Queens

Queens
—  Borough of New York City  —
Queens County

Flag
Location of Queens shown in orange. Adjacent airports are also in Queens.
Coordinates:
Country United States
State New York
County Queens
City New York City
Settled 1683
Government
 • Type Borough (New York City)
 • Borough President Helen Marshall (D)
 • District Attorney Richard Brown
Area
 • Total 178.28 sq mi (461.7 km2)
 • Land 109.24 sq mi (282.9 km2)
 • Water 69.04 sq mi (178.8 km2)
Population (2010)
 • Total 2,230,722
 • Density 21,116/sq mi (8,152.9/km2)
ZIP Code prefixes 110--, 111--, 113--, 114--, 116--
Area code(s) 718, 347, 917, 646
Website Official Website of the Queens Borough President

Queens, the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City, is the most diverse place in the world with approximately 138 different languages spoken and an astounding 46% of residents born outside of the United States who collectively represent over 100 different nations.[1] The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, since 1899 Queens has had the same boundaries as Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States. Queens, as well as neighboring borough Brooklyn, sits on the west-end of Long Island.

Were each New York City borough an independent city, Brooklyn and Queens would be the country's third and fourth largest cities, respectively, after Los Angeles and Chicago.[2] With a population of 2.3 million, it is the second most populous borough in New York City (behind Brooklyn) and the tenth most populous county in the United States. It is also the nation's fourth-most-densely populated county (after the counties covering Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx).[3] The 2.3 million figure is the highest historical population for the borough.[4]

The borough's architecturally varying neighborhoods offer many different types of dwellings from large single-family detached homes to high-density apartment buildings.[5][6] The neighborhoods in eastern Queens have a look and feel similar to the bordering suburbs of western Nassau County. In its northwestern section, Queens is home to many very urban neighborhoods and several central business districts. Long Island City, on the Queens' waterfront across from Manhattan, is the site of the Citicorp Building, the tallest skyscraper in New York City outside of Manhattan, and the tallest building on geographic Long Island.

Queens is home to two of the three major New York City area airports, JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport. These airports are among the busiest in the world, leading the airspace above Queens to be the most congested in the country. It is also the location of the New York Mets baseball team, the US Open tennis tournament, Flushing Meadows Park, Kaufman Astoria Studios, Silvercup Studios, and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of New York and was supposedly named for the Queen consort, Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705), the Portuguese princess who married King Charles II of England in 1662.[7][8]

New York's five boroughs overview
Jurisdiction Population Land area
Borough of County of 1 April 2010
Census
square
miles
square
km
Manhattan New York 1,585,873 23 59
The Bronx Bronx 1,385,108 42 109
Brooklyn Kings 2,504,700 71 183
Queens Queens 2,230,722 109 283
Staten Island Richmond 468,730 58 151
8,175,133 303 786
19,378,102 47,214 122,284
Source: United States Census Bureau[9][3][10]

Contents

History

European colonization brought Dutch and English settlers, as a part of the New Netherlands colony. First settlements occurred in 1635 followed by early colonizations at Maspeth in 1642,[11] and Vlissingen (now Flushing) in 1643.[12] Other early settlements included Newtown (now Elmhurst) and Jamaica. However, these towns were mostly inhabited by English settlers from New England via eastern Long Island (Suffolk County) subject to Dutch law. After the capture of the colony by the English and its renaming as New York in 1664, the area (and all of Long Island) became known as Yorkshire.

The Flushing Remonstrance signed by colonists in 1657 is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. The signers protested the Dutch colonial authorities’ persecution of Quakers in what is today the borough of Queens.

Originally, Queens County included the adjacent area now comprising Nassau County. It was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created on November 1, 1683.[13] It is believed that the county was named after Catherine of Braganza, since she was Queen of England at the time. The county was founded alongside Kings County (Brooklyn, which was named after her husband, King Charles II), and Richmond County (Staten Island, named after his illegitimate son, the 1st Duke of Richmond).[14][15][16] On October 7, 1691, all counties in the Colony of New York were redefined. Queens gained North Brother Island, South Brother Island, and Huletts Island (today known as Rikers Island).[17] On December 3, 1768, Queens gained other islands in Long Island Sound that were not already assigned to a county but that did not abut on Westchester County (today’s Bronx County).[18]

Queens played a minor role in the American Revolution, as compared to Brooklyn where the Battle of Long Island was largely fought. Queens, like the rest of Long Island, remained under British occupation after the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and was occupied throughout most of the rest of the war. Under the Quartering Act, British soldiers used, as barracks, the public inns and uninhabited buildings belonging to Queens residents. Even though many local people were against unannounced quartering, sentiment throughout the county remained (albeit fairly passively) in favor of the British crown. The quartering of soldiers in private homes, except in times of war, was banned by the Third Amendment to the United States Constitution. Nathan Hale was captured by the British on the shore of Flushing Bay in Queens before being executed by hanging in Manhattan for gathering intelligence.

From 1683 until 1784, Queens County consisted of five towns: Flushing, Hempstead, Jamaica, Newtown, and Oyster Bay. On April 6, 1784, a sixth town, the Town of North Hempstead, was formed through secession by the northern portions of the Town of Hempstead.[19][20]

The seat of the county government was located first in Jamaica,[21] but the courthouse was torn down by the British during the American Revolution to use the materials to build barracks.[22] After the war, various buildings in Jamaica temporarily served as courthouse and jail until a new building was erected about 1787 (and later completed) in an area near Mineola (now in Nassau County) known then as Clowesville.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] The 1850 census was the first in which the population of the three western towns exceeded that of the three eastern towns that are now part of Nassau County. Concerns were raised about the condition and distance of the old courthouse, and several sites were in contention for the construction of a new one. In 1870, Long Island City split from the Town of Newtown, incorporating itself as a city, consisting of what had been the Village of Astoria and some unincorporated areas within the Town of Newtown. Around 1874, the seat of county government was moved to Long Island City from Mineola.[35][36][37]

On March 1, 1860, the eastern border between Queens County (later Nassau County) and Suffolk County was redefined with no discernible change.[38] On June 8, 1881, North Brother Island was transferred to New York County.[39] On May 8, 1884, Rikers Island was transferred to New York County.[40] In 1885, Lloyd Neck, which was part of the Town of Oyster Bay and was earlier known as Queens Village, seceded from Queens and became part of the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County.[41][42] On April 16, 1964, South Brother Island was transferred to Bronx County.[43]

Borough of Queens

The New York City Borough of Queens was authorized on May 4, 1897, by a vote of the New York State Legislature after an 1894 referendum on consolidation.[44] The eastern 280 square miles (730 km2) of Queens that became Nassau County was partitioned on January 1, 1899.[45]

Queens Borough was established on January 1, 1898.[46][47][48] Long Island City, the towns of Newtown, Flushing, and Jamaica, and the Rockaway Peninsula portion of the Town of Hempstead were merged to form the new borough, dissolving all former municipal governments (Long Island City, the county government, all towns, and all villages) within the new borough.[49] The areas of Queens County that were not part of the consolidation plan,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56] consisting of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay, and the major remaining portion of the Town of Hempstead, remained part of Queens County until they seceded to form the new Nassau County on January 1, 1899, whereupon the boundaries of Queens County and the Borough of Queens became coterminous. With consolidation, Jamaica once again became the county seat, though county offices now extend to nearby Kew Gardens also.[57][58]

From 1905 to 1908 the Long Island Rail Road in Queens was electrified. Transportation to and from Manhattan, previously by ferry or via bridges in Brooklyn, opened up when the Queensboro Bridge was finished in 1909, and with railway tunnels under the East River in 1910. From 1915 onward, much of Queens was connected to the New York City subway system.[59][60] With the 1915 construction of the Steinway Tunnel carrying the IRT Flushing Line between Queens and Manhattan, and the emergent expansion of the use of the automobile, the population of Queens more than doubled in the 1920s, from 469,042 in 1920 to 1,079,129 in 1930.[61] Queens was the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1964 New York World's Fair. LaGuardia Airport, in northern Queens, opened in 1939. Idlewild Airport, in southern Queens and now called JFK Airport, opened in 1948.

Geography

Queens County is in the western part of Long Island and includes a few smaller islands, most of which are in Jamaica Bay and form part of Gateway National Recreation Area, which is in turn one of the National Parks of New York Harbor.[62]

The Rockaway Peninsula sits between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The western and northern edge of the borough is defined a watery continuum made up of Newtown Creek which flows into the tidal estuary known as the East River, which includes the associated Flushing Bay and Flushing River. The East River opens into Long Island Sound. The mid-section of Queens is crossed by the Long Island straddling terminal moraine created by the Wisconsin Glacier. This feature evolved into a land use pun due to the siting of many cemeteries.

The tallest tree in the New York metropolitan area, called the Queens Giant, is also the oldest living thing in the New York metro area. It is located in northeastern Queens, and is 450 years old and 132 feet (40 m) tall as of 2005.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an area of 178.3 square miles (462 km2); 109.2 square miles (283 km2) of this is land and 38.7% is water.

Landmarks of Queens

Queens is home to many historical landmarks. The Unisphere, shown often during the U.S. Open, sits adjacent to the Queens Museum of Art. P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center is a museum devoted to contemporary art. Housed in a former public high school, P.S.1 has managed to keep cutting the cutting edge even as it has matured as an institution.

Adjacent Counties

Neighborhoods

The United States Postal Service divides the borough into five "towns" based roughly on those in existence at the consolidation of the five boroughs into New York City: Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing, Far Rockaway, and Floral Park. These ZIP codes do not necessarily reflect neighborhood names and boundaries; "East Elmhurst", for example, was largely coined by the USPS and is not an official community. Most neighborhoods have no solid boundaries. The Forest Hills and Rego Park neighborhoods, for instance, overlap.

Residents of Queens often closely identify with their neighborhood rather than with the borough or city. Unlike in other boroughs, postal addresses are usually written with the neighborhood, state, and then zip code rather than the borough or city. The borough is a patchwork of dozens of unique neighborhoods, each with its own distinct identity:

Several of these neighborhoods are home to a diverse mix of many different ethnicities.

Government

Party affiliation of Queens registered voters
Party 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Democratic 62.94% 62.52 62.85 62.79 62.99 62.52 62.30 62.27 62.28 62.33
Republican 14.60% 14.66 14.97 15.04 15.28 15.69 16.47 16.74 16.93 17.20
Other 3.88% 3.93 3.94 3.86 3.37 3.30 3.10 3.20 3.02 2.78
No affiliation 18.58% 18.89 18.24 18.31 18.36 18.49 18.13 17.79 17.77 17.69

Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Queens has been governed by the New York City Charter that provides for a strong mayor-council system. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in Queens.

The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional because Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause following the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.[64]

Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Queens' Borough President is Helen Marshall, elected as a Democrat in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. Queens Borough Hall is the seat of government and is located in Kew Gardens.

The Democratic Party holds most public offices. Sixty-three percent of registered Queens voters are Democrats. Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. Controversial political issues in Queens include development, noise, and the cost of housing.

Presidential election results
Year Republican Democratic
2008 24.4% 145,898 74.9% 447,906
2004 27.4% 165,954 71.7% 433,835
2000 22.0% 122,052 75.0% 416,967
1996 21.1% 107,650 72.9% 372,925
1992 28.3% 157,561 62.9% 349,520
1988 39.7% 217,049 59.5% 325,147
1984 46.4% 285,477 53.3% 328,379
1980 44.8% 251,333 48.0% 269,147
1976 38.9% 244,396 60.5% 379,907
1972 56.3% 426,015 43.4% 328,316
1968 40.0% 306,620 53.6% 410,546
1964 33.6% 274,351 66.3% 541,418
1960 45.1% 367,688 54.7% 446,348
1956 59.9% 471,223 40.1% 315,898

There are currently four Democrats and one Republican representing Queens in the U.S. Congress:

Each of the city's five counties has its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Richard A. Brown, a Democrat, has been the District Attorney of Queens County since 1991.[65] Queens has 12 seats on the New York City Council, the second largest number among the five boroughs. It also has 14 administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for local residents.

Although it is heavily Democratic, Queens is considered a swing county in New York politics. Republican political candidates who do well in Queens usually win citywide or statewide elections. Republicans such as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg won majorities in Queens. Republican State Senator Serphin Maltese represented a district in central and southern Queens for twenty years until his defeat in 2008 by Democratic City Councilman Joseph Addabbo. In 2002, Queens voted against incumbent Republican Governor of New York George Pataki in favor of his Democratic opponent, Carl McCall by a slim margin.

Queens has not voted for a Republican candidate in a presidential election since 1972, when Queens voters chose Richard Nixon over George McGovern. Since the 1996 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidates have received over 70% of the popular vote in Queens.

Economy

The economy of Queens is based on tourism, industry, and trade. Because the New York metropolitan area has three major airports, the airspace overhead is among the busiest and most regulated in the world. John F. Kennedy International Airport, alongside Jamaica Bay, is the country's busiest airport in terms of international travelers. La Guardia Airport, on the East River, mostly serves eastern North America. Queens has witnessed the rebirth of film production — the return of an industry that had departed decades earlier — notably the Kaufman Studios in Astoria and the Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, where many notable television shows are made, including Sesame Street.

The Queens Museum of Art and the New York Hall of Science are further east, in Flushing Meadows Park — site of both the 1939 New York World's Fair, the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair and the annual US Open tennis tournament at the USTA National Tennis Center. Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets baseball team, is located north of the USTA National Tennis Center. The park is the third largest in New York City at 1,255 acres (5 km2), making it 412 acres (1.7 km2) larger than Central Park in Manhattan.

Several large companies have their headquarters in Queens, including watchmaker Bulova, based in East Elmhurst; internationally renowned piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons in Long Island City; Glacéau, the makers of Vitamin Water, headquartered in Whitestone; and JetBlue Airways, an airline based in John F. Kennedy Airport.

Long Island City is a major manufacturing and back office center. Flushing is a major commercial hub for Chinese American and Korean American businesses, while Jamaica is the major civic and transportation hub for the borough.

Demographics

According the 2010 Census, 39.7% (27.6 Non-Hispanic White) of the population was White, 19.1% Black or African American, 22.9% Asian, 12.9% from some other race, and 4.5% of two or more races. 27.5% of Queens's population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race).[66]

Among the Asian population, people of Chinese ethnicity make up the largest ethnic group at 9.0% of Queens's population, with about 200,205 people; the other East and Southeast Asian groups are: Koreans (2.9%), Filipinos (1.7%), Japanese (0.3%), Thais (0.2%), Vietnamese (0.2%), and Indonesians and Burmese both make up 0.1% of the population.

People of South Asian descent make up 7.8% of Queens's population: Indians (5.3%), Bangladeshi (1.5%), Pakistanis (0.7%), and Nepalese (0.2%).

Among the Hispanic population, Puerto Ricans make up the largest ethnic group at 4.6%, next to Mexicans, who make up 4.2% of the population, and Dominicans at 3.9%. Central Americans make up 2.4%, and South Americans constitute 9.6% of Queens's population, mainly of Ecuadorian (4.4%) and Colombian descent (3.2%).

According to the 2009 American Community Survey, White Americans made up 46.1% of Queens' population, of which 30.2% were non-Hispanic whites. Black Americans made up 18.8% of Queens' population, of which 17.6% were non-Hispanic blacks. Native Americans represented 0.5% of the population. Asian Americans represented 22.0% of the population. Multiracial Americans comprised 2.4% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans made up 26.9% of Queens' population.[67]

Approximately 46.6% of the population is foreign-born. Roughly 2.1% of the population was born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, or abroad to American parents. In addition, 51.2% of the population was born in the United States. Approximately 44.2% of the population over 5 years of age speak English at home; 23.8% speak Spanish at home. Also, 16.8% of the populace speak other Indo-European languages at home. Another 13.5% speak an Asian language at home.[68]

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,229,379 people, 782,664 households, and 537,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 20,409.0 inhabitants per square mile (7,879.6/km²). There were 817,250 housing units at an average density of 7,481.6 per square mile (2,888.5/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 44.08% White, 20.01% Black or African American, 0.50% Native American, 17.56% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 11.68% from other races, and 6.11% from two or more races. 24.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

According to a Census Bureau estimate, the population increased to 2,293,007 in 2008.

Some main European ancestries in Queens, 2000:[69]

In Queens, 48.5% of the population are foreign-born. Of that, 49.5% were born in Latin America, 33.5% in Asia, 14.8% in Europe, 1.8% in Africa, and 0.4% in North America. The Hispanic or Latino population increased by 61% to 597,773 between 1990 and 2006 and now accounts for 26.5% of the borough’s population.

Queens is home to 49.6% of NYC's Asian population. Among the five boroughs, Queens has the largest population of Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Bangladeshi and Pakistani Americans. Queens has the largest Asian American population by county outside of the Western United States: According to the 2006 American Community Survey, Queens ranks 5th among US counties with 477,772 (21.18%) Asian Americans, behind Los Angeles County, California, Honolulu County, Hawaii, Santa Clara County, California, and Orange County, California. The 2000 census showed that the borough is home to the largest concentration of Indian Americans in the nation, with a total population of 129,715 (5.79% of the borough population),[71] as well as Pakistani Americans, who number at 15,604.[72] Queens has the second largest Sikh population in the nation after California.

Population of Queens County[73][74][75]
Census
Year
Queens
(old)
Nassau
portion
Queens
(new)
%
increase
1698 3,565
1771 10,980
1790 16,014 9,855 6,159
1800 16,916 10,274 6,642 7.8%
1810 19,336 11,892 7,444 12.1%
1820 21,519 13,273 8,246 10.8%
1830 22,460 13,411 9,049 9.7%
1840 30,324 15,844 14,480 60.0%
1850 36,833 18,240 18,593 28.4%
1860 57,391 24,488 32,903 77.0%
1870 73,803 28,335 45,468 38.2%
1880 90,574 34,015 56,559 24.4%
1890 128,059 41,009 87,050 53.9%
1900 152,999 75.8%
1910 284,041 85.6%
1920 469,042 65.1%
1930 1,079,129 130.1%
1940 1,297,634 20.2%
1950 1,550,849 19.5%
1960 1,809,578 16.7%
1970 1,986,473 9.8%
1980 1,891,325 – 4.8%
1990 1,951,598 3.2%
2000 2,229,379 14.2%
2010 2,230,722 0.1%

According to author Mordecai Plaut, a 2002 UJA/Federation of New York study found that Queens was home to 186,000 Jewish Americans at the time.[76]

There were 782,664 households out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,439, and the median income for a family was $42,608. Males had a median income of $30,576 versus $26,628 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,222. About 16.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.8% of those under age 18 and 13.0% of those age 65 or over. In Queens, the black population earns more than whites on average.[77] Many of these African Americans live in quiet, middle class suburban neighborhoods near the Nassau County border, such as Laurelton and Cambria Heights which have large black populations whose family income is higher than average. Those areas are known for their well kept homes, suburban feel, and low crime rate. The migration of European Americans from parts of Queens has been long ongoing with departures from Ozone Park, Woodhaven, Bellerose, Floral Park, and Flushing, etc. (most of the outgoing population has been replaced with Asian Americans). Neighborhoods such as Whitestone, College Point, North Flushing, Auburndale, Bayside, Middle Village, Little Neck, and Douglaston have not had a substantial exodus of white residents, but have seen an increase of Asian population (mostly Korean). Queens has recently experienced a real estate boom making most of its neighborhoods very desirable for people who want to reside near Manhattan in a less urban setting. According to a 2001 Claritas study, Queens is the most diverse county in the United States among counties of 100,000+ population.[78] There are 138 languages spoken in the borough.[79] The top languages include:[80]

Culture

Queens was an important center of jazz in the 1940s. Such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald found refuge from segregation in the mixed communities of the borough, while a younger generation — Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and others — were developing bebop in the clubs of Harlem. In Jamaica Queens The Afrikan Poetry Theatre has also been a staple of Legendary Jazz Musicians & Poets dating back to 1976.Queens is also an important incubator of rap and hip-hop for artists including Run-D.M.C., Kwamé, Kid & Play, A Tribe Called Quest and LL Cool J to Nas, Salt-N-Pepa and Mobb Deep. Folk duo Simon and Garfunkel were raised in Queens, as were most members of punk rock band The Ramones.

Western Queens is becoming an artistic hub, including SculptureCenter, the Flux Factory, the Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, Fisher Landau Center, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs , and the Museum of the Moving Image. The P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. In addition to its renowned exhibitions, the institution also organizes the prestigious International and National Projects series, the Warm Up summer music series, and the Young Architects Program with The Museum of Modern Art. The current poet laureate of Queens is Ishle Yi Park.

Queens is home to many other cultural institutions, including among others:

Lewis Howard Latimer House Louis Armstrong House Museum Dizzy Gillespie House Dorie Miller Cooperative Apartments Malcom X's Home Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center

(Queens was the setting for groundbreaking 1970s sitcom, All in the Family. It is also the setting for King of Queens, and is featured in the Spider-Man comics and films as the home of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. On Ugly Betty it is also home to Betty and her family. TV shows shot in Queens include Sesame Street (at Kaufman Astoria Studios) and 30 Rock (at Silvercup Studios, although the show's fictional setting is across the East River in Manhattan). The two studios have also served as the site for many movies, music videos and commercials.

Sports

Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball is located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Shea Stadium, the former home of the Mets and the New York Jets of the National Football League, as well as the temporary home of the New York Yankees and the New York Giants Football Team stood where Citi Field's parking lot is now located. The US Open tennis tournament is played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located just south of Citi Field. The US Open was formerly played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. Queens is also the home of Aqueduct Racetrack, located in Ozone Park. Just over the Queens line (in Nassau County) is Belmont Park Race Track, the home of the Belmont Stakes. Extreme Championship Wrestling has been held at an Elks lodge in Elmhurst.

Food

Queens is home to restaurants representing the cuisine of many cultures, particularly Chinese, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Filipino, Indian, Haitian, Korean, Mexican restaurants, along Roosevelt Avenue; Dominican food in Corona and African-American cuisine in Jamaica. Other cultures, such as Greek, Arab, Latin American, and Southeast Asian, have prominent standings in Astoria. There are several Bukharian restaurants serving Central Asian food Forest Hills and Rego Park.

Transportation

Queens has crucial importance in international and interstate air traffic. Two of the New York metropolitan area's three major airports are located there; LaGuardia Airport is in northern Queens, while John F. Kennedy International Airport is to the south on the shores of Jamaica Bay. AirTrain JFK provides a rail link between JFK and local rail lines.

A commuter train system, the Long Island Rail Road, operates 20 stations in Queens with service to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island. Jamaica station is a hub station where all the lines in the system but one (the Port Washington Branch) converge. It is the busiest commuter rail hub in the United States. Sunnyside Yard is used as a staging area by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit for intercity and commuter trains from Penn Station in Manhattan. 61st Street – Woodside acts as one of the many LIRR connections to the New York City Subway.

Twelve New York City Subway routes traverse Queens, serving 81 stations on seven main lines. The A, G, J and Z routes connect Queens to Brooklyn without going through Manhattan first. The F, N, Q and R trains connect Queens and Brooklyn via Manhattan, while the E, 7 and <7> trains connect Queens to Manhattan only. M trains travel through Queens twice in the same trip.

About 100 local bus routes move people around within Queens, and another 15 express routes shuttle commuters between Queens and Manhattan, under the MTA New York City Bus and MTA Bus brands.

Queens is traversed by three trunk east-west highways. The Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495) runs from the Queens Midtown Tunnel on the west through the borough to Nassau County on the east. The Grand Central Parkway, whose western terminus is the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, extends east to the Queens/Nassau border, where its name changes to the Northern State Parkway. The Belt Parkway begins at the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn, and extends east into Queens, past Aqueduct Racetrack and JFK Airport. On its eastern end at the Queens/Nassau border, it splits into the Southern State Parkway which continues east, and the Cross Island Parkway which turns north.

There are also several major north-south highways in Queens, including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278), the Van Wyck Expressway (Interstate 678), the Clearview Expressway (Interstate 295), and the Cross Island Parkway.

Streets

The streets of Queens are laid out in a semi-grid system, with a numerical system of street names (similar to Manhattan and the Bronx). Nearly all roadways oriented north-south are "Streets", while east-west roadways are "Avenues", beginning with the number 1 in the west for Streets and in the north for Avenues. In some parts of the borough, several consecutive streets may share numbers (for instance, 72nd Street followed by 72nd Place, or 52nd Avenue followed by 52nd Road, 52nd Drive, and 52nd Court), often causing confusion for non-residents. In addition, incongruous alignments of street grids, unusual street paths due to geography, or other circumstances often lead to the skipping of numbers (for instance, on Ditmars Boulevard, 70th Street is followed by Hazen Street which is followed by 49th Street).

The structure of a Queens address was designed to provide convenience in locating the address itself; the first half of a number in a Queens address refers to the nearest cross street, the second half refers to the house or lot number from where the street begins from that cross street, followed by the name of the street itself. For example, to find an address in Queens, 14-01 120th Street, one could ascertain from the address structure itself that the listed address is at the intersection of 14th Avenue and 120th Street, and that the address must be closest to 14th Avenue rather than 15th Avenue, as it is the first lot on the block. This structure doesn't stop when a street is named either, assuming that there is an existing numbered cross-street. For example, Queens College is situated at 65–30 Kissena Boulevard, and is so named because the cross-street closest to the entrance is 65th Avenue.

This confusion stems from the fact that many of the village street grids of Queens had only worded names, some were numbered according to local numbering schemes, and some had a mix of words and numbers. In the early 1920s a "Philadelphia Plan" was instituted to overlay one numbered system upon the whole borough. Subway stations were only partly renamed, thus now share dual names after the original street names. On the IRT Flushing Line in Sunnyside, there are 33rd – Rawson St., 40th – Lowery St., 46th – Bliss St., 52nd St. – Lincoln Ave. and so forth. Numbered roads tend to be residential, although numbered commercial streets are not rare.

A fair number of streets that were country roads in the 18th and 19th centuries (especially major thoroughfares such as Northern Boulevard, Queens Boulevard, Hillside Avenue, and Jamaica Avenue) carry names rather than numbers, typically though not uniformly called "Boulevards" or "Parkways".

The Rockaway Peninsula does not follow the same system as the rest of the borough and has its own numbering system. Streets are numbered in ascending order heading west from near the Nassau County border, and are prefixed with the word "Beach." Streets at the easternmost end, however, are nearly all named. Another deviation from the norm is Broad Channel; it maintains the north-south numbering progression but uses only the suffix "Road," as well as the prefixes "West" and "East," depending on location relative to Cross Bay Boulevard, the neighborhood's major through street.

The other exception is the neighborhood of Ridgewood, which for the most part shares a grid and house numbering system with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. The grid runs east-west from the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch right-of-way to Flushing Avenue; and north-south from Forest Avenue in Ridgewood to Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn before adjusting to meet up with the Bedford-Stuyvesant grid at Broadway. All streets on the grid have names.

According to the 2000 Census, 37.7% of all Queens households did not own a car. The citywide rate is 55%. http://www.tstc.org/reports/cpsheets/Queens_factsheet.pdf

Waterways

Queens is connected to the Bronx by the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge and the Hell Gate Bridge. Queens is connected to Manhattan by the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Queens Midtown Tunnel; and to Roosevelt Island by the Roosevelt Island Bridge.

While most of the Queens/Brooklyn border is on land, the Kosciuszko Bridge crosses the Newtown Creek connecting Maspeth to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Pulaski Bridge connects McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint to 11th Street, Jackson Avenue, and Hunters Point Avenue in Long Island City. The Greenpoint Avenue Bridge connects Greenpoint and Long Island City avenues of the same name, which, east of Queens Boulevard (NY-25), becomes Roosevelt Avenue. A lesser bridge connect Grand Avenue in Queens to Grand Street in Brooklyn.

The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge traverses Jamaica Bay to connect the Rockaway Peninsula to the rest of Queens. Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge links the western part of the Peninsula with Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn's longest thoroughfare. Both crossings were built and continue to be operated by what is now known as MTA Bridges and Tunnels. The IND Rockaway Line parallels the Cross Bay, has a mid-bay station at Broad Channel which is just a short walk from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, now part of Gateway National Recreation Area and a major stop on the Atlantic Flyway.

One year-round scheduled ferry service connects Queens and Manhattan. New York Water Taxi operates service across the East River from Hunters Point in Long Island City to Manhattan at 34th Street and south to Pier 11 at Wall Street. In 2007, limited weekday service was begun between Breezy Point, the westernmost point in the Rockaways, to Pier 11 via the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Summertime weekend service provides service from Lower Manhattan and southwest Brooklyn to the peninsula's Gateway beaches.

Education

Elementary and secondary education

Elementary and secondary school education in Queens is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the United States. Most private schools are affiliated to or identify themselves with the Roman Catholic or Jewish religious communities.

Postsecondary institutions

Public Library

The Queens Borough Public Library is the public library system for the borough and one of three library systems serving New York City. Dating back to the foundation of the first Queens library in Flushing in 1858, the Queens Borough Public Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States. Separate from the New York Public Library, it is composed of 63 branches throughout the borough. In fiscal year 2001, the Library achieved a circulation of 16.8 million. First in circulation in New York State since 1985, the Library has maintained the highest circulation of any city library in the country since 1985 and the highest circulation of any library in the nation since 1987. The Library maintains collections in many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole, Polish, and six Indic languages, as well as smaller collections in 19 other languages.

Notable residents or former residents

See also


References

  1. ^ http://queens.about.com/od/queensalmanac/f/population.htm
  2. ^ Houston would be 5th, and Manhattan 6th.
  3. ^ a b County and City Data Book:2007 Table B-1, Area and Population, Retrieved 2008-07-12. New York County (Manhattan) was the nation's densest-populated county, followed by Kings County (Brooklyn), Bronx County, Queens County and San Francisco, California.
  4. ^ Campbell Gibson, "Population of the 100 largest cities and other urban places in the United States: 1790 to 1990", Population Division Working Paper no. 27, United States Census Bureau, Washington, D.C., 1998
  5. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-douglaston-queens-timeless-city-area-with-country-feel.html?pagewanted=all
  6. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/realestate/posting-queens-more-rentals-planned-in-long-island-city.html?_r=1&ref=queens
  7. ^ Queens Almanac
  8. ^ NY.com
  9. ^ U.S. Census Bureau press release, "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers New York's 2010 Census Population Totals, ...", March 24, 2011, and this accompanying Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, Table 1. The Most Populous Counties and Incorporated Places in 2010 in New York: 2000 and 2010, which cites "U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Table PL1, and ... Table P1.", retrieved on April 2, 2011
  10. ^ American Fact Finder (U.S. Census Bureau): New York by County - Table GCT-PH1. Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000 Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data, retrieved on February 6, 2009
  11. ^ "A Virtual Tour of New Netherland". http://www.nnp.org/vtour/regions/Long_Island/mespath.html. 
  12. ^ Ellis, Edward Robb (1966). The Epic of New York City. Old Town Books. p. 54. 
  13. ^ New York: Commissioners of Statutory Revision:Colonial Laws of New York from the year 1664 to the Revolution, including the Charters of the Duke of York, the Commissions and instructions to Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of the Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York, and the acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775, inclusive. Report to the Assembly #107, 1894. five Volumes. Albany, New York; 1894–1896; Chapter 4; Section 1; Page 122.
  14. ^ Room, Adrian. 2006. Placenames of the world: origins and meanings of the names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites. P.308
  15. ^ Antos, Jason D. 2009. Queens. P.12
  16. ^ Mushabac, Jane, Angela Wigan and Museum of the City of New York. 1999. A short and remarkable history of New York City. P.19
  17. ^ New York: Commissioners of Statutory Revision:Colonial Laws of New York from the year 1664 to the Revolution, including the Charters of the Duke of York, the Commissions and instructions to Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of the Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York, and the acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775, inclusive. Report to the Assembly #107, 1894. five Volumes. Albany, New York; 1894–1896; Chapter 17; Section 1; Page 268.
  18. ^ New York: Commissioners of Statutory Revision:Colonial Laws of New York from the year 1664 to the Revolution, including the Charters of the Duke of York, the Commissions and instructions to Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of the Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York, and the acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775, inclusive. Report to the Assembly #107, 1894. five volumes. Albany, New York; 1894–1896; Chapter 1376; Section 4; page 1063.
  19. ^ Walter Greenspan. "Geographic History of Queens County". http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyqueen2/History.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
  20. ^ J. H. French, LL.D. (1860). "Towns in Queens County, NY; From: Gazetteer of the State of New York". http://history.rays-place.com/ny/queens-towns.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  21. ^ "Early Five Borough's History". http://www.hopefarm.com/5boros.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-30. "When Queens County was created the courts were transferred from Hempstead to Jamaica Village and a County Court was erected. When the building became too small for its purposes and the stone meeting house had been erected, the courts were held for some years in that edifice. Later a new courthouse was erected and used until the seat of justice was removed to North Hempstead." 
  22. ^ "History of Queens County". http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Queens/history/civil1.html. 
  23. ^ "Historical Essay: A Thumbnail View". Official History Page of the Queens Borough President's Office. http://www.queensbp.org/content_web/tourism/tourism_history.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-29. "From the final withdrawal of the British in November, 1783, until the 1830s, Queens continued as an essentially Long Island area of farms and villages. The location of the county government in Mineola (in present-day Nassau County) underscores the island orientation of that era. Population grew hardly at all, increasing only from 5,791 in 1800 to 7,806 in 1830, suggesting that many younger sons moved away, seeking fortunes where land was not yet so fully taken up for farming."  Jon A. Peterson and Vincent Seyfried, ed. (1983). A Research Guide to the History of the Borough of Queens and Its Neighborhood.  Peterson, Jon A., ed. (1987). A Research Guide to the History of the Borough of Queens, New York City. New York: Queens College, City University of New York. 
  24. ^ "New York – Queens County – History". http://www.timevoyagers.com/bookstore/NewYork/counties/queens.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-29.  "History of New York State 1523–1927". The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/elecbook/sullivan/pg1.htm.  Sullivan, Dr. James (1927). History of New York State 1523–1927. New York, Chicago: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. 
  25. ^ "New York State History". Genealogy Inc. 1999. http://www.mynewyorkgenealogy.com/ny_history.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-28. "Under the Reorganization Act of March 7, 1788, New York was divided into 120 towns (not townships), many of which were already in existence." 
  26. ^ "State of New York; Local Government Handbook; 5th Edition" (PDF). January 2000. pp. Ch 4, p 13; Ch 5 p 2. http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/pdfs/Handbook.pdf. "The 1777 New York State Constitution, Article XXXVI, confirmed land grants and municipal charters granted by the English Crown prior to October 14, 1775. Chapter 64 of the Laws of 1788 organized the state into towns and cities...The basic composition of the counties was set in 1788 when the State Legislature divided all of the counties then existing into towns. Towns, of course, were of earlier origin, but in that year they acquired a new legal status as components of the counties." 
  27. ^ "History Mysteries: Shelter Island Ferry/Mineola Building". http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history_mysteries_hs221a,0,670882.story. Retrieved 2008-04-01. "The building shown below "is one of the most important buildings in the history of Mineola," wrote Jack Hehman, president of the Mineola Historical Society. Built in 1787 and known as the "old brig," it was the first Queens County courthouse and later a home for the mentally ill. The building was at Jericho Turnpike and Herricks Road until 1910, when it burned to the ground." 
  28. ^ "The Mineola Asylum; Witnesses who testified that it is and has been a model institution.". New York Times. August 29, 1882. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D01E7D61430E433A2575AC2A96E9C94639FD7CF. Retrieved 2008-04-01. "The investigation of the charges made against the Superintendent and keepers of the Mineola Asylum for the Insane, which was begun last Tuesday, was continued yesterday by the standing Committee on Insane Asylums of the Queens County Board of Supervisors-- Messrs. Whitney, Brinckerhoff, and Powell. The committee were shown through the asylum, which is the old building of the Queens County Court-house over 100 years old" 
  29. ^ David Roberts. "Nassau County Post Offices 1794–1879". http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Civil/Nassau.P.O.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01.  John L. Kay & Chester M. Smith, Jr. (1982). New York Postal History: The Post Offices & First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980. American Philatelic Society. "There was only one post office established in present Nassau County when the Long Island post road to Sag Harbor was established September 25, 1794. It appears that the mail from New York went to Jamaica. This was the only post office in the present day Boroughs of Queens or Brooklyn before 1803. From Jamaica the mail went east along the Jericho Turnpike/Middle Country Road route and ended at Sag Harbor. The only post office on this route between Jamaica and Suffolk County was QUEENS established the same date as the others on this route 9/25/1794. This post office was officially Queens, but I have seen the area called "Queens Court House" and was located approximately in the Mineola-Westbury area. The courthouse was used until the 1870's when the county court was moved to Long Island City. Later it served as the Queens County Insane Asylum and still later as an early courthouse for the new Nassau County, during construction of the present "old" Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola. It was demolished shortly after 1900 ... after about 120 years of service of one type or the other." 
  30. ^ "The Queens County Court-House Question A New Building to be Erected at Mineola.". The New York Times. February 25, 1872. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05E1D8113EEE34BC4D51DFB4668389669FDE. Retrieved 2008-04-01. "For forty years the Supervisors of Queens County have been quarreling over a site for a Court-house. The incommodious building used" 
  31. ^ Rhoda Amon (Staff Writer). "Mineola: First Farmers, Then Lawyers". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist002d,0,6131005.story?coll=ny_community_guide_lihistory_promo. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  32. ^ "1873 map of North Hempstead". http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/No.Hemp.html. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "bottom right by spur road off Jericho Tpk – location is now known as Garden City Park. Clowesville was the name of the nearest station on the LIRR, approximately at the location of the present Merillon Avenue station. The courthouse (photo at Newsday.com ) was north of the station." 
  33. ^ The former county courthouse was located northeast of the intersection of Jericho Turnpike (NY Route 25) and the aptly named County Courthouse Road in an unincorporated area of the Town of North Hempstead, variously referred to in the present day as Garden City Park or New Hyde Park. The site is now a shopping center anchored by a supermarket and is located in the New Hyde Park 11040 Zip Code. A stone marker located on the north side of Jericho Turnpike (NY Route 25), between Marcus Avenue and Herricks Road, identifies the site.
  34. ^ Weidman, Bette S.; Martin, Linda B. (1981). Nassau County, Long Island, in early photographs, 1869–1940. Courier Dover. p. 55. http://books.google.com/books?id=1i9AnIpmtbAC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=nassau+county+seat+mineola&source=bl&ots=MmVILVa6bZ&sig=mUMbcR7diiuHAscXQ9LRjmJZnYc&hl=en&ei=kAL4TOyRF47WtQOP8OieAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&q=nassau%20county%20seat%20mineola&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 
  35. ^ "A Queens Timeline". The Queens Tribune. http://www.queenstribune.com/guides/2005_PatchworkOfCultures/pages/QueensTimeline.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-23. "1874 – Queens County Courthouse and seat of county government moved from Mineola (in present-day Nassau County) to Long Island City." 
  36. ^ Rhoda Amon (Staff Writer). "Mineola: First Farmers, Then Lawyers". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist002d,0,6131005.story?coll=ny_community_guide_lihistory_promo. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "That was the year when the "Old Brig" courthouse was vacated after 90 years of housing lawbreakers. The county court moved from Mineola to Long Island City." 
  37. ^ Geoffrey Mohan (Staff Writer) (2007). "Nassau's Difficult Birth; Eastern factions of Queens win the fight to separate after six decades of wrangling". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs615a,0,7026626.story?page=2. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  38. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1860, 83rd Session, Chapter 530, pages 1074—1076.
  39. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1881, 104th Session, Chapter 478; Section 1, Page 649.
  40. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1884, 107th Session, Chapter 262, page 328.
  41. ^ Beers' Atlas of Long Island (1873)
  42. ^ "Lloyd Harbor – A Brief History". Incorporated Village of Lloyd Harbor, Suffolk County, NY. http://www.lloydharbor.org/village/brief_history.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-09. 
  43. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1964, 187th Session, Chapter 578, page 1606.
  44. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1897, 120th Session, Chapter 378; Section 2; Page 2.
  45. ^ New York. Laws of New York; 1899, 121st Session, Chapter 588; Section 1; Page 1336.
  46. ^ "Inventing Gotham". http://mapsites.net/gotham01/ConsolidationDBQ.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  47. ^ "Official Announcement of the Results of the Election" (PDF). New York Times. December 15, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0CE2D81730E033A25756C1A9649D94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. "The area included a radius of twenty miles (32 km), with the city hall in New York as a center to circumscribe it" 
  48. ^ Holice, Deb & Pam. "The History of New York State". Archived from the original on 2007-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070822203458/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/his/bk2/ch4/pt8.html. Retrieved 2007-12-28.  Dr. James Sullivan (editor). The History of New York State. Book II, Chapter IV Part VIII. 
  49. ^ "Before the Five-Borough City: Queens". http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/5.Bor.Q.Rich.html.  This map shows the boundaries of the former towns and the former city within the present Borough of Queens.
  50. ^ "Of Interest to Politicians.". The New York Times. September 13, 1894 (before vote). pp. 9. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C05EFDD1131E033A25750C1A96F9C94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. "The question of the Greater New-York, which is also to be submitted to the people at this coming election, involves the proposition to unite in one city the following cities, counties, and towns: New-York City, Long Island City, in Queens County; the County of Kings, (Brooklyn;) the County of Richmond, (S.I.;) the towns of Flushing, Newtown, Jamaica, in Queens County; the town of Westchester, in Westchester County, and all that portion of the towns of East Chester and Pelham which lies south of a straight line drawn from a point where the northerly line of the City of New-York meets the centre line of the Bronx River, to the middle of the channel between Hunter's and Glen Islands, in Long Island Sound, and that part of the town of Hempstead, in Queens County, which is westerly of a straight line drawn from the south-easterly point of the town of Flushing in a straight line to the Atlantic Ocean." 
  51. ^ "Vote for Greater New York". The New York Times. October 16, 1894 (before election). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D06E0D91131E033A25755C1A9669D94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  52. ^ "New-York's place in danger; Consolidation defeated, she must yield to Chicago.". The New York Times. November 4, 1894 (before election). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0DE3D71131E033A25757C0A9679D94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  53. ^ "Greater New-York in doubt; The city vote is for it and Brooklyn is uncertain.". New York Times. November 8, 1894 (before results of Queens vote known). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403E0D61531E033A2575BC0A9679D94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. "The increase in area and population that New-York will acquire if consolidation becomes a fact will become evident by a glance at the following table... Flushing... *Part of the town of Hempstead... Jamaica... Long Island City ... Newtown... The townships in Queens County that are to be included in the Greater New-York have not been heard from yet..." 
  54. ^ "Report favors consolidation.; An Argument Against the Claims of the Resubmissionists.". The New York Times. February 22, 1896. pp. Page 1, 5318 words. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B02E3DD123EE333A25751C2A9649C94679ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  55. ^ "The East City Line fixed.". The New York Times. February 12, 1899. p. 15. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C04E2DC1730E132A25751C1A9649C94689ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  56. ^ Geoffrey Mohan (Staff Writer) (2007). "Nassau's Difficult Birth; Eastern factions of Queens win the fight to separate after six decades of wrangling". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs615a,0,7026626.story?page=4. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and the rest of Hempstead were excluded from the vote." 
  57. ^ "The Coming Greater City; Benefits to Long Island and Villages under its control". New York Times: p. 16. June 7, 1896. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E0DE3DC1038E533A65754C0A9609C94679ED7CF. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
  58. ^ The borough's administrative and court buildings are presently located in Kew Gardens and downtown Jamaica respectively, two neighborhoods that were villages of the former Town of Jamaica.
  59. ^ Vincent F. Seyfried and Jon A. Peterson, History Department, Queens College/CUNY. "Historical Essay: A Thumbnail View". Official History Page of the Queens Borough President's Office. http://www.queensbp.org/content_web/tourism/tourism_history.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "Even more crucial to future development was the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909. This span ended the isolation of the borough's road system at precisely the time when mass use of the automobile was getting underway in the United States." 
  60. ^ Vincent F. Seyfried (2004). "A Walk Through Queens with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis". Educational Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.thirteen.org/queens/history3.html. Retrieved 2007-12-29. "The most momentous event in the history of Queens occurred in 1909 when the long planned Queensboro Bridge was finally opened. This ended the century old isolation of the county and dependence on ferries." 
  61. ^ "US Census figures for Queens 1900–1990". http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html. 
  62. ^ NPS.gov
  63. ^ O'Grady, Jim. "Neighborhood Report: Richmond Hill; Making Guyana More Accessible, Two Sisters Start an Airline", The New York Times, January 13, 2002. Accessed 2007-09-30. "Many of them live in Richmond Hill. Just as Chinese-Americans energized downtown Flushing, the Guyanese have revived a once-moribund shopping strip on Liberty Avenue between the Van Wyck Expressway and Lefferts Boulevard, now known as Little Guyana."
  64. ^ Cornell Law School Supreme Court Collection: Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris, accessed 2006-06-12.
  65. ^ Queens DA site
  66. ^ "2010 Census". http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP5&prodType=table. 
  67. ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=05000US36081&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP5&-context=adp&-ds_name=&-tree_id=309&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format=
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  72. ^ AAFNY.org
  73. ^ Greene and Harrington (1932). American Population Before the Federal Census of 1790. New York. , as cited in: Rosenwaike, Ira (1972). Population History of New York City. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. p. 12. ISBN 0815621558.  (for 1698–1771)
  74. ^ "Place:Queens, New York, United States". http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Queens,_New_York,_United_States#Population_History. Retrieved 2007-12-24.  Forstall, Richard L. (1996). Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790 to 1990. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census. ISBN 0-934213-48-8. 
  75. ^ "Historical Census Browser 1790–1960". University of Virginia Library. http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/newlong.php?subject=1. Retrieved 2007-12-24. 
  76. ^ Mordecai, Plaut (March 15, 2007). "Metropolitan New York Jewish Population Stable At 1.4 Million – Conservative and Reform Jews Decreasing Rapidly". At the Center of the Universe: Essays on Western Intellectual Space (website). Archived from the original on 2009-10-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20091025040634/http://www.chareidi.org/atcotu/ujafed1.html. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
  77. ^ Roberts, Sam (October 1, 2006). "Black Incomes Surpass Whites in Queens". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/nyregion/01census.html. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
  78. ^ "Claritas Study Ranks Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Counties Nationwide; Analysis Shows California Leads Nation In Diversity Among Counties Of 100,000-Plus Population". Business Wire. July 23, 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2001_July_23/ai_76689304. 
  79. ^ Queens: An Economic Review
  80. ^ How Many Languages Are Spoken in Queens, NY?
  81. ^ "Top 3 Large Community Colleges in the U.S." Community College Survey of Student Engagement, 2002
  82. ^ Nadia Ali Nadia Ali's Biography Accessed 2010-07-07. "Nadia Ali was born in the Mediterranean and grew up in Queens, New York City."
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