In his past visits to downtown Jamaica, Kevin documented alleys such as Burdette Place in 2014 and Clinton Terrace in 2000. The latter was part of a larger essay on the alleys of Queens but it offered few details on the history of this dead-end and whatever happened to its twin, Clinton Place.
On my visit to this alley in 2026, not much has changed here in the past quarter century. Demographic changes in Jamaica Hills resulted in Ideal Montessori School on this street becoming Elhaam Academy, a Muslim elementary school as the neighborhood’s Bangladeshi community continues to grow.
Looking at a property map from 1911, we see Clinton Terrace appearing as the Clinton Park subdivision that previously belonged to the Brinckerhoff family, descendants of Dutch settlers whose relatives had properties throughout Queens. Their name appears in the historic cemetery in Fresh Meadows and the avenue in South Jamaica. They first arrived here in the 1600s and lived here into the 1910s, but after that, there are no Brinckerhoffs living in Queens today.
165th Street was known as Clinton Avenue prior to its absorption into the borough-wide number grid. The two dead-ends branching from this avenue shared its namesake. With the absence of other examples, my guess is that the honoree here is either George Clinton, the first governor of this state; or DeWitt Clinton, the governor who commissioned the Erie Canal.
Kevin noted that this block used to have another dead-end, Clinton Place, not knowing when it was removed from the map. Two clues offer the answer. The zoning map from 1961 shows Clinton Place with this block zoned for apartment buildings.
[also note the traffic plaza at Merrick Boulevard and Liberty Avenue was once known as NYC’s third “Grand Army Plaza” after Manhattan’s, at 59th Street and 5th Avenue, and Brooklyn’s, at the north end of Prospect Park. There is no trace of Queens’ Grand Army Plaza today as the name fully fell out of use. — Ed.]
Allowing for a high-rise, Saxon Hall was built at that time, with Clinton Place demapped. Its route survives as a driveway to the building’s parking lot.
165th Street rises on a steep incline here, the glacial terminal moraine that follows Hillside Avenue. To the south of this avenue is the coastal plain that gently slopes to sea level. North of it are hills and ridges shaped by the most recent ice age.
A block north of the Clintons is Captain Tilly Park, which Kevin documented in 2024. On my visit, Goose Pond was undergoing a reconstruction. The dried out pond looked like an impact crater in the otherwise verdant park.
Sergey Kadinsky is the author of Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs (2016, Countryman Press), adjunct history professor at Touro University and the webmaster of Hidden Waters Blog.
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6/5/26
1 comment
Clinton Place (30 ft wide) still exists as a paper street on the NYC Planning Street Map.