In 1936 the growing communities of Bellerose and Queens Village were still dotted with small cottages that were once used only as summer homes. At the time, the Diocese of Brooklyn comprised Brooklyn and all of Long Island. Bishop Thomas Molloy had been serving as its third bishop for 14 years. It was in 1936 that the parish of St. Gregory the Great was established.
Shortly after the parish was established, Robert Moses laid out plans for the Cross Island Parkway. These plans included claiming Bellerose Blvd. This effectively divided the parish. It would not only split the parish, but it divided the parish plant itself.
The Catholic St. Gregory the Great school and church have an unusual arrangement — while both can be found on the block between 87th and 88th Avenues, they are separated from each other by the Cross Island Parkway.
Mural
Now it's 2016 and the 100-foot pedestrian tunnel that runs under the Cross Island Parkway had been a source of irritation for residents over many years, racking up complaints to the city that it was filled with trash and broken beer bottles, the smell of urine and profanity-laced graffiti, all of which was taken in by locals simply trying to make their way to work and children heading to school each day. As is so often true of community improvement, it took the right partnership of people and institutions to finally resolve the issue. Concerned residents organized to petition State Senator Tony Avella and the New York Department of Transportation, who partnered with the nearby St. Gregory school and a local artist and educator to make this transformation become a reality.
Many creative and talented 8th graders at St. Greg’s, along with their inspiring teacher, Joseph Paniccia, and other faculty members. The process began by having several workshops in the classroom in which the students were introduced to public art, facilitated discussions and activities in which they explored issues that they were concerned about in their community, and finally guided the process of bringing together everyone’s ideas into one cohesive mural design. As the two walls of the underpass are incredibly long, they came up with many images and themes related to the importance of educational opportunities, the value of creativity and the tension that many students said they felt between negative and positive influences on their lives.
After an intensive two weeks of painting, the mural was completed just in time for a giant celebration in the tunnel with the students and their family members and entire school as well as members of the Department of Transportation.and State Senator Tony Avella, who made speeches praising the students for their hard work.
After finding the cache make sure to take a stroll through the tunnel to see the entire mural.
Beware of searching on Sundays during Mass hours and on school days at the beginning and end of the school day because there will be a muggle frenzy. Parking is available on either side of the tunnel but cache is on the East side.
Cache is a nano. BYOP