Timeline of Queens facts for kids

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

Prior to 20th century

• 1657 - Flushing Remonstrance
• 1683 - Queens County created.
• 1790 - Population: 16,014.
• 1821 - Horse racing track opens.
• 1858 - First all-star baseball game and first games in which admission is charged takes place in Corona at the old Fashion Race Course.
• 1860 - Population: 57,391.
• 1870 - Population: 73,803.
• 1880 - Population: 90,574.
• 1889 - BMT Myrtle Avenue Line begins operating.
• 1890 - Population: 128,059.
• 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.

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1900
  • King Manor Museum founded in Jamaica.
  • Population: 152,999.
• 1909 - Queensboro Bridge opens.
• 1910
  • East River Tunnels open.
  • Population: 284,041.
• 1911 - Queens Chamber of Commerce established.
• 1912 - Chapin Home for the Aging active.
• 1914 - Murray Hill Theatre opens in Flushing.
• 1915 - US Open tennis tournament relocates to Queens.
• 1916 - Queensboro Plaza (New York City Subway) opens.
• 1920 - Population: 469,042.
• 1928 - The 7 Train reaches Flushing
• 1930
  • King Kullen grocery supermarket in business.
  • Population: 1,079,129.
• 1933 - IND Crosstown Line begins operating.
• 1936 - Triborough Bridge built.
• 1939
  • April 30: 1939 New York World's Fair opens.
  • Bronx–Whitestone Bridge built.
• 1940
  • Queens–Midtown Tunnel opens.
  • Beacon Theater opens in Long Island City.
  • Population: 1,297,634.
• 1941 - Strand Theatre opens in Astoria.

1950s-1990s

• 1950 - Population: 1,550,849.
• 1953 - Queens Symphony Orchestra formed.
• 1960 - Population: 1,809,578.
• 1963
  • The revised (1963) New York City Charter creates community boards within each borough.
  • Weight Watchers founded.
• 1964
  • 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.
• 1968 - Queens Historical Society founded.
• 1969 - Mets win the World Series for the first time.
• 1971 - Queens Tribune newspaper in publication.
• 1976
  • Afrikan Poetry Theatre founded.
  • 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.
  • Population: 1,951,598.
• 1993 - New York Hospital Queens active.
• 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.

21st century

2000s - 2010s

• 2000 - Population: 2,229,379.
• 2001
  • November 12: Airplane crash occurs.
  • Astoria Performing Arts Center established.
• 2007 - Newtown Historical Society formed.
• 2010
  • March 10: José Peralta, of Jackson Heights became the first Dominican-American to be elected to the New York State Senate.
  • Queens Memory Project begins.
  • Population: 2,230,722 in Queens.
• 2013
  • Grace Meng becomes U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district.
  • 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 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.
• 2021
  • January 4: Nurse Sandra Lindsay, received her second and final dosage of a EUA approved COVID-19 vaccine. With the second dosage, she is expected to have a 95% immunity to COVID-19.
  • February 10: Citi Field is converted into a COVID-19 vaccination "mega-site" operated by the City of New York.