If you told Edward Archibald MacDougall that one day the neighborhood he founded and created, Jackson Heights, would someday be one of the most diverse places in the United States, he wouldn’t believe you. The intention of MacDougall was to create a neighborhood meant for rich white Protestants, one that would primarily exclude blacks, Jews, and Irish Catholics. It’s position offered middle to upper class Protestant whites to easily commute to Midtown Manhattan without having to live in the crowded confides of Manhattan. However, by the year 2000, the number of Hispanics residents outnumbered the number of white residents while the Asian population also began to quickly rise. What is the reason for this sudden change in the demographics in Jackson Heights? Ines Miyares outlines the main reasons for these changes as follows: the 1929 stock market crash, the subsequent real estate market collapse, or the change in immigration policies and patterns after the 1950s.

From its creation, Jackson Heights was a neighborhood filled with large apartments, in the forms of the Greystones, the Chateau apartments, and the Towers. When the Upper-Middle Class white Protestants began moving out of Jackson Heights due to the reasons listed above, the most logical group to move in were those of Hispanic origin. The large apartments were the perfect size to accommodate the large families of Hispanic groups including the Colombians and Cubans, two groups who have brought entrepreneurial experience and the capital needed to establish businesses. This was an unexpected turn of events given the way Jackson Heights was formed in the first place. Interestingly enough, in the year 2000 the number of foreign-born residents accounted for nearly 63 percent of it’s residents, compared to the 32 percent for the other four boroughs of New York City. Jackson Heights has an interesting history in regards to the fact that it started as mostly white Protestant Citadel and has transformed into a highly diverse area for New York City immigrants.