TOLEDO COURT, ELMHURST

by Kevin Walsh

Why would there be a Toledo Court at 92-30 56th Avenue in Elmhurst, adjacent to Elmhurst Park and close by Queens Center Mall? The answer, it would seem, is that the builder grew up nearby before Queens streets were numbered in the 1920s.

As this 1915 map excerpt shows, nearby 92nd Street was once called Toledo Street, and 90th Street, off the map to the left, was once Chicago Street; perhaps area developers were from the Midwest. When Queens streets were numbered, these nuggets of history were lost, as well as this batch of alphabetized streets that are now avenues in the 50s. As you can see, streets went through at least two names before numbers were applied.

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9/23/23

3 comments

Kenneth Buettner September 28, 2023 - 7:59 am

When the old street names were changed to a borough-wide numbering system, a simple jingle was created to help folks understand it.
The jingle is:
“In Queens, to find locations best
Avenues, roads and drives run east and west;
But ways to north or south
’tis plain are streets or place or even lane.”
It worked in the 1920’s and still works 100 years later.

Reply
Hart Sastrowardoyo September 28, 2023 - 12:03 pm

Does a book of current present Queens street names and their predecessor names exist?

Reply
Kevin Walsh September 29, 2023 - 12:43 pm Reply

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