Hell Gate, 1915-1920.

Astoria Pool, ca. 1940. Astoria Pool is the largest of the 11 public pools opened in the summer of 1936 under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration and the planning of Robert Moses (who was an avid swimmer). The pool structures, including the diving towers, fountains, and the bathing pavilion are all of a subtle Art Moderne style. The pool opened July 2, 1936 and two days later hosted the Olympic Trials for the U.S. Swim and Diving Teams who soon there after attended the Olympics in Berlin. The trials would return to the pool in 1952 and 1964. In both cases the two fountains located on the east end of the pool were lit as Olympic torches through the events. Today the pool continues to serve the local neighborhood during the summer months. The diving pool was closed in the 1970s and has been deteriorating since then. In 2012 renderings were release for the conversation of the diving pool into a performance venue but as of 2017 no such project has commenced.

Astoria Pool, ca. 1940.

My Archive Summer 2019 “My mother, Betty Melidis-Lelekidis is pictured in this photo on a snow day in February of 1985. This photo is a part of my personal family archive and was taken by my father, George Lelekidis. My mother grew up across the street of Astoria Park and hung out there every day as a teen. She considered this park her haven and a place to escape to. Today, there is a bench in the park, very close to where this photo was taken, dedicated to her, in memory of her recent passing.” —Anthoula Lelekidis

New York Connecting Railroad, Hell Gate Bridge, Spanning East River, Wards Island & Astoria, date post 1968.

Astoria Pool Pavilion, 1937.

Hell Gate Bridge being constructed, ca.1916.

Astoria Pool, 1937.

Triborough Bridge ca. 1936 The Triborough Bridge was the first major bridge to link three of New York City's five boroughs; its four over-water spans interconnect The Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. Establishment of the Triborough Bridge Authority to finance this ambitious project also set a precedent: all major New York City bridges since the completion of the Triborough Bridge have depended on the underwriting of a similar agency. Beginning in 1904, when Manhattan's new subway was extended to Broadway and 145th Street, the population of Harlem expanded rapidly. By 1913, there was a call for a bridge that could create easier access from this area of Manhattan to Queens, in order to develop sparsely settled areas of Queens and The Bronx and to bolster the value of Harlem real estate east of Park Avenue. Unable to sell municipal bonds following the 1929 Stock Market crash, those promoting the bridge concept developed the idea of a bridge authority able to issue bonds that would be repaid by tolls. By the early 1930s, the need for jobs to replace those lost in the deepening Depression field further support for such an authority. The Triborough's outstanding feature is its 1,380 foot suspension bridge between Randalls Island and Astoria, Queens. Its cables are 98 feet apart; only the George Washington Bridge cables exceed this distance. All three spans have pedestrian walks, providing Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan walkers with access to all three boroughs and to the Randalls Island Park.

Hell Gate Bridge, 1916. The Hell Gate Bridge is named for the narrow and often rough waters of the tidal strait in the East River that it traverses. The bridge is officially known as the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge. Designed by civic engineer Gustav Lindenthal (who was also involved in the construction of the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges) the bridge is actually three bridges that connect Astoria to Wards Island and Randalls Island and those islands to the mainland. The largest of the crossings is the steel through arch bridge over the East River. The railroad-only bridge saw its first train crossing on March 9, 1917, opening up an important rail connection between Long Island, Manhattan, the Bronx, and New England. This new connection made passenger travel along the busy Northeast Rail Corridor a more direct and easy journey. It also vastly improved the movement of freight as the only direct rail freight link between Long Island and the mainland. It was the world's longest steel arch bridge until the Bayonne Bridge opened in 1931, and it inspired the builders of Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia and the Tyne Bridge in England.

"When the Dutch finally ceded New Netherlands to the English in 1674, they left behind a legacy of place names—'toponyms,' to use the technical term. The English, whether to avoid confusion or from lack of interest, kept many, though often in Anglicized form. Thus Breuckelen became 'Brooklyn,' Vlissingen became 'Flushing,' the Bouwerij became the 'Bowery,' and so on. Of all these descendant names, one stands out as particularly forbidding, and the ambiguity of its true meaning has invited all kinds of mythical associations and claptrap. This is 'Hell Gate,' which denotes the churlish stretch of the East River between Manhattan and Astoria, Queens, at the nexus of the 'Y' formed by the East River to the south and to the northeast and the Harlem River to the northwest..." For more on Hell Gate, check out this article by Michael Nichols in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

When it opened in 1916, the Hell Gate Bridge (more properly titled the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) was the longest, heaviest, strongest steel arch bridge in the world and the only four-track long-span railroad bridge ever built. Its stunning profile combines the slightly reversed curve of its upper arc with granite-faced Roman arch towers. Stretching from the Sunnyside Railroad Yards in Queens across the turbulent confluence of the Harlem and East Rivers and Long Island Sound known as Hell Gate, to Ward's Island, on across the Little Hell Gate to Randalls Island and then over the Bronx Kill to The Bronx, the bridge was built to complete the linkage of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad system with the Pennsylvania Railroad system via the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnel under the Hudson River. Together, tunnel and bridge created an all-rail route over the Bronx Kill to The Bronx and replaced the time-consuming and expensive water link for New York and New England bound passengers and freight from the south. The Hell Gate bridge marks the apogee of American railroad power and prosperity. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the neighborhood that took its name from Hell Gate had been a pastoral area of summer homes and farms, but by 1912, when work began on the Hell Gate bridge, the river's edge had begun its conversion to an industrial area. Today the area is a mix of residential and commercial usage.