Newtown High School, ca. 1931. 90th Street, east side, from 48th to 50th Avenues, looking south from the former and showing the Newtown High School.

During World War II, Walentyna Stocker (1913-2020) was the primary secretary and translator for the Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile. Walentyna (pronounced “Valentina” in English) translated reports from the Polish Underground State into English which first revealed Nazi atrocities–including the existence of concentration camps in German-occupied Poland–to the United Nations. Walentyna’s translations revealed the humanitarian crisis occurring in Europe to the Allies, putting her at the center of Polish intelligence during the War. Walentyna also kept the Polish resistance alive from abroad, organizing and broadcasting Dawn, a secret radio station to Poland. Her service didn’t end after the War – she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service in the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Polish Army. In this role, she worked with concentration camp survivors and prisoners-of-war, and was present at the Nuremberg Trials. She was recognized in 2011 with the Medal of Merit for Polish Culture by Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and received the Jan Karski Eagle Award in 2016. Her life will be honored with a state funeral in Poland in 2021. A coalition of local activists seeks to honor her life by securing landmark status of her chosen and adopted home of Elmhurst, Queens. Walentyna’s husband Aleksander was a Polish author and reporter. He was living in Paris when Germany invaded Poland, and promptly joined the Polish Army there. When the Nazis captured France, Aleksander concealed his Polish identity and played the role of a Frenchman, as it was known among soldiers that Nazi treatment of Polish partisans was especially brutal. He passed as a French prisoner-of-war and was kept as a slave by a German family until his escape to England in 1942. While Walentyna and Aleksander were in France and later England during the same time, they didn’t meet until they each moved to Buffalo, New York after the War. They married only five months after meeting, and left Buffalo for New York City in 1955. They made their home in Elmhurst (88-28 43rd Avenue) by 1960, and their house was known as the nucleus of the Polish émigré elite in the United States. Walentyna remained here until her death at 107 years old in April 2020. Support the designation the Walentyna Janta-Połczyński house!

Broadway, Elmhurst. Viewed from Queens Boulevard, 1921. The building at left is the Broadway House, opened as a hotel by John Heeg in about 1890. The building was partially demolished in 1930. The conical tower at center is part of the Newtown Town Hall, first built in 1803 and expanded to include a courthouse in 1848. Later, the building also included the local police precinct. The Town Hall was demolished in 1960. Today, the Libra Triangle green space references the judicial history of the site.

A collection of schools across New York City.

The "old" New St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, 84-07 Broadway at Corona Avenue, opposite the Reformed Dutch Church. Built 1848, consecrated 1849, enlarged 1871, destroyed by arson fire October 1975, and then replaced by a new building.

Elks Club House, Queensboro '878' Elks Lodge, 1929. A bronze elk statue is visible at the entrance, lower left. In a 1995 profile of the declining fraternal clubhouse, the New York Times described the “neoclassical palazzo” and its ornate interior features: “Built in 1923 for the then astronomical sum of $750,000, the five-story building features a swimming pool, a gym, an Aztec-themed theater, 28 guest rooms, a banquet hall, three bars and eight bowling alleys. Large stained-glass panels on each wall of the 700-seat theater, proclaim the order's four cardinal tenets: Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity.”

Southeast corner of old Queens Blvd and Grand Ave, ca 1909. Jonathan Fish built in 1716 as a tavern on the site of the Ralph Hunt House. It was a Loyalist Headquarters during the American Revolution and was The Union Hotel after the war. The house was then a Presbyterian Parsonage 1817-1822, and finally a store & residence of Peter Duryea (1852), and later Joel Brown (1873). Newtown Gas Co. bought the site in 1909 for a storehouse. The house auctioned June 20, 1916, for $175 to a wrecker, and was torn down July 10, 1916.

First Presbyterian Church of Newtown, 1924. The First Presbyterian Church of Newtown is the oldest church in the borough of Queens. The congregation was established by a community of English settlers who had moved into the area in the 1650s and constructed an all-purpose thatched roof building that also served as school and town hall. In the first decades, the community was a mix of English dissidents, French Huguenots, Dutch Reformed, Church of England adherents, and others. In 1715 the church received its charter and was officially named the First Presbyterian Church of Newtown. The church was an early advocate of religious freedom in America and was the site of much strife during the American Revolution. The Presbyterian community was vehemently opposed to British rule and suffered at the hands of British soldiers, who jailed church members and used the church as a prison before demolishing it. The church building seen here was erected only four years after the end of the war. Finished in 1787, the "Old White Church" saw the community through considerable growth during the 19th century. The surrounding graveyard (which predated this structure by decades) was the final resting place of generations of community members. In 1891 a wealthy parishioner willed $70,000 for the construction of a new building. The new brownstone church was completed across Queens Boulevard in 1895. This wood-frame structure continued to be used for church functions until it was heavily damaged by a fire in 1928, and razed one year later. The cemetery remained even after the removal of the structure; the parish sold the land in 1958. At that time, some unknown number of graves were unearthed and removed to Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn. Today an apartment building occupies the lot where once the 18th-century church and cemetery stood.

Newtown High School 48-01 90th Street, Elmhurst, Queens 1920 Founded in 1897, Newtown High School has been serving the Elmhurst community for more than 115 years. Designed in 1917 by C.B.J. Snyder in the Flemish Renaissance Revival style, construction was delayed until 1920 on this building that features a monumental centrally-placed 169-foot tower topped by a cupola and turrets, along with stepped gables. Snyder’s choice of the Flemish Renaissance Revival style may be a nod to New York City’s early days as a Dutch colony. Notable alumni include Estee Lauder (cosmetics company founder) and Gene Simmons (member of “KISS”). Newtown was designated a New York City Landmark in 2003.

Elmhurst Branch, Designed by Lord & Hewlett and completed in 1906, the Elmhurst Branch typified the suburban style of Carnegie libraries. It was a single story, freestanding structure within a larger lot. The library was built with an original landscaped rear garden, which was removed and replaced with a parking in the mid 20th century. The surrounding neighborhood, established as Dutch community in the 17th century, became a thriving multi-ethnic enclave in the 20th century. As such the library offered publications in Bengali, Chinese, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu. The Georgian Revival building survived 106 years through numerous renovations and additions before it was demolished in 2012, much to the disappointment of preservationists. It was replaced in 2016 by a larger modern glass and masonry structure.

MACDONALD PARK Queens Boulevard between Yellowstone Boulevard and 70th Road Monument: William Henry Deacy, 1934 Queens Boulevard was expanded gradually over many years, beginning in the early 1920s. After an expansion phase in 1931, this small park was formed. In 1933 it was named after Captain Gerald MacDonald (1882-1929), a World War I veteran and Forest Hills resident who was held in great esteem by the community. Toward the park’s eastern end is the Gerald MacDonald statue, which was designed by architect William Henry Deacy, sculpted by MacDonald’s brother-in-law, Frederic de Henwood, and unveiled in 1934.

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge Number 878 (Elks Lodge) ARCHITECT: The Ballinger Company DATE: 1923-24 STYLE: Italian Renaissance Palazzo The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded by a group of actors and entertainers in 1868, and this building belonged to them from 1923 until 2001, when they sold it to the New Life Fellowship Church. The edification was built between 1923 and 1924 with a neo classical style that modeled Italian Renaissance palazzo type.

Old St. James Episcopal Church. 1922. St. James is the oldest surviving Anglican building in New York City and the oldest structure in Elmhurst. Built in 1735, the single-story wood-frame church served the Anglican community in what was then the town of Newtown. By 1848 the parish had outgrown the building and moved to a new church, though the old building remained, as did its small churchyard cemetery. After the church moved to the new structure, this building was used as a Sunday School and parish hall. Its tower (part of the original building, and replaced in 1760) was destroyed in a storm in 1883 and never rebuilt. In the 1883 renovations after the tower collapse, Victorian architectural elements were added, such as drip moldings, decorative bracketing on the gables, and pointed arched window openings. A necessary and thorough restoration of the church was undertaken in 2004, and the church was brought back to its polished 1883 Victorian style. Today it is used as a meeting space for community groups. The church has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999 and in 2017 was calendared for landmark designation.

Newtown High School, 1927. Designed by Superintendent of School Buildings C.B.J. Snyder, the new school’s first wing was completed in 1921, after construction was delayed by World War I and a fire that destroyed early blueprints. Snyder’s Flemish Renaissance Revival design — itself a nod to Newtown’s Dutch heritage — included a 169-foot mansard roofed tower, with stepped gables, turrets, and a cupola. The building, now serving more than 2,700 students, was designated a New York City Landmark in June 2003.

W.F. Shattuck House at the southeast corner of Corona Avenue and 87th Place. The ornate, central tower of Newtown High School can be seen in the distance at left.

Dutch Reformed Church of Newtown, 1927. The Reformed Church of Newtown was founded in 1731 and built its first church building soon there after in a Greek Revival style. Early services were conducted in Dutch, the language of its farmer and tradesmen founders. That church stood for about 100 years, surviving the Revolutionary War when it was commandeered by British troops as an armory. In 1835 the original building was replaced by the present Georgian-style edifice. The church property also includes (unsurprisingly) a graveyard, likely dating to the founding of the congregation. Today the community, reflecting the multiculturalism that is present throughout Queens, the church now offers services in English and East Asian languages.