St. Albans, Queens
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St. Albans is a residential community in the borough of Queens, New York City around the intersection of Linden Blvd and Farmers Blvd., southeast of Jamaica and northeast of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton. Many famous jazz musicians used to live in some of the large houses there (particularly in the western section known as Addisleigh Park).
Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherlands Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next couple of centuries.
By the 1800s, the plantations of four families - the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums and Hendricksons - formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of Jamaica Township.
The area was earlier known as Francis Farm -- possibly the farmland of the family of Francis Lewis of nearby Whitestone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Francis Lewis Boulevard is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans.
In the 1890s, St. Albans began to emerge from a sleepy farm community. The first street lights illuminated Lazy Lane, which became Central Road and then Linden Boulevard, and Freeman's Path, which became Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store.
In April, 1892, a N.Y. syndicate laid out the Francis Farm. On July 1, 1898, St. Albans railroad station opened (later razed in 1935, and replaced with grade elimination October 15, 1935).
In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City, 100 residents officially named their community after a village in England called St Albans, which itself was named after a Saint Alban, thought to be the first Christian martyed in England.
The St. Albans Golf Course, built in 1915, brought rich and famous golfers, including baseball star Babe Ruth. The Depression forced the golf course owners to sell to the government, and it became the St. Albans Naval Hospital, serving thousands of World War II veterans. The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974 and more recently evolved into the Veterans Administration St. Albans Primary and Extended Care Facility.
The housing here consists mostly of detached, one and two-family homes. Linden Boulevard is the major shopping street.
Notable residents
- Count Basie
- Brook Benton
- James Brown (musician)
- W. E. B. DuBois
- Roy Campanella
- John Coltrane
- Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis saxophonist
- Mercer Ellington
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Milt Hinton
- Lena Horne
- LL Cool J
- Illinois Jacquet
- Francis Lewis ?
- Joe Louis
- Floyd Patterson's mother, Annabelle
- Jackie Robinson
- Al Roker
- Babe Ruth
- William Grant Still
- Fats Waller
- Clarence Williams
- Lester Young
External links
- Jazz Tour of Queens (http://queens.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forgotten-ny.com%2FSTREET%2520SCENES%2Fjazztour%2Fqueensjazz.html)
- Newsday article on St. Albans (http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/spectown/hist0014.htm)
- 1990 Population Demographics (http://www.queens.lib.ny.us/pub/demographics_1990.asp?branch=St.%20Albans)