater telephone cables for transatlantic transmission. Building space not required by Atlas Waste Manufacturing was rented out to other tenants, and the complex eventually grew to include 31 buildings. Many of the early homes in the area were later torn down as the industrial park expanded. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

In this 1935 view of Cypress Hills Street looking north from Cooper Avenue, the gas station on the left was one of many that would occupy that same location over the years. The brand of gas sold has changed many times, but the corner is still the site of a gas station in the present day. (Courtesy of Queens Historical Society.)

Right in the heart of the Glendale shopping district, this 1938 photograph of Sixty-ninth Street at Myrtle Avenue shows some of the types of businesses that moved into the community. The tropical fish store is a bit of a surprise, since one does not think of that as being a popular hobby in the 1930s. (Courtesy of Queens Historical Society.)

This 1938 photograph of Sixty-second Street looking up from Myrtle Avenue shows a lonely candy store at the end of a residential block. It was owned at one time by George Eck and, later, by a man named Larry, who also owned an Italian ice delivery route. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Access to the Long Island Railroad figured prominently in the development of industry in Glendale, and this 1937 photograph shows the tracks passing right through the main section of Atlas Terminal. The Glendale Ribbon Company factory is visible on the right side of the tracks. (Courtesy of www.trainweb.com.)

Even with all of the industrial development, there were still unpaved streets leading into Atlas Terminal in 1936, as seen in this photograph of Eighty-first Street near Dry Harbor Road. The area shown is now part of the new shopping mall named after Atlas Terminal. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The Our Darling Match Company, whose claim was that its matches were noiseless, was on Sixtieth Lane south of Myrtle Avenue. Seen in this 1910 photograph, the company began in 1904 and burned down in 1912. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Building No. 1 in Atlas Terminal was the home of the Walter Vogt Braid Company at the time of this 1936 photograph. It was one of several tenants in the industrial park that served the textile industry, but the company does not appear to have survived into modern times. Beginning with Henry Hemmerdinger’s Atlas Waste Manufacturing Company, the textile industry always figured prominently in this part of Glendale. Atlas Waste alone occupied a total of 300,000 square feet of industrial space and employed 200 people, processing more than 100 tons of textile products each day. Companies like Walter Vogt Braid would have provided some of this raw material and may also have used some of the stuffing and related materials produced by Atlas Waste. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The Philip Dietz Coal Company, located at Seventy-first Avenue and Cypress Hills Street, was one of the largest distributors of coal in Glendale and the rest of the Greater Ridgewood community. In the photograph above, the Long Island Railroad overpass is still under construction in 1913, and a house owned by a family named Pflug is to the right. Dietz advertises that in addition to supplying industrial needs, they also valued coal peddlers and small grocers who would then resell to the general public. In the more modern view below, automobiles pass under the completed overpass in 1976, and the Dietz buildings are on the right. (Both, courtesy of GRHS.)

As communities throughout New York switched their energy needs away from coal, the Dietz Company was forced to close its doors, but it still retained a valuable piece of property in Glendale. Developers retained about half of the original buildings and created a 65-condominium complex on the site, which they named Glenridge Mews because it sits on the unofficial Glendale-Ridgewood border. One of the original buildings shown below still retains the original Philip Dietz Coal Company name over the entrance to the management office. (Both, courtesy of the author.)

Otto Herrmann, Inc., has been a fixture in the Glendale community since it was first opened in 1921 on Myrtle Avenue at the corner of Sixty-seventh Place. It is reportedly the oldest continually operating retail establishment in Glendale, and it continues to adjust its business plan to meet the changing times. This photograph was taken in 1955, during a renovation and expansion of the business. From left to right are Otto Jr., Otto Sr., and two employees identified as Neil and Gus. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

From its humble origins as a paint store in a one-story building, Otto Herrmann, Inc. grew to sell automotive accessories, assorted hardware, power tools, and household appliances, in addition to its original offerings of paint and related materials. Boys growing up in Glendale in the 1950s would look forward to a trip to the store with their parents, so that they could rummage through the drawers of the wooden cabinets lining the ground floor and handle every imaginable type of screw, nail, hinge, bolt, and hardware item in the store’s inventory. A trip upstairs to the appliance department might then include a donut or other sweet treat from Fred Schilling and the other salesmen on duty that day. The present-day Otto Hermann, Inc. appears to cater more to wholesale and building trade customers, but the retail store continues to operate on a part-time basis to service home owners through Glendale and the surrounding communities. (Courtesy of the author.)

When the National Bank of North America opened its branch at 70-11 Myrtle Avenue in 1971, it attempted to lure in new female customers with an irresistible giveaway. No toasters or irons for these ladies—the bank was going to give them free wigs for opening a new account. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Glendale followed America’s love affair with the automobile, and by the 1930s, numerous car dealerships had sprung up throughout the town. This 1935 advertisement highlights the Auburn, which was a bargain at $745 for its basic model. Interestingly, the company’s demise was due to its vehicles being perceived as luxury cars that were priced too low to attract the more sophisticated buyers. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

By the time that this 1935 advertisement appeared in local newspapers, the Hupp Motor Corporation was already nearing its end. The early Huppmobiles were among the first mass-produced automobiles in America, and approximately 38,000 vehicles were sold each year during the 1920s. They were known for their streamlined styling and affordable prices, which created a strong market for them in Europe and Great Britain. The extensive use of aluminum wheels and parts kept the vehicle weights low and provided better gas mileage than many of their competitors. This made them even more attractive to drivers paying high gas prices on the European continent. Unfortunately, the Great Depression marked the end of many independent automobile manufacturers, but the Hupp Corporation went on to manufacture automotive parts, kitchen equipment, and electronics. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Beneath the facade of this corner building, located at Cooper Avenue and Seventy-first Street, lies an old building with its own history as part of early Glendale. From 1880 to 1885, it housed the Old Homestead Hotel & Beer Garden, one of the many popular diversions that Glendale offered to the hardworking residents of nearby Brooklyn. The building has since been torn down to make way for another funeral home, but this photograph from 1960 shows it in one of its many incarnations as a glass business. Benzer Mirrors is fondly remembered by Glendale residents for the quality of its products. The small candy and cigar store to its left was typical of those found on most of the commercial streets of Glendale for many years, and the building on the left side of the picture still houses a florist. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Certain to surprise most people is the fact that airplanes were actually manufactured in Glendale. The Brunner-Winkle Company, formed in 1926 as the Royal Aircraft Company, was located at Roosevelt Field on Long Island. A. Brunner and William Winkle renamed the company and moved its headquarters to 17 Haverkamp Street, near the Eightieth Street industrial area in Glendale, in 1928. A later reorganization saw the company’s name changed to Bird Aircraft Company after its most popular model, the Bird. The plane was known for its ability to take off on a short runway and quickly gain altitude. It could become airborne in a distance of only 100 feet and leave the ground going only 40 miles per hour. Charles Lindbergh was so impressed with the Bird aircraft that he bought one for his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The factory price in those days was $4,095. Of the 220 aircraft made at that time, 70 are known to still be in existence. Pictured here on the cover of the company’s catalogue is the Bird, demonstrating its impressive rate of climb. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Another lost chapter of the Atlas Terminal story is Wickes Ribbon Company, which was located near the railroad crossing at Trotting Course Lane, as seen in this 1922 photograph. Companies like Wickes supplied the rapidly growing garment industry of New York City in the early 20th century, but there is no further mention of the company in the records of later years. (Courtesy of Queens Borough Public Library.)

The world-famous Wolf’s Head Motor Oil Company, founded in 1879 in Pennsylvania, maintained a refining facility and distribution center in Glendale during the 1950s. They followed a popular trend of the day and gave out promotional matchbooks to advertise their products and promote their company slogan, “Finest of the Fine.” (Courtesy of the author.)

Theodore Haviland, the son of famed china maker Charles Haviland, left his father’s company in Limoges, France, in 1893 to start his own business. He was one of several family members to become known for producing fine china, and he moved his company from France to the United States in 1936. That move made the company part of the growing Glendale industrial community until the manufacturing operation closed down in 1957. Haviland china continues to be known throughout the world today for its quality and delicate floral patterns, and it is a proud symbol of the manufacturing excellence that came to represent Glendale. (Both, courtesy of the author.)

Glendale Lumber Company was founded in 1920 by Edward Wagner and conducted business on Procter Street, which later became Seventy-third Place. Amazingly, members of the Wagner family continue to operate the business and will be celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2020. In addition to being a vital part of the Glendale community, members of the Wagner family served with pride in the armed forces from World War II through the Vietnam era. Edward’s grandson Jack was a decorated soldier with two Purple Hearts earned during World War II. Seen here are the original building from the company’s early days and an equally vintage delivery truck. (Both, courtesy of Lance Wagner.)

In 1960, Glendale Lumber was all but destroyed by a fire that engulfed the office and warehouse. The business was completely rebuilt, and the new facility was opened for business in 1961. It remains one of the oldest family-run businesses of its type and is ranked as one of the premier suppliers in the New York Metropolitan area, now being run by a fifth generation of the Wagner family. The postcard commemorates the new showroom and warehouse. (Courtesy of Lance Wagner.)

It has been a long time since Glendale was known for its picnic parks and small breweries, but part of that tradition is being revived in this nondescript building on Seventy-seventh Avenue and Seventy-sixth Street. It formerly housed the Kliegman Bros. laundry and dry cleaning business and, later, an imported food distributor. After a massive cleanup effort to remove hazardous waste from cleaning chemicals that are believed to have polluted the soil due to leaks in two storage tanks, the building now houses the Finback Brewery Company. The brewery produces a variety of specialty beers in small lots in the European tradition. It was founded by two college friends from Massachusetts, and they plan to open the Glendale facility to the public for beer tastings and other events that will help to incorporate it into the community and keep Glendale’s beer-making tradition alive. (Courtesy of the author.)