Kew Gardens Community

History of community

Kew Gardens is a small yet charming neighborhood with its village like characteristics and historic buildings embedded in its nestled winding streets. This town is centrally located in the borough of Queens and was one of the seven planned garden communities designed and developed in the 19th century by English builder Albon Platt Man and his son Alrick Hubbell Man. First calling this area The Kew and then naming it Kew Gardens after the infamous botanical gardens in London, England with the architecture buildings resembling England’s “neo-Tudor” style which can be seen in many sections of the neighborhood today. Location of this town is bordered by Union Turnpike and the Jackson Robinson Parkway (formerly named the Interboro

In 1910, Kew Gardens community estate was sold and changed to building more various historical sites, such as the Long island rail road station, a Queens Bridge Golf course, south of the railroad and later the first apartment building which was named Kew Bolmer at 80-45 Kew Gardens Road. Even with Kew Garden’s many historical significance, it lacks landmark protection resulting in Todays densely populated residential community with its commercial businesses. Kew Gardens also gained unfortunate negative notoriety, through a worldly publicized murder of a young woman, Kitty Genovese, in 1964. The New York Times article reported that none of the neighbors in this small Kew Gardens community responded to the young woman’s cries and help during the brutal stabbing outside her apartment home . This murder in Kew Gardens had become front page news throughout the world, almost validating to the world the myths of New York City being a heartless city. This murder in Kew Gardens initiated adoption of Good Samaritan laws nationwide. Today, Kew Gardens has risen from that heinous crime and has become the central small secret in Queens that holds much diversity and historical spots to venture for the

This quaint community, has a total population of 56,443 in 2017.( divided amongst males at 27,877 and females 28,566) (Kew Gardens Demographics & Statistics-Employment, education, Income Average in Kew Gardens , 2017). The community is diverse with the majority of Whites followed by Hispanics residing in the area. In 2010 the race/ethnicity in Kew Gardens was divided as follows: Whites 49.3 %, Hispanics 24.3 %, Asian 15.6 % , Blacks 6.5 % and other 4.3% . (Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin-New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas, 2010) . The median age is 36.06 years old with average household income of $69,122 (Kew Gardens Demographics & Statistics-Employment, education, Income Average in Kew Gardens, 2017). The accessibility of three MTA trainlines, (less than an hour to travel to Manhattan from Kew Gardens), makes this neighborhood an enticing location for city commuters. Kew Gardens is also located between JFK International and La Guardia airports, as well as nearby to the Grand Central Parkway and Long Island Expressway. Three hospitals are locally nearby as follows: Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is 1.1 miles away; Long island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital is 2.3 miles and New York -Presbyterian Queens is 4.0 miles away. This makes this tucked away Queens town perfectly situated for travel and