Springfield Gardens, Queens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the west by Farmers Boulevard. The area was first settled by Europeans in 1660, and was subsequently farmed until the mid nineteenth-century.
Most of the main residential development came in the 1920s as Long Island Rail Road service was expanded to the area at the Springfield Gardens station. Today the area still maintains its low-rise suburban nature, and is currently home to large community of Caribbean immigrants including Jamaicans, Haitians, and Guyanese. Through the late 90's, there was a huge increase in crime due to the neighborhood gang, the Bloods. Farmers Boulevard, Merrick Boulevard, Springfield Boulevard, Rockaway Boulevard, and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard all were major streets in the area that had people hustling drugs there and where people were spray painting their gang affiliations. The high school in 2001, was the most dangerous high school in New York City. It has one of the highest crime rates of Queens' neighborhoods due to local sections such as 140th Avenue, the square, the bello (Montibellier Park), and others.[citation needed] Many of the homes now are being torn down and made for more families as more people are moving in and overpopulating the neighborhood. The neighborhood which is included in the same ZIP Code as Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, is more affluent and has less crime than Springfield Gardens.
