Rochdale, Queens
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Rochdale Village (pronounced ) is a
housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hou ...
in the southeastern corner of the
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...
of
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding to the former Town of Jamaica. It is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: St. Albans to the east,
South Jamaica South Jamaica (also commonly known as "Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsectio ...
to the west, Locust Manor to the north, and
Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to th ...
to the south across the
Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkways that form a belt-like circle around the Borough (New York City), New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt ...
. Rochdale is about from the Queens/Nassau border and about north of
John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...
.


History

Rochdale Village was named after the English town of
Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
, Greater Manchester, where the Rochdale Pioneers developed the
Rochdale Principles The Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals for the operation of cooperatives. They were first set out in 1844 by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in Rochdale, England, and have formed the basis for the principles on which co-operat ...
of cooperation. The architect's concept of Rochdale Village was an attractive community covering 122 blocks that would provide the residents with a park-like setting and facilities of suburbia, within the limits of the Urban Jamaica Area. Rochdale Village was designed to be a "city within a city" when it was planned beginning in 1939, in order to boost tourism to the surrounding area also including
Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to th ...
, Rosedale, and Laurelton. The property is the former site of
Jamaica Race Course Jamaica Race Course, also called the Jamaica Racetrack, was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. History The track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featu ...
, which was the area's only tourist site and was operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club and its successor, the Greater New York Association (now the
New York Racing Association The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse racing tracks in the state of New York (state), New York, United States: Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Q ...
.) When the NYRA decided to renovate Greater Jamaica's other track,
Aqueduct Racetrack Aqueduct Racetrack is a Thoroughbred horse racing facility and casino in the South Ozone Park, Queens, South Ozone Park and Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, United States. Aqueduct is the only racetrack within ...
(in
South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. A ...
), it also decided to close Jamaica Race Course when the Aqueduct Racetrack's improvements were finished. Jamaica Race Course was shut down in 1959 and demolished. Rochdale Village was developed under the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program to provide affordable housing for low- and middle-income families. The architect,
Herman Jessor Herman J. Jessor (June 15, 1894 – April 8, 1990) was an American architect who helped build more than 40,000 units of cooperative housing in New York City. He, along with Abraham Kazan, was a driving force of the cooperative housing movement in ...
, was inspired by the
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
model. Construction soon proceeded at a rapid pace on the new community in Queens. When Rochdale Village opened, it was the largest private cooperative housing complex in the world until Co-op City in the Bronx was completed in 1971. Rochdale Village was originally between 10 and 20 percent African American and 80 to 90 percent
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
. This caused controversy before the start of construction, as black people could not participate in Rochdale Village's construction. The Rochdale Village complex was supposed to be the model for mixed-race housing in the U.S., but then became symbolic of the Civil Rights Movement, which was ongoing during the complex's construction; for instance, twenty-three protesters were detained for disrupting the construction in 1961, including
William Booth William Booth (10 April 1829 – 20 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first General (1878–1912). This Christian movement, founded in 1865, has a qu ...
, the future head of mayor
John V. Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...
's Human Rights Commission. About 10% of the units were given to blacks upon the complex's 1963 completion. As the years passed, more and more African Americans moved to Rochdale. It was between the late 1960s and mid-1970s that most white people moved from the community, owing to the
white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...
brought on by white perceptions of black people as dangerous, fears of lowered property value, and racist real estate practices such as block-busting. Soon, the complex became poorer and unable to provide for some basic utilities throughout the early 1980s, with many apartments remaining empty. However, toward the end of the 20th century, Rochdale Village became 100 percent owner-occupied in order to eliminate rent-stabilized apartments. This was concurrent with the drop in crime citywide. A ''New York Times'' article in 1997 went: "Under new management, Rochdale has become a preferred residence for middle-class black people. There are only nine vacancies." There are about 25,000 residents in Rochdale Village .


Facilities

Rochdale Village, sometimes called the "Jewel of Jamaica", is located on a residential park. It consists of 20 buildings in five circular groups. Each 13 story building has three sections: A, B, and C. Each section in each building has its own mailing address. Rochdale Village has its own branch of 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 of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It is one of the largest li ...
system. A 21 megawatt
cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
facility generates all the electrical power, heating, air-conditioning, and domestic hot water services for the entire residential development and two shopping malls; the power plant produces its power independently with no connection to any outside utility company. Rochdale Village Department of Public Safety protects the residents, visitors, and property of Rochdale Village. The New York City Police Department's 113th Precinct patrol Rochdale Village and is the primary Policing and investigation agency within the New York City as per the NYC Charter (law), this includes Rochdale Village.


Education

The schools in the Rochdale Village are P.S. 354, P.S. 80, Catherine and Count Basie Junior High School 72,
August Martin High School August Martin High School is a New York City public high school located in South Jamaica, Queens, at 156-10 Baisley Boulevard. The school focuses on aviation (students can obtain their pilot's certification while studying there) and other vo ...
, and CCS Montessori. In 2011, P.S. 30 began being phased out and replaced after years of poor performance; a new school, P.S. 354, opened with kindergarten and first grade, adding a grade per year until P.S. 30 phased out in June 2014.


Transportation

Rochdale Village and the surrounding neighborhoods are served by transit via the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...
's Atlantic Branch, which stops right by the complex at the Locust Manor station. Rochdale is also served by
MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the Public transport bus service, bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service (bus rapid transit ...
' Q3, Q5, Q85, Q111, Q113, Q114 and QM21 routes. A
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
extension to the neighborhood was considered in the 1970s and 1980s, but was cut short at Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer due to financial issues.


See also

* Cooperative Village * Co-op City * Marcus Garvey Village *
Mitchell Lama Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...
* Parkchester, Bronx *
Parkfairfax, Virginia Parkfairfax is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia, located in the northwestern part of the city near the boundary with Arlington County. Nearby thoroughfares are Interstate 395 ( Shirley Highway), State Route 402 (Quaker Lane), and West ...
* Park La Brea, Los Angeles, California * Parkmerced, San Francisco, California * Penn South * Riverton Houses *
Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village ( ), colloquially known as StuyTown, is a large post-World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. The complex consists of ...


References


External links

* {{coord, 40.676, -73.774, type:city_region:US-NY, display=title 1963 establishments in New York City Residential buildings completed in 1963 Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Queens, New York Former cooperatives of the United States Residential buildings in Queens, New York Jamaica, Queens