Queens - A Patchwork Of Cultures

Strength in Numbers
While there are a substantial number of people of German heritage in Queens—about 79,000, according to the 2000 Census—the number of recent German émigrés is no longer rising substantially, according to Werner Schmidt of the German Consulate in Manhattan.

Where They Live
Ridgewood and neighboring Glendale were among the first neighborhoods settled by German-Americans, and they still bear a noticeable German accent today. German can still be heard on the streets and many of the shops and restaurants feature authentic German entrees and pastries.

College Point is, and was, another prominent German-American neighborhood in Queens.

How They Got There
Schmidt notes that the last large-scale wave of German immigration occurred in the decade following World War II, when many Germans left their shattered and recovering homeland in search of a better life in America.

Between 1852 and 1854, more than half a million Germans arrived in New York. Although most German-Americans settled in Manhattan at first, they began to move to Queens to establish farms and settle the undeveloped areas. Their contribution to Queens’ early development can still be seen today.

What Makes Them
Who They Are

Karl Ehmer opened his first Queens location in the German enclave of Ridgewood in the 1940s and the company, with locations in Glendale, Fresh Meadows and beyond, is an international distributor of German meat products.

Perhaps the most recognizable German-American contribution to Queens is the name Steinway. The famous pianos were originally the work of William Steinway, a German immigrant in the late 1800s—and one of the city’s first millionaires.

In 1909, Steinway and Sons moved all piano-manufacturing operations to the Astoria factory. William Steinway sought to plan a community for workers in the neighborhood, building sand parks and establishing the Steinway Kindergarten, a private school for preschoolers.

The Good Life
Back in the day, German-American neighborhoods like Ridgewood often had large picnic grounds where families could spend a day outdoors eating, drinking beer, and listening to traditional music. One of these beer gardens, the Ridgewood Park and Coliseum, was located on what is now Summerfield Street.

Beer halls, carousels and bowling allies were among the diversions available to German-American families. Nearby Banzer’s Park also offered ample picnic grounds, and was later renamed Cypress Hills Park. At what is now the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard, a two-story saloon and restaurant once stood in what was called Eldorado Park.

The Not-So-Good Life
One of the most tragic moments in Queens German-American history came on June 15, 1904, when a steamboat chartered by the St. Mark’s Lutheran Church for a Sunday School outing caught fire and sank off the shores of Astoria. 1,021 people perished aboard the General Slocum—almost as many as aboard the Titanic. A monument for the dead now stands in Ridgewood, and a memorial service is held there each year.

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