Reconstruction of Steinway Tunnel, 1915. The Steinway Tunnel was originally built for trolleys and is named for William Steinway, one of the “sons” of the Steinway & Sons piano manufacturing company. Steinway advocated for its construction as part of a bigger plan to develop areas of Queens, especially Astoria where his plant was located. The plan also included extending his horsecar line (the Steinway & Hunter’s Point Railroad) into midtown Manhattan. At the time, Queens was not yet incorporated into New York City, and Long Island City—where the tunnel would be situated—was its own municipality. Groundbreaking on the tunnel began in 1892. The starting point was an 85-foot work shaft dug at 50th Avenue between Vernon and Jackson Avenues, where the Vernon-Jackson station on the 7 train is located today. Construction accidents, lawsuits, financial woes, and the constant flooding of the site by an underground spring caused the project to be shut down entirely in 1893. Tunnels originally built for trolleys had to be modified for subway trains, which meant tracks needed to be realigned and catenary wire removed. In June of 1915 the tunnel opened to IRT service, which at first was just a shuttle between Grand Central and Vernon Boulevard.

50th Avenue, east from 11th Street, showing the appearance of the thoroughfare at the time the Queens-Midtown Tunnel was being built. The houses on the right side of the photograph beyond the fifth one, counting from the right, were demolished and the site incorporated into the tunnel approach.

Vernon Avenue Bridge, 1930. While many of the other Newtown Creek crossings have been replaced over the years with new infrastructure in the same location, there is no longer a bridge where the Vernon Avenue Bridge once stood. The bridge opened in October 1905 and was used for trolley, automobile, and pedestrian traffic. It replaced an 1882 swing bridge. The bridge connected the main thoroughfares of two communities: Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. While early on the bridge saw heavy use (in 1918 it had 2,241,465 vehicular crossings and 168,630 trolley trips), eventually it became inadequate for the city's needs. It often broke down, was up for the passage of ships, and the constant traffic was hard on the roadways. In addition, it was rammed by a 10,000-ton ship carrying coal in 1949. In the mid-1950s the bridge was razed and replaced with the nearby Pulaski Bridge.

"51st Avenue, north side, east from Jackson Avenue, showing the types of buildings that prevailed in this section of Long Island City at the time when the Queens-Midtown Tunnel was cut through, 1938"

"The crowded main square at Long Island City; street car and bicyclists visible, 1898." Built in 1881, and sold in 1919, Miller's Hotel (seen at center across from the ferry terminal building) was a well-known watering hole for gamblers as well as Queens and Manhattan politicians including many Tammany Hall bosses.

Did you know that the construction of the IRT Flushing line (known as the Corona Line until 1925) was the catalyst for real estate development that transformed the rural areas of Queens into vibrant neighborhoods?

Vernon Boulevard North at 50th Avenue, 1931. Banca Commerciale Italiana (on the corner at right) operated in New York City from 1928 until 1939. It served the Italian immigrant and first generation population of Long Island City, most of whom immigrated from one particular town called Nusco, in the south of Italy near Naples.

Gantries on the Long Island City Waterfront, 1978. The transfer bridges and support gantries were constructed in 1925 and used to transfer freight cars from barges onto the Long Island Rail Road tracks for travel to industries on Long Island. The gantries were out of use by the 1970s and in 1998 this southern waterfront area and the area just to the north (part of the former Pepsi bottling plant) were developed into Gantry State Park.

Queens County Bank, Branch of Corn Exchange Bank, 1921. Established as the Flushing and Queens County Bank in 1873, the banking company housed in this building changed names a number of times. In 1921 when this photo was taken, the bank was called the Queens County Bank, Branch of Corn Exchange Bank. Constructed around 1890, this small Romanesque Revival style building is similar in design to the Corn Exchange building on 125th Street in Harlem, but the Manhattan building, at six stories (originally) dwarfed its Queens counterpart.