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The Office of the Borough President was created in 1898 to compensate the formerly independent communities in the four counties of New York, Kings, Queens and Richmond for the loss of governmental power to the consolidated Greater City of New York. They operated as “local mayors,” with substantial control over construction and maintenance of streets, sidewalks, highways, sewers and public buildings. The Queens series includes photographs of Rockaway and other beaches as well as an unusual collection of lantern slides depicting a Civil War Veterans’ reunion, parades, Spanish-American War troops, and sample markings to identify World War II-era aircraft.