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St. Albans
Where Babe Ruth Honed His Golf Game
From lihistory.com
Beginnings:
Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherlands Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, St. Albans, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next couple of 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 Name:
In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City, 100 residents officially named their community after the English village that was named after England's first Christian martyr.
Turning Points:
In the 1890s, St. Albans began to emerge from a sleepy farm community. The first street lights illuminated Lazy Lane, which became Central Road and then Linden Boulevard, and Freeman's Path, which became Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store. 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 sell to the government, and it became the St. Albans Naval Hospital, serving thousands of World War II veterans. The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974 and more recently evolved into the St. Albans Extended Care Facility.
Claims to Fame:
Musicians Count Basie and Fats Waller and singer Ella Fitzgerald lived here, as did baseball stars Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.
Where to Find More:
Reference material in the St. Albans Branch Library at 191-05 Linden Blvd., and the Queens Borough Central Library, Long Island Collection, at 89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica.
Return to Background
St. Albans map |
