1) What game, inspired by elements of crossword puzzles and anagrams, was invented in 1931 by Jackson Heights resident Alfred Mosher Butts?
2) What modern-day staple of the office place was created in 1938 by Astoria resident Chester Carlson, a patent attorney’s clerk who was sick of writing out duplicate information from his boss’ documents longhand?
3) From its development in 1948 until it was renamed for John F. Kennedy in 1963, JFK International Airport was known as Idlewild Airport. Where did the name “Idlewild” come from?
4) What sandwich topping, created in Long Island City, was first sold readymade at a delicatessen in 1905?
Can you name this building? It’s among the oldest structures still standing in Queens. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen
5) Where did Queens get The Unisphere, and what does it symbolize?
6) Which of these is the oldest standing structure in Queens?
7) Before the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, what Queens-based tragedy took more lives than any other single event in New York City’s history?
This popular board game was invented by an unemployed Jackson Heights resident - or was it?
8) What popular chewing gum was once made in Long Island City?
1) If you guessed Scrabble, you get double word score. Butts was out of work during the Depression and used his spare time to create the game. (Every morning, he tallied up how often different letters of the alphabet appeared on the front page of The New York Times and assigned a point value to each for the game.)
Originally called Lexico, Scrabble didn’t give Butts widespread success until 1953, when it caught the eye of Macy’s Department store chairman Jack Straus. Straus played the game over a holiday, and returned to work with a marketing plan for the game.
2) Carlson’s distaste for writing longhand copies inspired him to create the first version of the Xerox Machine. He conducted experiments for it in a makeshift lab behind a beauty parlor at 32-05 37th St. The first image successfully Xeroxed? “10-22-38 ASTORIA”-the date and location of the copy.
3) Idlewild Airport, now JFK International Airport, was originally named New York International Airport. It was nicknamed Idlewild because of its link to the Idlewild Golf Course. The golf course acquired its name from a term describing the area’s character when inhabited by Native Americans-“idalwilde,” or peaceful but savage.
4) Though Mrs. Hellmann’s Mayonnaise gained popularity behind the counter at Richard Hellmann’s deli in Manhattan, it was concocted in Long Island City. The sandwich spread/salad dressing was marketed as Mrs. Hellmann’s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise in 1912.
5) The Unisphere, with its surrounding orbitals representing the orbits of the first American astronaut, the first Russian cosmonaut and the first communications satellite, was the centerpiece of the 1964 World’s Fair. The monumental steel ball was constructed of stainless steel by the United States Steel Corporation and presented to the fair on April 22, 1964. The position of the continents means its 700,000 pounds are lopsided-that it balances above its reflecting pool is an engineering feat in itself.
6) John Bowne, an early Flushing resident, was imprisoned, sent into exile, and later pardoned by the Dutch government for not worshipping in the Dutch Reformed Church. His house is the oldest in Queens and has been designated a city landmark. It’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.
This monument was erected in memorial of the single greatest tragedy in New York’s history prior to 9/11. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen
7) The ill-fated voyage of the steamboat General Slocum, which caught fire in the waters near Hell Gate in 1921, left more dead than any other disaster in New York’s history prior to 9/11. Over a thousand passengers were killed in the blaze before the ship struck ground on the beach at North Brother Island, between the Bronx and Queens.
8) Chiclets were manufactured in Long Island City until 1976, when an explosion destroyed the factory. The two buildings which occupied the factory’s complex later became the International Design Center.
