LHaus
Jan 6 2010

Join the effort, sign a petition to protect the Queens Plaza millstones

LIC millstone, Queens Plaza, LIC

You probably remember our links to several articles about the saga of the 17th century LIC millstones which are currently in danger of damage due to the machinery and construction of the Queens Plaza reconstruction effort.

Quick update: supporters like the Greater Astoria Historical Society and others who would like to protect these artifacts have started a new website to pool info and get community input regarding where the millstones should be moved. That is, if they can get them out of the construction zone first. For that reason, there’s also an online petition you can sign to rally support to protect the millstones and other ways you can get involved.

From the LIC millstones blog:

“This blog was established to express our concerns regarding a set of 17th century artifacts that are in immediate danger. There is a pair of colonial-era millstones in Queens Plaza that have been embedded in a traffic median there for decades. These stones were originally used in a grist mill constructed around 1657 by Burger Jorissen and are an important part of Queens County’s history.

One of these stones is already damaged from the last time it was moved. Worse, the stones are currently surrounded by heavy machinery and construction materials from the nearby Queens Plaza reconstruction project. One careless mistake could destroy these irreplaceable artifacts.”

“If our information is correct, these stones were churning out flour fully 75 years before George Washington was born. They belong in the hands of a museum or an historical society or some other qualified group, at least until their new home in an as-yet-to-be-constructed park can be completed. They don’t belong in a sidewalk!”

Still confused about what a millstone does? Click here.

Community

7 Comments

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Any idea where these millstones can be preserved in Hunter’s Point? In the lobby of a new building perhaps? Developers step forward please. My understanding is that they require great care to be preserved. It would be a shame if they were placed into a corner of the borough. The are a great item to marry with the old and the new. Any ideas guys?

#1 Anonymous / 2 years, 1 month ago

Put them in the new library or some other cultural institution.

#2 Anonymous / 2 years, 1 month ago

#1 What makes you think the developers will preserve the mill stones? Oh, right, a nice addition to some glass lobby.

They belong in a museum, not in a shabbily built office building/condo, silly.

#3 Anonymous / 2 years ago

Please place these in a museum! My ancester John Parcell bought the Jorissen farm in 1671. If I could, I would move them myself!

#4 Jody / 2 years ago

Problem is……there is no museum willing to take them, silly. That’s the whole flak is that government isn’t stepping to the plate, silly.

#5 Anonymous / 2 years ago

The library is a good suggestion….but we will be lucky to ever see the library in our lifetime.

#6 Anonymous / 2 years ago

Actually it doesn’t matter if it’s in a building (like Citicorp), a local institution (like the library) or a local museum (like Astoria Historical).

The important thing is you step up to the plate and sign the petition to KEEP THEM IN THE COMMUNITY!

EDC tells us everything is in fine – then hides them from view after they are pictured in the middle of a construction site. EDC tells us these 350 year old artifacts are too fragile to move a few blocks to a local museum (and getting them out of the pollution and winter weather) – but its ok to install them in the middle of the plaza (just inches from a bike path!) on small pedestals after securing with pins driven through their hearts.

Local officials think nothing of spending $75 million in our hard earned taxes, while they can’t muster a minute and a dime to call those of us in the community that wants to preserve them.

With these facts you can understand why there is a lot of talk out there that they should be moved out of LIC.

There is even more talk that the new people in LIC don’t really connect with the neighborhood and care about stuff like this.

Now is everyone’s chance to rally around the flag, both old-timers and newbies, and show to the world that our community (and elected officials) that this IS something important to us all.

It takes only a second to sign the petition.

Go ahead, and do it today!

#7 Concerned in Dutch Kills / 2 years ago

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