Parsons Boulevard is a road in

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 ...

, New York. Its northern end is at Malba Drive in the

Malba The Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires ( es, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, MALBA) is a museum located on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, in the Palermo section of Buenos Aires. Created by Argentine businessman Eduardo Costantin ...

neighborhood and its southern end is at Archer Avenue in downtown Jamaica.

Route

The road stretches for nearly six miles, divided into four segments: * Malba Drive to

Whitestone Expressway Whitestone may refer to: Places * Whitestone, Alaska, an unincorporated community * Whitestone, Devon, a village in the United Kingdom * Whitestone, Ontario, a township in Canada and a community within the township * Whitestone, Queens, a neig ...

: *

to Rose Avenue at Kissena Park: * Booth Memorial Avenue to Horace Harding Expressway: * Horace Harding Expressway to Archer Avenue:

History

Parsons Boulevard takes its name from Samuel Bowne Parsons Sr., who moved to

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 ** Flushin ...

from

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 ...

around 1800 and married Mary Bowne, a descendant of prominent local settler

John Bowne John Bowne (1627–1695), the progenitor of the Bowne family in America, was a Quaker and an English immigrant residing in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He is historically significant for his struggle for religious liberty. Background Born i ...

. Samuel Bowne Parsons Sr. was an accomplished and well noted

horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, who was the first to import Japanese Maples and propagate rhododendrons. Parsons' nursery was located within present-day Kissena Park. The oldest section of Parsons Boulevard is between Kissena Boulevard in

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 Archer Avenue in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Dating to the colonial period, this segment, together with

Kissena Boulevard Kissena Boulevard is a thoroughfare spanning the Flushing and Pomonok neighborhoods of the borough of Queens in New York City, extending from Main Street in the Flushing Chinatown to Parsons Boulevard in Kew Gardens Hills. The road's name i ...

, connected the early settlements of Jamaica and Flushing. The most recent section of Parsons Boulevard was completed in 1951, during the construction of the Pomonok apartments. In contrast to most boulevards in Queens, Parsons is not regarded as a major transportation route because it is broken into four segments, with the section through Kissena Park having never been built, along with the

and

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 men ...

interrupting its route.

Transportation

Between 14th Avenue and Union Street, the

Q20 and Q44 buses The Q20A and Q20B (collectively referred to as Q20A/B or Q20) and Q44 bus routes constitute the Main Street Line, a public transit line in Queens, New York City, running primarily along Main Street between two major bus- subway hubs in the nei ...

follow Parsons Boulevard. Between Kissena Boulevard and Archer Avenue, the

Q25 and Q34 buses The Q25 and Q34 bus routes constitute a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The south-to-north route runs primarily on Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard, serving two major bus- subway hubs: Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–Ja ...

follow Parsons Boulevard. Parsons Boulevard is also the name of the following stations of the New York City Subway in Queens: *

Parsons Boulevard (IND Queens Boulevard Line) The Parsons Boulevard station is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and Hillside Avenue in Queens, it is served by the F train at all times, and ...

, serving the * Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer (New York City Subway), serving the

References

Streets in Queens, New York Flushing, Queens Jamaica, Queens {{NYC-road-stub