To Weary Willies It May Sound Like Stew But It's Only the New Name for North Richmond Hill

[Reprinted from the July 23, 1910 issue of the Richmond Hill Record]

Residents of Richmond Hill walking through Lefferts avenue toward Maple Grove cemetery are amazed at the wonderful changes and improvements that have taken place.  New streets and fine residences thereon, the new railroad bridge and double tracks under same, the handsome new station of the Long Island Railroad with its surrounding improvements; but what do these three large gold letters "KEW" on the station building mean?  What do they stand for?

Is it a sort of cypher used by some department - for instance, the electrical department of the railroad - to designate the station?  Surely that insignificant word cannot be a new name for such a dignified surroundings, can it? Just imagine a passenger calling for an excursion ticket to Kew, L.I.  Oh, Prunes!  Oh, Prisms!  Oh, Maple Syrup!  If it is really intended to rename the station Kew, it will be a long time before people become accustomed to it, if they ever do.  As for the name of a railroad station so near New York is [sic] sounds ridiculous.  Why not call it Man, after Alrick H. Man?  No, in that event, people would ask, what man is that?  or [sic] what manner of a man is he?  Of course Kew sounds better that [sic] Pew or New, but the latter is just as appropriate.  Or we would call it Cue, but then one would know know whether it referred to a billiard cue, a Chinaman's que or a Wall Street cue.  Suppose then we add two more words [sic] to the original and call it Kewte?

If, however, the word Kew is the new name to designate North Richmond Hill, why we shall have to begin to accustom ourselves to it, but if any one should approach us at any time to be directed to Kew, the temptation to slap his or her wrists gently before giving the information will be irresistable.


Later - Information furnished by John K. Turton of Williamsburgh road is that Kew is named after the town of Kew, England, where one of the most famous and beautiful botanical gardens of the world is located.  Kew, England, adjoins Richmond Hill, England, after which our own Richmond Hill is named, hence the appropriateness of the name Kew.  It is stated that if the plans of its promoters are carried out, Kew will become one of the most select residential sections on Long Island.  But if we had continued to wrestle with that name Kew and the hot weather prevailed, we do not care to say what the result might have been.

FRANK M. MARLOW