Cyclone+of+1895

On July 13, 1895, a cyclone struck Woodhaven and caused massive amounts of damage.

It came from the west, through East New York and Cypress Hills. The force of the winds uprooted trees and toppled tombstones in the cemetery before descending its force upon Woodhaven. It was just after 4 in the afternoon and in the space of just a few minutes, the storm would cut a path of destruction with tragic results. It was July 13th, 1895, and Woodhaven was still renowned for its racetrack, though it had closed over 40 years earlier. In those days, much of Woodhaven north consisted of open farmland. Woodhaven south was more densely populated, with buildings, factories and a large recently-constructed school.

The storm appeared with no warning, first striking Woodhaven at Jamaica Avenue and Elderts Lane, near the home for truants (future home of Franklin K. Lane High School). Passengers on the Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad, which had just been electrified the year before, huddled inside their derailed cars as telegraph and trolley poles came crashing down around them.

The storm cloud, which was estimated to cover an area of 300 square yards, moved swiftly south injuring residents who were being battered by a massive amount of debris that was flying through the air. Once the storm began to hit the houses in Woodhaven, the debris that began to fly became decidedly more dangerous. Eyewitnesses described the cloud as massive and dark, and some said it was shaped like a funnel. Many others described a soft red glow within the cloud. They said that trees and chimneys were ripped from their foundations and flew through the air as if they were no heavier than feathers. Several persons found themselves lifted off their feet and carried through the air, landing a block or two away.  Newspaper accounts at the time described one woman who was in an outhouse at the time the storm struck. The outhouse was ripped from the ground and hurled a full block away. The poor woman was carried away with the outhouse, and was flung away from it before it crashed to the ground. That she suffered only a cut on her forehead was rightfully described as a miracle.

The worst scene of destruction was at the newly built 2-story brick schoolhouse at University Place (95th Avenue) and Rockaway Road (today, a Boulevard). PS 59 had been built in 1890 on land purchased from manufacturer Florian Grosjean, whose legendary factory and clocktower still stands on the border of Woodhaven and Ozone Park. The roof of the schoolhouse was ripped off and the upper-half of the building collapsed. “I could see flying bricks and debris of all kinds, and then the whole landscape was obscured by clouds of dust,” said one eyewitness. “Great beams and roofs blew about for the space of fully half a minute.”

Only that this storm struck on a Saturday prevented this from being a far more tragic tale. No one was injured inside the collapsed school building. Outside, however, was a different story. One block east of the school, at 3rd Avenue (84th Street) and Rockaway Boulevard, 16-year old newlywed Louise Petroquien, was at her sewing machine when she heard the commotion outside. Looking out the window, she saw the massive dark cloud overhead and ran outside to warn her mother. She emerged from a side doorway but before she could shout out a warning, a large beam torn from the roof of PS 59 slammed into her head and neck, killing her instantly. It was her mother, returning after the storm had passed, who found her daughter’s body next to the steps leading to their home.

The storm moved south and out towards Jamaica Bay, leaving an eerie silence amidst the massive amount of destruction in its wake. Although there were close to 150 home damaged, accounts vary on how many homes were completely destroyed, and the number is probably somewhere between 15 and 30.

In the days following the storm, over 100,000 people came to Woodhaven via the Long Island Railroad on Atlantic Avenue to view the damage. While locals bustled about, clearing away debris, visitors dropped coins and bills into barrels set up for the close to three hundred people who lost everything, or nearly everything, to the storm. The main attraction for the visitors, however, seemed to be the home of Ms. Petroquien. The family permitted visitors to enter her home, through the door which she had rushed out of, stepping over the spot where she lost her life. They were led into the parlor where they could view and pay respects to the young bride, who was lying in a rosewood coffin under a large pile of flowers.

For over one hundred years, stories looking back on the storm of 1895 have referred to Louise Petroquien as the sole fatality from Woodhaven. However, one small victim of that storm has been consistently forgotten over the past century – 5-year old Johnny Kolb. The boy had been playing on Atlantic and Rockaway when the storm hit and afterwards he was discovered lying under the rubble by PS 59 School Superintendent William F. Buckley. Buckley was also a member of the Woodhaven Volunteer Fire Department and had heard the cries for help from the young boy. He carried Johnny Kolb inside where a doctor examined him and found that the boy had broken both an arm and a leg.

However, the next day, his condition took a turn for the worse and he passed away, bringing the number of Woodhaven fatalities to two. Both Louise Petroquien and Johnny Kolb were buried in Cypress Hills cemetery on the same day.

Today, the intersection of 83rd Street and Rockaway is now part of Ozone Park. There is nothing to indicate that this was once the scene of a powerful and destructive storm. An office building stands where the school once sat; for many years, this building was well known as a Friendly Frost appliance store. What happened there over 120 years ago serves as a reminder that we are forever at the mercy of nature and its tendency to humble us without warning.

From [|article] published July 2, 2015 in the Times Newsweekly by Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">