5. Former Governor of New York Dewitt Clinton had a home in Maspeth
DeWitt Clinton was a former governor of New York, senator from New York, and mayor of New York City who was largely responsible for constructing the Erie Canal. He was the nephew of two-term vice president and New York governor George Clinton. DeWitt Clinton used to live in a mansion at what is today near Maspeth Avenue and 56th Terrace, which is denoted by a historic marker today. He owned the home from around 1790 until his death in 1828. The site was originally a small hill that housed the Joseph Sackett Estate, which was then transferred to a wealthy merchant, then a veteran of the French and Indian War, then DeWitt Clinton.
Clinton planned the Erie Canal while in the Maspeth home, and he also proposed a canal from Flushing Bay in Queens to Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn. Clinton and his wife Maria inherited the mansion from Walter Franklin, and it stood until 1933, when it burned down after years of disrepair. The historic marker where the home stood was put up in 2019, though supposedly one existed in the 1930s, but disappeared when roads were widened in Maspeth.