Original Sunnyside Housing Surrounded by Farms

Sunnyside, Queens, New York – circa 1915
Houses along 45^th Street looking west
 

 The house in the right side foreground of the photo is at the corner of 45^th Street and Skillman Avenue.  The area behind the house was for wagons and horses.  It faced Skillman Avenue and was owned in 1915 by Jakob and Katherine Hüther.  46^th Street did not exist at that time.  Skillman Avenue ended at a duck pond where 46^th Street was later built.  Early residents of 45^th Street were (in the center foreground from left to right): the Maxaner family (trees in front), the Klein family and the D’Amato family.  The D’Amato house was later converted to a synagogue.

 Some of the houses in this photo were actually moved here when the Sunnyside Railroad Yard was build.  It is thought that the Maxaner house was moved from the area of Middleburg Avenue.

 On the right side of the photo, you can see the viaduct over the railroad yards at 39^th St.

 In the background is Long Island city.  The bridge in the upper right is the Queensborough Bridge.  The clock on the Brewster building at 23^rd St. in Long Island City can also be seen.

 Note: This information was compiled by Mike Leahy based on interviews conducted in the 1970’s with original residents: Louise Hüther Leahy, John Leahy, Isabelle Foy Weber and Margie Burke O’Neill.  Cathy Maxaner, daughter of Dora Hüther Maxaner, owns the original photos.

(This 1915 picture comes from the archives of the Leahy family)

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