Local city information for Saint Albans, NY

St. Albans is a residential community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, southeast of Jamaica, west of Cambria Heights and northwest of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 12, and its ZIP Code is 11412.

Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherlands Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next two centuries.

By the 1800s, the plantations of four families — the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums and Hendricksons — formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of Jamaica Township.

The area was earlier known as Francis Farm — possibly the farmland of the family of Francis Lewis of nearby Whitestone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Francis Lewis Boulevard is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans.

In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears on the first timetables. In the 1890s, St. Albans began to emerge from a sleepy farm community. The first street lights illuminated Lazy Lane, which became Central Road (also called Foch Blvd in the 1920s) and is now Linden Boulevard; and Freeman's Path, which became Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store.

In April 1892, a N.Y. syndicate laid out the Francis Farm. By July 1, 1898, a railroad station opened, which was razed in 1935, and replaced with grade elimination October 15, 1935. Today, the St. Albans station provides Long Island Rail Road service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan or Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, with transfers available at Jamaica station.

In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City, 100 residents officially named their community after St Albans in Hertfordshire, England, which itself was named after a Saint Alban, thought to be the first Christian martyred in England. The name had been in use for the area since at least 1894 for the name of the school district. There had long been a road in the area called St. Albans, and the LIRR station was named St. Albans when it opened in 1898.

The St. Albans Golf Course, built in 1915, brought rich and famous golfers, including baseball star Babe Ruth. The Depression forced the golf course owners to try to sell, but plans for private development fell through. The land was seized by the federal government in 1942,
and construction soon began on the St. Albans Naval Hospital, which opened in 1943.
After construction was completed in 1950,
the hospital had 3000 beds and contained a network of 76 wards. The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974 and more recently evolved into the Veterans Administration St. Albans Primary and Extended Care Facility.

Many famous jazz musicians used to live in St. Albans, particularly in some of the large houses in the small western enclave known as Addisleigh Park. St. Albans housing consists mostly of detached, one and two-family homes. Linden Boulevard is the major shopping street.

The neighborhood and the surrounding area are considered the heart of Queens' African-American community.

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