Poppenhusen, a German immigrant who arrived in America in 1843, made a fortune, lost it, and then made another. His early business training was acquired in Germany, where his father owned a concern that manufactured numerous small articles out of whalebone. Upon his arrival in America, with considerable means, he went into a partnership and continued the same type of manufacture.

The whalebone was becoming a scarce commodity at about this time and when Conrad made the acquaintance of Charles Goodyear he turned his attention to the development of rubber. Not a scientist by any means, but a good businessman, Possenhusen eventually established a factory in College Point, manufacturing small articles out of hard rubber. We might say that hard rubber articles were the plastics of one hundred years ago.

Poppenhusen's factory brought jobs to the neighborhood and with them came workers, families, and homes. As people flooded into what would become College Point, Poppenhusen began to change his focus. After attaining marked financial success, he turned that success to the lasting benefit of the community.

Poppenhusen took a deep interest in many fields, such as town planning, providing homes for his employees in whose welfare he took a personal interest, and other aid projects. At one time he gave 330,000 for the building of the College Point Dutch Reformed Church.

In celebration of his 50th birthday, Poppenhusen made a gift of one hundred thousand dollars to the people of College Point for the erection and maintenance of what became the Poppenhusen Institute, designed a century ago to provide free instruction in the Arts and Crafts and also commercial and industrial subjects. Amongst its many services was its kindergarten, the first free kindergarten in the United States.

The Poppenhusen Institute strove to be a bastion of education in the community. When Carnegie began funding the creation of libraries, they worked with the industrialist to further his goals. The citizens of College Point donated the land for the library and the Poppenhusen Institute donated the books. The stipulation of the institute’s gift was that the library would bear its name.

Unfortunately for the Poppenhusen family, Conrad Poppenhusen's sons didn't have the same business acumen as their father. After retiring in 1871, Poppenhusen and his family declared bankruptcy, having lost 4 million dollars.