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Elmhurst, Queens
| This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2013) |
| Elmhurst | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood of Queens | |
|
Queens Boulevard, Macy's and Queens Center Queens Boulevard, Macy's and Queens Center | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Queens |
| Settlement (Dutch) | 1652 |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 88,427 |
| Ethnicity | |
| • Hispanic or Latino | 43.1% |
| • Asian | 38.9% |
| • White | 13.6% |
| • Two or more races | 5.8% |
| • African American | 2.0% |
| ZIP code | 11373 |
| Area code(s) | 718, 347, 917, 929 |
Elmhurst (formerly Newtown) is a working/middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States, on Long Island. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Junction Boulevard on the east; and the New York Connecting Railroad on the west.[1] The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 4.
Contents
History
The village was established in 1652 by the Dutch as Middenburgh (Middleburgh) and was a suburb of New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) in New Netherland (Nieuw Nederland). The original European settlers of Elmhurst were from the nearby colony of Maspat (now called Maspeth), following threats and attacks by local native Americans.[1]
When the British took over New Netherland in 1664, they renamed Middleburgh as New Town (Nieuwe Stad) to maintain the Dutch heritage. This was eventually simplified to Newtown. Among the English settlers in the present Elmhurst section of Newtown was Gershom Moore, in whose orchard a chance seedling produced the Newtown Pippin, Colonial America's most famous apple. The village of Newtown was established as the town seat for the Township in 1683. The village was renamed Elmhurst in 1896 to identify the area with a new housing development, to avoid association with the larger Township and the Creek.[1]
Once Queens joined the City of Greater New York in 1898, Elmhurst developed into a fashionable district due to a housing development that was built by the Cord Meyer Development Company between 1896 and 1910, north of the Port Washington Branch railroad station. They expanded their holdings between 1905 and 1930, including Elmhurst Square, Elmhurst South, Elmhurst Heights, and New Elmhurst. Elmhurst also became home to the Grand Street LIRR station just west of the current Grand Avenue – Newtown subway station. The Grand Street LIRR station was served by the Main Line and the former Rockaway Beach Branch.[1]
Prior to World War II, Elmhurst was an almost exclusively Jewish and Italian neighborhood. Following the war, Elmhurst evolved into what has been considered one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in New York City.[2] By the 1980s, there were persons from 112 nations in residence in the neighborhood, which has continued to further diversify since then.[1]
Crime rate in Elmhurst rose between the 1980s and 1990s, but slowed down in the 21st century with more presence of policing in the neighborhood. It is home to mainly immigrant working-class families and has continued to soar in population.
For many years, Elmhurst was a familiar name due to the Elmhurst gas tanks, a pair of large natural gas storage structures built in 1910 and 1921 on 57th Avenue between 74th and 80th Streets. Because the Long Island Expressway frequently became congested in that area, "backup at the Elmhurst Gas Tanks" became a familiar phrase in radio traffic reporting. The gas holders were removed in 2001.[3][4] The site opened as the Elmhurst Park in 2011.
Culture
Chinatown
Elmhurst's rapidly growing Chinatown (艾浒 唐人街)[5] is the second in Queens, in addition to the Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠) / Mandarin Town, Flushing (國語埠, 法拉盛). Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this newly evolved second Chinatown in Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue and is developing as a satellite of the Flushing Chinatown. In Chinese translation, Elmhurst is named 艾浒 (Àihǔ in Standard Chinese). There are also many other Southeast Asian businesses and shops in the area, including Malaysian Chinese, Singaporean Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. Hong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket serve as the largest Chinese supermarkets selling different food varieties to this Elmhurst Chinatown.[6][7] So far, the Asia Bank serves as the only Chinese bank and the main financial resource business for this thriving Chinatown,[8] though HSBC, Chase and other banks also are located in Elmhurst along Broadway. Like Flushing's Chinatown, it is also very highly populated by Mandarin speakers, although many also speak their own regional Chinese languages/dialects.
An annexation of the Elmhurst Chinatown is the neighborhood of Corona, Queens.[9]
Shopping
Elmhurst has two urban shopping malls: Queens Center[10] and the smaller Queens Place Mall.[11]
Education
Elmhurst is part of New York City's Department of Education Region 4.[12] Schools in Elmhurst include:
- P.S. 7 - Louis F. Simeone
- P.S. 13 - Clement C Moore
- P.S. 89 - Elmhurst
- P.S. 102 - Bayview
- P.S. 877 - 51st Avenue Academy
- St. Adalbert School
- Ascension School (closed)
- St. Bartholomew School
- I.S. 5 - The Walter Crowley Intermediate School
- Newtown High School
- Cathedral Preparatory Seminary
- The Elmhurst Educational Complex is a renovated spice factory now housing multiple educationally robust schools.
- Central Queens Academy
Transportation
New York City Subway stations include Jackson Heights – Roosevelt Avenue, Woodhaven Boulevard, Grand Avenue – Newtown, and Elmhurst Avenue, all served by the E M R trains of the IND Queens Boulevard Line. In addition, the IRT Flushing Line, served by the 7 <7> trains, runs along Roosevelt Avenue, the north border of Elmhurst, with stations at 74th Street – Broadway, 82nd Street – Jackson Heights and 90th Street – Elmhurst Avenue. Buses include the Q11, Q21, Q29, Q38, Q52, Q53, Q58, Q59, Q60, Q72, and Q88. Elmhurst is bounded by the Long Island Expressway to the south and by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the west. Queens Boulevard, Woodhaven Boulevard, Junction Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenue, and Broadway are major roads in the community. Elmhurst is connected to Manhattan and Jamaica by Queens Boulevard and is connected to John F. Kennedy International Airport by Woodhaven Boulevard and to LaGuardia Airport by Junction Boulevard.
Religion
Religious sites include numerous Christian churches, Muslim Masjids and Hindu Temples.
Places of worship include:
- Bangladesh Hindu Mandir (94-39 44th Avenue)
- Geeta Temple Asharam (92-09 Corona Avenue)
- Satya Narayan Mandir (75-15 Woodside Avenue)
- Elmwood Theatre (57-02 Hoffman Drive), formerly one of the largest theaters in the city, was built in 1928 and seats 2900 people. It closed in 2002 and was purchased by the Rock Church. It is currently among the largest churches in the city and has a water tower and a huge sign saying "Elmwood" on the roof.[13]
- Elmhurst Islamic Center (EIC) (87-07 55th Avenue)
- Elmhurst Muslim Center (42-12 79th Street)
- First Presbyterian Church of Newtown (Queens Boulevard and 54th Avenue) built in 1893, congregation was established in 1652
- St. James Church (Originally St. James Episcopal Church, at Broadway and 51st Avenue), built in 1734
- St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church (52-29 83rd St.), founded in 1832
- The Reformed Church of Newtown (85-15 Broadway at Corona Avenue), founded 1731, present structure built in 1834
- Elmhurst Baptist Church (87-37 Whitney Avenue at the corner of Judge Street and Whitney Avenue), founded in 1900, built in 1902
- New Life Fellowship Church (82-10 Queens Boulevard) at the former Elks Lodge. Wrestling groups, including USA Pro Wrestling, The Long Island Wrestling Federation, Ultimate Championship Wrestling/Impact Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling, ran shows at the Elks Lodge on Queens Boulevard from 1997-2003. The Elks Lodge is also home to the New Life Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that oversees services including and an ESL (English as a Second Language) program for immigrants.
In popular culture
McDowell's, the fictional restaurant depicted in the 1988 film Coming to America, is located in Elmhurst. The filmmakers cosmetically altered an existing Wendy's restaurant for the week-long location shoot. The Wendy's was closed in May 2013 and was razed by December 2013 to make way for condominiums.
The CBS show Blue Bloods also started filming for its third season on the residential streets of Ketcham Street, Pettit Avenue, Layton Street, and Baxter Avenue in Elmhurst on September 24, 2012.
Notable residents
- Tommy Agee, baseball player
- Mose Allison, jazz player
- Eric B, DJ from the hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, born and raised in Elmhurst
- Harry Belafonte, calypso singer and Grammy winner
- Julissa Bermudez, Dominican-American actress, co-host for countdown show 106 & Park.[14]
- William Casey, director of CIA, born in Elmhurst
- Patty Duke, president of Screen Actor's Guild, recipient of an Academy Award of Merit for her role in the movie The Miracle Worker.
- Omar Minaya, former General Manager of the New York Mets, raised in Elmhurst, Newtown High School alumnus [15]
- Benjamin Moore, bishop of New York, father of Clement C. Moore
- Clement Clarke Moore, of the Moore family of Elmhurst. Author of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas". The site of his home is now a paved playground at Broadway and 82nd Street
- John Moore, founder of Elmhurst and the first independent minister allowed in New England
- Tony Pastor, vaudeville entertainer and theater manager, sometimes called "The Father of [American] Vaudeville"[16][17]
- Carroll O'Connor, actor, best known for his role as Archie Bunker on All in the Family[18]
- Frank D. O'Connor, attorney
- Tommy Rettig, who played "Jeff" on the Lassie TV series, attended PS 89
- Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.[19]
- Rise Stevens, opera singer, attended Newtown High School
- Charlie Villanueva, Dominican-American NBA Power Forward for the Detroit Pistons
Elmhurst has also produced a number of NBA basketball players, including Smush Parker. The Elks have since moved to a smaller hall on the same block, which continues to be rented out for events, including professional wrestling.
See also
- Elmhurst (disambiguation)
- Chinatown, Brooklyn (布鲁克林華埠)
- Chinatown, Flushing (法拉盛華埠)
- Corona, Queens
- Flushing, Queens
- Chinatown, Manhattan (紐約華埠)
- Little Fuzhou (小福州)
- Chinatown, Avenue U (唐人街, U大道)
- Chinatown, Bensonhurst (唐人街, 本生浒)
- Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Chinese Americans in New York City
- Chinatowns in the United States
- Koreatown, Manhattan
- Koreatown, Long Island
- Koreatown, Fort Lee
- Koreatown, Palisades Park
References
- ^ a b c d e Marques, Amanda (August 4, 1985). "If You're Thinking of Living in: Elmhurst". The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
- ^ Kleinman, Dena. " A Hospital Where Ethnic Cnange is Constant", The New York Times, October 6, 1982. Accessed September 18, 2012. "Dr. Stanley Bleich had been an intern less than a month at the municipal hospital in Elmhurst, Queens, when he examined a Korean man who had obvious indications of tuberculosis.... The hospital, one of the city's 16 municipal hospitals, is in what immigration officials have described as the city's most ethnically diverse neighborhood."
- ^ Hevesi, Dennis. " Memory-Filled Tanks; Queens Loses 2 Roadside Landmarks", The New York Times, September 20, 1993. Accessed March 24, 2008. "The Elmhurst tanks — those 200-foot monoliths that stood sentinel to the changing landscape of Queens and as harbingers of hair-tearing delay on the highway to Manhattan — are down, deflated forever, their skeletal remains waiting to be dismantled."
- ^ Elmhurst gas tanks, Queens Tribune. Accessed June 4, 2007. "But when the beloved landmarks weren’t really doing the business anymore they came down in 1996 and by 2001 there was almost no trace of the tanks that once supplied business and homes across the city."
- ^ "A Growing Chinatown in Elmhurst". Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=YjJSI1L5QCQC&pg=PA79&dq=Hong+Kong+Supermarket+Flushing&hl=en&ei=UXrSTs3NMobh0QGx3rUn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Hong%20Kong%20Supermarket%20Flushing&f=false
- ^ Greenhouse, Steven (December 9, 2008). "Supermarket to Pay Back Wages and Overtime". The New York Times.
- ^ http://www.asiabank-na.com/elmhurstx.htm
- ^ Lawrence A. McGlinn, Department of Geography SUNY-New Paltz. "Beyond Chinatown: Dual Immigration and the Chinese Population of Metropolitan New York City, 2000, Page 4" (PDF). Middle States Geographer, 2002, 35: 110–119, Journal of the Middle States Division of the Association of American Geographers. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
- ^ http://queens.about.com/od/shopping/ss/queens_mall.htm
- ^ http://www.forestcity.net/properties/shop/neighborhood_centers/Pages/queens_place.aspx
- ^ Our Schools, New York City Department of Education
- ^ Cinema Treasures Elmwood Theatre
- ^ Century, Douglas (2006-08-20). "A Night Out with Julissa Bermudez". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
- ^ Berkow, Ira. "BASEBALL; Amid Some Uncertainty, The Expos Play to Win", The New York Times, June 18, 2002. Accessed October 22, 2007. "Minaya, born in the Dominican Republic but raised since age 8 in Elmhurst, Queens, was the assistant general manager with the Mets when Selig called last winter and offered him the job with the Expos."
- ^ Tony Pastor, father of vaudeville by Armond Fields -2007
- ^ The New York Times - August 27, 1908
- ^ Severo, Richard. "Carroll O'Connor, Embodiment of Social Tumult as Archie Bunker, Dies at 76", The New York Times, June 22, 2001. Accessed November 18, 2007. "The O'Connors lived well, at first in the Bronx, later in a larger apartment in Elmhurst, Queens, and finally in a nice single-family home in Forest Hills, Queens, then an enclave for people of means."
- ^ Talbot, Margaret."Profiles, Supreme Confidence", The New Yorker, March 28, 2005, p. 40. Accessed October 22, 2007. "Tells about Scalia’s childhood in Trenton, New Jersey and Elmhurst Queens. His father, Eugene, was a professor at Brooklyn College and a believer in the principles of the New Criticism."
Sources
| 40x40px | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elmhurst, Queens. |
- AIA Guide to New York City, 3rd Edition (1988) ISBN 0-15-104040-0 (Hardcover); ISBN 0-15-603600-2 (Paperback)
- Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300055366.
- Pictures of Elmhurst with descriptions (In lower right options, choose "Always show title and description" for descriptive titles to appear)
- Old Elmhurst Blog, A blog discussing the history of Elmhurst
- Forgotten New York
| Jackson Heights | Jackson Heights | East Elmhurst | |
| Woodside | North | Corona | |
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| Maspeth | Middle Village | Rego Park |
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Coordinates: 40°44′34″N 73°52′48″W / 40.74291°N 73.87998°W{{#coordinates:40.74291|-73.87998||||||| |primary |name= }}