neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
in the northeastern section of the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of
Flushing
Flushing may refer to:
Places
* Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom
* Flushing, Queens, New York City
** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens
** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens
** Flushing ...
and is bordered to the north by the
Horace Harding Expressway
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
; to the east by
Cunningham Park
Cunningham Park is a park in the New York City borough of Queens. The park lies between the Grand Central Parkway to the south and the Long Island Expressway, and is bifurcated by the Clearview Expressway. The park is operated by the New York Ci ...
and the
Clearview Expressway Clearview or clear view may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Clearview'' (album), the seventh studio album by the Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall
Companies
* Clearview AI, a facial recognition company
* Clearview Cinemas, a chain of movie theat ...
; and to the south by the
Grand Central Parkway
The Grand Central Parkway (GCP) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) long parkway that stretches from the Triborough Bridge in New York City to Nassau County on Long Island. At the Queens–Nassau border, it becomes the Northern State Parkway, ...
.
Fresh Meadows is located in Queens Community District 8 and its ZIP Codes are 11365 and 11366. It is patrolled by the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
's 107th Precinct. Politically, Fresh Meadows is represented by the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
's 23rd and 24th Districts.
History
Early history
The name "Fresh Meadows" dates back to before the American Revolution. Fresh Meadows was part of the Town of Flushing, which had large areas of salt meadows, such as the original "Flushing Meadows". The wetlands in the hilly ground south and east of the village of Flushing, however, were fed by freshwater springs, and thus were "fresh meadows". Fresh Meadows Road (which today follows the same route under a number of names, including Fresh Meadows Lane and part of Utopia Parkway) traversed the area, and served as the route from the landing place at Whitestone to the village of Jamaica. In '' The Evening Post'' in 1805, farm owner James Smith advertised the sale of his 60-acre farm "on the road to Fresh Meadows and Flushing".
During the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, British troops marched through the area.
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
and his troops stayed at farms along was the way. General Arnold drilled his troops in the area, on the current location of M.S. 216. In order to help move military supplies from British ships using the Whitestone Landing, and the troops encamped further east, a new road was built to connect the Fresh Meadows Road with Hempstead. This road began at what is now the intersection of Utopia Parkway and 73rd Avenue, near a local landmark along the Fresh Meadows Road: the remnants of a large tree that had burned after being struck by lightning, and that was known as the "Black Stump". The road took its name from this feature, and was called "Black Stump Road."
During the 19th century, a farming community known as Black Stump developed in the area. The Black Stump School was built before 1871. The school was expanded in 1900, and a second story was added in 1905. The remains of the Black Stump School were demolished in 1941 in order to build present-day Utopia Playground, located at 73rd Avenue and Utopia Parkway.
For several years, the woods of Black Stump were rumored to be haunted because people heard strange sounds coming from the woods. In 1908, the mysterious sounds were discovered to be coming from a recluse who lived in a small hut and sang Irish folk songs at night.
Parsons Nurseries and Kissena Park
In 1868, Samuel Parsons opened Parsons Nurseries, one of the earliest commercial gardens, near what is now Fresh Meadows Lane. With help of a team of collectors, Parsons Nurseries found exotic trees and shrubs to import into the United States, and its advertisements filled gardening magazines with depictions of these exotic plants. During the late 1880s, Parsons Nurseries was importing 10,000
Japanese maple
''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: ''irohamomiji'', , or ''momiji'', (栴), is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. ...
s into the United States each year with help from Swiss immigrant John R. Trumpy. Parsons Nurseries also was the first to introduce the California privet in the United States from Japan. Samuel Parsons' children, Samuel Bowne Parsons and Robert Bowne Parsons, later took over running the nursery. In 1886, Samuel Bowne Parsons helped renew the plantations of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
while serving as Superintendent of Parks.
Samuel Bowne Parsons gave the lake on his property the name "kissena", which he thought was the Chippewa word for "it is cold". Kissena Lake was initially used as a
mill pond
A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill.
Description
Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway.
In many places, the com ...
. Parsons later used the lake for
ice cutting
Ice cutting is a winter task of collecting surface ice from lakes and rivers for storage in ice houses and use or sale as a cooling method. Rare today, it was common (see ice trade) before the era of widespread mechanical refrigeration and air ...
, where surface ice from lakes and rivers is collected and stored in ice houses and use or sale as a cooling method before mechanical refrigeration was available. The lake was also a habitat for
wood duck
The wood duck or Carolina duck (''Aix sponsa'') is a species of perching duck found in North America. The drake wood duck is one of the most colorful North American waterfowl.
Description
The wood duck is a medium-sized perching duck. A typi ...
through the 1900s. Just east of the lake was a water pumping station.
By 1898, Samuel Bowne Parsons' son, George H. Parsons, had taken over as superintendent of Parsons Nurseries. Later that year, George was found in the lavatory by his father; he had died of heart failure. Parsons Nurseries closed in 1901, and Samuel Bowne Parsons died in 1906. Two real estate developers, John W. Paris and Edward McDougal, bought most of the Parsons land, then built large houses as part of the "Kissena Park" residential development. New York City bought the rest of the Parsons land and a few other land parcels to create
Kissena Park
Kissena Park is a park located in the neighborhood of Flushing in Queens, New York City. It is located along the subterranean Kissena Creek, which flows into the Flushing River. It is bordered on the west by Kissena Boulevard; on the north by ...
. A tract of Parsons' exotic specimens was preserved in the modern-day park and is now the Historic Grove.
Fresh Meadow Country Club
In 1921,
Park Slope
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...
resident Benjamin C. Ribman and others from the Unity Club of Brooklyn were looking to build a golf course. The group chose the intersection of Fresh Meadow Lane and Nassau Boulevard as the site, because the land was suitable for golf and roads provided accessibility to other parts of the city. The 106 acres of land were purchased in late 1921, and another 26 acres were purchased the next year.A. W. Tillinghast designed the golf course.
Originally, the name was to be the Woodland. After the ''
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
:''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently''
The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...
'' pointed out that there was already a golf course name Woodland in Boston, the founders decided to name the course Fresh Meadow Country Club. The name came from an area northeast of
Flushing
Flushing may refer to:
Places
* Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom
* Flushing, Queens, New York City
** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens
** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens
** Flushing ...
even though the golf course was actually located southeast of Flushing, just south of what is presently the
Long Island Expressway
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
near 183rd Street.
Fresh Meadow Country Club Fresh Meadow Country Club is a country club with a golf course in the eastern United States, located on Long Island in its home since 1946. The club opened in the New York City borough of Queens in 1923, with a golf course designed by noted course ...
Mitchell May
Mitchell May (July 10, 1870 – March 24, 1961) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. From 1899 to 1901, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Life
He attended the public schools and Brooklyn Polytechnic Inst ...
, Edward Lazansky, and Harry Lewis, and Borough PresidentMaurice E. Connolly.
The clubhouse opened on September 8, 1923. Nine days later, the clubhouse burned to the ground from an explosion of a boiler. Firefighters from Flushing, Bayside, and Black Stump arrived but they were unable to save the clubhouse, in part because the nearest fire hydrant was a half-mile away, but they were able to stop the fire before it consumed an adjoining locker building and a two-story dormitory building.
The
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
was held at Fresh Meadow Country Club in 1930, and the U.S. Open was held at the course in 1932. In 1937, the golf course hosted a charity game between John Montague,
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
,
Babe Didrikson
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer O ...
, and Sylvania Annenberg, a game that was watched by 10,000 fans, some of whom rushed the golf course and left Babe Ruth's shirt in tatters.
Fresh Meadows housing and retail development
In February 1946, the golf course's land was sold to
New York Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company in the United States, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and is ranked #67 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United State ...
for $1,075,000, , in order to build a housing complex on the land. The Gross-Morton Company had also made an offer to buy the land, but it was not accepted. The New York Life Insurance Company chose
Ralph Thomas Walker
Ralph Thomas Walker FAIA (November 28, 1889 – January 17, 1973) was an American architect, president of the American Institute of Architects and partner of the firm McKenzie, Voorhees, Gmelin; and its successor firms Voorhees, Gmelin & W ...
as the chief designer, and it signed a contract with the
George A. Fuller Company
George A. Fuller (1851 – December 14, 1900) was an American architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscrapers and the modern contracting system.
Early life and career
Fuller was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, near W ...
, which had built the Flat Iron Building, to construct the apartment buildings. Construction cost the New York Life Insurance Company $35,000,000, .
New York Life Insurance Company donated land on 69th Avenue at 195th Street to the city so it could build a school. In 1947, the New York City Board of Education awarded contracts of over $1,800,000, , to construct P.S. 26, an elementary school with a capacity of 1,494 students. On April 21, 1947, ground was broken for the school's construction. The school, P.S. 26, also known as the Rufus King School, opened in February 1949. P.S. 173 opened soon afterwards, in September 1949, at 69th Avenue and Fresh Meadows Lane. P.S. 173 was originally supposed to be built on the site of Utopia Playground one block west, but the school had been relocated due to opposition from
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
, the New York City parks commissioner.
The first twenty families moved into the Fresh Meadows Housing Development on September 2, 1947."Open Queens Project". ''New York Amsterdam News''. September 6, 1947. p. 19. As a result of
housing segregation
Housing segregation in the United States is the practice of denying African Americans and other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. Housing ...
, New York Life Insurance Company did not allow black individuals to live in the Fresh Meadows Housing Development. It was also built to house local
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
veterans. The complex and its eponymous shopping center were among the first in the United States designed primarily to accommodate
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
traffic rather than pedestrian traffic. Apartment rents were between $74 and $108 per month, which included gas and electricity. In 1949, architectural critic
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a wr ...
described the Fresh Meadows housing complex as "perhaps the most positive and exhilarating example of large-scale community planning in this country." The construction of the final residential building, a 20-story apartment building at 67th Avenue and 192nd Street, was completed and ready for occupancy in May 1962. At the time the building's construction ended, 11,000 people were living in the Fresh Meadows Housing Development.
New York Life Insurance Company built a 12-acre shopping center on 188th Street at
Horace Harding Expressway
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
. The shopping center was planned to include a
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. Bloomingdale, Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the bus ...
, a movie theater, Canterbury Shops clothing store, Mary Lewis, Ormond Hosiery Shop,
Woolworth's
Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to:
Businesses
* F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores
* Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...
, Miles Shows, Buster Brown children's shoes, Selby women's shoes,
Food Fair
Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in ...
, a
Horn & Hardart
Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore.
Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Fran ...
automat
An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895.
By country Germany
The first automat in the world was the Quisisana ...
, Whelan's Drugs,
Fanny Farmer
Fanny Farmer was an American candy manufacturer and retailer.
Fanny Farmer was started in Rochester, New York by Frank O'Connor in 1919, and grew to over 400 stores before being bought and consolidated.
History
O'Connor had previously start ...
, Union News, Womrath's Book Shop, Barrett Nephews dry cleaners, and Harris Brothers delicatessen, a
Bank of Manhattan
The Manhattan Company was a New York bank and holding company established on September 1, 1799. The company merged with Chase National Bank#Chase National Bank, Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase National Bank#Merger as Chase Manhattan ...
, a
Jamaica Savings Bank
The Jamaica Savings Bank was a bank incorporated in 1866 in the Jamaica section of the borough of Queens in New York City. It had four branches across Queens before it was acquired by North Fork Bank in 1999, which itself was acquired by Capit ...
, and a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
. Bloomingdale's opened on May 24, 1949. Century Meadows Theatre opened November 1949. In 1973, Bloomingdale's added a three-level extension to the store, on what had been a pedestrian plaza. Five 36-year-old oak trees were uprooted to construct the extension, to the dismay of nearby residents.
The QM1 express bus to Manhattan started operating in 1968 as part of a 90-day trial run proposed by city traffic commissioner Henry A. Barnes, transportation administrator Arthur A. Palmer, and the New York Life Insurance Company. This service was eventually kept, and it was expanded in 1970 with branches running further east into Queens. The combined QM1/QM1A service eventually became among the busiest privately operated express routes in the city by the 2000s.
In 1972,
Harry B. Helmsley
Harry Brakmann Helmsley (March 4, 1909 – January 4, 1997) was an American real estate billionaire whose company, Helmsley-Spear, became one of the country's biggest property holders, owning the Empire State Building and many of New York's mos ...
and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation partnered to buy the Fresh Meadows housing and retail complex for $53,000,0000, , from the New York Life Insurance Company. The MacArthur Foundation acquired the property outright in 1995. In 1997,
Witkoff Group
Steven Charles Witkoff (born March 15, 1957) is an American real estate investor and landlord based in New York City, and founder of the Witkoff Group.
Early life and education
Witkoff was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx and raised in Baldwin ...
and
Insignia Financial Group
Insignia Financial Group was a company that invested in apartments that were financially distressed, with the goal of increasing value via recapitalization. It was founded and controlled by billionaire Andrew L. Farkas and was headquartered i ...
bought the residential property, and Federal Realty Investment Trust bought the commercial property. The owners of Fresh Meadows received $215 million from the sale.
Two months after the Bloomingdale's store was sold in August 1991,
Kmart
Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States.
The company was inc ...
signed a 31-year lease for the space. Kmart's grand opening was on October 22, 1991. Kmart closed the store in 2003, as part of an effort to close underperforming stores. Kmart sold the lease to the Fresh Meadows location and four other locations to
Kohl's
Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawai ...
for $16 million in 2003. The Kohl's in Fresh Meadows was the first Kohl's location in New York City.
Klein Farm
Fresh Meadows was home to Klein Farm, the last surviving commercial
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
in New York City, located on 73rd Avenue between 194th and 195th Streets. Adam Klein, from Brooklyn, bought the Voorhis farm in the 1890s. Klein bought the 200-acre plot of land for $18 per acre. The family sold portions of the land over time, but kept the two acres surrounding the farm house. His son, Charles Klein, was born on the farm and operated it after his father's death in 1954 at age 89. By the early 1990s, John Klein Sr. ran the farm as well as two larger farms, one in Riverhead and one in
upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
. The family had received many offers over the years to buy the land in Fresh Meadows. In 1991, the family declined an offer from the owner of a local pizza store, who wanted to buy the property in order to convert the family's home into a country-style restaurant. John Klein Jr., the great-grandson of Adam Klein, was running the farm by the late 1990s.
The farm gradually become unprofitable, and in 2001, John Klein Sr. signed a contract to sell the two-acre property to Flushing-based developer Audrey Realty, who wanted to build 22 two-family homes on the site. The farm's last day open was November 21, 2001. Many in the community were opposed to the proposed sale, including the Fresh Meadows Tenants Association, the West Cunningham Park Civic Association, the Flushing Heights Civic Association, the Hillcrest Estates Civic Association, the Utopia Estates Civic Association, and the Utopia Park Civic Association. The community later learned that the developer was owned by the family of Tommy Huang, whose permits to restore the landmark RKO Keith's Theater in Flushing were revoked when he destroyed its lobby. Huang had also admitted to failing to report a spill of 10,000 gallons of heating oil from an underground tank into the soil beneath the RKO Keith's Theater in 1999. John Klein Sr. completed the sale to Huang for $4.3 million in late 2003.
The land was located in a Special Planned Community Preservation District and required a special permit to build homes there. David Weprin, the neighborhood's representative in the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
, opposed granting the special permit. Faced with strong community opposition, Huang and Audrey Realty decided not to go forward with the plan, and they instead agreed to sell the land to a Westchester-based developer, Steven Judelson. At the time, Judelson said he had not decided what to do with the land. The sale did not go through.
In 2005, Huang sent a proposal to the City Planning Commission to build 18 two-family homes on the site. The proposal was not approved, and a day-care center was opened instead. Huang attempted to evict the day-care center in 2009, saying that he needed to end the lease early in order to sell the property. Huang settled with the day-care center to terminate its lease three months early so that Huang could sell the property to Fresh Meadows Jewish Development LLC for $5.6 million. The sale did not go through.Robinson, Alex (August 7, 2014). Klein farm sold to tree cutters . ''TimesLedger'' (Queens, New York). In 2012, Huang was convicted of
embezzling
Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
over $3 million of federal funds that were intended to pay for children's lunches at Huang's Red Apple Child Development Centers.
Huang finally sold the property to Ziming Shen's Fresh Meadows Children's Farm LLC for $5.6 million in 2014. New York City fined Shen $1,600 after Shen's daycare center, Preschool for America, cut down trees and modified the driveway on the property without the required permits.
Holliswood Homes
Around 1939, Paul Roth bought of land that had been part of the Klein farm and the Boggs farm. The land was bounded by 73rd Avenue, 185th Street, Union Turnpike, and 188th Street. The 204 homes were designed by architect Arthur E. Allen. Roth named the community Holliswood Homes. Houses were sold for an average of $7,400 each. Roth had previously developed areas elsewhere in Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island.
Meadowlark Gardens
Meadowlark Gardens is a 288-unit residential apartment development between 65th Avenue, 197th Street, and 73rd Avenue. It was built by Mortimer M. Reznick, and George Miller was the architect. The first residents moved in on July 1, 1950. Reznick had previously built homes in the Williams Homes development at 197th Street and 73rd Avenue. Reznick also built residential developments called Williams Homes in Flushing and Bonnie Meadows in
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
, and a commercial development in
Yonkers
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
.
Meadowlark Gardens Tenant Association was organized on June 3, 1977, in order to advocate for the tenants' rights.
Subsections
Hillcrest
Hillcrest is a neighborhood in the center of Queens; the name comes from its location on the hills between Flushing and Jamaica. Hillcrest stretches from the
Grand Central Parkway
The Grand Central Parkway (GCP) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) long parkway that stretches from the Triborough Bridge in New York City to Nassau County on Long Island. At the Queens–Nassau border, it becomes the Northern State Parkway, ...
to 73rd Avenue, between
Utopia Parkway
''Utopia Parkway'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released by Atlantic Records in April 1999.
Background
The album was written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger with the intention of em ...
and
Parsons Boulevard
Parsons Boulevard is a road in Queens, New York. Its northern end is at Malba Drive in the Malba neighborhood and its southern end is at Archer Avenue in downtown Jamaica.
Route
The road stretches for nearly six miles, divided into four segmen ...
. Its main commercial street is Union Turnpike. Hillcrest is part of
Queens Community Board 8
The Queens Community Board 8 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Briarwood, Cunningham Heights, Flushing South, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Hilltop Village, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates ...
. The ZIP Codes for the neighborhood are 11366 (Fresh Meadows and Flushing zip code) for anything above Union Turnpike, and 11432 or 11439 (Jamaica zip codes) for the southern part of the neighborhood (below Union Turnpike, north of Grand Central Parkway). It neighbors
Kew Gardens Hills
Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to t ...
and Pomonok to the west, Fresh Meadows to the north, Utopia to the east, and Jamaica Hills to the south. It is mostly made up of single-family homes, is in a relatively well-off public school district, and has a low crime rate.
As with many neighborhoods in the city, different residents have varying perceptions of its boundaries. Most people in the northeastern part of Hillcrest self-identify as being in Fresh Meadows, as does everyone living in nearby Utopia. Others tend to identify with neighborhoods that surround them. There is a small group in the center of the Hillcrest area that identify exclusively with it. Hillcrest is home to an Orthodox Jewish community. Some public high schools in Hillcrest are Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School, and Queens School of inquiry. St. John's University is also located in the neighborhood on
Utopia Parkway
''Utopia Parkway'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released by Atlantic Records in April 1999.
Background
The album was written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger with the intention of em ...
.
History
75th Avenue was originally known as Hell Fire Lane, then Quarrelsome Lane, and then Eiseman Avenue.
In 1938 and 1939, Moss Brothers built approximately 550 homes along Utopia Parkway between Horace Harding Expressway and Grand Central Parkway. Moss Brothers hired architect Arthur E. Allen to design the homes. The development was called Hillcrest Gardens.
Utopia
Utopia is in the southeastern part of Fresh Meadows, bordered by
Utopia Parkway
''Utopia Parkway'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It was released by Atlantic Records in April 1999.
Background
The album was written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger with the intention of em ...
to the west, 73rd Avenue to the north, 188th Street to the east, and Union Turnpike to the south. Utopia is part of
Queens Community Board 8
The Queens Community Board 8 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Briarwood, Cunningham Heights, Flushing South, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Hilltop Village, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates ...
and is often considered to be a part of Fresh Meadows, though ''The New York Times'' and the
New York City Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
delineate Utopia as a separate neighborhood. Utopia's residents includes many
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and
Orthodox Jews
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Jewish theology, Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Or ...
,
Chinese Americans
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
,
Korean Americans
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian American ...
,
Russian Americans
Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United State ...
,
Indian Americans
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
, and
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
. Utopia primarily consists of houses and tree-lined streets.
The triangular-shaped Utopia Playground, at Utopia Parkway and 73rd Avenue, used to be the site of the Black Stump School, when the area was still called Black Stump. The school was later replaced by Black Stump Hook, Ladder, and Bucket Company, a volunteer firehouse. Today, it has a playground, a softball field, basketball courts, and
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
courts.
It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Hillcrest to the west, Fresh Meadows to the north and east, and
Jamaica Estates
Jamaica Estates is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Jamaica Estates is part of Queens Community District 8 and located in the northern portion of Jamaica. It is bounded by Union Turnpike to the north, Hillside Avenue to t ...
to the south. Utopia is also home to the Hillcrest Jewish Center and the
Queens Public Library
The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It ...
at Hillcrest, both located on Union Turnpike.
History
Simon Freeman, Samuel Resler, and Joseph Fried incorporated the Utopia Land Company in 1903. The following year, the Utopia Land Company bought of land between the communities of Jamaica and Flushing. The Utopia Land Company intended to build a
cooperative community
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
for Jewish families interested in moving away from the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. They intended to name the streets after those on the Lower East Side, where there was already a large Jewish population.
After its initial acquisition, the company was unable to secure enough funding to further develop the area. In 1909, of the land was sold to Felix Isman of Philadelphia for $350,000, .
The area remained farmland until 1935, when the land was bought by the Gross-Morton Park Corporation, run by George M. Gross, Alfred Gross, and Lawrence Morton. Gross-Morton had experience in building residential developments in Queens, such as when it had developed the land of the Belleclaire golf course in Bayside, around today's 48th Avenue and 211th Street. In 1937, the company bought of contiguous farmland on the south side of Black Stump Road (now 73rd Avenue) from the Klein family. In 1939, it bought of land that had been formerly part of the Klein Farm and the Wigmore estate. The land included about one mile of land directly on Union Turnpike, on which it built about forty stores.
On the land it bought in Utopia, the Gross-Morton Park Corporation built
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
and Cape Cod-style homes with either two or three bedrooms, each on approximately of land in the early 1940s. Arthur Allen was the architect of the homes.
In 1938, Paul Roth bought the portion of the Klein Farm on the north side of Union Turnpike, between 185th Street and 188th Street, to build 70 houses.
The Batterman family owned and operated a farm on land bounded by Union Turnpike, Utopia Parkway, 75th Avenue, and 170th Street. In 1938, the Foch Building Corporation bought the Batterman Estate in order to develop it into a residential neighborhood, named University Manor. The Foch Building Corporation had previously built 111 houses in what is now St. Albans, Queens.
Demographics
Based on data from the
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, the population of Fresh Meadows (including Utopia but excluding Hillcrest) was 17,812, a change of 439 (2.5%) from the 17,373 counted in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010 Population Division -
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 32.9% (5,864)
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 7.6% (1,355)
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0% (2)
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 0.4% (74) from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2% (356) from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 9.9% (1,763) of the population.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010 Population Division -
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016.
The entirety of Community Board 8, which comprises Fresh Meadows as well as
Kew Gardens Hills
Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to t ...
and
Jamaica Hills
Jamaica Hills is a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is surrounded by Hillcrest (at the Grand Central Parkway to the north), Jamaica Estates (at Homelawn Street, a continuation of Utopia Pa ...
, had 156,217 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 83.9 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 20% are between the ages of 0–17, 28% between 25–44, and 27% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 15% respectively.
As of 2017, the median
household income
Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamp ...
in Community Board 8 was $64,005. In 2018, an estimated 22% of Fresh Meadows residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 54% in Fresh Meadows, slightly higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Fresh Meadows is considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not
gentrifying
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
.
Population estimates of Fresh Meadows vary widely depending on which boundaries are considered. Zip codes 11365 and 11366 together have an estimated population of 59,873 as of 2017, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, but this also includes part of Auburndale north of the
Long Island Expressway
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
, while excluding Hillcrest."2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates: Demographic and Housing Estimates: ZIP Code 11365 and 11366". ''U.S. Census Bureau''. Retrieved February 6, 2019. According to 2009 census data, however, the neighborhood had 16,100 residents, 44 percent of whom residents are white, 24 percent Asian, 14 percent black, 29 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent identify as multiracial. The neighborhood has historically and traditionally been home to one of New York City's most notable
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
communities. Today, there is an increasing presence of younger
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
and
Colombian American
Colombian Americans ( es, Colomboestadounidenses), are Americans who trace their ancestry to Colombia. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United Sta ...
families,
Israeli Americans
Israeli Americans ( he, אָמֵרִיקָאִים יִשׂרָאֵליִם, translit=Ameriqaim Yiśraʾelim, or ) are United States, Americans who are of full or partial Israelis, Israeli descent. In this category are those who are Israelis throu ...
,
Bukharian Jews
Bukharan Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכארא/яҳудиёни Бухоро, ''Yahudiyoni Bukhoro''; he, יהודי בוכרה, ''Yehudey Bukhara''), in modern times also called Bukharian Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכאר ...
, and
West Indian Americans
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the ...
living in the neighborhood.
Police and crime
Fresh Meadows is patrolled by the 107th Precinct of the
NYPD
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
, located at 71-01 Parsons Boulevard. The 107th Precinct ranked 11th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. The low crime rate was attributed primarily to the area's isolation and to local neighborhood patrols. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 22 per 100,000 people, Fresh Meadows's rate of
violent crime
A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, violent act is t ...
s per capita is lower than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 191 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.
The 107th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 88.8% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 5 murders, 23 rapes, 138 robberies, 131 felony assaults, 149 burglaries, 539 grand larcenies, and 101 grand larcenies auto in 2018.
Fire safety
Fresh Meadows is served by two
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...
(FDNY) fire stations. Engine Co. 299/Ladder Co. 152 is located at 61-20 Utopia Parkway and serves Utopia and the Fresh Meadows development, while Engine Co. 315/Ladder Co. 125 is located at 159-06 Union Turnpike and serves Hillcrest and southern Fresh Meadows.
Health
,
preterm birth
Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the Childbirth, birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks Gestational age (obstetrics), gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 we ...
s and births to teenage mothers are less common in Fresh Meadows than in other places citywide. In Fresh Meadows, there were 74 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 6.7 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Fresh Meadows has a relatively average population of residents who are
uninsured
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to Hedge ( ...
. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 11%, which is slightly lower than the citywide rate of 12%.
The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of
air pollutant
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...
, in Fresh Meadows is , lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages. Fourteen percent of Fresh Meadows residents are smokers, which is equal to the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Fresh Meadows, 19% of residents are
obese
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
, 11% are
diabetic
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
, and 29% have
high blood pressure
Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
—compared to the citywide averages of 20%, 14%, and 24% respectively. In addition, 18% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.
Eighty-nine percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 79% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," about the same as the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Fresh Meadows, there are 5 bodegas.
The nearest large hospitals to Fresh Meadows are
Queens Hospital Center
Queens Hospital Center (QHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and originally called Queens General Hospital, is a large public hospital campus in the Jamaica Hills and Hillcrest neighborhoods of Queens in New York City. It is operat ...
in Hillcrest and
NewYork–Presbyterian Queens
NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, stylized as NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens (NYP/Q or NYP/Queens), is a not-for-profit acute care and teaching hospital in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Formerly operating as Booth Memorial Hosp ...
in Flushing.
Post offices and ZIP Codes
Fresh Meadows is covered by ZIP Codes 11365 north of 73rd Avenue; 11366 between 73rd Avenue and Union Turnpike. The
United States Post Office
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
operates two locations in Fresh Meadows: the Fresh Meadows Finance Station at 193-04 Horace Harding Expressway, and the Utopia Station, at 182-04 Union Turnpike in Utopia.
Education
Fresh Meadows generally has a higher ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . Half of residents (50%) have a college education or higher, while 14% have less than a high school education and 37% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Fresh Meadows students excelling in math rose from 51 percent in 2000 to 71 percent in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 56% to 57% during the same time period.
Fresh Meadows's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Fresh Meadows, 15% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per
school year
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
, less than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 86% of high school students in Fresh Meadows graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.
Schools
Public
Fresh Meadows and Hillcrest contain the following public elementary schools.
* P.S. 4 (grades –8)
* P.S. 26 Rufus King School (grades –5)
* P.S. 154 (grades –5)
* P.S. 173 Fresh Meadow School (grades –5)
* P.S./I.S. 178 Holliswood School (grades –8)
* P.S. 255 (grades –12)
Fresh Meadows and Hillcrest contain the following public middle schools.
* J.H.S. 216 George J. Ryan School (grades 6–8) — opened September 1955, named after the former 15-year president of the Board of Education
* Queens Gateway To Health Sciences Secondary School (grades 6–12)
* Queens School of Inquiry (grades 6–12)
Francis Lewis High School
Francis Lewis High School (FLHS) is a selective public high school located in Fresh Meadows, in the New York City borough of Queens. It is one of the most-applied-to public high schools in New York City with 9,468 applicants in 2016. Operated by t ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, is located in Fresh Meadows.
The Summit School, a state-approved tuition-free
private school
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
serving students with special education needs, holds classes at Hillcrest Jewish Center in Utopia.
St. John's University, a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, has its main campus in Hillcrest.
The
Japanese Weekend School of New York
The Japanese Weekend School of New York (JWSNY; ニューヨーク 補習授業校 ''Nyūyōku Hoshū Jugyō Kō'') is a Japanese supplementary school in the New York City metropolitan area. It has its offices in New Roc City in New Rochelle, N ...
, a Japanese weekend school, holds classes at the building of P.S. 26. The school also holds classes in
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
and
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
.
The Japanese School of New York
, also known as The Greenwich Japanese School (GJS), is a Japanese elementary and junior high school,本校の歩み ." The Japanese School of New York. Retrieved on January 10, 2012. "1975.9.2. Jamaica Queensにて「ニューヨーク日本人学校」開校。" and "1980.12.22 Queens Flushing校に移転。" and "1991.8.18. Westchester Yonkers校へ移転。"Pomfret, John. Old city school becomes second home for Japanese kids " ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' at ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
''. Thursday September 10, 1987. 30. Retrieved from
Google News
Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web.
Google rel ...
(30 of 68) on January 9, 2012.
Libraries
The
Queens Public Library
The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It ...
operates two branches in Fresh Meadows. The Fresh Meadows branch is located at 193-20 Horace Harding Expressway, and the Hillcrest branch is located at 187-05 Union Turnpike in Utopia.
Transportation
Buses
Although there are no
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
stations in Fresh Meadows, several local
MTA Regional Bus Operations
MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
routes serve the neighborhood and connect to the subway. These include the:
* : to 169th Street () or Flushing–Main Street () via Horace Harding Expressway and 188th Street
* : to Flushing–Main Street () via Hollis Court Boulevard
* : to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer () or
Little Neck
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
Glen Oaks
A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...
Woodhaven Boulevard
Woodhaven Boulevard and Cross Bay Boulevard (formerly Jamaica Bay Boulevard) are two parts of a major boulevard in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens. Woodhaven Boulevard runs roughly north–south in the central p ...
() or Queens Village LIRR via Horace Harding Expressway, 188th Street and 73rd Avenue
In addition, the
Union Turnpike express buses
The QM1, QM5, QM6, QM7, QM8, QM31, QM35, and QM36 bus routes constitute a public transit line in New York City, operating express between Northeast Queens and Midtown Manhattan, Midtown or Downtown Manhattan, Downtown Manhattan. The routes ope ...
run along Union Turnpike, 188th Street, and 73rd Avenue, providing service to Manhattan:
* to
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
* to
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
Trains
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Auburndale station (LIRR), Auburndale station is nearby and provides access on the Port Washington Branch to Midtown Manhattan. Buses also run to the LIRR stations at Flushing–Main Street station (LIRR), Flushing–Main Street and Jamaica station, Jamaica.
Former
In June 1873, the Central Railroad of Long Island opened a station, called Frankiston, on Black Stump Road, now called 73rd Avenue. It was east of the present-day
Clearview Expressway Clearview or clear view may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Clearview'' (album), the seventh studio album by the Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall
Companies
* Clearview AI, a facial recognition company
* Clearview Cinemas, a chain of movie theat ...
, where
Cunningham Park
Cunningham Park is a park in the New York City borough of Queens. The park lies between the Grand Central Parkway to the south and the Long Island Expressway, and is bifurcated by the Clearview Expressway. The park is operated by the New York Ci ...
is now. The railroad line continued northwest, along the parkland between today's Peck Avenue and Underhill Avenue, ultimately ending in downtown Flushing.
The origin of the name Frankiston is unknown. Loomis L. White, the railroad's second largest stockholder, had bought all the land surrounding the station in April 1871. The station's building was built by E.W. Karker & Co. of College Point, April–May 1873. The train fare from Frankston to downtown Flushing was $0.30 (). The station was first included in railroad timetables in June 1873.
On April 30, 1879, the station was closed and the railroad line was abandoned.
Proposed
In the 1970s, an extension of the subway system along Horace Harding Expressway was proposed as part of the Program for Action, but it was ultimately not built.
Highways
The
Long Island Expressway
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
(Interstate 495 (New York), I-495) connects Fresh Meadows with both midtown Manhattan and Long Island, while the
Clearview Expressway Clearview or clear view may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Clearview'' (album), the seventh studio album by the Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall
Companies
* Clearview AI, a facial recognition company
* Clearview Cinemas, a chain of movie theat ...
(Interstate 295 (New York), I-295) provides access to Bronx, New York, the Bronx and Interstate 95 (New York), the New England Thruway.
The Long Island Motor Parkway, formerly a highway, is now used as a biking and walking trail, as part of the Brooklyn–Queens Greenway.
In media
In October 2011, a book written by Fred Cantor and Debra Davidson that chronicled the history of Fresh Meadows was released. The book is part of the Images of America series.
Notable people
*Bruce Bierman (born 1953), American interior designer
References
External links
Fresh Meadow Lane, Queens . ''Forgotten NY''.
* Cantor, Fred; Davidson, Debra L. (October 3, 2011). ''Fresh Meadows (Images of America)''. Arcadia Publishing. .
{{Authority control
Fresh Meadows, Queens,
Neighborhoods in Queens, New York