Editing St. Albans, Queens (section)

=== Early settlement ===
Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from [[New Netherland]] Governor [[Peter Stuyvesant]] in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next two centuries.

By the 1800s, the lands of four families—the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums, and Hendricksons—formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica. In 1814, when the Village of Jamaica (the first village on Long Island) was incorporated, its (the village's) boundaries extended eastward to Freeman's Path (now Farmers Boulevard), and south to Lazy Lane (called Central Avenue in 1900, then Foch Boulevard in the 1920s,{{efn|The name ''Foch'' was chosen to honor Marshal [[Ferdinand Foch]], following World War I.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://bkltn.newspapers.com/clip/41698909/|title=New Jamaica Final Maps|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|page=44|date=January 5, 1919|access-date=January 5, 2020|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> While most of Foch Boulevard still exists, the alignment east of Farmers Boulevard is now part of [[Linden Boulevard]].<ref name="Steve Morse" />}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Newspaper/BSU/1929.News.July.html |title=1929... News |quote=LOWERRE Secured Light Charles LOWERRE, treasurer of the St. Albans Lions Club, has succeeded in having the Police Department promise to put a traffic control light at the Foch and Farmers boulevard intersection at St. Albans. |access-date=March 29, 2010 |archive-date=September 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917211453/http://bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Newspaper/BSU/1929.News.July.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Steve Morse">{{cite web
|url=http://stevemorse.org/census/changes/QueensChanges1_EtoF.htm
|title=Street Name Changes in Queens, NY (E to F)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stevemorse.org/census/changes/SanbornFire.htm|title=Queens, New York|website=stevemorse.org|access-date=February 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104180222/https://stevemorse.org/census/changes/SanbornFire.htm|archive-date=January 4, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> thus including parts of present-day St. Albans.<ref name="cqha">{{cite web|url=http://www.cqha.net/docs/History_of_Jamaica_Outline.pdf |title=History of Jamaica |first=Jeff |last=Gottlieb |publisher=Central Queens Historical Association |date=January 2006 |access-date=October 17, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713082150/http://www.cqha.net/docs/History_of_Jamaica_Outline.pdf |archive-date=July 13, 2014 }}</ref>
In 1852, the old mill pond that is now at the center of [[Baisley Pond Park]] was acquired by the [[Brooklyn]] [[Ridgewood Reservoir|waterworks]] for use as a reservoir.<ref name="Baisley">{{cite web|title=Baisley Pond Park|url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/baisleypondpark/history|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=November 8, 2013}}</ref>