Bowery Bay Beach or North Beach

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Opening in June of 1886, Bowery Bay Beach (later renamed North Beach) was a family-oriented recreation/amusement park founded by William Steinway in partnership with brewer George Ehret .(5) At its founding, it offered to patrons swimming and a large bathing pavilion, boating with access to a boathouse and dock, picnic grounds, and restaurants. Over time the park was expanded, with carousels, a Ferris wheel, and a small zoo added.(3) William intended that the park would provide a respectable place for recreation for the families of workers of Steinway & Sons as well as others from Manhattan, Astoria, and other environs of New York. It became part of a network of inter-related businesses that would include an electric railway system on Long Island, and, eventually, steamboats from Manhattan and the Bronx to carry the public to the park in large numbers.(1)(2)

Opening in June of 1886, Bowery Bay Beach (later renamed North Beach) was a family-oriented recreation/amusement park founded by William Steinway in partnership with brewer George Ehret .(5) At its founding, it offered to patrons swimming and a large bathing pavilion, boating with access to a boathouse and dock, picnic grounds, and restaurants. Over time the park was expanded, with carousels, a Ferris wheel, and a small zoo added.(3) William intended that the park would provide a respectable place for recreation for the families of workers of Steinway & Sons as well as others from Manhattan, Astoria, and other environs of New York. It became part of a network of inter-related businesses that would include an electric railway system on Long Island, and, eventually, steamboats from Manhattan and the Bronx to carry the public to the park in large numbers.(1)(2)

The beach had its beginnings some years before. In June of 1870, William and his brother Albert were out looking at some real estate in hopes of finding a spot to establish a new factory outside of the city capable of handling the growing needs of the Steinway & Sons piano business. Driving along the shore road by Flushing and Bowery Bay, they spotted the magnificent stone mansion belonging to the late Benjamin Pike with its seventy acres and four thousand feet of waterfront and then drove on past the Douglas shore farm, making note of its "fine beach".(Diary, 1870-06-22) He negotiated a sale for the farm and the mansion in July.(Diary, 1870-07-08) Over the next few months, William and his family bought more parcels and lots, approaching individual owners and executors of estates until finally, those owners and executors began approaching him.(Diary, 1870-09-02; 11-10; 12-03) Steinway & Sons did establish a factory in Astoria, and William created Steinway Village as a community near the factory for his workers and their families. William used the parcel of land with the "fine beach" to construct an amusement park. He partnered with brewer George Ehret, created the Bowery Bay Building and Improvement Company, and opened Bowery Bay Beach.

The New York Times announced the opening of Bowery Bay Beach to the public on Saturday, June 19, 1886, in its issue of the previous day. The article praised the park and made a point of reporting that swimming was "the safest" as no sewage flowed into the bay.(1) Bowery Bay Beach was a successful business from the very start, drawing immigrant workers from the city to an affordable, nearby resort where they could swim, dance, listen to music or relax and drink a beer on their day off. William built the street railway lines that made sure they all got there and later arranged for and bought ferries to deliver them to the Grand Pier in hordes.(1)(2)(9) So impressed with the sheer numbers of visitors was William that he recorded the gross receipts for his railways in his diary on a number of occasions. In early July of 1886, he recorded that in the preceding week, the railway receipts totaled some $2,470 -- that would translate into almost 50,000 visitors reaching the beach on his railway.(Diary, 1886-07-12)

William also made use of his beach resort and facilities to boost the morale of the workers in the Steinway factory. For a number of years, Bowery Bay, renamed North Beach in February 1891, was the venue of the annual Steinway factory picnic.(5)(Diary, 1891-02-22) More than once, William transported his men from New York to Astoria, assembled them in formation, and marched through Steinway Village to the beach in a triumphal parade. Women and children remained in the rail cars and were thus transported to the beach to join their husbands and fathers.(8)(Diary, 1886-08-21; 1889-08-10)

Music was a feature of the Bowery Bay Beach also, with concerts offered as entertainment.(3) In August 1887, the Sommerfest of the Liederkranz was held there--no doubt part generous gesture, part excellent opportunity to familiarize the German business community first-hand with the park. At the time, William was president of the Liederkranz. Following a grand banquet and some speeches, 75 members of the Liederkranz sang for the crowd, followed by performance by the Männercher, a singing society from Philadelphia that had been invited to participate. The evening ended with dancing.(7)

Not that the beach was without issues. In its first months, a young Jewish man drowned there.(Diary, 1886-07-07) Later that year, Campbell, the railroad manager ran away with $3,200.(Diary, 1886-08-12) There were also problems at the restaurant with Moynahan, the manager, who assaulted the headwaiter. (Diary, 1886-08-12) William put H. A. Cassebeer jr. in charge in hopes of cleaning things up. It seems Moynahan had a drinking problem.(Diary, 1886-08-16) The sizable income generated by the resort overcame any problems experienced along the way. Toward the end of summer, Ehret was discussing "enthusiastically" with William an increase in the capital of Bowery Bay Beach Improvement Company and the "annexation" of neighboring lands.(Diary, 1886-08-26)

In 1891, the name of Bower Bay Beach was changed to North Beach. William remarked in the diary that it was a "happy idea" to change the name as people would otherwise persist in "connecting" Bowery Bay Beach with "the Bowery" in New York City.(Diary, 1891-09-20)

The beach long outlived William. A lengthy New York Times article published in the year of his death extolled its virtues as well as those of the rest of the Queens development that William had created.(3) The North Beach itself was to remain a viable destination until the onset of WWI discouraged German-Americans from coming out in public and Prohibition passed in 1919.(5) Serious pollution of the water from trash and sewerage spoiled the beach. After a few years a small airport, Glenn H. Curtiss Airport, opened on part of the abandoned site. A few years later, Mayor LaGuardia decided to make use of some WPA funds to enlarge the airport on the site, which after a time came to bear the mayor's name and is in use to this day. (4)(6)

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Sources:
1. “Bowery Bay Beach,” The New York Times, June 18, 1886, p. 5.
2. “Bowery Bay Beach,” The Steinway Hall Programme, April 27, 1887.
3. “Features of Greater New-York, North Beach, Steinway, Long Island: An Attractive Resort,” The New York Times, July 12, 1896, p. 25.
4. “Neighborhood Report: Queens Up Close,” The New York Times, May 4, 2003.
5. “North Beach,” The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, p. 853.
6. “North Beach Airport,” The New York Times, September 9, 1938, p. 20.
7. “Singing at Bowery Bay,” The New York Times, August 9, 1887, p. 5.
8. “Steinway Workmen at Bowery Bay Beach,” Musical Courier, August 25, 1886, p. 118.
9. ‘Twenty Thousand at North Beach,” The New York Times, June 18, 1894, p. 1.

Read the National Museum of American History blog post on Bowery Bay Beach.