Whitestone

Contents 1 Whitestone 2 History 3 Community Profile 4 Places of Worship 5 Local Testimonials 6 Creative Accents 7 Community Within Whitestone 8 Conclusions on Whitestone 9 References

Whitestone

Whitestone is a large residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the City of New York borough of Queens. It is located between the East River to the north and 25th Avenue to the south. Whitestone is also surrounded by neighboring College Point, Flushing, Bayside, Auburndale, Linden Hill, and Murray Hill. The neighborhood is part of the NYPD's 109th Precinct and Queens Community Board 7. It is traditionally bounded by the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (opened 1939) on the west and the Throgs Neck Bridge (opened 1961) on the east. The zip code of Whitestone is 11357.^[1]

View 11-10 154th Street in a larger map

History

The area originally belonged to the estate of Francis Lewis, a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the late nineteenth century, many wealthy New Yorkers began building mansions in the area, on what had once been farmland. Soon, development of the area in the 1920s started to flourish. Trolley and a Long Island Rail Road train service on the Whitestone Branch was expanded into the neighborhood. Although this rail service ended during the Great Depression, a small part of the right-of-way was later used by Robert Moses to help construct the Belt Parkway, which includes the Whitestone Expressway which runs along the southeast edge of the former Flushing Airport and through Whitestone. Since 1985, Flushing Airport has been abandoned.^[2]

Community Profile

^[3]

^[4]

Population:37,573 Number of Households:14,154 Median Age:43.82 Median Income:$69,537 Crime Index:118

Population Details^[5]

Gender: Male 48.3% Female 51.7% Population ChangeSince 1990 3% Since 2000 0% Race: White 77.2% Black 2.5% Asian/Pacfic Islander 16.1% Other 4.1% Ethnicity: Hispanic 9.2% Non-Hispanic 90.8%

Crime

Total crime risk 118 Personal crime risk 180 Murder risk 234 Rape risk 59 Assault risk 155 Property crime risk 101 Burglary risk 71 Larceny risk 102 Motor vehicie theft risk 93

Household Breakdown

Average household size 3 Single 37.9% Married 47.1% Separated 3.5% Widowed 8.3% Divorced 5.1% Household:Family 69.9% Households:Non-family 30.1% Households:No Children 73.9%

Income

Median household income $56,877 Median household net worth NaN Change in average houshold income 25% Per capita income $32,720 Median disposable income $56,877 Household income by range $0-$50K 4,983 $50K-$100K 4,797 $100K-$200K 3,497

Home Value

Median house sale price $495,000 Median value of home equity $222,521 Median value of investment property equity $35,768 Median value of vehicles owned $21,045 Average total househoid expenditures $63,826 Meidan mortgage debt 77,168 Over $200K 876

Housing Information

Median dwelling age 46.0 Owner-occupied dwellings 69% Renter-occupied dwelling 24% Vacant dwellings 7% Median years in residence 3

Education Attainment

^[6]

HS degree 25.8% Bachelors Degree 15.2% Graduate Degree 8.3% Job TypeWhite Collar 0% Blue Collar 0% Enrollment by gradeNursery/Pre-School 118 Kindergarten 301 Grades 1-4 1,265 Grades 5-8 NaN Grades 9-12 NaN

Places of Worship

St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church is located in the neighborhood. Whitestone’s large Italian community can be evidently seen on Sundays when St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church is filled to capacity during its Italian mass.^[7]

The Grace Episcopal Church is located on Clintonville street in Whitestone. The church was built in 1858 and is celebrating its 150th anniversary. It was built on land donated by Francis Lewis.^[8]

Whitestone Hebrew Center is also located on Clintonville street, was built in 1929.W.H.C. is the oldest Jewish institution serving the communities of Whitestone, Malba, Beechhurst, College Point and parts of Flushing. The Whitestone Hebrew Centre, under the religious leadership of Rabbi Steven Axelman, is administered by a Board of Trustees and Officers elected by the membership. Numerous volunteer committees involve many of its members in the day to day administration of the synagogue. The Congregation is the collective responsibility of the membership and reflects a deep commitment to the equality of men and women in every aspect of synagogue life. The Whitestone Hebrew Center's membership is diverse in age, interests and occupations. Members are active not only within the Congregational community but in the general community as well.^[9]

St. Nicholas Church was founded in 1916 as a parish of the North American Missionary Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The original wooden church was built in 1919 and was in use for nearly 50 years until its replacement in 1968 with the present building. The founding members of the parish were almost exclusively of Russian, Galician, Carpatho-Russian, and Ukrainian origin. Today, the church provides the place of worship and spiritual care of people of many different backgrounds including Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Italian, Belorussian, American, Romanian, Georgian, Latin American and so on and so forth.^[10]

The Greek Orthodox Church Holy Cross is located on 150th street.On Christmas Day, December 25, 1975 the doors of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church of Whitestone were opened for mass for the first time. The first liturgy was conducted by Father John Skandalios who was hired on a temporary basis. Fund-raising soon took place with family-style get-togethers. One year passed before the Holy Cross Church was officially recognized by the Archdiocese. Slowly, as the news reached families of the Whitestone area, the community began to grow and prosper. By the second year, three children had been enrolled in the Greek Afternoon School program under the direction of Ms. Moschokarfis.^[11]

Local Testimonials

We love this area, It's very peaceful and not at all crowded. It's the closest to living on Long Island without having to pay their high taxes. Mr. Licalzi, a New York City police officer who left Woodside two and a half years ago to move here with his wife, Karen. ^[12]

This is still a thriving shopping street because everyone here is friendly and says hello, Al La Scala, owner of the Karl Ehmer Quality Meats store at 14-05 150th Street, an establishment his father founded as Phil's Meat Market in 1948. ^[13]

Creative Accents

Cherry Valley Deli and Grill is easily at the top of the list for Whitestone residents. The 24-hour deli serves more than 150 types of heroes, wraps and rolls and they just recently ventured into delivery service. This gives local residents even more the reason to scarf down what many have been clamoring about for years.^[14]

Verdi’s has a fine reputation for having New York & Long Island’s premier catering halls, with two locations: Verdi’s of Westbury in Westbury Long Island, and Verdi’s of Whitestone in Queens, New York. Verdi’s caters to all Weddings, Social Events and Corporate Events. Verdi's has family operated catering halls that boast "restaurant quality food."The finest cuisine and old world service, in two locations, and supervised by a dedicated Restaurateur family can only mean one thing, "An Affair Which Will Last a Lifetime".^[15]

^[16]

One of the largest spreads belonged to W.W. Cryder, a Dutchman whose farm dominated the northern part of the neighborhood. The property started from the present day service road of the Cross Island Parkway extending down to the sea shore. His homestead was located on 166th Street and 10th avenue which is the former site of the old Whitestone Hospital. After Cryder sold his farm much of the vacant land became wild and overgrown. At the water's edge several small private homes were built. Broadway composer Arthur Hammerstein and his actress wife Dorothy Dalton along with Harvey S. Firestone of Firestone Tires all built mansions on the former site of Cryder’s farm. Most of these private homes, however, did not survive past the Second World War and were demolished by the city all except for Hammerstein’s which is now a national landmark. he Cryder farm is long since gone and nothing more remains but the apartment complexes which bear the family , and the lane that led to the farm. However, a new discovery has been made. Standing in a parking lot at the corner of 162nd Street and 9th Avenue is an amazing site. The old water tower that once belonged to the Cryder farm still remains. Never torn down and over looked by the ages, it still stands to this very day! When the Le Harve complex was built the construction company never touched the structure which serves no purpose since underground pipes services the areas water supply.^[17]

Community Within Whitestone

Malba is a neighborhood in north central Queens that is bounded to the north by the East River (Powell's Cove), to the east by the Whitestone Expressway, to the south by 15th Avenue, and to the west by 138th Street. Its name is derived from the first letters of the surnames of the five founders, all residents of New Haven, Connecticut: George A. Maycock, Samuel R. Avis, George W. Lewis, Nobel P. Bishop, and David R. Alling. The land was acquired in 1883 by William Ziegler, president or the Royal Baking Powder Company; a subsidiary, the Realty Trust Company, developed 163 acres (sixty-six hectares) in 1908 for wealthy boaters and fishermen, and in the same year railroad service was extended. There were thirteen houses by the time of the First World War and more than a hundred were built in the 1920s. The railroad station closed in 1932. In the mid 1990s Malba had about four hundred houses, ranging in value from $500,000 to $1 million; a group of homeowners, the Malba Association, attends to the interests or the neighborhood.^[18]

Conclusions on Whitestone

The neighborhood of Whitestone is without a doubt a highly enriching and lively place to live and visit. Diversity can be easily seen throughout the numerous places of worship throughout the entire "town". Town is the bustling three-block stretch of 150th Street north of the Cross Island Parkway that forms Whitestone's commercial heart. Here along with several restaurants can be found the florist, the bakery, the shoe-repair store, the barbershop, the deli and other shops that many main streets have lost. The town's offerings are supplemented by two major shopping centers, the Whitestone Mall on 153d Street and the Waldbaum's Shopping Plaza on 154th Street, which offer ample and unmetered parking. The high home prices of Whitestone make the neighborhood especially desirable. The outlook for Whitestone in the near future is questionable, as rising inflation could cause home prices to become stagnate, and eventually decrease in value. Although one thing is certain, the neighborhood of Whitestone will remain an affluent and extremely desirable place to live.

References

1. ↑ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007
2. ↑ http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_nm=CL-Communityinfo&branch_id=W
3. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Clearview-Whitestone-NY.html
4. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Clearview-Whitestone-NY.html
5. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Clearview-Whitestone-NY.html
6. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Clearview-Whitestone-NY.html
7. ↑ http://stlukewhitestone.org/
8. ↑ http://gracechurchwhitestone.org/
9. ↑ http://www.uscj.org/metny/whitestonehc/
10. ↑ http://stnickchurch.web.officelive.com/default.aspx
11. ↑ http://www.holycrosswhitestone.org/
12. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/19/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-whitestone-queens-riverfront-loving-its-isolation.html?pagewanted=1
13. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/19/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-whitestone-queens-riverfront-loving-its-isolation.html?pagewanted=1
14. ↑ http://www.cherryvalleydeli.net/
15. ↑ http://www.verdis.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi
16. ↑ http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SLICES/whitestone.tower/whitestone.tower.html
17. ↑ http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SLICES/whitestone.tower/whitestone.tower.html
18. ↑ http://www.malba.org/