Richmond Hill is a commercial and residential neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. The area borders Kew Gardens and

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China * Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Forest ...

to the north,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

and

South Jamaica South Jamaica (also commonly known as "The Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsectio ...

to the east, South Ozone Park to the south, and Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west. The neighborhood is split between

Queens Community Board 9 The Queens Community Board 9 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Kew Gardens. It is delimited by the Brooklyn border to the West, Park La ...

and 10. Richmond Hill is known as Little Guyana for its large Indo-Caribbean American (especially

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...

and

Indo-Trinidadian Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845. Indo-Trinidadians an ...

) population.Haller, Vera
"Indo-Caribbean Content, Victorian Style"
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Jnanuary 11, 2013. Accessed April 3, 2022. "Richmond Hill, in southeastern Queens, is the ultimate study in New York diversity. It is a place to eat Caribbean cuisine, shop for Bollywood movies, worship at a Sikh temple and stroll through streets lined with Victorian-era houses, a slice of pure Americana. Extending down the south slope of Forest Park, the neighborhood evolves from the quiet streets just off the park, where the old wood-framed homes are found, to vibrant “Little Guyana” along Liberty Avenue, its southern border with South Ozone Park." It’s also called Little Punjab due to its large Punjabi American population. Richmond Hill is home to a density of

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

places of worship. Main commercial streets in the neighborhood include

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Broadway and Fulton Street, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's ...

, Atlantic Avenue and Liberty Avenue. The portion of the neighborhood south of Atlantic Avenue is also known as South Richmond Hill. The

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

provides freight access via the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. Howe ...

, which runs diagonally through the neighborhood from northwest to southeast. Many residents own homes, though some also rent within small apartment buildings. Richmond Hill is located in Queens Community District 9 and its ZIP Codes are 11418 and 11419. It is patrolled by the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...

's 102nd Precinct. Politically, Richmond Hill is represented by the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

's 28th, 30th, and 32nd Districts.

Geography

Richmond Hill is located between Kew Gardens and

to the north,

and

to the east, South Ozone Park to the south, and Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west. Hillside Avenue forms its northern boundary with Kew Gardens east of Lefferts Boulevard, while Forest Park and the right-of-way of the

(LIRR)'s

form its northern edge west of Lefferts. Its western boundary north of Atlantic Avenue is formed by the LIRR's abandoned

Rockaway Beach Branch The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica ...

; south of Atlantic, the western border lies between 104th and 107th Streets. The southern border extends to around 103rd Avenue or Liberty Avenue. The

Van Wyck Expressway Interstate 678 (I-678) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway that extends for through two boroughs of New York City. The route begins at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jamaica Bay and travels north through Queens and ...

abuts the eastern end of the community. The portion of the neighborhood south of Atlantic Avenue is also known as South Richmond Hill. The area is well known for its large-frame single-family houses, many of which have been preserved since the turn of the 20th century. Many of the Queen Anne Victorian homes of old Richmond Hill still stand in the area today.

History

The hill referred to as Richmond Hill is a

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

created by debris and rocks collected while glaciers advanced down

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

during the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

. Before European colonization the land was occupied by the Rockaway Native American group, for which the

Rockaways The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of th ...

were named. In 1660, the Welling family purchased land in what was then the western portion of the colonial town of Rustdorp. The land would become the Welling Farm, while Rustdorp would be renamed

under British rule in 1664. The

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...

, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, was fought in 1776 along the ridge in present-day

, near what is now the golf course clubhouse. Protected by its thickly-wooded area, American riflemen used guerrilla warfare tactics to attack and defeat the advancing Hessians. One of the sites that would make up modern Richmond Hill, Lefferts Farm, was said to be the site of a Revolutionary War battle. Clarenceville, a farming community, was established in January 1853 on the south side of Jamaica Avenue between 110th and 112th Streets on land purchased from the Welling estate. Richmond Hill's name was inspired either by a suburban town near

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

or by Edward Richmond, a landscape architect in the mid-19th century who designed much of the neighborhood. In 1868, Albon Platt Man, a successful Manhattan lawyer, purchased the Lefferts, Welling, and Bergen farms along with other plots amounting to 400 acres of land, and hired Richmond to lay out the community. The tract extended as far north as White Pot Road (now Kew Gardens Road) near modern Queens Boulevard. The area reminded Man of the London suburb, where his family resided. Man's sons would later found the nearby Kew Gardens neighborhood from the northern portion of the land. Streets, schools, a church, and a railroad were built in Richmond Hill over the next decade, thus making the area one of the earliest residential communities on Long Island. The streets were laid down to match the geography of the area. The development of area was facilitated by the opening of two railroad stations. These were the Clarenceville station on the

Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island R ...

, at Atlantic Avenue and Greenwood Avenue (now 111th Street); and the Richmond Hill station at Park Street (now Hillside Avenue) near Jamaica and Lefferts Avenues on the Montauk railroad line between

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

and eastern Long Island. By 1872, a post office was established in the neighborhood, while the Clarenceville neighborhood was merged into Richmond Hill. Richmond Hill was incorporated as an independent village in 1894, by which time it had also absorbed the Morris Park neighborhood, which had been established in 1885. In 1898, Richmond Hill and the rest of Queens county were consolidated into the

City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the term used by many politicians and scholars for the expanded City of New York created on January 1, 1898, by consolidating the existing City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Is ...

. The

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

BMT Fulton Street Line The Fulton Street Line, also called the Fulton Street Elevated or Kings County Line, was an elevated rail line mostly in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Fulton Street from Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn in Downtown Brooklyn east ...

was extended east along Liberty Avenue into the area on September 25, 1915, terminating at Lefferts Avenue (now

Lefferts Boulevard Lefferts Boulevard is a major north–south thoroughfare in Queens, New York City, running through the communities of Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park. Its northern end is at Kew Gardens Road, in Kew Gardens, and its southern end i ...

). It is now the southern terminal of the . The area received further development when the

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

elevated, now served by the New York City Subway's , was extended east into the neighborhood at Greenwood Avenue (now 111th Street) on May 28, 1917. As the neighborhood's population continued to grow into the 1920s, smaller closely spaced houses and apartment buildings began to replace large private houses.

Demographics

Based on data from the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, the population of Richmond Hill was 62,982, a decrease of 3 (0.0%) from the 62,985 counted in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
, Population Division -

Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 11.2% (7,078)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 11.1% (6,960)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.0% (657) Native American, 27.4% (17,252) Asian, 0.2% (116)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 6.6% (4,139) from other races, and 6.6% (4,136) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 36.0% (22,644) of the population.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
, Population Division -

Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016. The entirety of Community Board 9, which comprises Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven, had 148,465 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 84.3 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of between 0–17, 30% between 25–44, and 27% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 17% and 7% respectively. As of 2017, the median

household income Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamp ...

in Community Board 9 was $69,916. In 2018, an estimated 22% of Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in twelve residents (8%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Demographic changes

Originally, many European families (Italian, Dutch, British, Irish, Scots, Danish, and German) lived in Richmond Hill. In the 1970s, the neighborhood was predominantly

. Today, the south side of Richmond Hill consists mostly of South Asian Americans (Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis) and

Indo-Caribbean Americans Indo-Caribbean Americans or Indian-Caribbean Americans, are Americans who trace their ancestry ultimately to India, though whose recent ancestors lived in the Caribbean, where they migrated beginning in 1838 as indentured laborers. There are l ...

(Trinidadians, Guyanese, Surinamese, and Jamaicans), who have steadily emigrated to the United States since the 1960s. Richmond Hill also has the largest

population in the city, and 101st Avenue has evolved into Little Punjab, or Punjab Avenue (ਪੰਜਾਬ ਐਵੇਨਿਊ), has emerged in Richmond Hill, Queens.

Points of interest

The Triangle Hofbrau, opened as a hotel in 1893 and as a restaurant in 1893, was a restaurant which was frequented by such stars as

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. It sat on the triangular piece of land bordered by Hillside Avenue,

, and Myrtle Avenue. The building has since been converted to medical offices. Near the northwest corner of Hillside Avenue and Myrtle Avenue sat an old time ice cream parlor,

Jahn's Jahn's Family Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor was an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and restaurant with locations in the New York City area and Miami-Dade County, Florida, and was famous for its huge Kitchen Sink Sundae. Only the Jahn's located in ...

. It closed in late 2007. Between Myrtle Avenue and the Montauk Line railroad is a former movie theatre, RKO Keith's Richmond Hill Theater, opened in 1929, functioning since 1968 as a bingo hall. These and several other landmarks are located in the vicinity of the "Richmond Hill Triangle", bracketed by Jamaica Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, and 117th Street. This was historically the commercial center of Richmond Hill. The intersection of Jamaica and Myrtle Avenues is also known as James J. Creegan Square. The northern edge of Richmond Hill contains the Church of the Resurrection. This Episcopalian church is an 1874 structure and is the oldest house of worship in Richmond Hill. It was placed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2003. Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places are

Public School 66 P.S. 66 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, formally known as Brooklyn Hills School, is a historic school building in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. It was designed by architect C. B. J. Snyder (1860–1945) and built in 1898. It is a -story br ...

and Saint Benedict Joseph Labre Parish.

Police and crime

Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven are patrolled by the 102nd Precinct of the

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

, located at 87-34 118th Street. The 102nd Precinct ranked 22nd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 43 per 100,000 people, Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens's rate of

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objecti ...

s per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 345 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 102nd Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 90.2% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 2 murders, 24 rapes, 101 robberies, 184 felony assaults, 104 burglaries, 285 grand larcenies, and 99 grand larcenies auto in 2018.

Fire safety

Richmond Hill contains three

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

(FDNY) fire stations: * Engine Co. 285/Ladder Co. 142 – 103-17 98th Street * Engine Co. 294/Ladder Co. 143 – 101-02 Jamaica Avenue * Squad 270/Division 13 – 91-45 121st Street

Health

preterm birth Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is betwee ...

s are more common in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers are less common. In Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, there were 92 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 15.7 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens have a higher than average population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 14%, slightly higher than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of

fine particulate matter Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...

, the deadliest type of

air pollutant Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

, in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens is , less than the city average. Eleven percent of Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens residents are smokers, which is lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, 23% of residents are obese, 14% are

diabetic Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, and 22% have

high blood pressure Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

—compared to the citywide averages of 22%, 8%, and 23% respectively. In addition, 22% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Eighty-six percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is about the same as the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 78% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," equal to the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, there are 11 bodegas. The nearest major hospitals are Long Island Jewish Forest Hills and

Jamaica Hospital Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is a private, non-profit teaching hospital and emergency facility in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York City, on the service road of the Van Wyck Expressway at Jamaica Avenue. The hospital is a clinical c ...

Post offices and ZIP Codes

Richmond Hill is covered by the ZIP Code 11418 as well as parts of 11416, 11419, and 11421. The

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

operates two post offices nearby: * South Richmond Hill Station – 117-04 101st Avenue * Richmond Hill Station – 122-01 Jamaica Avenue

Parks and recreation

, located at the north edge of the neighborhood. * Jacob Riis Triangle *Lt. Frank McConnell Memorial Park *Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park, formerly Smokey Oval Park, at Atlantic Avenue between 125th and 127th Streets. The name "Smokey Oval" referred to the smoke from the adjacent

Morris Park Facility The Morris Park Facility is a maintenance facility of the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City. It includes two employee-only side platforms on the Atlantic Branch named Boland's Landing. Two wooden platforms each 2 cars long exist on t ...

of the

. In June 2008 was named after

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

player and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, who played baseball at nearby Richmond Hill High School.

Education

Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . While 34% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 22% have less than a high school education and 43% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens students excelling in math rose from 34% in 2000 to 61% in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 39% to 48% during the same time period. Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, 17% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per

school year A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

, lower than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 79% of high school students in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.

Schools

Public schools

Public schools in Richmond Hill are operated by the New York City Department of Education. All of the following public elementary schools serve grades PK-5 unless otherwise noted. * PS 51 (grades PK-1) * PS 54 Hillside Avenue School * PS 55 The Maure School (grades K-5) * PS 56 Harry Eichler School (grades 2-5) * PS 62 Chester Park School * PS 66 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, a New York City Landmark. * PS 90 Horace Mann School * PS 161 Arthur R. Ashe Junior School Residents are zoned to MS 72 and MS 217 in Briarwood, and MS 137 in Ozone Park. Students also attend other middle schools and high schools in the city. Richmond Hill High School is located in the neighborhood. Until June 2012, the city had planned to close the high school. The city had slated the school to close; however, a court ruling prevented the school's closure. Richmond Hill High School is the zoned school for Richmond Hill Residents, while some living towards the east of Richmond Hill has Hillcrest High School as their zoned school.

Private schools

Private schools include: * Bethlehem Christian Academy * Hebrew Academy-West Queens * Holy Child Jesus Academ
Holy Child Jesus School
* Islamic Elementary School * Theatre Street School

Libraries

The

Queens Public Library The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It is one of the largest ...

operates two branches in Richmond Hill: * The Richmond Hill branch at 118-14 Hillside Avenue * The Lefferts branch at 103-34 Lefferts Boulevard

Transportation

Richmond Hill is served by several

stations. The stops at 121st Street and Jamaica Avenue, and the stops at 111th Street and Jamaica Avenue. The Jamaica–Van Wyck station on the , and the 111th Street and Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard stations on the , are also located in Richmond Hill. There was a

station named Richmond Hill on Hillside Avenue and Babbage Street along the

. However, this station was closed in 1998 due to low ridership (this station had just one daily rider at the time of its closure). The station and platform remain, though access via the staircase at Jamaica Avenue is gated off. Today the Kew Gardens and

Jamaica station Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...

s serve the area. The area is also served by MTA Regional Bus Operations routes. These include the local buses, as well as the QM18 express bus to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Notable residents

Robert Angeloch Robert H. Angeloch (April 8, 1922 - March 18, 2011) was an American artist, and co-founder of the Woodstock School of Art. Life Robert Angeloch was born in Richmond Hill, New York, April 8, 1922, to Frederick and Laura Scherer Angeloch. He se ...

(1922–2011), artist who was co-founder of the Woodstock School of Art. *

Stella Asling-Riis Stella Eugenie Asling-Riis (October 4, 1869 — 1957) was a Canadian writer and a clubwoman in New York City. Early life Histella Eugenia Asling was born at Simcoe, Ontario, the daughter of Charles Wesley Asling and Mary Isabella Morrow Asling. S ...

(1869-1957), Canadian-born novelist and clubwoman based in Richmond Hill *

Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (March 29, 1831 – March 10, 1919) was a British novelist and teacher. Many of the plots of her stories are laid in Scotland and England. The scenes are from her girlhood recollection of surroundings. Her works includ ...

(1831-1919), author of the book ''Jan Vedder's Wife'' and an advocate of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

. * Gary Barnett (born c. 1956), President and founder of

Extell Development Company Extell Development Company is an American real estate developer of residential, commercial, retail, hospitality, and mixed-use properties. Founded in 1989 by Gary Barnett, the company’s portfolio exceeds 20 million square feet. The company has ...

. *

Karen Berg Karen Berg (October 12, 1942 – July 30, 2020) was an author and the founder of the Kabbalah Centre International. She is the author of four books; ''God Wears Lipstick: Kabbalah for Women''; ''Simple Light, Wisdom from a Woman's Heart''; ' ...

(1942–2020), author and founder of the

Kabbalah Centre The Kabbalah Centre International is a non-profit organizationworldwide located in Los Angeles, California that provides courses on the Zohar and Kabbalistic teachings online as well as through its regional and city-based centers and study groups ...

. * Jack Cassidy (1927-1976), Broadway and television actor was born and raised in Richmond Hill. *

Percy Crosby Percy Lee CrosbyPercy Lee Crosby
at FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on January 8, 2016 ...

(1891-1964), creator of the comic '' Skippy''. *

Rodney Dangerfield Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Rodney Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) was an American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-line joke, one-liner humor, his c ...

(1921-2004), comedian who attended Richmond Hill High School. *

Danny Fields Danny Fields (born Daniel Feinberg; November 13, 1939) is an American music manager, publicist, journalist and author. As a music industry executive from the 1960s to the 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the history of punk ...

(born 1939), music manager, publicist, journalist and author, who was an influential figure in the punk rock world. x, drugs, rock ’n’ roll and its subject's self-deprecating humor." * Morton Gould (1913-1996), composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. who won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

, Kennedy Center Honor and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

. *

Alfred H. Grebe Alfred H. Grebe pronounced Gree-bee (1895-October 24, 1935) was a pioneer in the radio broadcasting field. He was born in Richmond Hill in the borough of Queens, in New York City. At the age of 9 he was given a radio set by his father, and so ...

(1895-1935), pioneer in radio broadcasting. * Seymour Halpern (1913-1997), politician who represented Queens in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from 1959 to 1973. * William Hickey (1927-1997), actor and voice actor best known for his

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

film ''

Prizzi's Honor ''Prizzi's Honor'' is a 1985 American black comedy crime film directed by John Huston, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner as two highly-skilled mob assassins who, after falling in love, are hired to kill each other. The screenplay co-w ...

''. *

Frank Kameny Franklin Edward Kameny (May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011) was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement. In 1957, Kameny was dismissed from his po ...

(1925-2011), LGBT rights activist. *

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

(1922-1969), novelist and poet who lived in Richmond Hill from 1950 to 1955. * Wilbur Knorr (1945-1997), historian of mathematics and a professor in the departments of philosophy and classics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. * Jack Lord (1920-1998), actor best known for portraying Lt. Steve McGarrett on '' Hawaii Five-O''. *

Jack Maple Jack Maple (September 23, 1952 – August 4, 2001) was a New York City deputy police commissioner for crime control strategies. He created the CompStat methodology of crime fighting and law enforcement strategy. He coauthored the book ''The Crim ...

(1952-2001), former deputy commissioner of

and architect of the

CompStat CompStat—or COMPSTAT, short for COMPuter STATistics, is a computerization and quantification program used by police departments. It was originally set up by the New York City Police Department in the 1990s. Variations of the program have since b ...

system that inspired the television series ''

The District ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. Pr ...

''. *

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

– Family comedy act, whose house is still noted with a commemorating plaque. * John H. Myers (born 1945), former CEO of GE Asset Management (childhood residence). *

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

(1923-1977), French-Cuban author of ''The Delta of Venus'' and diarist, who lived in Richmond Hill prior to moving to Paris in 1924. * Helen Palsgraf, plaintiff in landmark tort case ''

Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. ''Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.'', 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928), is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The case was heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest ...

'' * Jacob Riis (1849-1914), documentary journalist/author, photographer and reformer was a Richmond Hill resident. * Phil Rizzuto (1917-2007), Hall of Fame Baseball Player who lived and went to high school in Richmond Hill. Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park in the neighborhood is named after him. *

Bob Sheppard Robert Leo Sheppard (October 20, 1910 – July 11, 2010) was the long-time public address announcer for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (1951–2007), a ...

(1910–2010), public address announcer for the

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

. * Robin Tewes (born 1950), New York City-based painter, born and raised in Richmond Hill. *

Dick Van Patten Richard Vincent Van Patten (December 9, 1928 – June 23, 2015) was an American actor, comedian, businessman, and animal welfare advocate, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He was best known for his role as patriarch Tom Brad ...

(1928-2015), actor, raised in Richmond Hill. Rice, Kenny
"Van Patten's interest in racing is no act"
, ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'', October 3, 2001. Accessed August 26, 2018. "Handicapping is no act for Dick Van Patten, who grew up during the Depression in the Richmond Hill section of New York near Aqueduct Race Track." * Prabhpreet kaur Poet, raised in Richmond Hill, she overcame childhood trauma and became a bestselling author.

References

External links

1873 Map of Richmond Hill, Queens

Richmond Hill
at

Forgotten New York Forgotten New York is a website created by Kevin Walsh in 1999, chronicling the unnoticed and unchronicled aspects of New York City such as painted building ads, decades-old castiron lampposts, 18th-century houses, abandoned subway stations, trolley ...

Official government websites:
2000 Census data for ZIP Code 11418

2000 Census data for ZIP Code 11419

Historical societies:

Richmond Hill Historical Society

Richmond Hill Local News

Queens Historical Society
{{Coord, 40.695, N, 73.83, W, region:US, display=title Former villages in New York City Neighborhoods in Queens, New York Caribbean-American culture in New York City Guyanese American Indian-American culture in New York City Indo-Caribbean culture Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian culture Trinidadian and Tobagonian-American culture