Corona, Queens
Corona is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It borders Flushing and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to the east, Jackson Heights to the west, Forest Hills and Rego Park to the south, Elmhurst to the southwest, and East Elmhurst to the north. Corona's main thoroughfares include Corona Avenue, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard, Junction Boulevard, and 108th Street.
Corona
United States
1854
Crown Building Company
109,695
Includes North Corona and South Corona
73.6%
10.0%
9.5%
5.3%
1.6%
718, 347, 929, and 917
Corona has a multicultural population with a Latino majority, and is the site of historic African-American and Italian-American communities. After World War II, the majority of the neighborhood's residents were mostly Italian, German, Irish and of other European ancestries. Corona also has a significant Chinese population.[5]
Corona is mostly part of Queens Community District 4.[2] The section north of Roosevelt Avenue, known as North Corona, is the northern section of Corona and is in Community District 3.[1] Corona is patrolled by the 110th and 115th Precincts of the New York City Police Department.[6]
History[edit]
The area was originally known as West Flushing, but various theories have arisen for its etymology. One theory is that it was renamed by music producer Benjamin W. Hitchcock, a developer who renamed the area in 1872 and sold off land for residential development.[7] Another theory is that real estate developer Thomas Waite Howard, who became the first postmaster in 1872,[8] petitioned to have the post office name changed to Corona in 1870, suggesting that it was the "crown of Queens County".[9] A third theory is that the name Corona derives from the crown used as an emblem by the Crown Building Company, which is said to have developed the area. The Italian immigrants who moved into the new housing stock referred to the neighborhood by the Italian or Spanish word for "crown", or corona.
Corona was a late-19th-century residential development in the northeastern corner of the old Town of Newtown. Real estate speculators from New York started the community in 1854, the same year that the New York and Flushing Railroad began service to the area largely to serve a newly opened race course. It was at the Fashion Race Course in 1858 that the first games of baseball to charge admission took place.[7] The games, which took place between the All Stars of Brooklyn and the All Stars of New York, are commonly believed to be the first all-star baseball games and in essence the birthplace of professional baseball. A trophy baseball from this tournament sold in 2005 for nearly $500,000.[10][11]
During the second half of the 1940s through the 1960s, many legendary African-American musicians, civil rights leaders and athletes moved to the neighborhood.[7] In the last half of the 20th century, Corona saw dramatic ethnic successions. In the 1950s, what was predominantly an Italian-American and African-American neighborhood began to give way to an influx of Dominicans. In the late 1990s, Corona saw a new wave of immigrants from Latin America. The area north of Roosevelt Avenue contained the heart of the historic African-American community. The intersection of 108th Street and Corona Avenue is the historic center of the Italian-American community, sometimes referred to as Corona Heights. The majority Hispanic community now consists of Dominicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Bolivians, Peruvians, Mexicans, Venezuelans, and Chileans. There are also Asian Americans (Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Japanese) as well as Italian Americans and African Americans.
Police and crime[edit]
Corona is patrolled by the 110th and 115th Precincts of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), located at 94-41 43rd Avenue and 92-15 Northern Boulevard, respectively.[6] The 110th Precinct ranked 15th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.[39] As of 2018, with a non-fatal assault rate of 34 per 100,000 people, Corona's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 227 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.[32]: 8
The 110th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 83.2% between 1990 and 2020. The precinct reported four murders, 29 rapes, 270 robberies, 359 felony assaults, 196 burglaries, 485 grand larcenies, and 138 grand larcenies auto in 2020.[40]
Corona is served by two New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:[41]
Transportation[edit]
The New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line (7 and <7> trains) runs through the neighborhood with stops at Mets–Willets Point, 111th Street, 103rd Street–Corona Plaza, and Junction Boulevard.[68] The Q23, Q38, Q48, Q58, Q66, Q72 and Q88 buses also serve the neighborhood.[69]
Chinatowns:
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