Celebrating places in Queens named for important Hispanic figures! National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed annually from September 15 to October 15. It's a time to honor the history, traditions, and diverse contributions of Hispanic Americans whose heritage is rooted in Spain and Spanish speaking countries and territories. We recognize the power of this collective heritage to shape a vibrant, inclusive future for all through music, art, literature, activism and shared stories. Please click the Add/Edit button to help us complete these entries by adding photographs and memories of these honored individuals.

Denis J. Butler (1927-2010) was a lifelong resident of Astoria who represented his district in the New York State Assembly for 24 years. He served on the Rules, Aging, Economic Development, Labor and Oversight, Analysis and Investigations Committees and on the Joint Budget Conference Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, which helped to maintain and increase funding for higher education. As Chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on the Special Problems of the Aging, he was responsible for the MTA putting the rough paint on the edge of the subway platform to alert the visually impaired that the platform was ending. Assemblyman Butler volunteered with the Lighthouse for the Blind for 20 years. He also served as president of the St. Joseph’s Home School Association, and was a member of the Holy Name Society Parish Council. In 1988, he received the Brooklyn Diocese’s Pro Vita Award, presented by Bishop Francis J. Mugavero in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the unborn and in support of life. In 1992, he received the New York State Catholic Conference Public Policy Award, presented by John Cardinal O’Connor and the Bishops of New York State for his work in support of the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation. In 2009, he was made a knight of the Papal Order of Saint Gregory the Great in Brooklyn’s St. James Cathedral Basilica by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzo.

Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011) was a Democratic Party politician, a member of the United States House of Representatives and the first female candidate of a major party for Vice President of the United States.

Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay Sherpa (1914-1986) and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. In 1999, they were among TIME’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century. The neighborhood in which Norgay's honorary street is located is currently home to a large Nepali community.

Officer Vitale and and Officer Abruzzo were two police officers, both assigned to the 109th Precinct in Flushing, who died in the line of duty. Officer Vitale was killed on December 24, 1980 and Officer Abruzzo less than a year later, on December 16, 1981.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. At the 1968 U.S. Open, Ashe defeated several competitors to win the men’s singles title. By 1975, he was ranked the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After this string of athletic successes, he began suffering heart problems. Retiring from the sport, he underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe was likely given an HIV-tainted blood transfusion and he soon contracted AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained involved in public life. His participation in many youth activities, such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program, and his role in protests against South African apartheid earned Ashe recognition as 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, long after his athletic career had ended. He died of pneumonia in New York at age 49.

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Detective Myron Parker (1961-1987) was an NYPD police officer from North Corona, assigned to the Bronx Narcotics Unit. While off duty, he stopped to assist at the scene of an accident and was killed by a drunk driver. He was 26 years old. Parker began working as a police officer on January 25, 1982. He served with the Bronx Narcotics Unit for five years, until his death on August 20, 1987. While driving with his brother on the Major Deegan Expressway near Yankee Stadium, he observed another car as it struck a vehicle near 155th Street. Though off-duty, Parker stopped to assist. Observing that the driver was intoxicated, Parker approached the vehicle and reached in to try to remove the keys. The driver accelerated in an attempt to flee. When he accelerated, Parker was crushed against the center divider of the highway, thrown over the center, and struck by another vehicle. He was taken to the hospital, where he eventually passed. The driver of the vehicle that killed Detective Parker was convicted of reckless endangerment and sentenced to seven years in prison. Parker was survived by his parents and siblings and posthumously promoted to Detective by then-Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward. The intersection of 103rd Street and 34th Avenue in North Corona is named in his honor and is located near where he lived at the time of his death.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the 34th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1953-1961. Before serving as president he had a long military career including commanding the Allied Forces landing in North Africa in November 1942. In addition, he served as Supreme Commander of the troops invading France on D-Day, 1944. After the war, Eisenhower served as the President of Columbia University and in 1951 as the Supreme Commander of the newly assembled NATO forces. He ran for and won the Presidency in 1952, using the slogan “I like Ike”. As President he worked to reduce the strains of the Cold War, signing the Korean Truce in 1953. The death of Stalin in 1953 also allowed him to establish better relations with the Soviet Union. Domestically, Eisenhower was considered a moderate Republican and continued many of the New Deal and Fair Deal programs. He advocated for Civil Rights, sending troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to assure compliance with the orders of a Federal court to desegregate the schools. He also ordered the complete desegregation of the Armed Forces. He Mamie Geneva Doud in 1916.

State Senator José R. Peralta (1971-2018) made history by becoming the first Dominican American elected to the New York State Senate when he assumed office in District 13. He served from 2010 until his death in 2018. His tenure was marked by a focus on immigration justice, support for working-class families, access to quality education for all children and advocacy for LGBT rights. He was most notable as his chamber's leading champion for undocumented young people whom he believed deserved equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream. He introduced the New York DREAM Act in 2013 and increased its support over the following years. Prior to his election to the State Senate, he served in the New York State Assembly from 2002 to 2010, representing the 39th Assembly District. He was a member of the New York State Senate Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian caucuses, and of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Task Force. As a state legislator, his sponsorship of gun-control legislation and a bill requiring microstamping on bullet-casings has drawn the ire of the National Rifle Association. He was a champion of economic development and job creation, and was a fighter for immigrants’ rights. He worked to heighten awareness of domestic violence and protect battered spouses from further abuse.

Ethel Plimack (1910 - 2018) Lived on her block in Sunnyside, Queens from 1941 until 2018, when she passed away at age 107. Plimack worked for more than 40 years with the NYC Board of Education until she was 70, and then took an administrative job at Marymount Manhattan College until she was 96 years-old. She was active in the community and served as treasurer and secretary of her block association, Washington Court, and was also heavily involved in gaining landmark status for Sunnyside Gardens. Ethel was an exceptional knitter, making many hundreds of sweaters, hats and scarves for family and friends. In her younger years, she was an avid folk dancer, traveling the world to learn new dances and meet others who shared her passion for dance. A legend in Sunnyside, she received recognition from local elected officials and former President Barack Obama.

Christopher Racaniello (b. 1971) a Little Neck native, worked for Cantor Fitzegerald at the World Trade Center. He was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

Text courtesy of Susan Latham. This is a photo of my sister Beth and me sitting with my grandparents, Noni and B-Daddy. The second photo is a formal shot of my grandparents, Bill and Cecelia Latham. Latham Park is named after my grandfather, William Harris Latham, in recognition of his long association with Robert Moses, New York City’s master builder who was responsible for creating much of our city’s parks and transportation infrastructure. My grandfather died when I was in my early 20s, well before I fully understood who Robert Moses was and the significant impact of my grandfather’s work in New York City and New York State. My grandfather grew up in Norwich, CT, and like his father, Alan Latham, he was an avid beekeeper – which led to the name “B-Daddy,” as he was known by all of his grandchildren. The B-Daddy that I grew up with lived in Lewiston, NY, near Niagara Falls, where he worked with the New York Power Authority as the chief engineer of the Niagara Project; at the time, this was the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. I have a vague childhood memory of seeing B-Daddy on television when he gave Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin an impromptu tour of the power plant, and I remember that my grandmother was unhappy that he was in shirt sleeves instead of a suit. Most of my experience with B-Daddy was after he retired – although he still had a lot of clout and got us free tours of the power plant, as well as free rides on the Maid of the Mist and all the Niagara Falls attractions when we visited every summer. He was a tall, strong man who loved to fish and hunt, and he was very athletic – there was a photo of him with his rowing team at MIT at my grandparents’ home. He was also an avid gardener and beekeeper, which meant we enjoyed fresh-picked vegetables and all the honey, honeycomb and honey butter we could ever want when we visited. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches were common lunch fare. It was only after he died in 1987 that I learned more about his professional career, much of it from Robert Caro’s book "The Power Broker," and more recently, from Internet searches. B-Daddy graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926 with a degree in civil engineering. In 1927 he began working with Robert Moses – or “RM,” as B-Daddy called him – at the Long Island State Park Commission. When Moses was named Commissioner of New York City Parks, B-Daddy followed him to New York City, where he became the Consulting Park Engineer. As the head of the Division of Design, he was responsible for the preparation of all plans and specifications within the Parks Department, and he played a major role in the design and installation of the 11 New York City public pools that opened in 1936, including Astoria, McCarren, Crotona and Jackie Robinson Pools. He also worked as general superintendent and director of maintenance and operations at the New York City Parks Department, and was heavily involved in the 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows Park (somewhere, there are home movies he filmed of King George and Queen Elizabeth visiting the Fair). In the 1950s, he moved upstate to engineer the St. Lawrence Power Project, the first active power plant of the New York Power Authority, which opened in 1958. He then moved to Lewiston to oversee the construction and opening of the Niagara Power Plant. In 1987, after his death, the New York Power Authority dedicated a new icebreaker (a ship designed to break through ice blocks and create a clear passage) on the Niagara River as the Latham in his honor, citing him as a “major figure in construction of the St. Lawrence and Niagara hydroelectric projects.” I got to see it in person in 2019. I should note that I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Queens in 1989. My apartment in Woodside on 51st Street, where I lived for 11 years, and my current home in Jackson Heights on 79th Street, where I’ve lived for 20+ years, are equidistant to the original site of Latham Park, which was on 69th Street and Broadway. In fact, I passed through it many times over the years without ever realizing that it was named after B-Daddy. And then one day, my brother – who is also named William Harris Latham – found it in a Google search of his name and sent me a link, asking if I had any idea where this park was. And of course I did! Honestly, what are the odds that a girl from New Jersey whose grandfather lived in upstate New York would end up living just blocks away from a park in New York City named after him!? Of course, Robert Moses is a controversial figure. His urban renewal and highway construction projects displaced thousands of people and destroyed neighborhoods, and my grandfather’s close association with him for so many years makes me more than slightly uncomfortable. But I can’t change who he was – and I do take some pride in the fact that my grandfather had a hand in so much of New York City’s infrastructure that we rely on today.

Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal (1923-1983) represented northeast Queens in the U.S. Congress from 1962 until his death in January 1983. Born in Manhattan, Rosenthal attended New York City public schools, Long Island University and City College before serving in the U.S. Army during WWII. He received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1949. In 1962, Rosenthal won a special election to the Eighty-Seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused when Rep. Lester Holtzman won a seat on the state Supreme Court; Rosenthal was then reelected to the 11 succeeding Congresses. During his congressional tenure, Rosenthal was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and a champion of consumer protection causes. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee for Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs. The Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library is the main library on the Queens College campus and was named upon its opening in 1988 to honor Rep. Rosenthal. The 350,000-sq.-ft., six-story building also houses the school’s Art Library and Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. Its hilltop location provides striking views of the Manhattan skyline to the west. Rep. Rosenthal’s papers are housed in the library’s Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Vincent Cannariato Jr. (1966-2017) ran his family’s limousine company. He was very generous and gave back to his community in many ways. He was a member of the Broadway Merchants and Professionals Association and the Central Astoria Association. Through his business, he also donated to and was involved with a number of charities including the Turn 2 Foundation, Dreams Come True, The Jorge Posada Foundation, the Friends of Governors Island, United Hospital Fund, Covenant House, Tabor House, City Harvest, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Christopher Ricardo Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the American Red Cross. He also was part of the 12 Step Program where he helped others in need.

Reverend Edward Eugene Jarvis (1904-1996) was the pastor of the Mt. Horeb Baptist Church in Flushing. After one year under his leadership, the congregation had grown so much that it had to seek larger quarters, moving to its present site at 109-20 34th Avenue in Corona.

Lance Corporal Michael D. Glover (1978-2006), a native of Belle Harbor, died during combat operations in Iraq as part of the Marine Forces Reserve. Born January 19, 1978, Glover grew up on Beach 134th Street, moving to Garden City, NY when he was 6 years old. He graduated from Xavier High School and then studied business at the University of Albany, graduating in 2001. He spent a year at Pace Law, but dropped out to join the Marines in 2004, as a response to how he felt following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks impacted him and his community deeply. His uncle, Peter Hayden, was a fire chief who led rescue operations at the site, and one of his close friends who worked in the World Trade Center died during the attack. He sought out opportunities to help throughout his life. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, he drove to the city with supplies and helped with boat rescues, for which he was awarded the Navy And Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve in Albany, he was on patrol in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on August 16, 2006 when he and his platoon commander, Captain John McKenna of Brooklyn, were surprised by insurgent fire and killed. Glover was loved by many. He had a tight-knit family and developed friendships during every period of his life. Hundreds of community members came out to honor him for his funeral services at Saint Francis De Sales Church in Belle Harbor on August 26, 2006. This street near his childhood home, at Beach 134th St at the corner of Beach Channel Drive, was named in his honor on August 3, 2013, and is just one of a few memorials to Glover in the area. There is also a flag pole located near the corner of Beach 129th Street and Newport Avenue was dedicated to him on June 14, 2024.

William D. Modell Way at Queens Plaza.

Lt. Peter Chappetto (1919 – 1944), an Astoria resident, was a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army who was killed in action during World War II. Born in Astoria, he was a standout athlete in baseball and basketball at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City and played for several semi-professional teams in Astoria after graduating. He enlisted with the Army in early 1941, and in 1944 was commissioned as an armored corps officer in the Pacific Theater. During the invasion of Palau at the Battle of Angaur, he was seriously wounded on September 26, 1944, but still managed to direct his platoon to safety. He died later that day and was buried at sea. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, a Silver Star and a presidential citation.

Herman Alvin Schleicher (1828-1866) and his wife, Malvina Schleicher (born c. 1830), were the owners of a 14-acre estate in College Point that included a two-and-a-half-story, red brick home. Among the oldest houses in the area and designated as a historic landmark in 2009, the Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is one of the earliest surviving buildings in New York City that combines elements of the Italianate and French Second Empire styles and was among the first in the City to feature a mansard roof, a design that maximizes attic space. Herman Schleicher was born in New York City on April 20, 1828, the son of Prussian immigrants. He married Malvina, a Prussian-born immigrant, in the 1840s, and the couple had four children, Herman, Julia, Frederick, and Walter. Herman worked as a merchant and wholesaler, trading in coal, stationary, and hardware. In the 1860s, he was active in local business and civic affairs, including serving on Flushing’s first board of education starting in 1858. In 1857, the couple built a home in College Point located on a tract of land purchased by Malvina. They worked with Morris A. Gescheidt, a German-born painter and architect, for the design of their house. Three years prior, the area around College Point had quickly developed into a thriving community after Gescheidt had designed and built a factory for hard rubber products for the industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen. The home Gescheidt built for the Schleichers was originally part of a walled compound with landscaped carriage paths, and it was located on the western end of the estate. The neoclassical design is one of the earliest surviving structures of its kind in New York City. Herman died on July 17, 1866, at the age of 38. In 1892, the Schleicher House became the Grand View Hotel and Park. When the original estate was subdivided into building lots in 1902, the house ended up at the center of a traffic circle as the surrounding neighborhood developed around it. The house was divided into apartments in 1923 and has continued as a rental property after its landmark status was established in 2009. The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House stands in its original location at 11-41 123rd Street in College Point.

Born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Washington was born into a prosperous family, and was privately educated. He gained early experience as a land surveyor, and then joined the militia, serving as an officer in the French and Indian Wars from 1755-1758. Rising to the rank of colonel, he resigned his post, married Martha Dandridge (1731-1802), and returned as a gentleman farmer to the family plantation at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he resided with his wife, Martha. He soon reentered public life, and served in succession as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1759-1774), and as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774-1775). Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Washington was made Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. His military prowess and inspirational leadership held the colonial armies together against overwhelming odds, and secured the evacuation and defeat of the British in 1783. Washington again retired to Mount Vernon, but his dissatisfaction with the new provisional government, caused him to resume an active role, and in 1787 he presided over the second federal constitutional convention in Philadelphia. He was then unanimously chosen first president of the United States, and was inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York City on April 30, 1789.  Washington was reelected to a second term in 1893, declined a third term, and retired from political life in 1797. Often referred to as “the father of our country,” Washington is universally regarded as having been instrumental in winning the American Revolution and in the establishment of the new nation.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) was born in New York City to immigrant parents, attended public schools and graduated from New York University Law School in 1910. After practicing law for several years, he was elected as the nation’s first Italian American member of Congress in 1916. He served as a U.S. Representative until 1919, when he resigned to join the Army Air Service and serve in World War I. Upon his return, he was president of the New York City Board of Aldermen in 1920 and 1921, and was re-elected to Congress from 1923 to 1933. LaGuardia then served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. Among LaGuardia's many achievements as mayor, he is credited with unifying and modernizing New York City's public transit system, consolidating much of the city government, cracking down on illegal gambling, and beginning transportation projects that created many of the city’s bridges, tunnels, parkways and airports. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Queens College. In September 1937, Mayor LaGuardia broke ground on this airport's site. Its construction was funded through a $45 million Federal Works Progress Administration grant. More than half of the 558 acres on which the airport was built was man-made, filled in with more than 17 million cubic yards of cinders, ashes and trash. The new airport opened in 1939 as New York City Municipal Airport. In August 1940, the Board of Estimates renamed the facility for LaGuardia, who considered the project one of his greatest achievements. Today it is the third largest airport in the New York metropolitan area.

Edgar Garzon (1966 – 2001), better known as "Eddie," was a young openly gay man and member of the Jackson Heights based organization Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association (COLEGA). Garzon was a creative talent who worked as a set designer and was known for his designs of floats for pride parades. Garzon was walking home from Friends Tavern, a local gay bar, in August 2001 when he was beaten in a hate attack. He died Sept. 4, 2001, after nearly a month in a coma.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential figures in jazz, known for both his trumpet improvisations and his distinctive singing voice. He also broke down numerous racial divides in the music and entertainment worlds, becoming the first Black performer to get featured billing in a major Hollywood film ("Pennies From Heaven," 1936) and the first Black host of a national radio show (Fleischmann's Yeast Show, 1937). Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong grew up impoverished in a racially segregated city. He dropped out of school in fifth grade to work, and developed a close relationship with a local Jewish family that gave him odd jobs and nurtured his love of music. By the age of 11, Armstrong wound up in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he joined the band and studied the cornet in earnest. Upon his release from the home in 1914, he began working as a musician on Mississippi riverboats and other local venues. His reputation skyrocketed, and by the early 1920s he moved north, performing and recording with jazz bands in Chicago and New York. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Armstrong made dozens of records with his own and many other ensembles, toured extensively, and began performing in Broadway productions and movies. After some business and health setbacks, and in response to changing musical tastes, Armstrong scaled his group down to a six-piece combo in the 1940s and resumed touring internationally, recording albums and appearing in movies. Some of his biggest popular hits came in the later years of his career, including "Hello Dolly" (1964) and "What A Wonderful World" (1967). His grueling schedule took its toll on his heart and kidneys and in 1968 he was forced to take time off to recuperate, but he began performing again in 1970. Armstrong died in his sleep in July 1971, just a few months after his final engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, purchased their home in Corona in 1943, shortly after they were married, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. The Louis Armstrong Community Center is located several blocks away from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs. The Community Center, opened in 1996, offers local residents a variety of activities and programs, including basketball, soccer, martial arts programs and dance classes for both young and old.

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Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school (1849) and obtain an MD degree.  Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 to Quaker parents in Bristol, England. Although education for women was generally discouraged at the time, Blackwell’s parents disagreed. Throughout Blackwell’s childhood, her parents were very supportive of her educational endeavors. By the age of 11, Blackwell and her family immigrated to the United States. During Blackwell’s mid-20s, she had experienced the passing of a close friend. Prior to death, her friend had told Blackwell that she would have experienced less suffering if she had a female doctor. This inspired Blackwell to pursue a career path in medicine. In 1847, multiple medical schools rejected her because she was a female applicant. Fortunately, Geneva Medical College accepted her application but for improper reasons. The college allowed the all-male student body to determine her acceptance through a vote. Many of the students voted “yes” as a joke since she was a female. Blackwell experienced an extremely difficult time in medical school, she was constantly harassed and excluded by classmates and faculty. Despite the hardships Blackwell had to endure, she graduated in 1849 and was ranked first in her class. In the mid 1850s, Dr. Blackwell returned to the United States and opened a clinic to treat poor women. In 1857 Dr. Blackwell opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with the help of her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell and colleague Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. This infirmary would be the nations first hospital that had an all-female staff. This hospital still stands and is currently known as the New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and is helping millions of people in New York to this date. Additionally, in 1868, Dr. Blackwell created a medical college devoted to providing education for future female physicians which is now apart of Weill Cornell Medicine. In 1869 Dr Blackwell returned to England where she continued to advocate for women in medicine until her death in 1910.

Edith Elida Torres (1970 – 2017) was a paramedic for 23 years. Like many of her fellow emergency workers, on the morning of September 11, 2001 she rushed to the World Trade Center despite being to help with the aftermath of the attack. She spent the rest of the day working the pile, rescuing survivors and looking for her colleague Carlos Lillo, who unbeknownst to Torres, had lost his life in the collapse of the south tower. She continued to serve as an emergency worker, rising to the rank of lieutenant in 2005. She also collaborated with Lillo’s family to honor him by having a park named in his memory as well as with the Carlos Lillo Memorial Paramedic Scholarship. She died of 9/11 related illness.

William M. Feehan (1929-2001) was First Deputy Commissioner of the NYFD and the first person to hold every rank in the fire department. Despite being a firefighter who rose to the highest level of service, including serving briefly as Acting Fire Commissioner in 1993, he nevertheless insisted on being called just “chief.” Recognized for his deep knowledge of the department (he was thought to know the location of every fire hydrant in the city) and his advocacy for policies that improved safety for firefighters, Feehan served the FDNY for 42 years. While helping to direct the fire and rescue operations from the West Street command center at the base of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he was killed when the North Tower collapsed. At age 71, he was the FDNY’s oldest and highest-ranking firefighter killed on 9/11. Feehan was born on September 29, 1929, and grew up in Jackson Heights. The son of a firefighter, he was second in four generations of a family career tradition in the FDNY that includes his son, John Feehan, son-in-law, Brian Davan, and a grandson, Connor Davan. After graduating from St. John’s University with a degree in education, he served in combat in Korea. In 1956, he married Elizabeth Ann Keegan, and the couple lived in Flushing. Early in his career, he worked as a substitute teacher. First appointed to the FDNY as a Probationary Firefighter on October 10, 1959, he was eventually assigned to Ladder Company 3, then to Ladder Companies 18 and 6. His service in the department led to a promotion to Lieutenant in 1964, then to Chief of Department in 1991, and in 1992, to First Deputy Fire Commissioner, the second highest civilian position in the FDNY. In 1993, he was appointed as Fire Commissioner, the highest civilian position in the FDNY, and a role he acted in during the last months of Mayor David Dinkins’ administration. Following Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s appointment of Howard Safir as Fire Commissioner in 1994, Feehan returned to his position as First Deputy Commissioner, a role he held until his death in 2001. In 2002, the New York City Council passed legislation to honor Feehan with the naming of William M. Feehan Triangle, a public green space near his former home in Flushing. The Triangle is located at the intersection of 164th Street, 27th Avenue, and Bayside Lane.

Dr. Thomas Anthony Dooley III (1927–1961) was an American physician and public figure renowned for his humanitarian work in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Born into a prominent Irish Catholic family in St. Louis, Missouri, Dooley served as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1955. His experiences during this time led him to write the best-selling books "Deliver Us from Evil" (1956), "The Edge of Tomorrow" (1958), and "The Night They Burned the Mountain" (1960). After leaving the Navy, Dooley established several hospitals in Southeast Asia and co-founded the Medical International Corporation (MEDICO), funded by his extensive public appearances and media work. Unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer in 1961 and was posthumously honored with a Congressional Gold Medal by President John F. Kennedy. Decades later, it was revealed that Dooley had ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and had embellished or fabricated certain aspects of his experiences in Southeast Asia.

Morton Povman (1931-2024) was a New York City Council Member, representing District 24 in central Queens. He is the longest-serving council member in City Council history, representing his district from 1971 to 2001. He was born in Brooklyn in 1931 to Russian Jewish parents. He attended City College and Brooklyn Law School, where he graduated first in his class and served as editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Law Review. After graduating, he opened a law office in Forest Hills, where he practiced for over sixty years. His first entry into politics was in 1960, when he joined a Democratic club in Richmond Hill, initially with the sole intention of finding more legal clients. However, he began to get more involved in local politics, serving as legal counsel to Moses Weinstein, the majority leader of the New York State Assembly. In 1971, he was selected to replace Donald Manes on the City Council after Manes became Queens Borough President. As a City Council Member, Povman was remembered as a principled, independent thinker. He successfully opposed measures to build high-rise apartments and a racetrack in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in spite of the support the plans had from the mayor and borough president. He was instrumental in bringing Arthur Ashe Stadium, now the site of the US Open, to the park, though the measure was unpopular among his constituents. He also served as chair of the City Council Committee on Health, and fought to keep the Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem open in opposition to Mayor Ed Koch. Though he had the opportunity to pursue higher political positions, Povman chose to continue running for City Council, as it gave him enough time to continue his law practice and spend time with his family. He married Sandra Arkow in 1958 and they had two sons, both lawyers.

Malcolm X (1925-1965) was a civil rights activist and a prominent leader in the Black nationalist movement. On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated by several gunmen while preparing to deliver a lecture at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder, though two were later exonerated. His posthumously published book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written with Alex Haley, is considered a classic of American autobiographical literature. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he was the fourth of seven children. His father, Earl Little, was a local president for the Black nationalist Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and his mother, Louise (Norton) Little, was a UNIA division secretary. His father’s activism led to death threats from the Ku Klux Klan, forcing the family to move several times before they settled in East Lansing, Michigan. When Malcolm was six, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident but was likely an act of white supremacists. In 1939, his mother was committed to a mental institution, and after a period in foster care, Malcolm moved to Boston. In 1946, he was arrested for larceny and served time in prison, where he converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malcolm X. After his 1952 release, he worked with the movement's leader, Elijah Mohammad, to expand its membership nationwide. He married Betty Sanders in 1958, and they had six daughters. In 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam due to disagreements with its leadership. He traveled extensively throughout North Africa and the Middle East, converting to traditional Islam and changing his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In 1965, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity as a secular platform to unify Black Americans with Africans and build solidarity in the developing world by shifting the focus from civil rights to human rights. Malcolm X Place was named in his honor and is the block where his family lived from 1960 until his assassination in 1965. Their home on 97th Street between 23rd and 24th Avenues was firebombed a week before his death. The house, which was owned by the Nation of Islam at the time, is now privately owned. In addition to the Malcolm X Place, Malcolm X Garden on 112th Street in East Elmhurst is also named in his honor.

This school, built in 1916, was named for Admiral David Dixon Porter. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, Porter followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the United States Navy. During the Civil War, he served under Admiral Farragut during the capture of New Orleans. Later, as the commander of the Mississippi River Squadron, he joined General Ulysses S. Grant in the historic Vicksburg Campaign and was promoted to rear admiral, one rank below full admiral. In January 1865, Porter directed the bombardment of Fort Fisher in Wilmington, North Carolina. Porter was promoted to full admiral after Farragut’s death in 1870, and he remained the most senior officer in the Navy for the next 21 years.

Edwin Hoyt (1804-1874) was a businessman who lived in Astoria in the 1800s. he was the millionaire senior partner in Hoyt, Sprague, and Co., a dry goods business, with Governor William Sprague of Rhode Island. Hoyt’s son, Edwin Chase Hoyt, and Governor Sprague’s son both married daughters of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. When Hoyt died on May 15, 1874, at the age of 70, all prominent dry goods businessmen kept their doors closed on the morning of his funeral out of respect for the deceased.

Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a railroad porter and steward and his mother a teacher. After graduating from Lincoln University, he was rejected from the all-white University of Maryland Law School, he attended Howard University Law School. He graduated at the top of his class in 1933, he went into private practice and worked on different civil rights suits. One successful suit was against the University of Maryland Law SchooL for denying a Black applicant solely based on race. Marshall worked for the NAACP first as a staff lawyer, then as a lead chair, and a few years later as the chief of the Legal Defense and Education Fund. He won 29 of the 32 cases the NAACP brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, which related to voting rights issues, segregation and more. His most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in which "separate but equal" as a justification for segregation was struck down. Marshall was later named U.S. solicitor general and nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here he continued to advocate for change and justice for marginalized peoples throughout the United States. He retired with the nickname "the Great Dissenter," indicative of his continued commitment to advocacy even in the midst of a conservative court.

Terri Mona Adams (ca. 1942-2017) was a lifelong Hunters Point resident and civic leader. She retired from the United States Navy in the 1980s as an operations supervisor. She served as president of the Hunters Point Community Development Corp. (HPCDC), a merchant group established in 1952. She was also a member of Community Board 2. Under her leadership, HPCDC initiated an Easter Parade on Vernon Boulevard and an egg hunt and Easter Bonnet contest in John Andrews Playground. Halloween and Stop the Violence events were also held there under her leadership. She started the annual Hunters Point Community Unity event in 1995 and also worked with the 108th Precinct to combine Community Unity with National Night Out Against Crime. She organized the first Hunters Point Farmers Market and Hunters Point Eco-Friendly Flea Market on 48th Avenue in 2005. In addition, under her leadership, HPCDC started sponsoring Holiday Lights on Vernon Boulevard, and the annual Breakfast with Santa for Children at the Riverview Restaurant. She also served as president of St. Mary’s Seniors.

Jabez E. Dunningham (1868-1945), was an Elmhurst resident, and celebrated civic leader in New York City, particularly in Queens. Born in England, Dunningham became the London representative for the publisher Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) in the early 1890s. He moved to New York in 1896 and worked for Pulitzer until the publisher’s death in 1911.  After his publishing career ended, Dunningham devoted himself to fighting for public improvements, first as executive secretary of the Community Councils of New York, where he was instrumental in bringing rapid transit to Staten Island where he lived in 1921. Dunningham moved to Elmhurst, Queens, in the early 1920s and founded the Queens Council of Civic Associations, and helped the cause of homeowners in Corona who were being squeezed by a real estate firm. He lobbied against pollution, excessive garbage, and other problems affecting Queens. Dunningham lived at 40-71 Denman Street, within walking distance of this triangle named for him, and died on April 28, 1945, at the age of 77.

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Robert R. Pellicane (1924-1950) was a pilot from Hollis and a first lieutenant in the 137th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard in White Plains. On May 3, 1950, Pellicane died in a plane crash when he missed the field as he was landing his F47 Thunderbolt fighter following a routine flight at the Westchester County Airport. He was 26 years old, and it was the first recorded fatality at the airport since its opening in 1943. Pellicane was the third of four children of Italian-immigrant parents Joseph and Catherine C. Pellicane. His father worked as a life insurance agent, and in the early 1930s, the family lived in Woodhaven. At the time of the accident, Pellicane was studying law at St. John’s University in Brooklyn and would have graduated in June. A veteran of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II, Pellicane received the Distinguished Flying Cross and two other battle decorations for his wartime service. He is buried in St. John Roman Catholic Cemetery in Middle Village, and a plaque in his memory is located at 193rd Street and Hillside Avenue in Hollis, about half a mile from where his parents lived at the time of his death. The plaque was dedicated in 1957 and is attached to a flagpole in the traffic median. It reads: “IN MEMORY OF/ ROBERT R. PELLICANE/ BORN APRIL 10, 1924/ DIED MAY 3, 1950/ 1ST LIEUTENANT/ 52ND FIGHTER WING/ 1957.”

Jeromus Remsen (1735-1790), a native of the area that is now Forest Hills, served during the French and Indian War of 1757. He became active in local politics and rose to the rank of colonel in the Kings and Queens County Militia, fighting in the Revolutionary War's Battle of Long Island. Jeromus Remsen's grandfather, Abraham, settled in the "Forest Hills" area, then known as Hempstead Swamp in the Town of Newtown. His son, Jeromus, lived on the family farm, and then had his son, also named Jeromus, who was born on November 22, 1735. Following his service in the French and Indian War, Remsen became part of the minority in Queens who opposed the King after the colonies declared independence. Active in Whig politics, Remsen appointed a committee to ensure that the measures of the Continental Congress of 1774 were followed within Newtown. His military experience and political stance made him a natural choice to lead a regiment of militia soldiers as a colonel. He gathered his regiment during the summer of 1776 as British troops amassed on Staten Island. He commanded the 7th New York Regiment, which were among those who joined the brigade of General Greene in Brooklyn, and who were routed at the Battle of Long Island. After their retreat, Remsen fled to New Jersey for safety, where he remained until after the war. Remsen died on June 22, 1790. His wife Anna, daughter of Cornelius Rapelje, whom he had married on April 31, 1768, lived until 1816. They are among a small handful of Remsen family members that were buried in their family plot, which still exists just a short distance from the school that has his name. The triangular-shaped Remsen Family Cemetery at Alderton Street and Trotting Course Lane became a New York City Landmark in 1981 and came under the care of the Parks Department in 2005, though not without local opposition, as residents felt the local American Legion had been taking adequate care of the space already for some time. For many years the Remsen Family Cemetery and Remsen himself were the central point of Memorial Day events in the area. Parades attended by thousands began at the cemetery, and Revolutionary War reenactments took place at nearby Forest Park. Interest in designating the school, which opened in 1931, to honor the local colonel of a regiment of Kings and Queens County Militia, came in the 1950s. Diane Petagine of American Legion Post 1424's Auxiliary is credited with efforts to rename P.S. 144 in Remsen's honor, which went into effect in 1956.

Charles Dillon “Casey” Stengel (1890-1975) was a Baseball Hall of Famer and former New York Mets manager. During his playing career, he played outfield for both New York National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, with a career batting average of .284. After retiring, he managed the New York Yankees from 1949 to 1960. This team, featuring the batting power of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, won ten pennants and seven World Series championships. Stengel then went on to become the first manager of the expansion Mets team from 1962 to 1965. He was known for his witty remarks and aphorisms and beloved as a New York baseball icon. After a $55 million renovation, the former Flushing Depot was renamed the Casey Stengel Depot in 1992. The bus depot stands opposite the entrance to the New York Mets' Citi Field stadium.

The following was received from Helen Day, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society: Ivan Mrakovcic, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, passed away on February 27, 2020, after a valiant battle with brain cancer. Ivan was one of the founding members of the Richmond Hill Historical Society in 1997 with the late Nancy Cataldi and other like-minded individuals who looked to preserve historic Richmond Hill. Ivan loved this community and worked tirelessly in so many ways to preserve its historic character and charm, leading the charge for the historic preservation of Richmond Hill after Nancy’s passing in 2008. Ivan’s perseverance resulted in the establishment of a Historic District in North Richmond Hill on the New York State and National Historic Registers in March 2019. Ivan was much more than our president; he was our dear friend and neighbor, like a brother and definitely a kindred spirit, who will always be with us. As one of our board members said, we were so lucky to have known him and to have had him be part of our lives. That is a great testimony for anyone. Ivan left a legacy of accomplishments that will always be remembered, and we have many memories that bring a smile to our hearts.

Francis Lewis (1713-1802) was a merchant, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Wales, he attended school in England before working in a mercantile house in London. In 1734, he came to New York to establish a business. While working as a mercantile agent in 1756, Lewis was taken prisoner and sent to prison in France. Upon his return to New York, he became active in politics and made his home in Whitestone, Queens. A member of the Continental Congress for several years before the Revolutionary War, Lewis played a significant role in the nation's founding.

Russell Risley Sage (1816 – 1906) Was a financier and President of the Chicago, St. Paul & Milwaukee Railroad, he played a large part in organizing the railroad and telegraph systems in the United States. He also served as a delegate to the Whig Convention of 1848, where he supported Henry Clay. Sage served two consecutive terms in the U.S. Congress (1853–57). Sage was born in Oneida County New York, his first job was as an errand boy in his brother's Troy, NY grocery store, very motivated he soon opened his own wholesale grocery business. He was elected as an alderman in Troy, while also serving as a treasurer in Rensselaer County from 1844 to 1851, 1852 he was elected to Congress on the Whig ticket and served for five years until he took over as vice president of the La Crosse Railroad in Wisconsin, a company he had invested in. He also had money invested in Western Union Telegraph. He relocated to New York City in 1863 where he engaged in the business of selling puts and calls, as well as short-term options known as privileges. He has been credited with developing the market for stock options in the United States and inventing the "spread" and "straddle" option strategies, for which he was dubbed "Old Straddle" and the "Father of Puts and Calls."  In 1891, a man entered Sage’s office and demanded $1.2 million, threatening Sage with dynamite. When Sage refused, the man unleashed an explosion that left him dead, but Sage was mostly unharmed. The event was in all the newspapers. By the time of Sage’s death in 1906, he had amassed a large amount of money which he left to his wife Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828 - 1918), and it is largely due to her efforts that so many institutions in New York benefitted from his fortune. Olivia donated large sums to the YMCA, the YWCA, the Women’s Hospital, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a memorial to her husband, she had built the First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway, at 1324 Beach 12th Street, where they used to vacation. Olivia also founded the Russell Sage Foundation in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States,” and helped to sponsor the Regional Plan Association’s (‘RPA’) project to develop a regional plan for New York City in 1929, which would provide Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) with many of the basic ideas that shaped his career.

Michael Brennan (1973-2001), a New York City Firefighter, was a lifelong resident of the Sunnyside section of Queens. He was assigned to Ladder Company No. 4 in Manhattan. On September 11th Michael Brennan answered the call to the World Trade Center and perished in the collapse of the twin towers.

George J. Ryan (1872 – 1949) was the President of the Board of Education in Queens in the 1930s. In the 1940s, after his time as president, he advocated for a school in Fresh Meadows, a newly built community after World War II. Plans for the construction of this school were announced in 1952. In honor of his contribution, the school was named after him. Ryan was born and raised in Queens and spent his entire life there. Aside from his role as Board President, Ryan was very active in Democratic politics, and was also president of Long Island City Savings Bank and the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779) was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander. Pulaski fought for the Continental Army during the American Revolution against the British and was nicknamed “The Father of the American Cavalry”. He was born in Warsaw, Poland and died in Thunderbolt Georgia at the age of 34 years old. Pulaski was exiled from Russia after supporting the cause of Polish-Lithuanian freedom. Through a recommendation from Benjamin Franklin, Pulaski came to America to support the fight for freedom against the British. He fought for freedom his entire life until he was fatally wounded at the Siege of Savannah during the Revolution. Pulaski was a trusted ally of George Washington, as seen by the multiple letters that were found written between them, and even saved his life when he led a skillful attack against the British which allowed Washington and his men to retreat as it looked like they were about to be defeated.

John Lionel Golden (1874-1955) was a playwright who, at one time, had a Broadway theater named after him (202 W 58 Street). Golden and his wife opened their huge property in Bayside to the neighborhood for recreational activities. When they died, they donated the property to the city with the stipulation that it remain a park. The land is now Crocheron Park and a portion is designated as Golden Field. According to Wikipedia, as a songwriter, Golden was best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (196). He produced many Broadway shows and four films.

Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919 – 1943), was a World War II hero who shot down several enemy planes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross for valor. Miller joined the US Navy on September 19, 1939, at age 19 and was assigned to the Messman Branch. At the time, African Americans were limited to positions on supply ships. The easy-going serviceman was described as an impressive 200 lbs., and over 6 feet tall. On December 7, 1941, he was assigned as a Mess Attendant aboard the ammunition supply ship Pyro anchored in Pearl Harbor. In the Japanese attack that day, the Pyro was struck by at least six torpedoes and two bombs. Miller, leaving his post, raced to his ship commander Captain Mervyn Bennion, who was mortally wounded. After helping move the captain to a safer place, Miller, in the midst of bombing and a flame-swept deck, proceeded to help pass ammunition to two machine gun positions. When one of the gunners was killed, Miller took over his position and he downed at least two Japanese planes and as many as six. Shortly after, he was ordered to leave the bridge as bombing and danger increased. Dorie Miler was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Chester W. Nmitz to become the first US Hero of WW II and the first African American to receive the Navy's highest award. Two years later, on November 24, 1943, Miller was among more than seven hundred crew members who died in the sinking of the USS Liscombe Bay, torpedoed by an enemy submarine. In his honor, the Navy named a Knox class frigate ship the USS Miller. In December 1953, the first of three hundred families moved into the six buildings of the Dorie Miller Housing Cooperative. 34th Avenue between 112th and 114th is known as Dorie Miller Place.

Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) was born to Scottish parents in Ireland in 1688, and raised in Duns, Scotland. In his early life, Colden trained to become a Presbyterian minister at the University of Edinburgh until transitioning to the sciences. Colden immigrated to the British colony of Pennsylvania in 1710 where he worked as a doctor and a merchant until moving to New York in 1718. As a scientist, Colden studied biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and astronomy, while pursuing research on cancer, yellow fever, smallpox, and climate-based diseases as a doctor. Some of Colden’s famous academic publications include The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New York (1727), a classification of local species in the Linnaean system (1749), and a critique of Sir Issac Newton’s work in The Principles of Action in Matter (1751). Colden also pursued roles in public service, holding the position of Master in Chancery and Surveyor General of New York, serving on the Governor's Council, and eventually as acting Governor up until the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Colden was not popular among American colonists due to his British-favoring policies on trade, as seen in incidents such as the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765. Forced out of office by the war, Colden died on his Long Island estate near Flushing, Spring Hill, in 1776. In addition to this playground, the nearby Public School 214 in Flushing, is also named after him.

Mary "Mae" Foley (1886-1967) shattered gender barriers within the NYPD, becoming one of its first female plainclothes detectives. Her pioneering work inspired over 2,000 women to join the force. She served from 1923 to 1945. Born in Manhattan's Lower East Side Gas House District to Irish and French immigrant parents, Mary Foley always aspired to a police career, even after marrying young and having children. As an adult, she resided at 30-16 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens. Foley began her NYPD training in 1923 and joined the "Masher Squad," a unit dedicated to protecting women from predatory men. She was later assigned to detective work under Chief Inspector William Leahy, actively participating in raids with the Volstead Act enforcement squad (also known as the Bureau of Prohibition or Prohibition Unit). From 1925 to 1930, she was assigned to the 19th Precinct in Manhattan. In 1930, she transferred to the 108th Precinct in Queens, where she became a detective in the homicide division. During her career, Foley worked with Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, playing a crucial role in the successful conviction of Italian-born gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano and exposing the pro-Nazi organization, the German American Bund. Foley also contributed to the war effort by helping to organize the Women's Volunteer Police Reserves during World War I, serving as its captain. Her legacy is documented in the book The Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story of the Country's First Female Investigator and Her Crime Fighting Squad by Mari Eder. In 2024, a street was named "Det. Mary "Mae" Foley Way" in her honor, due to its proximity to the former site of the NYPD's 108th Precinct.