1923; 1929

Queens: 94th Street - 23rd Avenue

94th Street, west side, about 450 feet, north of Twenty-third Avenue, showing four views of the Abraham Rapelye farmhouse and outbuildings. This house was probably erected by Capt. Thomas Hagard shortly after 1724. This farm and the buildings were owned and occupied by members of the Rapelye family from 1787 to 1896. The history of this area is that Thomas Stevenson had a patent in 1651 on the Rev. Francis Doughty farm which lay between the Old Bowery Road and Flushing Bay and south of Mill Creek or as it is also known as Jackson Creek. In 1787 it became the property of Abraham Rapelye. He built a dock on Flushing Bay just south of the mouth of Jackson's Creek which in those days was probably at 96th Street, and south of this house between Old Bowery Bay Rd. and the Hazard tract which was also purchased by Daniel Rapelye. It was later known as Strongs farm; it being the property of Aletta Rapelye Strong. The successive owners that followed were Wm. W. Thomas, Dr. Oliver Jones of Cold Spring Harbor,and the Navahoe Realty Company. The Doughty house stood on the shore of Flushing Bay on a lane made by Dr. Adrian Van der Douck. It was the house of the Rapelye, Remsen and Strong families and was located at or near the present site of the Strong residence. The wing of the Rapelye house collapsed in November 1933 and the building was demolished in March 1934. March 1923 Views 1 and 2 Views 3&4: May 1929 Eugene L. Armbruster Collection

Photo from the New York Public Library - Milstein Collection