Queens Village, Queens

Queens Village is a middle-class neighborhood [cite web |url=http://www.queensbp.org/content_web/map_boundaries.htm |title=Map of Queens neighborhoods] in the New York City borough of Queens, covering the zip codes 11427 (Hollis Hills), 11428 (central Queens Village), and 11429 (Bellaire). The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13. [ [http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb_queens.shtml Queens Community Boards] , New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.]

Shopping in the community is located along Braddock, Hillside Avenue, Hempstead Avenue, and Jamaica Avenues, as well as on Springfield Boulevard.

Located just east of Queens Village, in Nassau County, is the famous Belmont Park Thoroughbred race track.

Transportation

The Queens Village station, located at Springfield Boulevard and Amboy Lane, offers service on the Long Island Rail Road Hempstead Branch to Jamaica station and to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.

New York City Bus serves Queens Village on the Q1, Q2, Q27, Q36, Q43, Q76, Q77, Q83, Q88 and the Q110 routes, and by MTA Long Island Bus on the N1, N2, N3, N6, N22, N24 and the N26 routes.

History

Queens Village was founded as Little Plains in the 1640s. Homage to this part of Queens Village history is found on the sign above the Long Island Railroad Station there. From 1824 to 1834, the area was known as Brushville, named after a successful local businessman. In 1834, the railroad arrived and the first station in Queens County was established. Residents voted to change the name of the town from Brushville to Queens. Later, the Long Island Railroad added “village” to its station’s name to avoid confusion with the county of the same name and thus the town became known as Queens Village. Queens Village was thus established in 1856 and became incorporated as part of the City of Greater New York after the consolidation of 1898 and partition of Queens into Queens and Nassau counties. Queens Village was the site of the so-called "Dumb-Bell Murder" in 1927, a crime perpetrated by a married Queens woman and her lover. Ruth Snyder persuaded her boyfriend to kill her husband, after having her spouse take out a big insurance policy with a double indemnity clause. The murderers were quickly identified and arrested and Snyder was electrocuted at Sing Sing prison in 1928. This incident was the basis for the book and film versions of the film noir classic "Double Indemnity". [ [http://crimemagazine.com/dumb.htm Crime Magazine - The Dumb-Bell Murder] , accessed September 8, 2005.] Queens Village was part of an overall housing boom that was spreading east through Queens from New York as people from the city sought the bucolic life afforded by the less-crowded atmosphere of the area. Today, many of those charming and well-maintained Dutch Colonial and Tudor homes built in Queens Village during the 1920s and 1930s currently continue to attract an interestingly diverse population. [ [http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_nm=CL-CommunityInfo&branch_id=Q Community Information Community and Library History] , accessed March 27, 2008.]

The neighborhood is residential, with a high number of detached family houses. The influx of the Indian community has brought the modernization of a large number of properties which is helping the area to keep and raise its good standard of living. Also a number of apartments building can be found in the area. In general Queens Village is a family oriented, quiet, greenish neighborhood.

Education

Elementary

P.S.33 K-5P.S.34 K-5P.S.135 K-5

(K-6 prior to 1988)

Intermediate

Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School 109 6-8

(formally Queens Village Junior High school 109 grades 7-9 prior to 1988)

Parochial Schools

Our Lady of Lourdes School K-8

St. Joachim and Anne School K-8

Grace Lutheran Day School K-8

Annual tuitions are $2,520 to $3,200 As of 2003

High School

Martin Van Buren High School 9-12

Ethnicity

Queens Village, like many parts of Queens county is extremely diverse. Caribbean American, African, African American, Guyanese, Hispanic, Indian, Filipino, and Russian people all have significant populations among the 27,647 people living within the area. Formerly, a very large Jewish community existed. However, many Jewish families have left for other parts of Queens and parts of Long Island. Still, there is a small Jewish presence in Queens Village, that has recently been augmented by an increase of Middle Eastern Jews. There has also been an increase in the number of Asian residents. The median income is $52,000, and the median home sales price is around $452,500. [ [http://www.trulia.com/NY/Queens_Village/ Queens Village Real Estate & Homes For Sale] , accessed March 27, 2008.] [ [http://www.greatschools.net/city/Queens_Village/NY] , accessed March 27, 2008.]

Notoriety

Notable Residents

Notable current and former residents of Queens Village include:
*George Gately (1928-2001), creator of the "Heathcliff" comic strip.Hernandez, Cava. [http://www.elmundo.es/2001/10/06/opinion/1056360.html "GEORGE GATELY : Creador del gato Heathcliff"] , "El Mundo (Spain)", October 6, 2001. Accessed November 20, 2007. "George Gately Gallagher nació en Queens Village, Nueva York, en 1928, meses antes de que estallase la Gran Depresión. Pero, a todos los efectos, hay que considerarle un habitante de New Jersey, en cuya localidad de Bergenfield es donde transcurrieron su infancia y su adolescencia."]
*Tevi Troy, Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04EFD81439F936A2575BC0A96F958260 WEDDINGS; Kami Pliskow And Tevi Troy] , "The New York Times", August 15, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2007.]

Notable Facts and Legend

Famed American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is said to have gotten her rifle in Queens Village at the National Rifle Association's Creedmoor Rifle Range. [http://www.queensvillageldc.org/profile.htm]

Notable Alumni of Queens Village schools

*Ja Rule - American rapper and actor
*Jon "Bowzer" Bauman
*Donny Deutsch
*Harvey Goldstein a.k.a. Harvey Brooks
*Ilene Graff - American actress and singer.
*Madeline Kahn
*Arthur "Killer" Kane - Member of the New York Dolls.
*Al Kooper
*Mario Savio - Civil Rights activist
*James Van Thach - The first Vietnamese-American to serve as a Military Advisor to the New Iraqi Army
*Frank Wilczek - awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics.
*Sherrie Fell - Comedian, Record Label VP of Breaking Records.
*DJ Whoo Kid
*Johnny Demonic - Horror punk guitarist

References

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/realestate/02LIVI.html?ex=1155614400&en=0b255562368f3d84&ei=5070 If You're Thinking of Living in: Queens Village - Strong Community Ties, Moderate Prices]