Newtown Historical Society

from Queens Chronicle 44th Anniversary Edition

by Queens Chronicle

Volunteer fire departments

44th Anniversary Edition Small group has some big victories

Newtown Historical Soc. perseveres

by Michael Gannon

Senior News Editor

Christina Wilkinson is a veteran observer of history and civic engagement in Queens. But the president of the Newtown Historical Society was surprised recently when considering the organization’s own history.

“I’m actually kind of shocked we’ve already been around for 15 years,” she told the Chronicle.

The group has no building, few artifacts and not even an executive director. But it still can pack a punch, and has on more than one occasion.

“It was co-founded by me and a few others back in 2007,” Wilkinson recalled. “We were in the middle of trying to save St. Savior’s Church at the time and it sort of dawned on us that we really didn’t have an organization that was preservation-focused for Maspeth, Middle Village all the towns that were part of Newtown So we wanted to bring the issues to the forefront. Obviously we started with St. Savior’s.”

Built in 1847, the Maspeth church was targeted for the wrecking ball. It now sits in storage trailers as civic and preservation groups seek funding and a site to rebuild it.

“We moved on to other projects,” Wilkinson said. “The big one was the Ridgewood Reservoir in Highland Park. That was probably our biggest victory so far.”

The reservoir was constructed in 1858 in what is now Highland Park on the Queens-Brooklyn border. It provided Brooklyn with water until 1959, and Basin 2 served as a backup supply for the borough from 1960 to 1989. The site was transferred to the Parks Department in 2004.

“The city had plans to basically destroy all the habitats in the basins of the reservoir for active recreation,” Wilkinson said. “And we fought this. In a nutshell we did a lot of advocacy work. We got in touch with a wetlands delineator, which sounds like kind of a strange title, but this person was actually an expert in what constitutes wetlands. “He went down into the basins and marked out which areas had wetlands. He also described what type ... because all three basins have different types of wetlands that have different types of plant life and support different types of wildlife. It would have been a shame to lose that. Wetlands are very important for number of reasons. But to have that biodiversity right here in the area ... you can’t just walk down the street to a pond. It’s a unique spot, and we knew it needed to be preserved. Sort of upgraded, but mostly intact.”

Wilkinson said the site, and its eventual reuse, proved to have a little something for everyone.

“If you’re interested in history, it’s an amazing story of how it was built. If you’re interested in nature, then that’s the place to go and see it. And it also does provide some active recreation. There’s jogging and some bike paths around it. No mat-

HISTORY AND MORE ter what type of activity you’re interested in, you can go there.”

Getting back to basics, Wilkinson also can tell you exactly what Newtown was and is.

“I love answering that question,” she said. “What you need to do is go back to the original County of Queens — under King George — which included three towns that currently make up Nassau County.”

The small group packed a big punch when fighting to preserve St. Saviour’s Church in Maspeth. PHOTO COURTESY NHS