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 adding missing items with 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.