By STEPHEN McGUIRE

Two civic activists, armed with a petition, stood in wait for their next, unsuspecting Queens resident to walk through Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and add their name to the cause. One spotted Louie in the distance and nudged the other.

Born in New Orleans in 1898, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong felt right at home on his front stoop in Corona, Queens playing with the neighbors. Photo Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong Archives

"That’s Louie Armstrong!," said David Oats, former editor of the Queens Tribune and life-long protector of Flushing Meadows- Corona Park. But his compatriot shook his head in disbelief. To prove himself right, Oats went up to the gentleman and his wife, strolling along, and in the most innocent voice he could pretend to have, he asked for the gentleman’s signature on his petition.

What Oats got was the signature of a man whose influence on the American art form of Jazz has been enormous, but whose ego wasn’t even the size of his cheeks. Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong . . . nicknamed Satchmo because of his "satchel mouth" cheeks that puffed as he played his trumpet, lived at 34-56 107th St. in a modest, brick Corona home from 1942 until his death in 1971. His style, artistic talents and overall love for the neighborhood he called home still live on in the Louis Armstrong Archives at Queens College, which were honored as a national treasure by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1998. The Armstrong home is also being converted into a museum and currently houses musical programs for children.

But the home, now famous amongst tourists from around the world who come searching for jazz history, almost wasn’t a home for Louie.

In the early 1940’s the singer who made tunes like "What a Wonderful World," and "Ain’t Misbehavin’" famous was constantly on tour playing shows across the country.

Living from hotel to hotel the Armstrongs didn’t have one particular place they could call home.

Satchmo didn’t want to settle into a permanent residence because he was used to life on the road.

Some say that part of the reason he refused to plant roots in one place was that it brought back painful memories of growing up an orphan in turn of the century New Orleans.

Meanwhile, his wife Lucille had a more settled life planned for the Armstrongs.

While Louie was playing and touring, Lucille was busy shopping around the city for houses.

She saw one in particular – a house in working class Corona that caught her eye.

Legend has it that Lucille liked the house and the neighborhood so much – a place where children played ball and friends gathered on their front steps — she knew that her husband, despite his reluctance to settle down, would be just as enthusiastic about the idea.

While staying at a Harlem hotel, Mrs. Armstrong decided that she wanted to show her husband the house she hoped to soon call home.

The Armstrong’s hailed a cab to Corona.

On the ride out, "Pops" and Lucille discussed the possibility of moving in.

Louie reportedly told Lucille that there was "no way" he would want to move in, no matter how nice the house was. After all he was a travelling musician, what need did he have for a house, the jazz great may have thought to himself.

Besides, he knew that he could live anywhere he wanted, he was a wealthy man.

As the cab driver pulled up to the frame house on 107th Street, Satchmo told the cab driver to "keep the meter running," because they were only going inside for a look and that they would be right back.

After a few minutes, "Pops" did come outside . . . to invite the cab driver in for dinner.

For the next 30 years the Armstrongs called the house their own.

It was a place they entertained guests. And when asked why he chose to live in Queens, Clinton reported at the 1998 ceremony honoring the archives that Louie said "I’m here with the Black people, the Puerto Rican people, the Italian people and the Hebrew cats and there’s food in the Frigidaire. What else could I want?"

Sometimes "Satchmo" could be spotted on the front steps, talking with the neighborhood children.

He loved the borough so much that he made it clear that he wished to be buried here, and although the City of New Orleans petitioned to have his body come "home," Satchmo was laid to rest at Flushing Cemetery.

And though the funeral was held up north, it was true to the New Orleans style, filled with music, celebrations of Satchmo’s life, and a funeral "parade" that called all neighbors to march. Mourners the likes of Frank Sinatra were said to be seen walking along the streets of Flushing to the gravesite alongside the neighborhood’s residents.

Now, Lucille is buried alongside him at the foot of a stone that has the image of his trumpet and his signature handkerchief resting on top of it.

Flushing Town Hall and the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts have created a full-color map and tour that takes residents through the jazz history of Queens.

The list below is courtesy of the Queens Jazz Trail. For more information on the "Jazz Trail," call Flushing Town Hall at 463-7700.

Queens’ Legends In Jazz

Tony Bennett            Photo By Ira Cohen ASTORIA Tony Bennett (vocals) BAYSIDE Clark Terry (trumpet) CAMBRIA HEIGHTS Paul Gonzalez (saxophone) Chick Corea (piano) CORONA Cannonball Adderly (saxophone) Nat Adderly (trumpet) Louis Armstrong (trumpet/vocals/composer) Don Donaldson (arranger) Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet/composer) Jimmy Heath (saxophone) Jimmy Rushing (vocals) Charlie Shavers (trumpet/compsoer) Clark Terry (trumpet) EAST ELMHURST Ray Bryant (piano) Charles "Honi" Coles (dancer) Junior Mance (piano) ELMHURST Mose Allison (piano/vocals/composer) Tony Parenti (clarinet/saxophone) FLUSHING Bill Doggett (organ/piano/arranger) Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet/composer) Billie Holiday (vocals) FLUSHING CEMETERY Louis Armstrong (trumpet/vocals/composer) Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet/composer) Johnny Hodges (saxophone) Charlie Shavers (trumpet/composer) FOREST HILLS Mildred Bailey (vocals) Red Nichols (cornet) Red Norvo (vibraphone) Buddy Rich (drums) Tony Spargo (drums/kazoo) HOLLIS Jaki Byard (piano/composer) Roy Eldridge (trumpet) Roy Haynes (drums) Milt Jackson (vibraphone) Phil Schaap (radio disc jockey) Lennie Tristano (piano/composer) Benny Waters (saxophone) JACKSON HEIGHTS Benny Goodman (clarinet/leader) Woody Herman (clarinet/leader) Mezz Mezzrow (clarinet) Glenn Miller (trombone/arranger/leader) Charlie Spivak (trumpet) JAMAICA Perry Bradford (composer/publisher) Buck Clayton (trumpet/arranger) Albert "Budd" Johnson (saxophone/composer) James P. Johnson (piano/composer) Charlie Mingus (bass/composer) George "Big Nick" Nicholas (saxophone) Al Sears (saxophone) William Grant Still (composer) Eva Taylor (vocals) Ben Webster (saxophone) Charles "Cootie" Williams (trumpet) Clarence Williams (piano/composer/publisher) Fess Williams (clarinet/leader) ST. ALBANS Joe Benjamin (bass) John Coltrane (saxophone) Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (saxophone) James "Osie" Johnson (drums) Wendell Marshall (bass) Mal Waldron (piano/composer) Frank Wess (saxophone) Lester Young (saxophone/clarinet) ST. ALBANS (Addisleigh Park) Count Basie (piano/leader) Brook Benton (vocals) Earl Bostic (saxophone/arranger) James Brown (vocals) "Wild Bill" Davis (piano/organ) Mercer Ellington (trumpet/composer/leader) Ella Fitzgerald (vocals) Milt Hinton (bass) Billie Holiday (vocals) Lena Horne (vocals) Illinois Jacquet (saxophone) Russell Jacquet (trumpet) Rose Murphy (vocals) Oliver Nelson (saxophone/composer) Slam Stewart (bass/vocals) Fats Waller (piano/vocals/composer) Cootie Williams (trumpet) ST. MICHAEL'S CEMETERY Scott Joplin (piano/composer) SPRINGFIELD GARDENS Albert Heath (drums) Percy Heath (bass) James "Jimmy" Jones (piano/arranger) SUNNYSIDE Bix Beiderbecke (cornet/composer)