St. Albans is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Jamaica to the northwest, Hollis to the north, Queens Village to the northeast, Cambria Heights to the east, Laurelton to the southeast, Springfield Gardens to the south, and South Jamaica to the southwest. St. Albans is centered on the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The small western enclave of Addisleigh Park is a U.S. historic district where many notable African Americans have lived, including Jackie Robinson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Lena Horne, and many jazz musicians such as Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.
St. Albans is located in Queens Community District 12 and its ZIP Code is 11412. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 113th Precinct. Politically, St. Albans is represented by the New York City Council's 27th and 28th Districts.Current City Council Districts for Queens County, New York City. Accessed May 5, 2017.
History
Early settlement Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next two centuries.
By the 1800s, the lands of four families—the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums, and Hendricksons—formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica. In 1814, when the Village of Jamaica (the first village on Long Island) was incorporated, its (the village's) boundaries extended eastward to Freeman's Path (now Farmers Boulevard), and south to Lazy Lane (called Central Avenue in 1900, then Foch Boulevard in the 1920s, thus including parts of present-day St. Albans. In 1852, the old mill pond that is now at the center of Baisley Pond Park was acquired by the Brooklyn waterworks for use as a reservoir.
Later development In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road's Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears on the first timetables. In 1892, an area called Francis Farm was surveyed and developed for housing. There were numerous Francis families farming in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica in the 1880s.Other records indicate at least some of these lived in an area then called Jamaica South and/or Springfield. Francis households in Jamaica, Queens, in 1880 census 1890 Marriages and Deaths from the South Side Observer 1884 Jamaica Deaths Springfield Cemetery – pg 1 Springfield Cemetery – pg 2 Jamaica baptisms Maps from 1873 and from 1891 show a W. Francis owning land just west of the LIRR tracks and north of present-day Linden Boulevard. 1873 map of Town of Jamaica with a W. Francis living west of railroad tracks 1891 map of Town of Jamaica with a W. Francis living west of railroad tracks This 1909 map shows subdivision in the same area as the Francis farm shown on earlier maps. 1909 map showing a subdivision of Francis farm in the Addisleigh Park area – earlier subdivision east of the LIRR was called "The Terrace" Francis Lewis Boulevard (named for a signer of the Declaration of Independence, from Queens), which does not yet appear on maps from 1909, nor in 1910, is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans.
Soon, the first street lights illuminated the crossroads that is now Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store. By July 1, 1898, the St. Albans Long Island Rail Road station opened where the tracks crossed Locust Avenue (now Baisley Boulevard). (This indicates trains stopped in 1897) The station was razed and replaced with the current, grade separated station on October 15, 1935.
In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City (and with the Town of Jamaica and the Village of Jamaica thereby dissolved), the new post office for the 600 residents was named St. Albans, after St Albans in Hertfordshire, England, which itself was named after a Saint Alban, thought to be the first Christian martyred in England. The name had been in use for the area since at least 1894 for the name of the school district,. Mentions 1894 split from Hollis. See also full article and sketch of school: and the LIRR station was named St. Albans when it opened in 1898. A 1909 map also shows a St Albans Avenue and a St Albans Place in the area. St Albans Avenue was name of 118th Ave east of 196th Street. (Francis Lewis Boulevard is not on the map.) Also, St. Albans Place was the name of 121st Road. (See Queens, NY, Street Name Changes 1914 – May 1951.)
The site was originally occupied by the St. Albans Golf Course and Country Club, which was completed in 1915. The club brought rich and famous golfers, including baseball star Babe Ruth,See also: http://www.protectsaintalbans.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ElectedRepresentativeSupportLetters.pdf http://www.addisleighpark.org/ http://www.astorialic.org/starjournal/1940s/1942september_p.php http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60612F93858157A93CBA8178ED85F468485F9 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20A1EF83E59157A93C1A9178AD95F4C8485F9 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F83C581B7B93C4A81789D85F478485F9 and hosted the 1930 Metropolitan Amateur. The Depression forced the golf course owners to try to sell, but plans for private development fell through. The land was seized by the federal government in 1942, and construction soon began on the St. Albans Naval Hospital, which opened in 1943. After construction was completed in 1950, the hospital had 3000 beds and contained a network of 76 wards. The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974, reopening as a VA hospital two years later, and more recently evolved into the Veterans Administration St. Albans Primary and Extended Care Facility. A portion of the hospital site became Roy Wilkins Park in the 1980s.
Addisleigh Park subsection
Within St. Albans is the small western enclave of Addisleigh Park, a U.S. historic district that consists of single-family homes built in a variety of styles between the 1910s and 1930s. Though originally intended as a segregated community for white people only, from the late 1930s many notable African Americans have lived there. Today, it remains a predominantly African American and Jamaican enclave that is more upscale than surrounding areas in southeast Queens.
Between 1900 and 1940, the village of Addisleigh Park was developed by a handful of eminent white entrepreneurs including Edwin H. Brown, Gerald C. English, and Alexander Rodman. Restrictive covenants were established to prohibit the sale of any of its properties to blacks. A 1926 New York Times article insists, "Addisleigh, together with the St. Albans Golf Club, was laid out under the personal direction of Edwin H. Brown, and carries a land and house restriction of the highest type." Two lawsuits were filed successfully by white residents who accused their neighbors of breaking the contractual segregation imposed on the neighborhood by its developers. Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the New York Historic Districts Council, says about this backlash, "It was unpleasant, as it was a case of a number of narrow-minded neighbors trying to fight what they saw as an invasion of unwanted people in their area." Affluent white New York City-based public figures moved into Addisleigh Park to experience the privacy of suburban seclusion. Addisleigh Park boasted well-kept rows of Tudor and Colonial homes. The neighborhood's close proximity to Manhattan allowed for quick and frequent commuting. During the Swing Era, Manhattan's 52nd Street served as the epicenter of Swing Era live entertainment and musical innovation. For this reason, many successful African American jazz musicians began to recognize Addisleigh Park as the newest suburban haven for wealthy, influential artists.
In 1948, in Shelley v. Kraemer, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially restrictive covenants violated the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment, though by that year, Addisleigh Park had already become a haven for world-famous African Americans in jazz and sports. The neighborhood was declared a historic district by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2011.
Demographics Based on data from the 2010 United States census, the population of St. Albans was 48,593, a change of −1,453 (−3%) from the 50,046 counted in 2000. 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 Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 1% (469) White, 88.6% (43,073) African American, 0.3% (129) Native American, 0.9% (417) Asian, 0% (16) Pacific Islander, 0.5% (258) from other races, and 2.2% (1,085) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.5% (3,146) 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 Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016.
The entirety of Community Board 12, which mainly comprises Jamaica but also includes St. Albans and Hollis, had 232,911 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.5 years. This is slightly lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of between 0–17, 27% between 25 and 44, and 27% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 14% respectively.
As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 12 was $61,670. In 2018, an estimated 20% of St. Albans and Jamaica residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (12%) 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 56% in St. Albans and Jamaica, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , St. Albans and Jamaica are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.
Housing St. Albans housing consists mostly of detached, one and two-family homes. Linden Boulevard is the major shopping street. In 2011 The New York Times reported that many foreclosures were occurring and there was a high level of unemployment. At that time, many black people were moving from St. Albans to the Southern United States.
Police and crime South Jamaica and St. Albans are patrolled by the NYPD's 113th Precinct, located at 16702 Baisley Boulevard. The 113th Precinct ranked 55th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. But the precinct crime rate is much lower than in 1990, all categories having decreased by 86.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 5 murders, 28 rapes, 156 robberies, 383 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 414 grand larcenies, and 138 grand larcenies auto in 2018.
Fire safety
St. Albans is served by two New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations: Engine Company 275/Ladder Company 133 – 11136 Merrick Boulevard Engine Company 317/Ladder Company 165/Battalion 54, at 11711 196th Street.
Health