An Abbreviated History of Jackson Heights

Jackson Heights' remarkable story begins in 1909 when the Queensboro Corporation purchased 325 acres of farmland and launched one of America's first planned garden apartment communities. Named after John C. Jackson, a prominent Queens businessman and one of the original investors, the development was designed by renowned landscape architect John Petit with Edward MacDougall overseeing construction. The neighborhood's revolutionary garden apartment complexes, built between 1916 and 1939, featured cooperative ownership—a novel concept in American housing—and introduced shared green spaces and courtyards that became a model for urban planning nationwide. The opening of the elevated IRT Flushing Line (today's 7 train) in 1917 made the area accessible to Manhattan workers, spurring rapid growth. Originally marketed to middle-class white professionals with restrictive covenants, these discriminatory practices were challenged in the 1940s and eventually abolished. Beginning in the 1960s, Jackson Heights transformed into one of the world's most diverse communities as South American immigrants, particularly from Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina, settled alongside growing South Asian, Tibetan, and Filipino communities. The designation of the Jackson Heights Historic District in 1993 preserved over 2,000 buildings spanning English Tudor, Mediterranean, and Art Deco styles. Today, with residents from over 100 countries speaking 167 languages, Jackson Heights stands as a testament to successful urban diversity, progressive activism, and the enduring vision of thoughtful community planning that began over a century ago.