Local city information for Woodhaven, NY

Woodhaven is a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens.
Woodhaven is bordered on the north by a public park, Forest Park, and Park Lane South. Woodhaven also borders Richmond Hill to the east, and Ozone Park to the south at Atlantic Avenue. Its western border is the borough of Brooklyn.

Woodhaven, once known as Woodville, has one of the greatest tree populations in the borough, and thus it has retained its suburban look. Schools, transportation, and park recreation are convenient.

The ethnically diverse neighborhood
is part of Queens Community Board 9. Woodhaven's Zip Code is 11421.

Commerce is centered on Jamaica Avenue which effectively bisects Woodhaven. On this avenue, are a large number of stores, most being small and locally owned. One of the oldest and best known was Lewis of Woodhaven, which had two locations and recently closed its doors.

European settlement in Woodhaven began in the mid-1700s as a small town that revolved around farming, with the Ditmar, Lott, Wyckoff, Suydam and Snediker families. British troops successfully flanked General George Washington's Continental Army by a silent night-march from Gravesend, Brooklyn through the lightly defended "Jamaica Pass" to win the Battle of Long Island, Queens — the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War, and the first battle after the Declaration of Independence.

Later, Woodhaven became the site of two racetracks: the Union Course (1821) and the Centerville (1825). Union Course was a nationally famous racetrack situated in the area now bounded by 78th Street, 82nd Street, Jamaica Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. The Union Course was the site of the first skinned — or dirt — racing surface, a curious novelty at the time. These courses were originally without grandstands. The custom of conducting a single, four-mile (6 km) race consisting of as many heats as were necessary to determine a winner, gave way to programs consisting of several races. Match races between horses from the South against those from the North drew crowds as high as 70,000. Several hotels (including the Snedeker Hotel and the Forschback Inn) were built in the area to accommodate the racing crowds.

A Connecticut Yankee, John R. Pitkin, developed the eastern area as a workers' village and named it Woodville (1835). In 1853, he launched a newspaper, and the few inhabitants voted to change the name of the area to Woodhaven.

In 1836, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) cars were pulled by horses along Atlantic Avenue. The cars traveled with other traffic at street level and stopped at all major intersections — much as a bus does — except that people would often hop on and hop off while the car was moving. The 1848 LIRR schedule shows an intersection called Union Course (serving that racetrack) and another called Woodville (farther east).
With electrification, the LIRR constructed permanent tracks. The Union Course station was opened April 28, 1905. In 1911, the platform was widened to four tracks, and Atlantic Avenue was mostly closed to other traffic. The four tracks split the community and become the border between Woodhaven and Ozone Park. Service on Atlantic Avenue's surface tracks and stations ended on November 1, 1939 and was subsequently replaced by underground tracks and a single underground station - the Woodhaven station of the LIRR's Atlantic Avenue Branch (at 100th Street). This station provided LIRR service for Woodhaven commuters to Jamaica station and Brooklyn (Atlantic Terminal) from 1942 to 1977. The Woodhaven station was also a popular stop for beachgoers and commuters who would transfer to the above ground LIRR Woodhaven Junction station for trains to Rockaway Beach and Far Rockaway. The Woodhaven Junction station was taken out of service when this section of the Rockaway Beach Branch was abandoned in 1962. With the removal of surface rail tracks, Atlantic Avenue was again a continuous roadway, and Woodhaven's main source of commotion was and still is store-lined Jamaica Avenue, under the shadow of the elevated "J" and "Z" subway lines.

Two Frenchmen named Charles Lalance and Florian Grosjean launched the village as a manufacturing community in 1863, by opening a tin factory and improving the process of tin stamping.
As late as 1900, the surrounding area, however, was still primarily farmland, and from Atlantic Avenue one could see as far south as Jamaica Bay, site of present-day John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Since 1894, Woodhaven's local newspaper has been the Leader-Observer.

The distinctive St. Anthony's Mansion (which later became St. Anthony's Hospital) stood on a large tract of land on Woodhaven Boulevard between 89th and 91st Avenues. The hospital significantly helped the scientific community in the creation of breakthroughs in Pulmonary and Heart treatments. A historical marker is placed there, and that area is now called Woodhaven Estates.

Dexter Park baseball field, which once occupied in Woodhaven just east of Franklin K. Lane High School is where baseball history was made in 1930 with the installation of the first engineered lighting system for night games.

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