Poppenhusen Institute, poppenhuseninstitute.org 2

Here on the eve of Thanksgiving, is another look at a story about one of the great philanthropists of Queens. His regard for his workers and his community should be a model for us today. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

In these days of the “one percenters,” and the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, it’s easy to make comparisons to the days of the Robber Barons of the late 19th century. That time was very similar to ours, in many ways. The late 19th century was a time in American history when consumers first began to show their power. Manufacturers of all kinds always produced what people needed, but for the first time in American history, they were now producing not just what was needed, but was wanted. The American obsession with consumer goods had begun.

The ability to purchase those things came from other societal changes, especially the rise of the middle class. It was now possible to work and make enough money to be able to afford some of the finer things in life. Entrepreneurs and inventors met those consumer needs, and great fortunes were made in producing all kinds of goods. Today, it seems that everything gets sent overseas to be manufactured, but 150 years ago, American factories were the lifeblood of cities and towns. Sometimes, an idea or product grew so large that an entire town grew up around it.

The more enlightened industrialists realized that providing for their workers’ basic needs led to more productive workers. It was a win-win for both concerns. Queens was home to several workers’ “towns” that grew up around industries. The best known is Steinway Village in Astoria, built by the Steinway Piano Company for its workers. Here in College Point, the local captain of industry, Conrad Poppenhusen, built a town for his workers, and left a legacy that remains today.

Nestled north of Flushing, where Flushing Bay meets the East River, the small farming community was an offshoot of Flushing, which was originally founded by English settlers under the provision of the Dutch East India Company, in the late 17th century. It was a sleepy village, often called Lawrence’s Neck, after its largest landowner, Captain William Lawrence. It was also called Flammersburg and Strattonport. In 1835, a seminary was established here by the Rev. Augustus Muhlenberg, a highly influential Episcopalian minister and educator.

Rev. Muhlenberg called his seminary St. Paul’s College, and it opened in 1835, and closed only fifteen years later, in 1850. In spite of that short length of time, the institution lasted long enough to later lend its name to the town: College Point. It could have remained a small farming village for another fifty years, but for the arrival of Conrad Poppenhusen, in 1854.

Mr. Poppenhusen was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1818. He began his career working for a whalebone purchaser in Germany. Whalebone was used to make the stiff stays in women’s corsets, an undergarment worn by just about every woman in the Western world, at some point or another. Whalebone, which was the brush-like filtering system in a baleen whale’s mouth, was strong and stiff, but flexible enough to provide some give so a woman could breathe and move around. No other substance worked as well; iron and steel were uncomfortable, and wood did not have enough strength, or if it did, not enough flexibility. It was also used in shirt collars, and had other uses as well.

In 1843, Poppenhusen immigrated to America, and set up a whalebone processing factory in Brooklyn. By the mid-19th century, the baleen whale was being hunted into extinction, and Poppenhusen looked around for a whalebone substitute. He found it in Charles Goodyear’s hard rubber process, called vulcanization. Cured rubber had been around for thousands of years, but Goodyear had perfected his vulcanizing process, which added sulfer to the process, creating a hard rubber that today is used for bowling balls, clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces, hockey pucks, pens, and caster wheels, among other uses.

He received a license from Goodyear to produce hard rubber in 1852, and began looking around for a place to build a new plant. He found it in the sleepy town north of Flushing. In 1870 he joined the neighborhoods of Flammersburg and Strattonport together, and called his new company town College Point. He employed local townspeople, and also a great deal of German workers who followed him over from Brooklyn, or came directly to Queens upon arriving in America.

Poppenhusen built his factory in College Point. He had experimented with the rubber, and found it had the same properties as whalebone, at a much lower cost, and did not rely on the dwindling supply of whales. He also saw a market for other products made of hard rubber. His factory could produce not only corset stays, but products like dental and medical goods, combs and personal grooming products, caster wheels and other hardware products. The factory soon had hundreds of workers, and College Point was now a company town.

Workers need housing so Poppenhusen built housing, as well as institutions in the town to enrich their educational, cultural and spiritual lives. Most of his workers were Germans, like himself, so he brought many German ideas to the town. His most enduring addition to the town is the Poppenhusen Institute, a Second Empire gem of a building designed by William Mundell, in 1868. The Institute has served many functions, and at various points in its history has been home to the local Justice of the Peace, the Sheriff’s office, a courthouse and a jail. There are still two barred jail cells in the basement, probably the highlight of every tour of the building.

The Poppenhusen Institute also housed the first kindergarten in the United States, a German educational innovation that started here in 1870. The building was also headquarters and practice rooms for several German singing organizations, or saengerbunds; was home to the town’s first library, the first location of the College Point Savings Bank, and served as a gathering place, officially sanctioned by Poppenhusen for all to enjoy, no matter their race, creed or color. That was an extremely enlightened position for his day.

Poppenhusen built the First Reformed Church in 1873, an exquisite example of Eastlake Gothic Revival architecture. The church has elements of a New England Village church, and is white with clapboard siding. What makes it a gem is the profusion of Eastlake-style gingerbread trim. On a more practical level, he also built water and sewer systems for the town, and founded the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which once connected the area to ferry points to Manhattan. Today, College Point has no train stops, and is serviced only by buses, lending to its relative isolation.

Poppenhusen retired in 1871. Unfortunately, he left his business to his three idiot sons, who managed to squander all of his money, and lose the business and the family fortune. Four million dollars in debt, he declared bankruptcy in 1878. Conrad Poppenhusen died in 1883, here in College Point. His body was eventually shipped back to Germany, and he is buried in Hamburg. The College Point library was named in his honor, and a bust of Mr. Poppenhusen stands in Poppenhusen Park, dedicated in 1884.

The Poppenhusen legacy lived on in his Institute. Many of the area’s local success stories started here, as graduates of the many programs went on to great personal and business success. The Institute was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. That didn’t stop it from almost being torn down in 1980. The building was put up for sale, but the quick action of a community preservation committee and court action prevented demolition just in time.

Today, the Institute still offers all kinds of programs, including karate classes, children’s programs and other functions. They are still in dire need of funds for restoration and maintenance. The building was used as a set for an episode of “Boardwalk Empire,” so hopefully, more location work can provide funds to keep up this great building and a great legacy. More information can be found at the Institute’s website: www.poppenhuseninstitute.org. Mr. Poppenhusen’s legacy lives on.

(1870s drawing of the Institute: Poppenhusen Institute)

Conrad Poppenhusen. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute
Conrad Poppenhusen. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute
Photo: Jim Henderson for Wikipedia
Photo: Jim Henderson for Wikipedia
Interior: the grand hall. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute
Interior: the grand hall. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute
Jail cells in the basement. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute
Jail cells in the basement. Photo: Poppenhusen Institute

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