Jamaica, Queens

Map courtesy Apple Maps.

HOW TO GET THERE: The Long Island Rail Road; the E, F, and J subway lines; many bus routes; the JFK AirTrain.

I wasn’t going to post about a short walk that I did on the spur of the moment, that didn’t seem very interesting at first. After some reflection I realized there was more of Jamaica about which to write than what I saw on the walk.

Jamaica has been a commercial and transportation center in Queens for over 200 years. The first segment of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) opened from Brooklyn to Jamaica, a distance of 9 miles (14.5 kilometers), in 1834. It roughly paralleled the Jamaica Turnpike, now Jamaica Avenue, that connected with the road to Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn. Through the 19th century the LIRR expanded west of Jamaica and east on Long Island. Jamaica Station, a trainspotter’s paradise, is the busy hub of the LIRR (the busiest commuter railroad in the United States), a station for the E and J subway lines, a stop or terminal for many local bus lines, and an end point for the JFK AirTrain.

Several courthouses and federal, state, and city government offices are in Jamaica. My former co-worker Elaine, who grew up in College Point, Queens, talked about what a treat it was to take the bus to the big department stores in Jamaica, especially the flagship store of Gertz. Macy’s and Montgomery Ward also had branches there. A daily newspaper, the Long Island Press, was printed in Jamaica for over 150 years. But since the 1960s the big stores and the Long Island Press have gone. The Gertz building has undergone transformations and Rufus King Park is an oasis, but Jamaica Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard look tired.

The JFK AirTrain opened in 2003 and abetted the notion of Jamaica becoming an “edge city” tied to JFK Airport. Since then there has been a lot of new development, mostly near Jamaica Station. The photos below show the evolution of Jamaica Station: on the left, the station building (1913), housing LIRR offices; on the right, the station and new high-rise development.

Anyone who has looked out the window of an LIRR train east of Jamaica Station will have noticed that Jamaica has a definite “this side of the tracks, that side of the tracks” aspect. South of the LIRR Main Line, Jamaica is much less built up than north of the tracks, with the notable exception of the York College campus of the City University of New York. There seems to be ample space and opportunity here for new development, in particular housing that is truly affordable. Jamaica has some of the best public transportation in New York City. This kind of development would also be a shot in the arm for business in Jamaica. This need not be incompatible with the notion of an “edge city” because JFK is a jobs generator and Jamaica is a potential beneficiary thanks to its proximity to JFK. In short, Jamaica has too much going for it to become a missed opportunity.

At Jamaica Avenue and 153 Street is the former home of the First Reformed Church of Jamaica, now the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL).

From the website of the American Guild of Organists:

The First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica was established in 1702 for Dutch merchants who settled near Jamaica. An octagonal-shaped building with a steeply-pitched roof topped by a cupola and weathervane was erected in 1716. Church history places the original building at about Jamaica Avenue and 162nd Street.

In 1833, the congregation relocated to Jamaica Avenue and 153rd Street where the second church was built. The Georgian-style building included a tower that was topped by a cupola and weathervane. This church building burned In 1857.

The third church [JCAL] was built from 1858-59 on the same site. Designed and constructed by master carpenter Sidney J. Young (a member of the congregation), with the assistance of master mason Anders Peterson, the building with its asymmetrical towers, round-arched openings, and corbel tables shows a sophisticated use of brickwork and reflects the growing popularity and influence of the architectural style known as "Rundbogenstil." Young visited other local churches for inspiration, possibly including the Church of the Pilgrims and South Congregational in Brooklyn. His creation was regarded as one of the finest Early Romanesque Revival churches in New York. A plaque at its entrance notes that it was ''dedicated to the worship of the triune God October 6th 1859.'' This building served the church for more than a century, but by the 1960s downtown Jamaica began a long period of decline. This building was designated in 1966 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and in 1980 was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The old church fell into disrepair was ultimately condemned as part of an urban renewal project. The congregation moved out in the mid-1980s and, after a few years in a temporary base, the settled into its present home at 159-29 90th Avenue.

Jamaica and its surrounds were settled by Dutch farmers and merchants from the late 1600s. My sixth great-grandfather (if he was generation 1, I’m generation 9), Theodorus Polhemus, was born in Jamaica in June 1717. His great-grandfather, Johannes Polhemus, was the founding pastor of three Dutch Reformed congregations in Brooklyn that survive to this day. Theodorus almost certainly went to the First Reformed Church of Jamaica as a youth. He later settled in Rockland County, New York, and died there on 26 November 1789.

Immediately west of JCAL is the Queens County Family Court. The façade on Jamaica Avenue has panels with quotations from the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908 - 1993). This is the first one I saw and boy, did it hit home. It reads, “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.”

It is fitting that these inscriptions are across the street from the Rufus King Mansion Museum. I arrived during normal opening hours but for some reason the museum was closed.

Rufus King (1755 - 1827) was a signer of the Constitution, a U.S. Senator from New York, and a prominent early abolitionist. The museum was his home.