Frederick J. Lancaster was a land developer who in the 1890s, with a group of investors, founded the community of
Edgemere, on the
Rockaway Peninsula
The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...
in
Queens County. Originally the investors planned to call the community "New Venice" and develop it with canals and
gondolier
The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...
s. Although this venture failed, in 1894 Lancaster formed the Lancaster Sea Beach Improvement Company to build a more conventional seaside colony named "Edgemere". Lancaster built a large, luxurious hotel, the Edgemere, which opened in 1895 and became the major summer attraction in the community.
[Seyfried, Vincent F. & Asadorian, William (2000)]
''Old Rockaway, New York, in Early Photographs''
p. 26. Courier Dover Publications.
Lancaster also later developed the community of
Belle Harbor, further west along the peninsula.
Edgemere, along with nearly all of the peninsula, was incorporated into
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1898.
References
Land owners and developers in Rockaway, Queens
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
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