Eugene Armbruster, circa 1935.
By Michael Perlman
Eugene L. Armbruster is among the prolific photographers and historians, who captured an evolving Brooklyn and Long Island, which consisted of Queens. Today, the New York Public Library grants access to The Eugene L. Armbruster Collection of Long Island Photographic Views, consisting of an estimated 5,800 digitized images spanning 1890 to 1934, although he produced thousands more that await digitization and rediscovery, if they exist. Armbruster’s memory is resurrected through his writings and photography, featuring architecture, landscapes, and our ancestors.
Armbruster was born on August 31, 1865 in Baden-Baden, Germany. He immigrated to America in 1882 and would reside in a home that dually functioned as his office at 263 Eldert Street. His occupation consisted of cigar box production for the H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company, which he held for four decades, but his true passion entailed discovering as much as he could about his new country. He was married to Julia Meury Armbruster, and they had a son named Eugene Jr, and a daughter, also by the name of Julia. He passed away in Bushwick in 1943.
Armbruster captured neighborhoods that were first being developed, such as Forest Hills (named 1906) and Rego Park (named 1923). He photographed some of the last known views of historic farmhouses, often prior to their demolition. Some featured outhouses and barns alongside fields with mature trees, unpaved narrow roads, and hills. Such residential properties dated back to the mid-19th century and remained into the 1920s or 1930s. He also witnessed the widening of Queens Boulevard, which featured homes with porches, among others at a higher elevation.
He never ceased to follow his heart. After rewarding himself with a camera, his quest began to visit the small towns on Long Island. He was not appeased by only seeing destinations of interest, so he would question the villagers, and acquired a greater feel. He documented historical centers and visited libraries, uncovering as many facts as he can, also regarding Brooklyn.
Armbruster was also a talented historic preservationist, author, and artist, whose one of many books is titled “Long Island: Its Early Days and Development,” published in 1914. Besides sharing detailed historical facts, he featured his two-score pen and ink illustrations, which vividly reproduced the spirit of long ago, in addition to including maps and portraits. Among his subjects were Sohquompuo, the Indians, Dutch and English claims, the political division of the Island, Long Island’s population at different periods, Long Island a century ago, the borough of Brooklyn, and towns, such as Bushwick and Williamsburgh (historic spelling), Newtown and Long Island City, Flushing and Jamaica, and Huntington and Babylon.
Woodhaven Blvd, SW corner of Metropolitan Ave, Erected by Henry Suydam Vanderveer in 1850 farther east on Metropolitan Ave & moved in 1880, Photo by Eugene Armbruster, Courtesy of NYPL
An ad in his book read, “‘The Eastern District of Brooklyn’ with forty-six pen and ink sketches by Eugene L. Armbruster. Size 5×7. Cloth binding. P.P. 205, with general index. Price, $2.00 postpaid. Order from Eugene L. Armbruster, 263 Eldert Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.” This referenced his first book, published in 1912. Furthermore, his pamphlets would also benefit banks among other businesses.
In late 1935, he told the Long Island Sunday Press, “I really don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to do, and the funny thing about it is I don’t get any pay for the work I do.” He was doubtful that he would live long enough to fulfill all of his ambitions, including publishing several more history books and further investigating his theory on languages. He cultivated his passions with only five hours of sleep daily.
The publication explained his dedication to the study of languages. It read, “He has made a research of 130 languages trying to find how and when words first came into use. He believes that all languages are akin to each other with the letters merely changed around. The reason for the change, he believes, is that people did not know how to spell the words correctly, and could only convey the meaning by expressions instead of by the written word.”
In September 1942, columnist Nino Lo Bello of the Ridgewood Times published a two-part series. Part one was titled “Eugene L. Armbruster Eats, Sleeps and Writes History.” Cumulatively, the series showed how he earned a spot among the world’s leading thinkers. When the Brooklyn Eagle featured a question box, Armbruster was recognized as the chief Long Island-Brooklyn consultant for its twenty-year duration. At 77, Armbruster was able to remember every little fact that he recorded in his many treatises. Lo Bello wrote, “His room is cluttered with notes, his bookcases are loaded with all sorts of history books, and his desk – yes, his desk… well! Armbruster has been using the same desk for over 50 years. He’s written all his monographs on it in unaffected longhand. Never uses a typewriter.” In an interview, Armbruster said, “Principally, my books are in the simplest language possible. I want anybody to understand them. I never use a polysyllabic word unless necessary. In the way, history becomes interesting.”
“He would self-publish all of his books and sell enough to supplement the cost of publication. He feels that his books, while not marketable to the masses, are important sources for future historians and consequently never attempts to sell more than a thousand,” read Lo Bello’s column.
In his home, he filed over 14,000 photos highlighting homestead scenes of Brooklyn and Long Island. The NYPL invested a huge sum to acquire a set of the films. Such works were a prized possession of national libraries and universities. At the time, his latest book, “Brooklyn’s Eastern District” (1942) was the result of 60 years of writing and consisted of 400 pages and ink sketches of homes. Readers were educated about land grants and early farms, the development of Williamsburgh, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Bedford, Wallabout and New Lots as distinct towns and villages. Early residents and their businesses and social activities were also explored.
66th Rd path in-foreground east from 102nd St with Jarvis Jackson farmhouse east of 108th St in-background Oct 1928 Photo by Eugene Armbruster Courtesy of NYPL.
In an interview, Armbruster said, “So you see what a fellow can do when he gets crazy over a subject. While writing one book, if I come across an item about a particular section – let’s say Coney Island – I immediately record that item on a sheet and file it in the Coney Island cabinet. Matter of fact, I once sold the New York Public Library a pile of original notes and manuscripts standing two feet high on data. I accommodated about the same from Battery Park to the Harlem River. My whole house, both downstairs and upstairs, is packed with published and unpublished manuscripts. I have closets full of notes, drawings and pictures.”
Between 1923 and 1935, Armbruster walked 21,000 miles throughout Long Island and Brooklyn, compiling data, and would also not leave his home without a pedometer. Upon returning home, he would enter his daily mileage into his diary. In 1923, he published a 54-page pamphlet, “Long Island Landmarks.” It showcased the town of Newtown, where Long Island City was carved, and was titled “Part 1” of nine. He would work his way east, as long as he would have public support. He was acclaimed for his thorough detail and patience. A total of 251 old “landmarks,” including houses and places of worship, were photographed and researched. At that time, there was no NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and there were fears that they would vanish due to heartless developers, although history repeats itself all too often today.
Eugene Armbruster home & office, 263 Eldert Street circa 1940. Tax photo.
Backtracking, in 1909, Armbruster wrote a letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Times, and advocated for the preservation of the endangered Old Bushwick Reformed Church on Conselyea Street and Humboldt Street, which had Dutch roots. It stood in the path of the proposed Bushwick Avenue extension. He referenced it as “the only connecting link in the Eastern District between the dim past and the present.” He then wrote, “Other cities carefully guard old landmarks and try to preserve them for the benefit of later generations,” and asked, “Why not spare this venerable structure and extend Bushwick Avenue through Woodpoint Road in a trifling curve around the church?”
The September 20, 1923 edition of The Brooklyn Standard Union stated, “Among the particularly interesting landmarks which Mr. Armbruster describes are the DeWitt Clinton house on the elevation west of the junction of Maspeth, Betts, Flushing and Maurice Avenues, headquarters of the British Gen. Warren during the Revolution, in which Gov. Clinton married Maria F. Corsa; old St. James started in 1735; the old Presbyterian church, east of Broadway, Elmhurst; the corner house south side of Queens Boulevard, near Grand Street, headquarters of the tories during the Revolution; the Capt. Dow Van Duyn farmhouse, west side of the Woodhaven Avenue, north of Metropolitan Avenue, confiscated by the State of New York after the Revolution, and the Jacob Blackwell stone house built in 1664 on the East River shore at Webster Avenue, Ravenswood, the whole a veritable mine of colonial and pre-Revolutionary information and tradition, translated into the present. Mr. Armbruster adds a complete and accurate bibliography of the authorities for his landmarks and issues his limited editions of 300 numbered copies in format, stock, and typography of rare good taste, a delight to the eye and a prize to the collector.”
If a reader of this column is a descendant of Eugene L. Armbruster or owns his photographic and written works, illustrations, negatives, or portraits of him, please email mperlman@queensledger.com to further preserve his legacy.
