Richmond Hill, Queens

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Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in eastern-central Queens, New York City, USA.

1 History
2 Diversity
3 Libraries
4 Parks
5 Schools
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

The hill referred to as Richmond Hill was created by the glacier that formed Long Island when it melted, leaving behind huge piles of stones and rocks it had dragged across the continent.

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 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 1920's 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.

[edit] Diversity

Originally, many Jewish and Irish people had lived in Richmond Hill. Today, Richmond Hill is home to large numbers of Guyanese, Trinidadian, and Puerto Ricans. There is also a large Sikh population in the neighborhood. Many residents (mostly natives from Guyana) who once lived in Richmond Hill, live in the bordering neighborhood, Kew Gardens because of easier travel to Manhattan and to join other members of their culture.

Richmond Hill has many colonial homes. Although small, they are quite pretty. The neighborhood is generally working class as many of its wealthier residents picked up and left mainly for Long Island and Manhattan. The white flight has left the community to fend for itself.

Famous former residents include Jacob Riis, The Marx Brothers, Rodney Dangerfield and Phil Rizzuto.