WITH a crowd of about 500 men and women on hand notwithstanding the cold, Eliot Avenue, recently widened and paved from Metropolitan Avenue to Queens Boulevard, was officially opened to traffic on Saturday afternoon, February 11, with appropriate ceremonies at Eliot and Metropolitan Avenues.

The ceremonies, conducted under the auspices of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan Civic Association, were presided over by Andrew J. Reiff, president of the association. The program opened with the pledge of allegiance to the Flag, led by Roy Miller, student of Grover Cleveland High School, followed by the singing of the National Anthem. The Fife and Drum Corps of the High School offered several numbers, following which the speaking began.

Herman Ringe, Sr., pioneer of the community, member of the Queens Borough Planning Commission, director of the Chamber of Commerce, Borough of Queens, the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce, and member of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan Civic Association, spoke of the improvement as a “dream of twenty-five years come true.” He cited the fact that he and other property owners in the vicinity had been assessed for the thoroughfare fifteen or more years ago.

Alluding to the thoroughfare as a direct connecting link to the World's Fair, Mr. Ringe declared that the opening of Eliot Avenue represented one of the outstanding improvements in the history of the community.

Other speakers were Raymond Pollard, representing Commissioner of Borough Works, John J. Holleran; Chief Engineer Andrew J. Johnson; Charles P. Tietjen, president of the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce; John J. Riordan, president of the Jackson Heights Civic Association; City Councilman William N. Conrad; F. W. Boelsen, president of the Rego Park Civic Association, and Joseph Schmidt, Editor of the “Ridgewood Times.”