Metropolitan Avenue

Forest Hills

Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.

Metropolitan Avenue runs mainly through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, East Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill and Jamaica in Queens. The avenue marks the northern borders of Ridgewood and Glendale, and the southern borders of Maspeth and Middle Village. This four-lane avenue intersects Flushing Avenue, Fresh Pond Road, Woodhaven Boulevard, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, and passes through Forest Park. The Metropolitan Avenue (IND Crosstown Line) (the G Line), The Canarsie Line (L Line), Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line) (the M Line) and Jamaica – Van Wyck (IND Archer Avenue Line) (the E and J Lines) subway stations serve Metropolitan Avenue.

A public high school, Queens Metropolitan High School on the avenue opened in Fall, 2010.^[1][2]

History

Originally an Indian trail, Metropolitan Avenue was constructed in 1816 as the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike^[3], a toll road which connected the then villages of Williamsburgh (as it was originally spelled) and Jamaica, New York. The road became a farmer's and stage coach route to the Williamsburgh ferries across the East River to Manhattan^[4]. The easternmost segment of the present avenue in Williamsburg initially had several names before it was joined to Metropolitan Avenue circa 1858^[5]: Bushwick Street, then Woodhull Street, and, later, North Second Street. The City of Brooklyn acquired Metropolitan Avenue from the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike Road Company in 1872^[6]. Several of the neighborhoods through which it passes originated as villages along its length.

References

1. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/12/24/2009-12-24_2_new_schools__principals_coming_to_forest_hills_campus.html?r=ny_local
2. ^ http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/dept_of_ed_eyeing_new_queens_schools_9906kNzTiCfcsWfgJRZjQN
3. ^ Jackson, K.T. (ed.) (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven, CT: Yale
4. ^ http://kewgardenshistory.com/ss-beginning-0600.html
5. ^ www.brooklynrevealed.com
6. ^ http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/met.shtml

External links

• nycsubway.org

Coordinates: 40°42′50″N 73°55′26.6″W / 40.71389°N 73.924056°W / 40.71389; -73.924056