The word Maspeth comes from the Native American term “Mespeatches”, which roughly translates to bad water place. Through the lens of this bleak definition one might assume that Maspeth isn’t a thriving center for a community, much less a small business.

For many years, this assumption would be correct. In fact, until the late 1700s, Maspeth was nothing more than a shanty town as pictured above. However, at the end of the 1700s, Nathanial Hazard and Francis T. White took a risk and built the first Maspeth storefront near the town’s dock. Following this development was a large influx of Puritans and Quakers which precipitated conflicts and competition for limited resources with indigenous Native American tribes. These times of agitation raised significant socioeconomic points of cogency that are still very relevant today.

In the modern era, Maspeth remains an old but resilient survivor of changes caused by widespread globalization. The question becomes, how has Maspeth managed to resist the most rapid modernization in the history of the United States?

An answer to this question may be found in its geographical location.

At first glance at a map, the first thing one notices about Maspeth is that it is surrounded by three cemeteries. While this may seem like a negative thing for the aesthetic value of the neighborhood, this geographical characteristic has the strikingly wonderful effect of isolating the neighborhood of Maspeth.

This isolation has allowed the locale to become something of an enigma. In the face of the most rapid modernization seen in human history Maspeth remains a unique community that, as Glenn Rudzewick insightfully put it, “is stuck in the 1960s in a good way.”

This preservation becomes increasingly evident as you peruse the fronts of stores and find a limited amount of national brands and an abundance of patriotic ribbons.

The best indicator of the degree of preservation may be the comparison of the architecture of today’s buildings to that of those from thirty years ago.

The pictures above contrast Maspeth Federal Savings in 1983 and 2016. Although minute changes have certainly been made, the core atmosphere of the bank and the rest of the street is the same. Further examples of this preservation can be seen on Flushing Avenue between 63^rd and 64^th. This intersection features the most striking lack of change over the course of thirty years.

An analysis of Maspeth’s demographics may provide a potential cause for its enigmatic preservation. According to U.S. Census Bureau data (Social Explorer), the median age in Maspeth is 41. Individuals under 18 make up 19.1% of the town’s population compared to the national average of 24%. Therefore, Maspeth is older than most places in New York City and the rest of the country which likely helped it maintain an old-fashioned feel despite widespread modernism surrounding it.

At the center of this neighborhood lies Maspeth Federal Savings & Loan Association, which has served the population of Maspeth since 1947. Given the bank’s longstanding seniority and legacy, there is no organization better able to explain the unique intricacies that contribute to the traditions of Maspeth. Glenn Rudzewick, a long time resident of the neighborhood, helps guide this institution.

One remarkable aspect of the bank is that it has had a long standing tradition of family. Glenn’s father was the first to work at Maspeth Federal.

“My dad was out of high school and needed a job so he started working as a teller. He did every job and worked in the bank for 60 years from 18 to 78. He did the drive up. He swept the floors. He was a branch manager. He was the head of lending. He worked his way up until he became president and CEO for 14 years. Even now, he still works as a consultant. My dad stepped down as the CEO and now my brother runs the bank.”

For Maspeth Federal, this tradition of family naturally translates over to values of honesty and fairness- two qualities rarely seen in today’s banking market. The bank itself has no owners. As a result, its commitment is to maintaining the best services for its clients rather than maintaining high profits for shareholders.

“The bank is a mutual. It isn’t owned by any one person. Its actually owned by all depositors. When you deposit money in the bank you actually become part owner of the bank. Interest is considered a dividend. If the bank ever went public, you would actually get shares of the bank. ”

With banking being one of the most competitive fields in the world, I asked Glenn what his organization’s secret is to staying ahead. He shared that everything is about improving the experience for the client. Often, this means finding trends and adapting to them.

“Millennials prefer to use their phone. They come in, set up the account and that’s it. Transactions in branches have completely dropped off. We find there’s no reason to open another branch. Online transactions are everything now.”

For Maspeth Federal Savings, this also means adapting to the changing local population. The most recent trend shows that the population is becoming less European and more Asian. Glenn commented on this saying, “we are getting an influx of Chinese and Korean people . . . [Maspeth] has changed but it has also stayed the same. [People are] still opening businesses, they’re still sending kids to school, its still community minded. We are fortunate that it still has a small town feel. We adapt by hiring folks who speak Mandarin and Cantonese because we know that’s the way the market is turning. ”

U.S Census Bureau data reflects this statement, showing that since 2000 the percentage of Asian people in Maspeth has slowly risen at a rate of about 2%.

Unlike most businesses, a bank must constantly adapt to meet heavy regulations from the federal government. With the United States currently being in a remarkably historic point in economic policy, I asked Glenn how initiatives like quantitative easing have affected the bank’s outlook.

“Because of regulation . . .  like Dodd Frank, we need more employees to handle the burden of regulation.  We need less staff but we need staff that is better trained and better educated.”

Maspeth has a deep Native American background, as is reflected in the emblem of the bank as pictured above.

“Maspeth is named after the Mespeatches Indians who were here long before the Dutch settlers. We took that name to be sure that we are ingrained in local traditions as much as we could. My father could talk your ear off about how important it is to maintain our thought to the past and how we inherited this place and how we must be a caretaker of this place for the folks that came before us. It’s sad because of what transpired but it’s important that we remember that they came long before us and it’s important to keep that legacy going”.

Finding a bank with management having such moral convictions is rare. Perhaps these convictions are the result of being situated in a town where morality is the norm, even for banks. Glenn commented on what these convictions meant to him.

“It runs the gamut. If I have a couple with a few kids and they’re trying to buy their first house I mean how fulfilling is that? We’re gonna get the keys to their first house. I mean that’s exciting. It is hugely fulfilling. You’re going to give a kid their own bedroom that maybe they’ve never had before. That happens everyday here. That’s what we want to do. It is also fulfilling when you have a new business owner that launches and they get their own building and you can help him launch that business and help him make his livelihood. It’s also great when some developers come in and say we want to take this lot of land that has been destitute for years and build a beautiful building.”

Such passion has not gone unnoticed. Maspeth Federal Savings is involved in almost every major function of the town. Consequently, the bank is never short of individuals seeking to deposit funds.

“We have a lot of legacy accounts from generations that come back to us and we are very fortunate and thankful for that. We think that the bank has ingrained itself in the community such that grandparents will open accounts for their grandkids. Parents will tell their kids, you know where I always got a fair shake? Maspeth. And that resonates with people. We need to stay up to date with things that most kids today consider basics. We walk in knowing these things and work towards it. We continue to be a community oriented bank. We are always focused on families and the community. We only want to make changes that we need to make so that we don’t change so much that people no longer recognize us. Its a two prong approach. Change to stay up to date, but don’t change too much.”

This passion for work and the community is one small taste of what exists in Maspeth. In many communities this passion is an irregularity. However, for Maspeth Federal Savings & Loan Association this is the status quo. Commitment to the locals by the likes of Glenn Rudzewick and the rest of the team at Maspeth Federal will ensure that the traditions of the old are carried onto the young. Maspeth is the epitome of why knowing your past is so important. Without the past, there is no basis for future development. Maspeth will continue to stick true to its small town feel and immigrant roots, even as globalization pressures it to change.

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