Conrad Poppenhusen

Who was Conrad Poppenhusen?

Conrad Poppenhusen was a German American philanthropist, entrepreneur, founder of College Point, Queens, and founder of the first free kindergarten in the United States, on July 1, 1870.

Poppenhusen was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1818 and worked for a whalebone purchaser before immigrating to the United States in 1843 to start a whalebone processing plant in Brooklyn. In 1852 Poppenhusen received a license from Charles Goodyear to produce hard rubber products, and then moved the company to a small rural village in Queens.

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, which connected College Point and Flushing with ferries to Manhattan.. In that same year he also founded the Poppenhusen Institute, containing a vocational high school and in 1870, added the free kindergarten.

After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his three sons lost much of his fortune, and he declared bankruptcy.