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Our Community--Saint Albans

    The community now known as Saint Albans began as a farming center. It was a portion of a 1655 land grant to Dutch settlers from Peter Stuyvesant, then Governor of New Netherlands. For about two hundred years, it remained a sleepy agricultural district in the eastern portion of Jamaica Township. Local activity revolved around the plantations of four families--the Everitts, Hendricksons, Ludlums, and Remsens. August Everitt's General Store was the center of commerce in the area. At the end of the 19th century, new shops and streetlights began to appear along Lazy Lane. This street later became Central Road, and then Linden Boulevard. A railway station and a U.S. Post Office soon appeared. The town was officially named Saint Albans in 1899, after an English town  in Hertfordshire. (Saint Alban was a martyr who lost his life providing shelter to a persecuted Christian.) A year earlier, a group of  Christians  started holding Wednesday evening meetings in their houses. The church destined to become the Presbyterian Church of Saint Albans, grew out of these cottage prayer meetings.

On the Links
    The St. Albans Golf Course, built in 1915, brought rich and famous golfers, including legendary New York Yankees Home-Run King Babe Ruth. The economic downturn of the Great Depression forced the course owners to sell the land to the U.S. government. The St. Albans Naval Hospital was then built on the grounds. In 1974, the hospital changed hands to the Veterans Administration, and currently serves as the St. Albans Extended Care Facility.

Star Quality
    Musicians Barbara Harris of The Toys, Lena Horne, Mercer Ellington, Bill Kenny of the Ink Spots, and the soul singer James Brown, Count Basie and Fats Waller and singer Ella Fitzgerald lived here, as did baseball stars Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color line,  and Roy Campanella. Other luminaries included NBA great Bob Cousy, and Hip Hop superstars Q-Tip, and LL Cool J.

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

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Any reproduction without written permission is strictly prohibited.