Editing Queens (section)

===Incorporation as borough===
{{See also|History of New York City|List of former municipalities in New York City|List of streetcar lines in Queens}}
The New York City borough of Queens was authorized on May 4, 1897, by a vote of the [[New York State Legislature]] after an 1894 referendum on consolidation.<ref name="Laws-of-NY 1897" /> The eastern {{convert|280|sqmi|km2|sigfig=2}} of Queens that became [[Nassau County, New York|Nassau County]] was partitioned on January 1, 1899.<ref name="Laws-of-NY 1898 Vol 2" /> Queens Borough was established on January 1, 1898.<ref name="Inventing-Gotham 2007" /><ref name="NYTs 1894 Dec 15" /><ref name="Sullivan 1927 p342"/>

"The city of [[Long Island City]], the towns of [[Newtown, Queens County, New York|Newtown]], [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]] and [[Jamaica, Queens|Jamaica]], and that part of the town of [[Hempstead, New York|Hempstead]], in the county of Queens, which is westerly of a straight line drawn through the middle of the channel between [[Rockaway, Queens|Rockaway Beach]] and [[Long Beach, New York#Long Beach Barrier Island|Shelter Island]], in the county of Queens, to the Atlantic Ocean" was annexed to New York City,<ref name="Greater-NY-Charter Weed-Parsons 1897" /> dissolving all former municipal governments ([[Long Island City]], the county government, all towns, and all villages) within the new borough.<ref name="NYG&B-Newsletter 1998 Winter" /> The areas of Queens County that were not part of the consolidation plan,<!-- \\ BEGIN new refs that Nassau never voted on consolidation --><ref name="Newsday 2007 Mar 29" /><ref name="NYTs 1894 Sep 13" /><ref name="NYTs 1894 Oct 16" /><ref name="NYTs 1894 Nov 4" /><!-- Again, no mention of Town of Oyster Bay, nor Town of North Hempstead, nor any plan for ALL of Town of Hempstead, indeed only part of Hempstead was ever planned to become part of Queens --><ref name="NYTs 1894 Nov 8" /><!--no mention of Town of Oyster Bay, nor Town of North Hempstead, nor any plan for ALL of Town of Hempstead, indeed only part of Hempstead was ever planned to become part of Queens--><ref name="NYTs 1896 Feb 22" /><ref name="NYTs 1899 Feb 12" /><!-- \\ END refs that Nassau never voted --> consisting of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay, and the major remaining portion of the Town of Hempstead, remained part of Queens County <!-- but not were part of the borough--> until they seceded to form the new [[Nassau County, New York|Nassau County]] on January 1, 1899. At this point, the boundaries of Queens County and the Borough of Queens became [[wikt:coterminous|coterminous]]. With consolidation, Jamaica once again became the county seat, though county offices now extend to nearby [[Kew Gardens, Queens|Kew Gardens]] also.<ref name="NYTs 1896 Jun 7" />

In 1899, New York City conducted a [[surveying|land survey]] to determine the exact border of Queens between [[the Rockaways]] and [[Lawrence, Nassau County, New York|Lawrence]]. This proved difficult because the border was defined as "middle of the channel between Rockaway Beach and Shelter Island" (now called Long Beach Island), and that particular channel had closed up by 1899. The surveyors had to determine where the channel had been when the consolidation law was written in 1894. The surveyors did so in part by speaking with local fishermen and oystermen who knew the area well.<ref name="NYTs 1899 Feb 12" />

From 1905 to 1908, the [[Long Island Rail Road]] in Queens became electrified. Transportation to and from [[Manhattan]], previously by ferry or via bridges in Brooklyn, opened up with the [[Queensboro Bridge]] finished in 1909, and with railway tunnels under the [[East River]] in 1910. From 1915 onward, much of Queens was connected to the [[New York City Subway]] system.<ref name="Seyfried-Peterson" /><ref name="Seyfried 2004" /> With the 1915 construction of the [[Steinway Tunnel]] carrying the [[IRT Flushing Line]] between Queens and Manhattan, and the robust expansion of the use of the [[automobile]], the population of Queens more than doubled in the 1920s, from 469,042 in 1920 to 1,079,129 in 1930.<ref name="Gibson 1998 Jun" />

In later years, Queens was the site of the [[1939 New York World's Fair]] and the [[1964 New York World's Fair]].<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/fmcp-worlds-fairs Flushing Meadows Corona Park World's Fair Legacy; Celebrating the Enduring Legacy of the 1939 and 1964 Fairs], [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]], Accessed January 17, 2024. "In 1939, and again in 1964, Flushing Meadows Corona Park hosted two of the largest international exhibitions ever held in the United States."</ref> [[LaGuardia Airport]], established on a site in northern Queens that had been a seaplane base, opened in 1939, named for mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]], who pushed for the development of a modern airport in New York City.<ref>Cross, Lee. [https://airwaysmag.com/laguardia-airport-begins-ops/ "12/02/1939: New York's LaGuardia Airport Begins Operations"], ''[[Airways Magazine]]'', December 2, 2023. "In 1939, New York City's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) opened for business in East Elmhurst, Queens. The aviation history of the site in Queens can be traced back to June 1929, when New York Air Terminal Inc. established a seaplane base. The facility underwent several developments and name changes, including being renamed Glenn H. Curtiss Airport in September 1930 and later North Beach Airport in 1935. However, it was Fiorello LaGuardia, the newly elected mayor, who played a significant role in transforming the airport."</ref> Idlewild Airport, in southern Queens, opened in 1948 on the site of a former golf course and was renamed [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] in 1963.<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/idlewild-park/history Idlewild Park], [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]. Accessed January 17, 2024. "Construction on Idlewild Airport began in 1942 on the former site of Idlewild Golf Course in Queens.... After six years of construction, the airport opened on July 1, 1948 and was dedicated by President Truman on July 31, 1948.... Although it continued to be known popularly as "Idlewild," New York International Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963, following resolutions by Mayor Robert F. Wagner, the City Council, and the Commissioners of the Port Authority."</ref> In one of several notable incidents, [[TWA Flight 800]] took off from the airport on July 17, 1996, and exploded in midair off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 on board the [[Boeing 747]].<ref>[https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/N93119 Trans World Airways Flight 800, N93119], [[Federal Aviation Administration]]. Accessed January 17, 1996. Accessed January 17, 2024. "On July 17, 1996, at 2031 EDT, a Boeing 747-131, N93119, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about eight miles south of East Moriches, New York after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The airplane was being operated on a regularly scheduled flight to Charles De Gaulle International Airport (CDG), Paris, France, as Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800.... On board the airplane were 212 passengers and 18 crewmembers. The airplane was destroyed by explosion, fire, and impact forces with the ocean. All 230 people aboard were killed."</ref> [[American Airlines Flight 587]] took off from the latter airport on November 12, 2001, but ended up crashing in [[Belle Harbor, Queens|Belle Harbor]], killing all 260 on board and five people on the ground.<ref>[https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/aircrafts-american_2001.html Disasters New York City (NYC) American Airlines Flight 587 Crash - 2001], [[Baruch College]]. Accessed January 17, 2024. " Two months following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, a plane crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens and reignited the fear and broken hearts of Americans. On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 (Airbus A300) made its ascent into a clear blue sky and was bound for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with 260 people on board. At approximately 9:17 a.m., the plane spiraled out of control and crashed in Belle Harbor, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground."</ref> In late October 2012, much of [[Breezy Point, Queens|Breezy Point]] was damaged by a massive six-alarm fire caused by [[Hurricane Sandy]], the largest fire of residential homes in FDNY history, destroying 126 homes in an area where every building was damaged by either water, wind or the resulting fires.<ref>[https://www.fireengineering.com/firefighting/conflagration-in-breezy-point-queens/#gref "Conflagration in Breezy Point Queens; Superstorm Sandy illustrates the full spectrum of Fire Department of New York (FDNY) preparedness and response capabilities along with its commitment to community recovery."], ''[[Fire Engineering (magazine)|Fire Engineering]]'', May 1, 2013. Accessed July 17, 2024. "Hurricane Sandy's high winds coupled with the storm surge that created an electrical short in one home. The short then triggered the conflagration in Breezy Point, which destroyed 126 homes and damaged 22 others, making it the largest private-residential fire in the department's history. The fires combined with the storm surge accounted for the complete destruction of more than 10 percent of the 2,837 homes in Breezy Point. Overall, every structure in this small beach community received significant damage from fire, water, or wind."</ref>
{{wide image|Queens, New York City, looking south from Queensboro Bridge.jpg|1000px|Looking south from the [[Queensboro Bridge]] in [[Long Island City]]}}