CREEDMOOR Psychiatric Center is located on the old grounds of the Creedmoor rifle range, deeded to New York State for that use by the National Guard in 1872. International matches were held between American and European teams; the grounds encompassed a clubhouse, railroad station (along the long-abandoned Central Railroad of Long Island) and a local hotel. Bowing to complaints of locals of drunken visitors and stray bullets zinging by, the rifle range closed in 1908 and became a state mental hospital in 1910, and still operates today.
The only vestige of Creedmoor’s shooting days are the names of some of its streets: Winchester, Sabre, Musket, Range, and formerly, Pistol. You might suspect Springfield Boulevard should be included among them, for the Springfield Rifle (first produced in Springfield, Massachusetts), but the road is named for Spring Field, an old southern Queens settlement now a part of Cambria Heights, and persists in the neighborhood name Springfield Gardens.
The road begins as a modest two-lane road at Northern Boulevard and 219th Street in Bayside, but gains lanes south of Jamaica Avenue and roars south all the way to beyond the Belt Parkway, ending at Springfield Park in Brookville.
Like most of Queens’ main routes Springfield Boulevard goes back to the colonial era, or perhaps earlier as a Native American path. In this 1852 map excerpt I have marked what was then called Springfield Road in red. It intersects roads that are on today’s maps as Jamaica Avenue, Hempstead Avenue/Turnpike, Hollis Avenue and Linden Boulevard.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site. Take a look at the new JOBS link in the red toolbar at the top of the page on the desktop version, as I also get a small payment when you view a job via that link.
9/13/23
9 comments
Ransom, Parrott, and others too. And the other vestige. The long range shooting trophy is still the Creedmore Cup
Until about fifty years ago, Springfield Boulevard, south of the Belt Parkway, continued past 147th Ave., where it now ends. It went all the way to Rockaway Boulevard following a narrow twisting path that frequently flooded after rainstorms. The old right of way is completely overgrown now.
That was Springfield LANE. I remember a bicycle ride in late 1975 down Rockaway Boulevard which still had twin Type F lamps in the Kennedy Airport vicinity. Before I found myself in Nassau, I found the dirt road Springfield Lane which enabled me to return toward Brooklyn where I lived (Bay Ridge)
I imagine by 1975 Springfield Lane was closed to motor traffic because of frequent flooding. When open to traffic in the old days it was effectively the south end of Springfield Blvd. I remember traveling on it to visit relatives in the Rockaways.
I love that the map shows many property owners names that we are all familiar with: Ryder, Snedicker, Remsen, and Bergen.
As a former Alley Pond Co-op owner (1991-2000) I’m disappointed that you didn’t mention how Springfield Blvd meanders its way through all those very pleasant Bayside neighborhoods; it passes by Alley Pond Park &
through the former Vanderbilt Parkway’s Springfield Blvd underpass. For those fortunate enough to live there now, I’m sure you realize that the best is yet to come when the autumn leaves appear on the numerous trees all
along Springfield Blvd; such great colors.
Springfield Blvd is very familiar to me. I grew up on Murdock Avenue between Springfield and 219th Street in Queens Village. We shopped in the stores along the avenue and I worked in a few while going to school.
I recall my father telling me that a group of homes on Murdoch had been built by Brooklyn Union Gas for their employees.
Murdoch going up the hill from Springfield was paved with Belgian block so that horse drawn wagons could get up it more
easily.
I also remember riding my bike on Springfield Lane going to Idelwild Airport / JFK. As the high tide started the road would flood.
While Francis Lewis east of Springfield was a dirt road up to 120th Ave. into the ‘60’s
There are Rifles and ammo named for Creedmoor.