St. Albans, Queens

St. Albans
—  Neighborhoods of New York City  —
Country United States
State New York
County Queens
Population (2000)
 • Total 37,452
Race[1]
 • White 1.7%
 • Black 93.5%
 • Asian 0.5%
 • Other 1.6%
 • Multi-racial 2.8%
Ethnicity[1]
 • Hispanic of any race 3.5%
ZIP code 11412
Area code(s) 718, 347, 917

St. Albans is a middle class community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of JFK Airport. It is southeast of Jamaica, west of Cambria Heights and north of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton.[2] The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 12,[3][4] and is served by the St. Albans Post Office, ZIP Code 11412.

Contents

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. In 1814, when the Village of Jamaica (the first village on Long Island) was incorporated, its boundaries extended eastward to Freeman's Path (now Farmers Boulevard), and south to Lazy Lane (called Central Avenue in 1900, then Foch Boulevard in the 1920s,[5][6][7] and now Linden Boulevard), thus including parts of present-day St. Albans.[8] In 1850, the Baisley Pond reservoir was set up.[8]

In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears on the first timetables. In 1892, an area called Francis Farm was surveyed and developed for housing. There were numerous Francis families farming in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica in the 1880s.[9] Francis Lewis Boulevard, which does not yet appear on maps from 1909,[10] nor in 1910,[11] is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans.

Soon, the first street lights illuminated the crossroads that is now Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store. By July 1, 1898, a railroad station opened where the tracks crossed Locust Avenue (now Baisley Boulevard).[12][13] The station was razed 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 Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, with transfers available at Jamaica station.

In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City (and with the Town of Jamaica and the Village of Jamaica thereby dissolved), the new post office for the 600 residents[14] was named St. Albans, 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.[15] There already was a road in the area called St. Albans Avenue,[10] 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 try to sell, but plans for private development fell through. The land was seized by the federal government in 1942,[16] and construction soon began on the St. Albans Naval Hospital, which opened in 1943.[17] After construction was completed in 1950,[18] the hospital had 3000 beds and contained a network of 76 wards. 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 St. Albans, particularly in some of the large houses in the small western enclave known as Addisleigh Park. The soul musician James Brown lived in St. Albans very near to the Veterans Administration facility. As a neighborhood adjacent to Hollis, St. Albans was one of the birthplaces of the "Hip Hop" and Rap music genres in the 1970s and 1980s.

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

The neighborhood and the surrounding area are considered the heart of Queens' African-American community.

Schools

Public
Private

Notable residents

Music

Sports

Other

References

  1. ^ a b "U.S. Census Bureau: Tabulation for Zip Code 11412". http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=04000US36&_geoContext=01000US. 
  2. ^ "Map of Queens neighborhoods". Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822055143/http://www.queensbp.org/content_web/map_boundaries.htm. 
  3. ^ "Street boundaries of Queens Community Boards". http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/downloads/pdf/cb_map_queens.pdf. Retrieved 2009-Dec-19. 
  4. ^ "PDF color map of NYC Community Boards". http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/neighbor/neighbor.pdf. Retrieved 2009-Dec-19. 
  5. ^ "1929... News". http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Newspaper/BSU/1929.News.July.html. "LOWERRE Secured Light Charles LOWERRE, treasurer of the St. Albans Lions Club, has succeeded in having the Police Department promise to put a traffic control light at the Foch and Farmers boulevard intersection at St. Albans."  The 1930 census has marginal notations for Foch Blvd from 189th St to 196th St - and no notations for Linden Blvd.
  6. ^ "Street Name Changes in Queens, NY (E to F)". http://stevemorse.org/census/changes/QueensChanges1_EtoF.htm. 
  7. ^ "Queens, NY Street Name Changes (1914-May 1951)". http://stevemorse.org/census/changes/SanbornFire.htm. 
  8. ^ a b Gottlieb, Jeff (January 2006). "History of Jamaica" (PDF). Central Queens Historical Association. http://www.cqha.net/docs/History_of_Jamaica_Outline.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-17. 
  9. ^ Census records: Other records indicate at least some of these lived in an area then called Jamaica South and/or Springfield: Maps from 1873 and from 1891 show a W. Francis owning land just west of the LIRR tracks and north of present-day Linden Boulevard. This 1909 map shows subdivision in the same area as the Francis farm shown on earlier maps
  10. ^ a b "1909 map". http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=777666&imageID=1516382&total=354&num=0&word=jamaica%20queens&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pos=12&e=w.  St Albans Avenue was name of 118th Ave east of 196th Street. (Francis Lewis Boulevard is not on the map.) Also, St. Albans Place was the name of 121st Road. (See Queens, NY, Street Name Changes 1914-May 1951.)
  11. ^ "1910 map". http://bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/Queens.1910.2.html. Retrieved 2009-Dec-17. 
  12. ^ "1898 map showing Locust Ave station in St. Albans on the Rockaway Branch of the LIRR" (JPG). http://www.lirrhistory.com/oct2001/1898map.jpg. 
  13. ^ "St.Albans Station photos". http://arrts-arrchives.com/STALBANS.html. (This indicates trains stopped in 1897)
  14. ^ Copquin, Claudia Gryvatz (2007). The neighborhoods of Queens. p. 193. http://books.google.com/books?id=2p8LnB_q9AYC&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=st+albans+post+office+queens&source=bl&ots=OiQymJ3IOs&sig=cLgfz-5_i3-TXh22568REbM8bWI&hl=en&ei=BQhES6HVFojUsgOPrLgP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBUQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=st%20albans%20post%20office%20queens&f=false. 
  15. ^ "St. Albans' New School House Dedicated Last Night". Brooklyn Eagle. 1895-12-12. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Key=BEG/1895/12/12/7/Ar00709.xml&CollName=BEG_APA3_1895-1899&DOCID=172925&PageLabelPrint=&Skin=%42%45%61%67%6c%65&AppName=%32&GZ=%54&sScopeID=%44%52&sPublication=%42%45%47&rEntityType=&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T. . Mentions 1894 split from Hollis. See also full article and sketch of school: "Brooklyn Eagle" (PDF). 1895-12-12. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/BEG/1895/12/12/002-BEG-1895-12-12-01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Page_0007. 
  16. ^ "Queens Site Seized For Naval Hospital: Work Begun on St. Albans Golf Course as U.S. Files Notice". NY Times. May 19, 1942. p. 40. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60612F93858157A93CBA8178ED85F468485F9. Retrieved March 17, 2009. 
  17. ^ "Hospital to Hold Fete; Naval Facility in St. Albans to Celebrate Its 17th Year". NY Times. February 14, 1960. p. 71. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A15F93A591A7A93C6A81789D85F448685F9&scp=5&sq=st%20albans%20golf%20course%20hospital&st=cse. Retrieved March 17, 2009. 
  18. ^ Hirshon, Nicholas (April 8, 2008). "Queens building boom knocking out link to players like Babe Ruth". NY Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/04/08/2008-04-08_queens_building_boom_knocking_out_link_t.html. Retrieved March 17, 2009. "To build the U.S. Naval Hospital at Linden Blvd. and 179th St. in 1950, crews destroyed the historic St. Albans Golf Club, where Yankees icon Babe Ruth played regularly from the late 1920s through the 1940s."  See also:
  19. ^ a b c Johnson, Kirk (February 2, 1997). "Black Workers Bear Big Burden As Jobs in Government Dwindle". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E6D8133DF931A35751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=5. Retrieved 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." 
  20. ^ a b c Cowan, Jane (2008). "Addisleigh Park: Enclave of Greats in African-American History, Wholly Intact 20th Century Garden City Suburb and Site of Important American Housing History" (PDF). Historic Districts Council. http://www.hdc.org/Addisleigh_Park_Report.pdf. Retrieved March 9, 2009. 
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i Polland, Jennifer. "They May Have Played Harlem But They Lived Here". Queens Tribune. http://www.queenstribune.com/guides/2007_QCulture/Music/index.htm. Retrieved March 9, 2009. 
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "The Jazzmen of Queens". http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/jazztour/queensjazz.html. Retrieved March 9, 2009. 
  23. ^ a b Shams Tarek. "The Rebirth of Cool: A Jazz Renaissance In Southeast Queens". Southeast Queens Press. http://www.queenspress.com/archives/features/2003/0620/feature.htm. 
  24. ^ Joseph Plambeck (December 5, 2008). "Living In St. Albans, Queens; Bluesy Home Market With a Jazzy Past". NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/realestate/07living.html. Retrieved March 8, 2009. 
  25. ^ "L.L. Cool J Biography". http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608003952/L-L-Cool-J.html. 
  26. ^ "Biography". http://inkspots.ca/BILL-BIO.html. 
  27. ^ "biography at African American Registry". http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1982/A_true_music_historian_Eileen_Southern. Retrieved March 9, 2009. 
  28. ^ "1955 TIME article on Campanella". Time. August 8, 1955. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,807431,00.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
  29. ^ "Bob Cousy Timeline" (PDF). College of the Holy Cross. http://www.holycross.edu/assets/pdfs/hcm_43_1_gatefold.pdf. Retrieved March 8, 2009. 
  30. ^ "Bomber Optimistic". http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19560420&id=p9MxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cuQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7048,1116075. 
  31. ^ Heinz, W.C. (November 1960). "The Floyd Patterson His Friends Know". SPORT magazine. http://www.thesportgallery.com/patterson-heinz.html. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 
  32. ^ Phillips, Harry (March 18, 1957). "Memo From The Publisher". Sports Illustrated. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1132513/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 
  33. ^ "African American Greats in Queens". http://www.cqha.net/docs/AfricanAmericansinQueens.pdf. 
  34. ^ "Encarta article on Fisher". http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761583175/fisher_anna_lee.html. 
  35. ^ "They Came from Queens". http://queens.about.com/b/2006/06/07/they-came-from-queens-al-roker-from-st-albans.htm. Retrieved March 9, 2009. 

External links