During the early 1890’s to 1920’s Queens NY streets were identified by names, not numbers.
When these names were created Forest Hills was then called Newtown. Street names appeared in alphabetical order and were mostly based on the last names of property owners. Some of these street names still exist. For example Ascan Ave. gets its name from Ascan Backus, one of Newtown’s first settlers. And then there’s Austin Street inspired by Austin Corbin, the businessman who formed the Long Island Rail Road. Thanks to the map of the Forest Hills Gardens Corporations, the original names of roadways outside of The Gardens are included along with the current numbering system that was introduced in 1927.
Even though most of these original named streets are gone, some of them still exist on several apartment buildings. One example is the most recently built structure being The Windsor at 107-24 71st Rd. Back in the day 71st Rd was named Windsor Place.
Here’s a summary of other Forest Hills apartments named after our original streets.
