Conrad Poppenhusen (April 1, 1818 – December 12, 1883) was a

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

businessman. He was also a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, a founder of

College Point, Queens College Point is a working-middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Whitestone Expressway and Flushing; to the east by 138th Street and Malba/ Whitestone; to the north by the East River; and ...

, and the founder of the first free

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

in the United States (on July 1, 1870). ''See also:''

Early life

Poppenhusen was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1818.

Career

Poppenhusen worked for a

whalebone Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and re ...

purchaser before immigrating to the United States in 1843 to start a whalebone processing plant in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1852 Poppenhusen received a license from

Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...

to produce

hard rubber Ebonite is a brand name for a material generically known as hard rubber, and is obtained via vulcanizing natural rubber for prolonged periods. Ebonite may contain from 25% to 80% sulfur and linseed oil. Its name comes from its intended use as ...

products and subsequently moved the company to a small rural village in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. College Point was founded in 1870 when Poppenhusen incorporated the neighborhoods of Flammersburg and Strattonport together. For his workers in the area, Poppenhusen built housing, the First Reformed Church, and numerous streets. In 1868 Poppenhusen founded the

Flushing and North Side Railroad The Flushing and North Side Railroad was a former railroad on Long Island built by Conrad Poppenhusen as a replacement for the former New York and Flushing Railroad. The railroad was established in 1868, was merged with the Central Railroad of Lo ...

which connected College Point and

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the ...

with ferries to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. (Today the tracks connect to Manhattan directly via tunnels, but no longer to College Point.) In that same year he also founded the

Poppenhusen Institute Poppenhusen Institute is a historic building at 114-04 14th Road in College Point, Queens that housed the first free kindergarten in America. In addition, this institute provided the first free evening classes for adults (in America).McGurn, Barr ...

, containing a

vocational high school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

and in 1870, added the first free kindergarten.

Post-career

After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his three sons lost much of his fortune, and he declared bankruptcy for over $4 million (at least about $84 million — or perhaps as much as $9 billion — in 2015 dollars).

Family and personal life

Poppenhusen married Bertha Marie Henrietta Karker in May 1841. They had four children: sons Adolph Conrad (1842–1882), Heinrich Conrad (1846–1847), Herman Christian (1847–1891) and Alfred (1850-1887), and daughter Marie (1849–1874). Conrad Poppenhusen died in College Point in 1883 and was memorialized by the community with a statue in Poppenhusen Park in 1884. His remains were stored temporarily in nearby Flushing Cemetery and were then shipped months later to his native Germany where they were buried in

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery (german: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemete ...

in Hamburg. The College Point branch of the Queens Library, built in 1904, bears his name. Additionally, streets in Hamburg and in College Point are named for him.

References

External links

Poppenhusen InstitutePoppenhusen Statue
* {{DEFAULTSORT:PoppenHusen, Conrad 1818 births 1883 deaths German emigrants to the United States American railroad executives Long Island Rail Road people Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople