RICHMOND HILL, QUEENS

'Richmond Hill' is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the South and South Jamaica to the east.

Contents

History

Diversity

Libraries

Parks

Schools

See also

External links

History

The hill referred to as Richmond Hill is a moraine created by the Wisconsin glacier that formed Long Island. During one of the glacier's recessions, it left behind a pile of soil, debris and rocks (termed glacial erratics) it had collected while advancing down North America.
Richmond Hill is rich in history. The Battle of Long Island, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, was fought in 1776 along the ridge now in Forest Park, near what is now the present golf course clubhouse. Protected by its thickly wooded area, American riflemen used guerilla warfare tactics to attack and defeat the Hessians.
Richmond Hill's name was inspired either by a suburban town near London, England, or because of Edward Richmond, a landscape architect in the mid-1800s who designed much of the neighborhood. In 1868, a successful banker named Albon P. Man bought the Lefferts and Welling farms, and hired Richmond to lay out the community.
Over the next decade streets, schools, a church, and a railroad were built, thus making the area one of the earliest residential communities on Long Island. The area is well known for its large-frame single family houses, many of which have been preserved since the turn of the twentieth-century. Many of the Queen Anne Victorian homes of old Richmond Hill still stand in the area today.
The area first became developed in 1918, when the BMT Jamaica Avenue elevated train line (today the J/Z lines of the New York City Subway) was extended in the neighborhood.
The Triangle Hofbrau was a restaurant which was frequented by such stars as Mae West in the 1920s and 1930's. It sat on the triangular piece of land bordered by Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue and Myrtle Avenue.
Near the northwest corner of Hillside Avenue and Myrtle Avenue sits an old time ice cream parlor, Jahn's. Not far away is Lefferts Boulevard which, with the other streets, defines the central core of Richmond Hill.

Diversity

Originally, many Jewish and Irish families had lived in Richmond Hill. Now Richmond Hill has many Hispanics, Guyanese, other West Indians, South Asians, and some Europeans living in the community. Today many Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, live alongside a minor Jewish population. Richmond Hill has many Guyanese people and is often thought of as Little Guyana. Along main roadways ethnic food from all over the globe is available to residents and visitors.

Libraries

★ Lefferts Branch

★ Richmond Hill Branch

Parks

★ Forest Park

★ Jacob Riis Triangle

★ Lt. Frank McConnell Memorial Park

★ Smokey Oval

Schools

Richmond Hill residents are zoned to schools in the New York City Department of Education.
Zoned elementary schools include:

★ Ps 51

★
★ 87-45 117th St

★ Ps 161 Arthur R. Ashe Junior School

★
★ 101-33 124th St

★ Ps 54 Hillside Ave School

★
★ 86-02 127th St

★ Ps 55 the Maure School

★
★ 131-10 97th Ave

★ Ps 56 Harry Eichler School

★
★ 86-10 114th St

★ Ps 62 Chester Park School

★
★ 97-25 108th St

★ Ps 66 Oxford School

★
★ 85-11 102nd St

★ Ps 90 Horace Mann School

★
★ 86-50 109th St
Residents are zoned to M.S. 137 America's School of Heroes.
Richmond Hill High School [1] is located in the neighborhood.
Private schools include:

★ Bethlehem Christian Academy

★
★ 119 19 91st Avenue

★ Hebrew Academy-West Queens

★
★ 8801 102nd St

★ Holy Child Jesus School

★
★ 11102 86 Av

★ Islamic Elementary School

★
★ 130-08 Rockaway Blvd

★ Our Lady of the Cenacle

★
★ 87 25 136 St

★ St Benedict Joseph Labre

★
★ 94-25 117th St.

★ Theatre Street School

★
★ 87-61 111Th St

★ Yeshivat Ohr Haiim

★
★ 86-06 135th St

See also

★ List of Queens neighborhoods.

External links

★ 1873 Map of Richmond Hill, Queens

★ 2000 Census data for ZIP code 11418

★ 2000 Census data for ZIP code 11419

★ Friends of the Richmond Hill Library

★ New York City Transit

★ NYPD 102nd Presinct

★ Noteworthy people of Richmond Hill

★ Richmond Hill Block Association

★ Richmond Hill Historical Society

★ Richmond Hill Local News

★ Queens Historical Society

★ Toxic Targeting Toxics Map of Richmond Hill 2004