Hamilton Beach

Hamilton Beach may refer to:

Howard Beach, Queens

Howard Beach is an upper middle class neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered in the north by the Belt Parkway and South Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, in the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, in the east by 102nd–104th Streets, and in the west by 75th Street. The area's houses are similar to Bayside and Hollis.

The neighborhood is part of Queens Community District 10, served by Queens Community Board 10. It is home to a large Italian-American population. The ZIP code of Howard Beach is 11414.

History

Early development

Howard Beach was established in 1897 by William J. Howard, a Brooklyn glove manufacturer who operated a 150-acre (0.61 km²) goat farm on meadow land near Aqueduct Racetrack as a source of skin for kidd gloves. In 1897, he bought more land and filled it in and the following year, built 18 cottages and opened a hotel near the water, which he operated until it was destroyed by fire in October 1907. He gradually bought more land and formed the Howard Estates Development Company in 1909. He dredged and filled the land until he was able to accumulate 500 acres (2 km²) by 1914. He laid out several streets, water mains and gas mains, and built 35 houses that were priced in the $2,500–$5,000 range.

Hamilton Beach (LIRR station)

Hamilton Beach was a former Long Island Rail Road station on the Rockaway Beach Branch. It was located between two streets in Hamilton Beach, Queens, one of which no longer exists, and is part of land owned by JFK Airport.

History

Hamilton Beach Station was originally built in 1919 by the Long Island Rail Road nearly 12 years after the disastrous fire that destroyed the Howard's Landing station and the hotel that it served. It also served as a replacement for Ramblersville, which was eventually renamed Howard Beach Station. Throughout its existence, the station was never anything more than two sheltered shacks along both platforms. It was the southernmost station having four tracks of the Rockaway Beach Branch, which narrowed down to two tracks at the "WD Tower" (later "BEACH Tower") and crossed Jamaica Bay.

Farther south in Jamaica Bay, a fire destroyed the line at The Raunt on May 7–8, 1950, transforming Hamilton Beach into the terminus of the legitimate Rockaway Beach Branch. Trains that actually went to the line's namesake followed the rest of the Atlantic Branch onto the Far Rockaway Branch, where it merged at Hammels Wye. The Rockaway Beach Branch was sold to the New York City Transit Authority in 1955, and Hamilton Beach Station closed on June 27, along with nearby Howard Beach Station. Most stations on the line south of Ozone Park closed on October 3, 1955, before being reopened as subway stations along the IND Rockaway Line on June 28, 1956. Hamilton Beach station was not one of them.