QUEENS 1921

by Kevin Walsh

In 1921, the numbering system in Queens, where most named streets were given numbers (a practice that strived to lessen confusion by eliminating different street systems in towns around the borough (ie. 2nd Street in Astoria and Flushing would thence have different numbers) had begun. As this excerpt from the list of Queens streets in the Brooklyn Eagle Almanac shows, though, in 1921 the new system was only in place in Woodhaven and other southern Queens regions. Numbering would gradually be implemented for the rest of the decade.

Of course, the new system was even more baffling, with 58th Avenue, Street, Place, Road, Drive, Lane …

Also, if you needed to find, say, 84th Avenue on the list, you had to know how to spell it and look in the E’s.

6 comments

Joe Raskin November 14, 2011 - 6:38 pm

Check out how many Myrtle Avenues there were!

Reply
Tom Merolla November 18, 2011 - 6:58 pm

Where did you find the Brooklyn Eagle Almanac entries for Queens? My father and other relatives were born and lived in Queens at addresses that no longer exist such as 208 Astoria Avenue…..

Reply
Gary Dunaier November 20, 2011 - 1:19 am

I remember reading somewhere that the reason the “58th Avenue, Street, Place, Road, Drive, Lane” situation existed was because the powers that be didn’t want the street numbers to go unusually high. (Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I read it, so I can’t cite it as a source.) As it is, the highest street number in NYC is 271st Street, on Hillside Avenue near the Nassau County border.

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KevinJWalsh November 20, 2011 - 9:10 am

Out west, street numbering can go into the 1000s in some cases. I think NYC did pioneer, at least in American street numbering in the three digits.

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Anna November 20, 2011 - 1:13 pm

Our street address has 5 digits.

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Sandy November 21, 2011 - 4:24 pm

Unusually high street numbers, typically with huge gaps in between them are used in rural towns as a way of gauging distance between streets. It’s easier for emergency services to estimate arrival times and pinpoint locations

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