The History of Queens County, New York is older than the history of the United States. It was one of the original 10 counties of New York State and included the whole of Long Island, with the exception of Brooklyn. Queens was originally part of the Dutch Colony of New Netherland, but the Dutch lost everything to the British in 1664. The British formed the Colony of Yorkshire, which included all of Long Island except for Brooklyn, Westchester and Staten Island. That is really a big area to be one colony, even by today’s standards, so in 1693, the colony was divided up into counties, and Queens County was born, although it was much bigger than it was today. It included what is now Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
At the time of the American Revolution, Queens was still mostly farm land and played a big part in the war. Part of the Battle of Long Island was fought here. Unfortunately, the colonists lost that battle and many of the supporters of the Revolution had to flee across the river to Connecticut, leaving their farms in the hands of the British. They came back after the war and re claimed their lands. There are Revolutionary War sites in Queens, one of which is the Remsen Cemetery in Forest Hills.
From the end of the war until the 1830’s. not much changed in Queens History. It remained mostly farm land, which was needed as the number of farms in Manhattan was decreasing while the population was increasing. They had to get their food from somewhere and Queens was the place.
But Manhattan and Brooklyn for that matter were beginning to get crowded. The first intrusion into Queens happened when in 1848 cemeteries had to be established there because it was deemed unhealthy to have any more in Manhattan. Of course, the residents of Manhattan would come to Queens to visit the cemeteries and they began to appreciate the open space. And Queens was not even a part of New York City yet. That would not happen until 1893. At the same time, Nassau and Suffolk Counties were separated from Queens
The settlement of Queens picked up with towns like Long Island City and Astoria in the western most part of the county, the part closest to Manhattan More and more farms were bought up and towns formed starting in the west and moving more and more to the east each year. The coming of the elevated rail road to Queens in 1888, the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909 are two of the major factors in making Queens easily accessible from the other boroughs and a more desirable place to live. Not to mention the fact that the beaches of the Rockaway Peninsula were beginning to attract vacationers.
The building boom came to a halt in 1929 with the great depression, but picked up again in the 40’s and 50’s. today there is one farm left in Queens, the Queens Farm History Museum. It is a working farm and has many programs where you can see the history of Queens from a farmer’s point of view.
Queens is the home of both of New York City’s Airports, the highest volume shopping center in the country, The New York Mets, many great parks and golf courses and it was the home of two worlds fairs.
There is no more room for growth in Queens, unless you go straight up, and that is just what they are doing with the building high rise apartments where one family homes once stood. Still, it is not as congested as Manhattan and the other Boroughs. There are still places where you can park a car on the street, but who know what the story will be in a few years time.
