Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth to the north, Middle Village to the east, and Glendale to the southeast, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick to the southwest and East Williamsburg to the west. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary.

The etymology of Ridgewood's name is disputed, but it may have referred to Ridgewood Reservoir, the local geography, or a road. The British settled Ridgewood in the 17th century, while the Dutch settled nearby Bushwick. The adjacent settlements led to decades of disputes over the boundary, which later became the border between Queens and Brooklyn. Bushwick was developed rapidly in the 19th century, but Ridgewood remained sparsely populated until the early 20th century, when rowhouses were built for its rapidly growing, predominantly German population. Ridgewood has become more ethnically diverse since the mid-20th century. Large parts of the neighborhood are national and city historic districts.

Ridgewood is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 104th Precinct.

Etymology

The origin of the neighborhood's name is disputed. One theory is that it came from the Ridgewood Reservoir in Highland Park, in Brooklyn just south of Ridgewood. The reservoir was on a high ridge in the middle of the Harbor Hill Moraine, a terminal moraine that runs the length of Long Island. Another possible etymology is the forests that covered the area before colonial settlement, and that early English settlers called the moraine the "ridge" of Long Island. Yet another possible etymology is "Ridge Road". Likewise, Ridgewood was part of Newtown, one of the three initial towns in Queens, and was settled by the British. The only known remaining Dutch farmhouse in the neighborhood is the Onderdonk House, which was erected in 1709. Also at the Onderdonk House site is Arbitration Rock, a marker for the disputed boundary between Bushwick and Newtown, and by extension Brooklyn and Queens (see ). The land remained rural through the American Revolutionary War, though there may have been a burial ground in the area. Fresh Pond Road was formerly a Native American trail; the other roads were laid out as plank roads in the early to mid-19th century.

19th-century development

The development of public transportation, starting with horse-drawn cars in the mid-19th century and later succeeded by trolleys and elevated trains, helped to spur residential and retail development. The first transit line to arrive in the neighborhood was the Myrtle Avenue horsecar, which was extended to Brooklyn's Broadway in 1855. Following this, the Bay Ridge Branch opened in 1878, connecting to Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, and the Brooklyn shorefront via the Manhattan Beach Railroad. The Myrtle Avenue elevated railroad, running above Myrtle Avenue within Brooklyn, was extended to the Queens border in 1889. An electric trolley line through Ridgewood, running to Lutheran Cemetery, was opened along a private right-of-way in 1894. Ten years later, the Myrtle Avenue Elevated was extended on a ground level alignment over that trolley line.

Simultaneously, northern Brooklyn was seeing an increase in the number of German immigrants. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, German immigrants had moved to other enclaves such as Yorkville, Manhattan; Steinway, Queens; and the north Brooklyn/Ridgewood area. The discovery of freshwater under northern Brooklyn resulted in the development of breweries, where many Germans worked.

20th-century development

Residential construction

alt= |thumb|One of the rowhouse developments in Ridgewood, preserved as part of the [[Stockholm–DeKalb–Hart Historic District]]

Ridgewood remained rural until the unification of New York City's boroughs in 1898, even as Bushwick had become fully developed. Development in Ridgewood in the 19th century consisted mostly of picnicking locations, beer gardens, racetracks, and amusement areas for the residents of Bushwick. By the end of the century, developers had bought these sites and started constructing rowhouses and tenements, usually two to three stories high. The Ridgewood Board of Trade, created in 1902, was organized to develop the streets and utilities, and to improve the transit infrastructure.

Much of the housing stock was erected between 1905 and 1915. Most of the houses built before 1905 were wood-frame houses; that year, a zoning ordinance was passed, requiring new buildings to be made of masonry. The area was developed more quickly after the Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909, connecting Queens to Manhattan. Two of the more drastic changes to Ridgewood's character in the 1920s were the implementation of a street numbering system across Queens in 1925, followed by the opening of the Canarsie subway on the neighborhood's southern border in 1928.

Ethnic changes

Ridgewood was among New York City's most quickly-developing neighborhoods between at least 1906 and 1911. Much of the new housing was originally settled by Germans, who had mostly moved from other neighborhoods such as Williamsburg. To the German newcomers, the modern and more expansive houses in Ridgewood provided an improvement over the cramped housing stock in their former neighborhoods. Figures from the 1910 United States census indicated that much of Ridgewood's population was working-class and of German or Eastern European descent, and many homes were owner-occupied. Ridgewood's German population was so large that the Ridgewood Times' first issue in 1908 was published in both English and German. Other Eastern Europeans came as well. As recorded in the 1920 United States census, the population of Ridgewood was mostly working-class homeowners from Germany, Austria, or Italy, with a smaller population from Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden. The demographic figures remained relatively unchanged through the 1930 United States census. Still, in the 1939 WPA Guide to New York City, workers for the Federal Writers' Project described Ridgewood and Bushwick as "old-fashioned and respectable", and said that Ridgewood "rivals Manhattan's Yorkville as a German center."

By the 1940 United States census, Southern Europeans were also recorded as having moved into Ridgewood. and Ecuadorians—including a significant population of Quechua-speaking Amerindians from the Imbabura and Cañar provinces of Ecuador—had moved to Ridgewood. Other large populations included Yugoslavians, Chinese, Koreans, and Slovenians.

Ridgewood, Glendale, and neighboring Middlevillage are all home to a large Serbian community with several businesses being located on Forest avenue, There is the Serbian-Romanian Banatul Organization and on Cooper avenue there is the Serbian Association of New York which was founded in 1992, the association also hosts a soccer team.

Late 20th century

Originally, "Ridgewood and Bushwick used to be merged into one amorphous mass. There was even a Ridgewood, Brooklyn (which is now in Bushwick)"

Demographics

Based on data from the 2010 United States census, the population of Ridgewood was 69,317, a decrease of 138 (0.2%) from the 69,455 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 39.8% (27,558) White, 2.0% (1,380) African American, 0.1% (93) Native American, 7.7% (5,331) Asian, 0.0% (19) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (204) from other races, and 1.1% (765) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 49.0% (33,967) of the population.

The entirety of Community Board 5, which comprises Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale, had 166,924 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.4 years. This is about equal to the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of 0–17, 31% between 25 and 44, and 26% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 13% respectively. In 2018, an estimated 19% of Ridgewood and Maspeth residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in seventeen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 46% in Ridgewood and Maspeth, lower than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

The majority of the neighborhood covers a large hill, part of the glacial moraine that created Long Island, which starts at Metropolitan Avenue, rises steeply for about two blocks, then slopes down gently. For instance, at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish on 60th Place, the front entrance of the church is almost level with the second floor of the Parish school next door.

Part of Ridgewood around the Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery and Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery, centered around Flushing and Metropolitan Avenues, was once known as Linden Hill, distinct from the neighborhood of Linden Hill in Flushing, Queens. Linden Street is named after this subsection of Ridgewood.

Residential

thumb|left|A typical block in RidgewoodRidgewood is a densely settled neighborhood, with housing stock ranging from six-family buildings near the Brooklyn border to two-family and single-family row houses deeper into Queens. The neighborhood has been largely untouched by construction since then, leaving many centrally planned blocks of houses and tenements still in the same state as their construction. These blocks include the Mathews Flats (six-family cold water tenements), Ring-Gibson Houses (two- and four-family houses with stores), and Stier Houses (curved two-family rowhouses). Many of these houses are well-kept and retain much of their early 20th century appeal.

Commercial

thumb|Ridgewood Savings Bank headquarters since 1929, located in Ridgewood

There are low-density commercial districts along Myrtle, Forest, and Metropolitan Avenues and Fresh Pond Road. The building's exterior is made of limestone and contains an eight-foot granite base. The interior has travertine walls and marble floors.

Landmarks

Historic districts

In Ridgewood 10 national historic districts were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

  • 68th Avenue-64th Place Historic District
  • Central Ridgewood Historic District
  • Cornelia-Putnam Historic District
  • Cypress Avenue East Historic District
  • Cypress Avenue West Historic District
  • Fresh Pond-Traffic Historic District
  • Madison-Putnam-60th Place Historic District
  • Seneca Avenue East Historic District
  • Stockholm-DeKalb-Hart Historic District
  • Summerfield Street Row Historic District

In addition, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated four landmark districts in Ridgewood:

  • Stockholm Street Historic District, designated 2000. This historic district consists of 36 two-story brick rowhouses, two garages, and a stable built primarily in 1907–1910 by Joseph Weiss & Company along Stockholm Street, the only remaining brick street in Ridgewood.
  • Ridgewood North Historic District, designated 2009. This historic district includes 96 buildings, mostly three-story brick rowhouses called "Mathews Model Flats", built in 1908–1914 by the G.X. Mathews Company.
  • Ridgewood South Historic District, designated 2010. This historic district includes 210 buildings, a large collection of three-story brick rowhouses as well as the St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church, built in 1911–1912 by the G.X. Mathews Company.
  • Central Ridgewood Historic District, designated 2014. This historic district includes 990 buildings, mostly brick rowhouses, constructed in 1906–1915 by various small builders.

Individual landmarks

There are two individual city-designated landmarks:

  • The Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, built in the mid-to-late 18th century and designated in 1995. The house was a crucial point in the 1769 survey that established the Kings–Queens county border. The 1,950 seat William Fox moviehouse operated until 2008 and is now a Blink Fitness.

The Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, the Evergreens Cemetery, and St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church Complex are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Police and crime

Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are patrolled by the 104th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 64-02 Catalpa Avenue. The 104th Precinct ranked 21st safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. However, the precinct covers a large diamond-shaped area, and Maspeth and Middle Village are generally seen as safer than Ridgewood. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 19 per 100,000 people, Ridgewood and Maspeth's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 235 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.

Fire safety

thumb|Engine Co. 291/Ladder Co. 40

Ridgewood contains a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, Engine Co. 291/Ladder Co. 140, at 56-07 Metropolitan Avenue.

Health

, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Ridgewood and Maspeth than in other places citywide. In Ridgewood and Maspeth, there were 70 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 17.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). and the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick.

Post offices and ZIP Code

Ridgewood is covered by ZIP Code 11385, which it shares with neighboring Glendale. The United States Post Office operates three post offices nearby:

  • Fresh Pond Station – 60-80 Woodbine Street
  • Ridgewood Station – 60-60 Myrtle Avenue
  • Wyckoff Heights Station – 86 Wyckoff Avenue

Border with Bushwick

thumb|[[Arbitration Rock, where the county border was set in 1769]]

Today, Ridgewood's land area lies within Queens County. However, its political boundary with Brooklyn causes confusion and debate about where the western boundary of Ridgewood truly lies and whether part of Ridgewood is considered to be actually part of Brooklyn. The political dispute dates to the 17th century, when Newtown was under English rule and Boswijck was under Dutch rule. Disputes over the boundary between the two settlements continued until 1769, when a boundary line was drawn through what later became known as the Arbitration Rock.

In 1925, the political boundary was adapted to the street grid, resulting in a zig-zag pattern.