Rosedale is a neighborhood in New York City in the southeastern portion of the borough of Queens. The neighborhood is on the border of Queens and Nassau County, Long Island. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13.
HISTORY
Rosedale was originally conceived in the consolidation of the borough of Queens as a part of what is now Springfield Gardens. At the time, the Laurelton Land Company was in charge of the new Borough of Queens. It was dotted with farmland that was isolated from each other, so construction on an acceptable mode of transportation was started immediately. The Southern Railroad of Long Island (now Long Island Rail Road) was built and the whole area (today Laurelton, Rosedale, and Springfield Gardens) was served by Laurelton Station. The area was also connected to the Brooklyn waterworks. In the 20th century, the water system was less needed, and its use dwindled. Today the ruins of the aqueduct system can still be seen. After the Long Island Rail Road’s construction, many new roads such as Francis Lewis and Sunrise Boulevard (today Sunrise Highway) were constructed. The area that is now Rosedale remained farmland until the mid-1930s. After the former period of relatively slow growth, development rapidly turned Rosedale into a suburban community. Many of Rosedale’s homes are two-family homes.
In 1976, Bill Moyers presented a documentary titled Rosedale: The Way It Is. The program addressed the racial tensions in this community, which was at that time in a transition from what had been primarily an Irish American, Italian American and Jewish community to what is now mostly a community of African Americans and Caribbean immigrants.The area is home to many Caribbean immigrants compared to the Irish, Italian and Jewish Americans of the neighboring Nassau County communities of Valley Stream and Woodmere.
