Clocktower

Sitting on the border of Woodhaven  and Ozone Park is a clocktower that is visible from miles around. The story behind that clocktower is one of tragedy and triumph that shaped the future of the two communities that surround it. 

It begins in 1850 when two men, Florian Grosjean and Charles LaLance, started a business manufacturing tin utensils in a small factory on Pearl Street in Manhattan. After a few years, LaLance left the United States to manage their affairs from overseas. Meanwhile, by 1863 business prospered so much that a larger factory was required.

Grosjean’s search for space brought him east to Woodhaven Village, a small hamlet located in the rolling hills and farmlands of Queens. At that time, the village ran from what is now Woodhaven Boulevard to 85th Street, from 95th to 97th Avenues, land that today is known as Ozone Park. All of the land north of Woodhaven Village consisted of acre after acre of farmland, with the occasional farm house.

 Woodhaven Village’s first and only industry was a chisel factory built by John Sharp & Co. on 10 lots of land. The factory was comprised of several rows of wooden buildings along Atlantic Avenue and University Place (now 95th Avenue), but by the early 1860s the business was dying. Grosjean got a good price on it and thus, the LaLance & Grosjean Manufacturing Company began its fabled history in Woodhaven.

Over the next decade, LaLance & Grosjean was extremely successful and Florian Grosjean became a prominent figure in Woodhaven. There were little over a thousand people living in Woodhaven and over 300 of them were directly employed by Grosjean’s factory. In fact, nearly everyone in the community was dependent on the factory, either through a parent or spouse working there, or by owning or working for a local business that depended on Grosjean dollars.



His personal life was marred by the tragic loss of his wife Eugenie in 1870 at the young age of 31, leaving him alone to father their two children, Alice and Alfred, in their home on Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn. And his professional life was dealt a stunning blow on February 21, 1876 when the entire factory was destroyed by fire.

Inside the wooden factory there were several giant vats of melted horse fat, needed to process the tin plating on the utensils that the factory created. One of the vats burned so hot that the horse fat boiled over into the flames.

LaLance & Grosjean had their own Volunteer Fire Department, and the means to fight fire, but the inside of the buildings were so heavily encrusted with fat and grease that the entire factory became a raging inferno within minutes. The fire was so great that there were reports of sparks carrying as far away as Van Wyck Boulevard and Liberty Avenue. As residents of the community watched the factory complex burn for hours, it appeared that the clocktower in the midst of all the buildings might be spared. The clock rang for the last time at 2 AM, and twenty minutes later the tower collapsed in a giant cloud of flames. It was estimated that Mr. Grosjean's losses stood at somewhere near half a million dollars. Legend has it that when he arrived at the building that morning, only to see a giant field of smoking ruins along Atlantic Avenue, he fainted.

Many of the residents of Woodhaven, all suddenly without employment, were ready to pack up and move. Had they done so, there's no telling what shape Woodhaven Village would have taken. It may have been a ghost town for many years. Grosjean stepped up and immediately put everyone on half-salary, and this convinced most residents to stay put. It was a smart move on his part, one he hoped would be financed by his insurance settlement (it was) and he put the town straight to work rebuilding a new factory and many new homes for his workers, buildings that stand along 95th Avenue in Ozone Park to this day.

A larger factory, mostly brick with fire doors, was built and it re-opened in August that same year. The centerpiece of the new factory was a stone clocktower that could be seen from miles away in any direction. It was a bold statement that sent a powerful message to everyone that this community would survive.

Mr. Grosjean's foresight, patience, and generosity saved Woodhaven and Ozone Park and he backed up his investment by making it his permanent home. He picked up his children and moved to Woodhaven, building a large mansion on grounds known as the Grosjean Estate, a stone’s throw from the new factory.

The business prospered for many years after that, and Florian Grosjean remained an important figure in business and politics. He helped bring transportation to Woodhaven, lighting, a library and he also helped build several churches.

Sadly, tragedy seemed to be always around the corner. Mr. Grosjean had groomed his son, Alfred, to take over the business but he died tragically young on a hunting expedition in Florida. And Florian Grosjean died in 1903 at 79 years old. Auguste Cordier, who was married to Alice Grosjean (the daughter), was next in line to guide the company but he took ill and passed away a mere three years after Mr. Grosjean. After that, there was no strong hand to guide the company. Though it remained in business for many decades, its better days were effectively behind them shortly after the turn of the century.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Today, the land where the factory complex stood is home to a Pathmark and a few other stores. The clocktower building itself still stands and is home to the MediSys Medical Group, and you can find a nice tribute to the factory’s glory days in its waiting room. The rest of the remaining factory building houses a Chinese buffet and a Piano store which also doubles as a popular holiday store at Halloween and Christmas.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Near the clocktower stands a sign erected by the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society acknowledging Florian Grosjean’s contribution to Woodhaven and Ozone Park. But apart from that, this man who helped build and then save our communities, is sadly little-known.

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

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">back to Old Woodhaven Village