Timeline of Queens

The following is a timeline of the history of the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Prior to 20th century

• 1657 – Flushing Remonstrance
• 1683 – Queens County created.^[1]
• 1790 – Population: 16,014.^[2]
• 1821 - Horse racing track opens.^[3]
• 1858 - First all-star baseball game and first games in which admission is charged takes place in Corona at the old Fashion Race Course.^[4]
• 1860 – Population: 57,391.^[2]
• 1870 – Population: 73,803.^[2]
• 1880 – Population: 90,574.^[2]
• 1889 – BMT Myrtle Avenue Line begins operating.
• 1890 – Population: 128,059.^[2]
• 1898 – January 1: Queens is established as a borough in the City of Greater New York. The borough consists of only part of the previous boundaries of Queens County; Nassau County is established in the remaining part. ^[5]

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1900
  • King Manor Museum founded in Jamaica.^[6]
  • Population: 152,999.^[2]
• 1909 – March 30: Queensboro Bridge opens.^[5]
• 1910
  • September 8: East River Tunnels open.^[5]
  • Population: 284,041.^[2]
• 1911 – Queens Chamber of Commerce established.^[7]
• 1912 – Chapin Home for the Aging active.^[8]
• 1914 – Murray Hill Theatre opens in Flushing.^[9]
• 1915 – US Open tennis tournament relocates to Queens.
• 1916 – November 16: Queensboro Plaza station opens.
• 1920 – Population: 469,042.^[2][10]
• 1928 – The 7 Train reaches Flushing
• 1930
  • August 4: King Kullen grocery supermarket in business.^[11]
  • Population: 1,079,129.^[2]
• 1933 – IND Crosstown Line begins operating.^[12]
• 1936 – Triborough Bridge built.^[5]
• 1939
  • April 29: Bronx–Whitestone Bridge built.^[5]
  • April 30: 1939 New York World's Fair opens.^[7]
• 1940
  • November 15: Queens–Midtown Tunnel opens.
  • Beacon Theater opens in Long Island City.^[13]
  • Population: 1,297,634.^[2]
• 1941 – Strand Theatre opens in Astoria.^[14]

1950s–1990s

• 1950 – Population: 1,550,849.^[2]
• 1953 – Queens Symphony Orchestra formed.^[15]
• 1960 – Population: 1,809,578.^[2]
• 1963
  • The revised (1963) New York City Charter creates community boards within each borough.^[16]
  • May 15: Weight Watchers founded.
• 1964
  • April 17: Shea Stadium opens, bringing Major League Baseball and the National Football League to Queens with the New York Mets and the New York Jets.
  • April 22: 1964 New York World's Fair opens.^[7]
• 1968 – Queens Historical Society founded.
• 1969 – Mets win the World Series for the first time.
• 1970 – Flushing Tribune (now Queens Tribune) newspaper in publication.^[17]
• 1976
  • Afrikan Poetry Theatre founded.^[18]
  • Son of Sam serial killings take place over a year in Flushing, Bellerose, and Forest Hills.
• 1983
  • Silvercup Studios in business.
  • Gary Ackerman becomes U.S. representative for New York's 7th congressional district.
• 1985 – Greater Astoria Historical Society founded.
• 1986 – Mets win their second World Series.
• 1990
  • Citicorp Building constructed, at the time the tallest building between Manhattan and Boston.^[19]
  • Population: 1,951,598.^[2]
• 1993 – New York Hospital Queens active.^[8]
• 1996 – Energy Brands, maker of Vitamin Water, established in Whitestone.
• 1997 – Arthur Ashe Stadium opens, home to the US Open tennis tournament.
• 1998 – Gregory Meeks becomes U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district.^[20]

21st century

2000s–2010s

• 2000 – Population: 2,229,379.
• 2001
  • November 12: American Airlines Flight 587 crashed.^[21]
  • Astoria Performing Arts Center established.^[18]
• 2007 – Newtown Historical Society formed.^[22]
• 2010
  • March 10: Jose Peralta, of Jackson Heights became the first Dominican-American to be elected to the New York State Senate.^[23][24]
  • June: Queens Memory Project begins.
  • Population: 2,230,722.^[25]
• 2013
  • Grace Meng becomes U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district.^[26]
  • The graffiti wall 5 Pointz in Long Island City falls prey to redevelopment and is torn down without any opportunity to preserve the artwork.
• 2014
  • October 23: 2014 Queens hatchet attack.
  • Melinda Katz becomes borough president.
• 2017
  • January 20: Jamaica, Queens^[27] born Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States.
• 2019
  • February 14: After being awarded one of the two new headquarter locations for Amazon, the company announced it was withdrawing its plans to establish a presence in Long Island City, and with this withdrawal the prospect of 25,000 new jobs.

2020s

Further information: COVID-19 pandemic in New York City

• 2020
  • December 14: Sandra Lindsay, a Registered nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, became the first recipient of the first dosage of the then only Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approved COVID-19 vaccine – the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.^[28]
  • Population: 2,405,464.^[29]
• 2021
  • January 4: Nurse Sandra Lindsay, received her second and final dosage of a EUA approved COVID-19 vaccine.^[30] With the second dosage, she is expected to have a 95% immunity to COVID-19.^[30]
  • February 10: Citi Field is converted into a COVID-19 vaccination "mega-site" operated by the City of New York.^[31]

See also

• Queens directories
• Queens history
• National Register of Historic Places in Queens County, New York
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Queens
• List of streetcar lines in Queens
• List of New York City Subway stations in Queens
• List of Queens borough presidents
• List of Queens neighborhoods
• Neighborhood histories: Astoria, Bayside, College Point, Corona, Douglaston, Elmhurst, Flushing, Glendale, Jamaica, Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Rockaway, Whitestone, Woodhaven, Woodside, etc.

other NYC boroughs

• Timeline of Brooklyn
• Timeline of the Bronx
• Timeline of Staten Island
• Timeline of New York City – a timeline inclusive of both Greater New York City and Manhattan history.