Hillcrest Veterans Square

Union Tpke & 162 St

Queens

Directions via Google Maps

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

The neighborhood of Hillcrest was created by the Hillcrest of Jamaica Company, owned by William F. Wyckoff, whose surname is the namesake of Wyckoff Street in Brooklyn. The community was developed on 200 acres purchased in the spring of 1909. On March 9, 1910 the company merged with the Jamaica-Hillcrest Company, headed by Bryan L. Kennelly, which hastened the development of the neighborhood.

The first two sections of Hillcrest, located along Union Turnpike, were completed before the merger of the two companies, while streets north of Hillside Avenue were paved after the consolidation of the two companies. Gas, water and electricity connections were built, and houses ranging in price from $6,500 to $12,000 were sold at auctions from 1910 to 1915. By 1913 there were sixty such homes located in Hillcrest.

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