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This parkland draws its name from the nearby Cemetery of the Evergreens, which was founded in 1849. The Cemetery of the Evergreens, located along Bushwick Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border, is one of the many cemeteries that sprung up in Queens County in the 19th century. After a decades-long struggle to eradicate yellow fever from Manhattan, city officials targeted filth Read more...
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The name of this park combines the names of the adjacent neighborhoods in northwestern Queens – Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Jackson Heights was primarily farmland until the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909 brought a population boom. The area takes its name from John C. Jackson (1809-1889), the former President of the Hunter’s Point, Newtown and Flushing Turnpike Company. Read more...
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The 450 members of the Quercus genus make up the trees that are commonly known as oaks. The genus is found mainly in the North Temperate Zone and higher altitudes of the tropics. The species of oak most prevalent in North America are the pin oak (Q. palustris), red oak (Q. rubris), and white oak (Q. alba). Some oaks are Read more...
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This playground, bounded by 25th Avenue, 98th Street, and 100th Street, stands in East Elmhurst, an historic neighborhood in northwestern Queens. Elmhurst was established in 1652 as Newtown, and originally covered the entire northwestern portion of Queens. The neighborhood was developed in the early 1890s, and renamed in 1896 by Cord Meyer, the owner of the Cord Meyer Development Company. Read more...
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Dutch Kills Playground shares its name with the adjacent school and the neighborhood in northwestern Queens. “Kill” is a Dutch word which means “little stream,” and the area takes its name from the 1643 Dutch settlement near the “kill” that flowed south to Newtown Creek. A small village surrounded by outlying farms developed here during the 17th and 18th centuries. Read more...
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Jabez E. Dunningham (1868-1945), an Elmhurst resident, was celebrated as a father of civic progress. Born in England, Dunningham became the London representative for the publisher Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) in the early 1890s. He moved to New York in 1896 and worked for Pulitzer until the publisher’s death in 1911. After his publishing career ended, Dunningham devoted himself to fighting Read more...
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This triangular site, at the intersection of Cooper Avenue, Cypress Hills Street, and 65th Place, was named for John Wesley Drumm (1862-1930) on April 19, 1932 by the Board of Aldermen. Drumm was a pioneering Queens educator who broadened the knowledge and horizons of generations of neighborhood children. His 37-year career as a principal in Queens public schools began in Read more...
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Doughboy Park is bounded by Woodside Avenue, 52nd Street and 39th Road, in the Woodside section of Queens. Although the park received its name by local law in 1971, its eponymous monument has stood on the site since 1923. During the first World War, British soldiers referred to their American counterparts as “doughboys” because of the large round buttons on Read more...
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This park is named in honor of Abram D. Ditmars (1822-1899), an Astoria native who served as the first mayor of Long Island City. Ditmars was born in Newtown, New York on February 14, 1822 and attended public schools in the area. He later studied law under the auspices of John L. Riker and was admitted to the bar in Read more...
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Delphin H. Greene (1935-1992) was a policeman, community activist, and longtime resident of the Cambria Heights neighborhood of Queens. Born in Brooklyn in 1935, Greene served in the United States Army and received an honorable discharge in 1961. He then joined the New York City Police Department, reaching the rank of detective and serving in a number of different units Read more...
