Judge Munson House, 1940. The Judge Munson House was a stone structure built in 1839 or 1840 by Stephen A. Halsey. Halsey, an integral figure in the development of Astoria, helped to lay its street grid, operated the ferry that traveled to Manhattan, and directed the Astoria Gas Works. The home, which was supposedly constructed from stone quarried on site, was later occupied by Captain Munson in 1866. From the 1890s until the 1940s the building housed educational facilities: first, the original Long Island City High School and later, Public School No. 9. The building was demolished during the planning of the NYCHA Astoria Houses.