State Assemblyman Mike Miller, left, state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr., and area veterans congregated Friday at the clock tower in Ozone Park to fly an American flag for the first time in nearly 10 years. Photos Courtesy Ed Wendell
Veterans, civic leaders and legislators rejoiced Friday, when an American flag was raised at the historic LaLance-Grosjean Clock Tower in Ozone Park for the first time in nearly a decade.
State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) hosted the flag raising ceremony, which was attended by veterans from VFW Post 2565 in Howard Beach, American Legion Post 1404 in Broad Channel, and American Legion Post 118 in Woodhaven.
Additionally, Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Woodhaven), Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association President Ed Wendell, Greater Woodhaven Business Development Corporation Executive Director Maria Thomson, Patrick Ruddin and Dr. Andrew Rubin of the Medisys Health Network, and Christina Maratino, a resident, took part in the ceremony.
Glendale’s Delta Flag & Sign Co. supplied the drapeau, which was flown in time for Veterans Day.
The LaLance-Grosjean Clock Tower, now known as the Medisys Clock Tower in the Pathmark Shopping Center on Atlantic Avenue in Ozone Park, was built during the 1860s. It was the site of the former Lalance and Grosjean enamel cookware factory, which had once employed some 2,000 people who lived in its surrounding factory village homes. The plant also manufactured pressed tin and made mess kits for the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War and World War I.
Most of the factory was razed in the 1980s and the portion that remains is used as a medical clinic.
The Lalance-Grosjean Clocktower in Ozone Park was once the site of a factory that employed around 2,000 people.
Veterans from Howard Beach, Broad Channel and Woodhaven said they were thrilled see the red, white and blue flying atop the clock tower once again.
