South Jamaica
Neighborhood of Queens
A Seventh Day Adventist church in South Jamaica
Location within New York City
Coordinates:40°41′N73°47′W / 40.68°N 73.79°W /40.68; -73.79
Country	United States
State	New York
City	New York City
County/Borough	Queens
Community District	Queens 12[1]
Named after	TheLenape wordYameco meaning "beaver"
Population  (2010)[2]
• Total	32,496
Race/Ethnicity [3]
• Black	72.2%
• Hispanic	15.2
• Asian	5.2
• White	1.0
• Other/Multiracial	6.4
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	11433, 11434, 11435, 11436
Area codes	718, 347, 929, and917

South Jamaica (also commonly known as "Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the New York Cityborough ofQueens. It is located south of downtownJamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsection ofgreater Jamaica bounded by theLong Island Rail RoadMain Line tracks,Jamaica Avenue, orLiberty Avenue to the north; theVan Wyck Expressway on the west;Rockaway Boulevard on the south; andMerrick Boulevard on the east, adjoining the neighboring community ofSt. Albans.^[4] Other primary thoroughfares of South Jamaica include Baisley, Foch,Linden, Guy R. Brewer, and Sutphin Boulevards.^[5] The 180th Street Business Improvement District is responsible for the development of the area.

Considered aslum in the early 20th century,^[6][7] the neighborhood now consists ofworking-class andmiddle-class residents.

South Jamaica is located inQueens Community District 12 and its ZIP Codes are 11433 through 11436.^[1] It is patrolled primarily by theNew York City Police Department's 113th Precinct,^[8] but also by the 103rd Precinct.^[9] Politically, South Jamaica is represented by theNew York City Council's 27th and 28th Districts.^[10]

South Jamaica is generally considered to be the area south of Downtown Jamaica (Jamaica Center) or Jamaica Avenue, with theVan Wyck Expressway to the west, andMerrick Boulevard to the east. The eastern border extends as far as the LIRRMontauk Branch tracks in the northern part of the neighborhood.John F. Kennedy International Airport lies to the south across theBelt Parkway.^{[4][11][12][13][14][15]} This area overlaps with the neighborhoods ofSt. Albans to the east, andRochdale andSpringfield Gardens to the south.^[16][12] Many maps however consider South Jamaica to be bounded byLinden Boulevard to the north, andRockaway Boulevard and Baisley Boulevard to the south, with the section north of Linden Boulevard (including theSouth Jamaica Houses) defined as part ofJamaica.^[16][17] Other maps consider the area between Linden Boulevard and Baisley/Rockaway Boulevards to be a southern subsection of South Jamaica calledBaisley Park;^[11][12][18]Baisley Pond Park, theBaisley Park Houses, the Baisley Park Branch ofQueens Public Library, and theBaisley Park Bus Depot are located in this area.^{[16][4][12][18][19][20]} The neighborhood south of Rockaway and Baisley Boulevards to the Belt Parkway (includingRochdale Village) historically has been considered part of South Jamaica,^[4][14] but is now often mapped asSpringfield Gardens North or Rochdale.^[16][12][21] The three sections constitute the western half ofQueens Community Board 12.^[16]

South Jamaica is covered by the 113th Precinct of theNew York City Police Department.^{[22][23][24][25]}

South Jamaica is often referred to as "Southside" or "Southside Jamaica" (also spelled as "South Side").^{[5][13][25][26][27]} This is said to be derived from the location of the neighborhood and its demographics;Hollis, Queens in the northeast corner of greater Jamaica and Queens CB12 is referred to as "Northside".^[5] The South Side nickname dates back to the first half of the 20th century, when several local community organizations carried the name.^[28][29][30] An additional nickname, "South Suicide Queens", is a reference to the high crime rate in the neighborhood since the 1980s.^[27]

South Jamaica is named for its location south of Jamaica; the name Jamaica itself is derived from theLenape wordYameco meaning "beaver".^[31] This was reflected in the naming ofBeaver Pond at the border of Jamaica and South Jamaica.^[32] Through the 20th century, the neighborhood was also known asCedar Manor.^[33][34]

Through the 19th century, what is now South Jamaica consisted of farmland.^[4][31] Early developments in South Jamaica included theProspect Cemetery opened in 1668, and the Prospect andSt. Monica's Churches opened around 1857.^[4][13][32]Baisley Pond, created by local farmers fromdammed streams, was acquired by the City ofBrooklyn's Williamsburg Water Works Company in 1852 for municipal water supplies.^[4][19][35]

TheJamaica Race Course was opened in 1894 at Baisley Boulevard and New York Avenue (today's Guy R. Brewer Bouelvard), and expanded in the early 1900s. Some sources state its official opening year as 1903.^{[4][6][31][33][36]} Transportation was introduced into the neighborhood at the turn of the century. TheFar Rockaway Line streetcar was opened along New York Avenue between downtown Jamaica and theJamaica Racetrack on September 1, 1896, and was extended to the Rockaways by summer 1897.^[33] TheCedar Manor station opened atLinden Boulevard along the LIRRAtlantic Branch in 1906.^[34][37] TheQueens Boulevard Line streetcar toMidtown Manhattan was extended along Sutphin Boulevard to 109th Avenue in South Jamaica in April 1916.^[38][39]Baisley Pond Park was opened by the city in 1919.^[18][19]

In the 1920s, the neighborhood's population exploded after streets were laid down and houses constructed.^{[4][19][31][33]} ManyAfrican Americans began moving into the neighborhood at this time, while White residents began leaving the neighborhood, coinciding with otherwhite flight periods in the city. By the 1930s, the neighborhood was considered to be predominantly Black, especially in contrast to other southeast Queens neighborhoods, although a significant White population remained.^{[6][14][40][41]} At this time, the neighborhood was considered a majorslum, due to overcrowding, high crime, and lack of infrastructure. Many houses were frame houses constructed only of wood and were notfireproof, while residences in the neighborhood were without modern utilities such as electricity andindoor plumbing.^{[6][7][14][40][42][43]} The Jamaica Racetrack, meanwhile, was blamed for bringing down property values,^[6] and was in poor operating condition.^[44]

In 1939, the city beganslum clearance projects in the neighborhood. The first was theSouth Jamaica Houses public housing project, originally referred to as the "'South Jamaica' slum clearance project", opened in July 1940.^{[4][6][14][40][42][45][46]} A second portion of the project opened in 1954.^[4][14] By 1955, following the takeover of the Jamaica Race Course by theGreater New York Association,^[6][47] the city and city plannerRobert Moses began evaluating plans to replace the track with new development. Plans included an additional public housing development, and one of several potential Queens sites for the failed relocation of theBrooklyn Dodgers.^[6][48] In October 1956, Moses planned a middle-incomecooperative to be constructed on the site.^[6][44][49] The track was closed in 1959 and demolished in 1960, replaced by an expandedAqueduct Racetrack.^{[4][6][48][50][51]}

In 1959, the LIRR Atlantic Branch wasgrade-separated, leading to the closure of the Cedar Manor station.^[37] TheBaisley Park Houses were opened in 1961.Rochdale Village opened in December 1963 on the former Jamaica Racetrack site, bringing with it the neighborhood's first supermarkets and shopping centers.^{[4][6][44][48]} The Cedar Manor Co-op opened around this time as well.^[31][52] By this time, the neighborhood was overwhelmingly Black, with the exception of the racially integrated Rochdale Village.^{[6][44][53][54]} In 1970, theNew York City Board of Higher Education approved plans to replace 50 acres (20 ha) of slum land with a permanent campus forYork College. The site included the Prospect Cemetery and the Prospect and St. Monica's Churches.^[55][56] At the same time, under theProgram for Action theMetropolitan Transportation Authority planned to extend subway service into the neighborhood, by connecting the LIRR Atlantic Branch with the plannedArcher Avenue subway in downtown Jamaica via a ramp in or near the campus site.^[55][56] The subway connection was never constructed, due to funding issues caused by thecity's fiscal crisis.^[57][58] The York College campus, also delayed by the fiscal crisis, began construction in 1980 and opened in stages beginning in 1988.^[59]

Despite urban renewal efforts, in 1966 South Jamaica was designated an official poverty zone by the administration of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson during the president'sWar on Poverty,^[44] and was considered one of the few remaining slums in the otherwise middle-class borough of Queens.^[54] In the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, South Jamaica and other Southeast Queens neighborhoods saw increasing rates of drug sales and usage, includingcocaine andheroin epidemics.^{[5][6][44][60]} The neighborhood also had some of the highest rates of automobile theft in the city, attributed to the proximity to car theft rings centered inJohn F. Kennedy International Airport.^[44][61] In 1972, South Jamaica was declared "the largest officially designated poverty area in Queens" by the Human Resources Administration.^[53]

The neighborhood was also the center of several racial issues in the 1970s. Students from South Jamaica werebused into other school districts in order to maintain integration of schools, leading to outcry from White residents of those districts.^[62][63] Other racial events included theshooting of Clifford Glover on April 28, 1973 by a plainclothesNYPD officer.^{[64][65][66][67]} The acquittal of the officer and his partner^[65][66][68] led to incidents of looting, rioting, and incidents of violence against Whites in South Jamaica and Downtown Jamaica.^[66][69]

In the 1980s and 1990s, South Jamaica was one of several New York City neighborhoods victimized by the nationalcrack cocaine epidemic. Several gangs operated in the neighborhood. The Corley gang operated out of the South Jamaica Houses. TheSupreme Team, formed in 1981 byKenneth "Supreme" McGriff, operated out of the Baisley Park Houses. The cartel of Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols was also headquartered in the neighborhood, supplying much of the cocaine in the area and around Queens. These groups had originated from the Seven Crowns gang that was started during the cocaine and heroin epidemic in the 1970s, and which expanded into a multi-state operation by the 1980s. Increases in murder rates and other crime followed the spike in drug-related activity.^{[5][18][23][25][26][31][70]} In 1986, the 113th and 103rd police precincts led Queens in murder incidents, with the 113th precinct ranking tenth in the city.^[22][71][72] On February 26, 1988, rookie police officerEdward Byrne was killed while guarding the house of a witness in a drug-related trial.^{[23][25][73][74]} Byrne's murder, and other violent crime in the neighborhood led South Jamaica to become a symbol for the national drug epidemic, and the city's war on drugs instigated by MayorEd Koch.^[23][31][74] Following the killing, Koch created the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) program, with the first team dispatched to South Jamaica on March 14, 1988.^{[23][25][75][76]}

Entering the 21st century, South Jamaica has seen a revival in terms of safety and quality of life.^[13][18][31] While crime is still higher than other Queens areas, the NYPD 113th Precinct (which also patrolsHollis,St. Albans andSpringfield Gardens) saw dramatic decreases in violent crime since the 1990s, with a drop in major crime of 76 percent between 1993 and 2010.^[24][31][77]

Based on data from the2020 United States Census, the population of South Jamaica was 270,688, an increase of 231,794 from the 38,894 counted in 2010. Covering an area of 918.87 acres (371.85 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 42.3 inhabitants per acre (27,100/sq mi; 10,500/km²).^[2]

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 55%African American, 1.0%White, 0%Native American, 16%Asian, 0%Pacific Islander, 6% fromother races, and 5% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 16% of the population.^[3]

South Jamaica is predominantlyAfrican-American with a strong majority ofAfro-Caribbean descent.^[13] In recent decades, theHispanic community has expanded, with residents fromMexico,El Salvador,Puerto Rico, and theDominican Republic moving to the area.^[4][26]Guyanese andBangladeshis make up much of the larger portion of newcomers to the community.^[4][26]Bengalis can be found mostly around Sutphin and Merrick Boulevards along 145th, 153rd, 157th, and 170th Streets; South Road; and 105th, 107th, and 109th Avenues. There is also a small population ofHaitians,Pakistanis andTrinidadians who live in this area.^[4][26]

The area is largely amiddle-class community consisting ofsuburban one- and two-family houses ranging from colonials built around the 1960s to new developments.^[4][13][18]

A small section of South Jamaica is named Bricktown, for its many brick row houses.^[78]

A number of smaller apartment buildings along with somepublic housing projects are also located in the area. This includes theNYCHA-operatedBaisley Park Houses andSouth Jamaica Houses housing projects, as well as theRochdale Village and Cedar Manor Co-op developments, and the Baisley Park Garden development (also known as Baisley Gardens).^{[16][4][6][14][17][18]}

South Jamaica and St. Albans are patrolled by theNYPD's 113th Precinct, located at 167-02 Baisley Boulevard.^[8] The 113th Precinct ranked 55th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.^[79] The 113th Precinct also has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 86.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 5 murders, 28 rapes, 156 robberies, 383 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 414 grand larcenies, and 138 grand larcenies auto in 2018.^[80]

South Jamaica is covered by multipleZIP Codes. West of Sutphin Boulevard, South Jamaica falls under ZIP Codes 11435 north ofLinden Boulevard and 11436 south of Linden Boulevard. East of Sutphin Boulevard, South Jamaica is part of two ZIP Codes: 11433 north of Linden Boulevard and 11434 south of Linden Boulevard.^[81] TheUnited States Post Office operates the Rochdale Village Station post office at 165-100 Baisley Boulevard.^[82]

Several elementary schools are located in South Jamaica:

• Samuel Huntington School (P.S. 40), on 109th Avenue and Union Hall Street near the South Jamaica Houses.^[16][17][70]
• William Wordsworth School (P.S. 48), on 155th Street and 108th Avenue, two blocks west of the South Jamaica Houses.^[16][14][17] It is aNew York CIty designated landmark for itsArt Deco design.^[83]
• Walter Francis Bishop School (P.S. 160), on Inwood Street off of Sutphin Boulevard.^[16][14]
• P.S. 123, on 119th Avenue between Inwood Street and 145th Street, just south of Foch Boulevard.^[16]
• Edward K. Ellington School (P.S. 140), on 116th Avenue east of Brewer Boulevard; named afterDuke Ellington.^[16][14]
• Ruby S. Couche Elementary School (P.S. 30) and P.S. 354, on Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street in Rochdale Village.^[16]
• Lyndon B. Johnson School (P.S. 223), on Sutphin Boulevard just north of Rockaway Boulevard adjacent to the Baisley Park Garden development; named after U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnson.^[16][18]
• Clarence Witherspoon School (P.S. 45), on Rockaway Boulevard and 150th Street across from Baisley Pond Park and Baisley Park Garden.^[16]
• Talfourd Lawn Elementary School (P.S. 50), on 101st Avenue and Allendale Street one block north of Liberty Avenue, and just west of the Van Wyck Expressway.^[16][14]
• Thurgood Marshall Magnet School (P.S. 80), on 137th Avenue in Rochdale Village; named afterThurgood Marshall.^[16]
• Rochdale Early Advantage Charter School, on Baisley Boulevard and 165th Street across from Rochdale Village.^[16]

Middle and junior high schools include:

• Junior High School 40, adjacent to P.S. 40.^[14][84]
• Richard Grossley Junior High School (J.H.S. 8), just off ofMerrick Boulevard between 108th and 109th Avenues.^[16][17]
• Eagle Academy for Young Men of Southeast Queens (Eagle Academy III), a middle and high school located at Merrick andLinden Boulevards.^[16][85]
• Catherine and Count Basie School (M.S. 72; formerly J.H.S. 72), on Brewer Boulevard in Rochdale Village.^[16]
• York Early College Academy, a middle and high school in the M.S. 72 building on Brewer Boulevard in Rochdale Village.^[16][85]

High schools include:

• August Martin High School, avocationalaviation school, on Baisley Boulevard on the south side of Baisley Pond Park; named afterTuskegee AirmenArmy Air Forces pilot August Martin.^[16][18][85]
• Eagle Academy for Young Men III^[17][85]
• The High School for Law Enforcement and Public Safety, on Brewer Boulevard and 116th Avenue just north of Foch Boulevard, adjacent to the Baisley Park Houses.^[16][17][85]
• Queens High School for the Sciences, aspecialized high school, located on theYork College campus.^[16][17][85]
• York Early College Academy^[16][85]

The closest zoned high school isHillcrest High School just north ofHillside Avenue in Jamaica.Richmond Hill High School is located west of the Van Wyck Expressway inRichmond Hill. Many other regional high schools serving the area have since been converted into educational campuses, housing multiple small high schools. The closest educational campuses are the Jamaica Campus (formerlyJamaica High School) near theGrand Central Parkway to the north, andSpringfield Gardens Educational Campus (formerlySpringfield Gardens High School) to the south. Campus Magnet (formerlyAndrew Jackson High School) is located inCambria Heights to the east. John Adams Educational Campus (formerlyJohn Adams High School) is located inOzone Park to the west.^{[17][85][86][87]}The Young Women's Leadership School of Queens was formerly located in the P.S. 40 facility, but is now located across from Hillcrest High School.^[17][85]

Other schools:

• Queens Transitional Center or Queens Transition Center (former J.H.S. 142/I.S. 142), aspecial education school at Linden Boulevard and 142nd Street (142-10 Linden Boulevard).^{[16][14][85][88][89]} The facility also houses a branch of The School of Cooperative and Technical Education (Coop Tech),^[90] and the Jamaica campus of Queens Academy High School.^[91]

The campus ofCUNYYork College is located at the north end of South Jamaica, between the LIRR Main Line to the north and South Road to the south, across from the South Jamaica Houses.^[16][4][17]

TheQueens Public Library operates three branches in South Jamaica:

• The Baisley Park branch at 117-11 Sutphin Boulevard^[92]
• The Rochdale Village branch at 169-09 137th Avenue^[93]
• The South Jamaica branch at 108-41 Guy R Brewer Boulevard^[94]

Baisley Pond Park has over 100 acres (0.40 km²) of outdoor recreational space, including a 30-acre (0.12 km²) pond.^[4]

TheFederal Aviation Administration Eastern Region has its offices at Rockaway Boulevard in South Jamaica, near JFK Airport.^[95]

St. Monica's Church, St. Monica's Cemetery, andProspect Cemetery are all located on the current York College campus.^[4][13][96]

TheJamaica Race Course, a formerhorse racing facility, was located in South Jamaica. The site is now occupied by Rochdale Village.^[4][31]

TheAirTrain JFK route transports people betweenJamaica andJFK International Airport on its elevated route over the Van Wyck Expressway without stopping.^[13][17] A southern extension of theNew York City Subway'sIND Archer Avenue Line to South Jamaica was planned under the 1968Program for Action by way of the LIRRAtlantic Branch, but not completed.^{[57][97][98][99]}

NumerousMTA bus lines run through the neighborhood, including theQ4,Q5,Q6,Q7,Q9,Q40,Q51,Q60,Q84,Q85,Q86,Q87,Q89,Q111,Q112,Q113,Q114,Q115 andQM65.^[100]

• Media related toSouth Jamaica, Queens at Wikimedia Commons
• The Progressive Southside

• Neighborhoods in Queens, New York
• Jamaica, Queens

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