St. Albans, Queens

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St. Albans is a residential community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, southeast of Jamaica and northeast of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton.[1] The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 12,[2] and its ZIP Code is 11412.

Contents

[edit] History

Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherlands Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next two centuries.

By the 1800s, the plantations of four families — the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums and Hendricksons — formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of Jamaica Township.

The area was earlier known as Francis Farm — possibly the farmland of the family of Francis Lewis of nearby Whitestone,[3] a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Francis Lewis Boulevard is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans.

In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears on the first timetables. In the 1890s, St. Albans began to emerge from a sleepy farm community. The first street lights illuminated Lazy Lane, which became Central Road (also called Foch Blvd in the 1920s) and is now Linden Boulevard; and Freeman's Path, which became Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store.

In April 1892, a N.Y. syndicate laid out the Francis Farm. By July 1, 1898, a railroad station opened,[4][5] which was razed in 1935, and replaced with grade elimination October 15, 1935. Today, the St. Albans station provides Long Island Rail Road service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan or Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, with transfers available at Jamaica station.

In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City, 100 residents officially named their community after St Albans in Hertfordshire, England, which itself was named after a Saint Alban, thought to be the first Christian martyred in England. The name had been in use for the area since at least 1894 for the name of the school district.[6] There had long been a road in the area called St. Albans, and the LIRR station was named St. Albans when it opened in 1898.

The St. Albans Golf Course, built in 1915, brought rich and famous golfers, including baseball star Babe Ruth. The Depression forced the golf course owners to sell to the government. The 3000-bed St. Albans Naval Hospital was constructed on the site in 1950, containing a network of 76 hospital wards.[7] The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974 and more recently evolved into the Veterans Administration St. Albans Primary and Extended Care Facility.

Many famous jazz musicians used to live in some of the large houses there (particularly in the western section known as Addisleigh Park) also some musicians were neighbors.

The housing here consists mostly of detached, one and two-family homes. Linden Boulevard is the major shopping street.

[edit] Notable residents

[edit] References

  1. ^ Map of Queens neighborhoods.
  2. ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007
  3. ^ While this remains a possibility, the 1880 census reveals a number of families named Francis who farmed in the Town of Jamaica and other records indicate at least some of these lived in an area then called Jamaica South and/or Springfield
  4. ^ 1898 map showing Locust Ave station in St. Albans on the Rockaway Branch of the LIRR (JPG). (Locust Avenue is now called Baisley Boulevard)
  5. ^ St.Albans Station photos.(This indicates trains stopped in 1897)
  6. ^ article on opening of first school in St. Albans, and 1894 split from Hollis. Brooklyn Eagle (1895-12-12). full issue of paper for that day (PDF).LARGE pdf shows more of article and sketch of school)
  7. ^ http://www.va.gov/cares/documents/StAlbans_2007_01_22_LAP4FactSheet.pdf
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Kirk. "Black Workers Bear Big Burden As Jobs in Government Dwindle", The New York Times, February 2, 1997. Accessed November 20, 2007. "Its roots and its reputation as New York's premier black middle class enclave go back further than that, to the 1940's, when Count Basie and Lena Horne and Jackie Robinson made their homes in St. Albans."
  9. ^ 1955 TIME article on Campanella.
  10. ^ Biography.

[edit] External links


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