When the British acquired New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664 and named it New York, Queens County–neighbored by Kings and Suffolk counties–contained five townships: Jamaica, Oyster Bay, Flushing, Newton (later Elmhurst), and Hempstead. The 1790 census recorded 5,393 residents of Queens, 1,095 of whom were enslaved. When greater New York was consolidated in 1898, Queens was split in two: The smaller, eastern portion became Nassau County, with Hempstead and Oyster Bay, while Newton, Jamaica, and Flushing became the new Queens.
In 1909, a group of bankers and real estate agents called the Queensboro Corporation purchased 325 acres of land in Trainsmeadow, an area of mostly farmland in Newton. The Corporation’s director, Edward MacDougall, named the land Jackson Heights, after John Jackson, a descendant of one of the original Queens families and a leader of transportation development in Queens (in 1860, Jackson had built one of the first major roads in Queens: Jackson Avenue, known today as Northern Boulevard). The “Heights” part of the name was meant to add prestige; Technically, Jackson Heights is slightly higher in elevation than neighboring Elmhurst.
In 1910, the Queensboro Bridge opened. Jackson Heights’ development didn’t follow a master plan. Lots were quickly divided up for sale to other developers, with MacDougall holding onto a significant percentage of the land. Early buildings were clustered along Northern Boulevard. When the elevated 7 Train line was unveiled in 1917, connecting western Queens and Midtown Manhattan, Jackson Heights’ real growth could begin.
MacDougall’s neighborhood was modeled after 19th Century British planner Ebenezer Howard’s garden city concept, which envisioned urban areas limited in size and density, full of open, airy spaces. Howard’s 1898 book, Garden Cities of To-morrow, had a big effect on urban developers of that era. In it he wrote: “Town and country must be married, and out of this joyous union will spring a new hope, a new life, a new civilization.” Jackson Heights was the third garden city neighborhood in Queens. Sunnyside, developed by Charles Stein in the 1920s, was built as a working class neighborhood with row houses and the Phipps Garden Apartments complex. Forest Hills, developed by Clarence Perry and sponsored by railroad tycoon Russell Sage, welcomed working class families, but only upper middle class families could afford the large, Tudor-styles homes. Jackson Heights added a new spin on the garden city concept with its garden co-op apartments. Unlike the other two neighborhoods, Jackson Heights was meant to be an elite, exclusive suburban community for white, nonimmigrant Protestants, within a close commute to Midtown Manhattan. Ironically, today Jackson Heights is the most economically and ethnically diverse of the three.
The original six apartment complexes in Jackson Heights were built on blocks developed all at once, set back for ample landscaping. Buildings only covered 30-50% of a given block, while in Manhattan they covered 70%. The apartments faced interior courtyards with flower gardens, sitting areas, and walkways. They were given fancy names like Chateau.
Streets were shaded by trees. To lure urban professionals, MacDougall donated land to churches and built playgrounds, golf courses, tennis courts, and community clubhouses.
He planned a commercial strip along 37th Avenue and 82nd Street. It was key that the infrastructure was top-notch to attract the right type of people. Roosevelt Ave was built to accommodate an extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (the original private operator of the New York subways), taking the Manhattan commute down to twenty minutes. To meet the demand for single and two-family homes, MacDougall developed row houses and villa-like houses with English garden motifs or made to look like a French villa.
Semi-detached single and two-family houses flanked the east-west borders of the residential core.
In 1919, the Queensboro Corp introduced a cooperative ownership plan in five of the original six complexes. Families who were renting previously were invited to buy their units for $500 down, and mortgage payments of about $52 a month. Over the next decades, co-ops would make up a significant portion of the neighborhood’s housing.
From 1923-30, fifteen apartment complexes in addition to the original six were built, and private homes filled the gaps between them in an area covering 33 square blocks. The Towers were MacDougall’s largest and most elaborate apartment complexes in Jackson Heights.
Built during the 20s, units ranged in price from 18 to $25,000 and were among the most expensive apartments in all of New York at the time. The Towers’ enclosed gardens ran the length of the block and were full of statues and fountains. The intricate wrought iron gates to the gardens were guarded by statues of griffins, adding to the cultivated aura of exclusivity. In the 70s, the penthouse units in The Towers would attract a handful of Colombian oligarchic families.
By 1930, the neighborhood was racially homogenous, solidly middle class, and architecturally unified. When the Depression hit, Jackson Heights was booming. But in the following years, prices of apartments were halved and many of the units were subdivided. Jackson Heights wouldn’t regain its former real estate value until the 90s. Part of why the neighborhood had a hard time bouncing back was because of Robert Moses’ highway out to Long Island, and the housing boom in Nassau County, which connected Midtown Manhattan to new, further secluded suburban areas. In 1950 the golf course and local tennis courts were leveled for cheaper, less elaborate, and higher-density apartments. By 1954 local developments had pretty much stopped, and MacDougall’s vision had come to an end.
Jackson Heights’ cohesion as a neighborhood is partly owed to its inception as a commercial venture. The neighborhood doesn’t correspond to any political jurisdiction; Even the local community board (decentralized units the city introduced in 1973 to make government more in-touch with neighborhood concerns) is shared with neighboring Corona and East Elmhurst. Jackson Heights is also comparatively young: Elmhurst was settled in the Dutch period, and Corona in the 1800s. Though some of the original green space has since been lost, MacDougall’s vision of a green urban community has remained to some degree. The original garden apartments still stand. In 1994, The Jackson Heights Beautification Group, founded in 1988 to combat graffiti and crime, successfully lobbied to achieve the designation of New York Historic District for Jackson Heights’ 36-block residential center. MacDougall would probably be surprised to learn that the Queensboro Corporation’s development, carefully calibrated to exclude the non-immigrant, non-white, and working class, laid the foundation for what has become one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
References:
Bazzi, M., Doane, R., Kasinitz, P. (1998). “Chapter 8: Jackson Heights, New York.” Cityscape, 4(2): Racially and Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods, pp. 161-177.
Copquin, C. G. (2009). “Jackson Heights,” The Neighborhoods of Queens, Yale UP.
Maly, M. (2011). “Jackson Heights, New York,” Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic Neighborhoods, Temple UP.
Miyares, I. M. (2004). “From Exclusionary Covenant to Ethnic Hyperdiversity in Jackson Heights, Queens.” Geographical Review, 94(4), pp. 462-483.
Plunz, R. (2016). A History of Housing in New York City, Columbia UP.
Williams, K. (2015). “How Queens Became New York City’s Largest Borough.” Curbed New York.
