Jamaica, Queens

Major Mark Park

Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was settled as a town by the English under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland. It is one of the major predominantly African American neighborhoods in the borough of Queens. It has a substantial concentration of West Indian immigrants, Indians, Arabs, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans as well as many long-established African American families. The neighborhood of Jamaica is completely unrelated to the Caribbean nation of Jamaica (although Jamaican immigrants do live in the area); the name similarity is a coincidence. The English, who took it over in 1664, named the area "Jameco," for the Jameco (or Yamecah) Native Americans, who resided on the northern shores of Jamaica Bay, and whose name means "beaver" in Algonquian languages.

Jamaica is the location of several government buildings including Queens Civil Court and the civil branch of the Queens County Supreme Court. Jamaica Center, the area around Jamaica Avenue and 165th Street, is a major commercial center, as well as the home of the Central Library of the Queens Borough Public Library.

Some locals group adjoining neighborhoods into an unofficial Greater Jamaica, including St. Albans, Hollis,Queens Village,Howard Beach and Ozone Park. The New York Racing Association, based at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, lists its official address as Jamaica. (Central Jamaica once housed NYRA's Jamaica Racetrack, now the massive Rochdale Village housing development.)

History

Jamaica Avenue was an ancient trail for tribes from as far away as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, coming to trade skins and furs for wampum. It was in 1655 that the first settlers paid the Native Americans with two guns, a coat, and some powder and lead, for the land lying between the old trail and "Beaver Pond," later, Baisley Pond. Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant dubbed the area "Rustdorp" in granting the 1656 patent. The English, who took it over in 1664, and renamed it "Jameco," for the Jameco (or Yamecah) Native Americans.

Jamaica became part of the county of Yorkshire, and, in 1683, when the province was divided into counties, it became part of Queens County, one of the original counties of New York.

Colonial Jamaica had a band of 56 Minutemen that played an active part in the Battle of Long Island, the outcome of which led to the occupation of the New York City area by British troops during most of the American Revolutionary War. In Jamaica, "George Washington slept here" is indeed true — in 1790, in William Warner's tavern. Rufus King, a signer of the United States Constitution, relocated here in 1805. He added to a modest 18th-century farmhouse, creating the manor which stands on the site today. King Manor has recently been restored to its former glory, and now houses King Manor Museum.

By 1776, Jamaica had become a trading post for farmers and their produce. For more than a century, their horse-drawn carts plodded along Jamaica Avenue, then called King's Highway. The public school system started in 1813, funded for $125 and a year later, Jamaica Village was incorporated. By 1834, the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad company had completed a line to Jamaica.

In 1850, Jamaica Avenue became a plank road, complete with toll gate. In 1866, tracks were laid for a horsecar line, and 20 years later it was electrified, the first in the state. On January 1, 1898, Queens became part of the City of New York, and Jamaica became the county seat.

The Jamaica station of the Long Island Rail Road was completed in 1913, and the BMT Jamaica Line arrived in 1918. The 1920s and 1930s saw the building of the Valencia Theatre (now restored by the Tabernacle of Prayer), the "futuristic" Kurtz furniture Store and the Roxanne Building.

Infrastructure & Economic Development

For years the area of Jamaica had been under government neglect for economic development. In the 1980's, the crack epidemic ruled the streets of Jamaica. However since then, the government reaction towards fighting crime in the area as well as the significantly dropping crime rate itself has provided a safe haven to potential entrepreneurs who plan to invest in the area. The real estate boom in New York City has greatly affected the residents of Jamaica Queens also. Real estate prices in the area have sky-rocketed and the rate of constructing new 1-3 family homes is ever increasing to fill the demand. The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation(GJDC) has taken huge steps toward reviving the economy of Jamaica. RadioShack and Old Navy have recently opened along Jamaica Avenue. A new $75 million deal with Home Depot clears the way for creation of new branch. Retail and commercial development is being extended along Sutphin Boulevard from Jamaica Ave. with recently approved rezoning methods of existing blocks in downtown Jamaica. Sutphin Boulevard has received a massive proposal to convert the area into an airport village with a mixture of hotels, restaurants and highrises surrounding the AirTrain station which was built in 2003. The AirTrain links JFK airport to downtown Jamaica which is attracting many investors.

Transportation

Hillside Avenue.

Jamaica Station is a central transfer point on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which is headquartered in a building adjoining the station; all but one of the commuter railroad's lines (the Port Washington Branch) run through Jamaica.

The New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line (E, ​F, and <F>) terminates at 179th Street, at the foot of Jamaica Estates, a neighborhood of mansions east of Jamaica's central business district. The Archer Avenue Line, which opened in 1988, (E​, ​J, and ​Z) terminates at Jamaica Center–Parsons Boulevard. Jamaica Center is not just a transit hub; it is also the name of a business and government center that includes a federal office building, and a shopping mall and theater multiplex (One Jamaica Center), and is adjacent to various other businesses and agencies, such as the main forensic laboratory facility for the New York City Police Department.

Jamaica's bus network provides extensive service across eastern Queens, as well as to destinations as distant as Hicksville in Nassau County, Q44 serves to western Bronx, the Rockaways, and Midtown Manhattan. Nearly all bus lines serving Jamaica terminate there; most do so at the 165th Street Bus Terminal or the Jamaica Center subway station.

Jamaica, a large, sprawling neighborhood, is also home to John F. Kennedy International Airport—one of the busiest international airports in the United States and the world— public transportation passengers are connected to airline terminals by AirTrain JFK, which operates as both an airport terminal circulator and rail connection to central Jamaica at the integrated LIRR and bilevel subway station located at Sutphin Blvd and Archer Avenue.

Major streets include Archer Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, Liberty Avenue, Merrick Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard (formerly known as New York Boulevard), and Sutphin Boulevard, as well as the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) and the Grand Central Parkway.

Neighboring areas are Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Hillcrest, St. Albans, Hollis, Queens Village, South Ozone Park, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, Laurelton, Rosedale, Brookville, Rochdale, Springfield Gardens, and South Flushing.

Jamaica Avenue

Jamaica Avenue.

Jamaica Avenue is one of Jamaica's main thoroughfares, and of course the neighborhood's namesake. Jamaica Avenue actually begins in Brooklyn, near the boundary of the East New York neighborhood. Jamaica Avenue enters Jamaica east of the Van Wyck Expressway, and it brings the traveler to the Social Security Administration Building, courthouses and the main branch of the Queens Public Library. and many discount stores offering a variety of goods. The 200-year-old King Manor Museum includes a park.

Education

Colleges and universities

Several colleges and universities make their home in Jamaica proper or in its close vicinity, most notably:

• York College, a Senior College of the City University of New York
• St. John's University (Queens Campus), A private, Roman Catholic University founded by the Vincentian Fathers (Lazarists)

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Jamaica's public schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education.

Public high schools in Jamaica include:

• Thomas A. Edison Vocational and Technical High School
• Hillcrest High School
• Jamaica High School
• Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
• Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School
• Van Buren High School

Public Elementary Schools in Jamaica include:

• P.S. 50 Talfourd Lawn Elementary School
• P.S. 131 Abigal Adams Elementary school
• P.S. 182Q
• P.S. 86Q
• I.S. 238Q Susan B Anthony

Private schools

Private schools in Jamaica include:

• Archbishop Molloy High School
• The Mary Louis Academy, a private, Catholic, girls' high school run by the Sisters of St. Joseph
• Immaculate Conception School, a co-ed Catholic school from Pre-K to 8th grade. The school is a local landmark located on the property of Immaculate Conception Church and Monastery, run by The Passionist Congregation of Priests.

The local Catholic schools are administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

Libraries

Queens Borough Public Library operates the Central Library in Jamaica. The Baisley Park Branch and the South Jamaica Branch are also located in Jamaica.

Notable residents

• Rafer Alston, basketball player
• Lloyd Banks, rapper from South Jamaica
• Bob Beamon, Olympic gold medalist
• Yummy Bingham, singer
• Paul Bowles, writer and composer
• Jimmy Breslin, author and columnist
• Mike Bruhert, New York Mets pitcher in the late 1970s
• Sri Chinmoy, philosopher and spiritual teacher
• Rocco DiSpirito, chef
• Alan Dugan, poet
• Ann Flood, actress
• Milford Graves, free-jazz drummer
• Marc Iavaroni, basketball player, head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies
• 50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson III), rapper from South Jamaica
• James P. Johnson, pianist and composer
• Crad Kilodney, writer
• Rufus King, signer of the United States Constitution
• Grafh, rapper
• Lamar Odom, basketball player
• Freddie Roman, comedian
• Heathcliff Slocumb, former pitcher
• Nuttin' But Stringz, violinist
• A Tribe Called Quest, rap group
• Ali Vegas, rapper from South Jamaica
• Marinus Willett, mayor of New York 1807-08
• Tony Yayo, rapper from South Jamaica
• The Lost Boyz, rap group
• Nyce, rapper from South Jamaica
• Onyx, rap group
• DJ DarkSide, popular DJ from South Jamaica

External links

• Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (the source of much of the historical information in this article)
• The Cultural Collaboration of Jamaica JAMS sponsor
• York College Web Site
• King Manor Museum, home of anti-slavery Founding Father Rufus King
• A Road Not Taken, Much NY Times City Section, April 15, 2007
• Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning
• Queens Library

Maps and aerial photography

• TerraServer Topographic Map
• TerraServer aerial photo
• Google street map
• Google hybrid map
• Map of Queens neighborhoods