- City:
- Forest Hills, Jamaica, New York City, Queens, NY
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1935
Description
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) tore up disused trolley tracks along, repaved, and otherwise beautified Queens Boulevard during the 1930s. 2,500 men, who would otherwise be unemployed, were put to work on the job. Work stretched along Queens Blvd. for eight miles: from Roosevelt Avenue in Sunnyside to Hillside Avenue in Jamaica. Groundbreaking for the massive $1.5 million infrastructure improvement project occurred on October 5, 1935, with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.
One aspect of the project called for the “plant[ing of] Norway Maple Trees in Malls. Pave mall area with concrete block. Plant vines and hedges at Elevated Pillars along Queens Blvd., in New York City, Queens Co.”
Source notes
National Archives; Record Group 69: Records of the Work Projects Administration; Records of the Project Control Division; microfilm publication T935; roll 41.
"Mayor Wields Pick to Start Queens Paving"; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 6, 1935 (page 2A).
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on August 13, 2014.
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