ABOUT THIS BOOK

Once wetlands, Queens today is a crowded cityscape of dense urban neighborhoods and suburban sprawl. The largest of New York City’s five boroughs by area, it has a larger population than every American city except Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City itself. It possesses the most culturally, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse population in the United States and possibly the world. This is the story of Queens, “the world’s borough,” and how it transformed, in less than one hundred years, from an agricultural hinterland to a vital urban corridor.

Rural County, Urban Borough is a history of place, charting the rapid transformation of the Queens landscape. It identifies what drove the borough’s development, from public infrastructure, architecture, and transportation to technological innovation and urban planning. New York historian Jeffrey A. Kroessler takes us inside the backrooms and boardrooms where local powerbrokers shaped the borough’s future, chronicling how its relationship with the city has evolved. He also shows the steps Queens residents from all backgrounds took to care for their neighborhoods and build their communities. Richly illustrated, this book underscores why Queens is integral to New York City and the wider world and reveals how, in its evolution, we see the whole arc of American urban history.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

JEFFREY A. KROESSLER (1952–2023) was a professor at the Lloyd Sealy Library of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. His many books include Sunnyside Gardens: Planning and Preservation in a Historic Garden Suburb, New York Year by Year: A Chronology of the Great Metropolis, and Historic Preservation in Queens.

REVIEWS

“The borough of Queens is the most diverse place on earth, and it is also one of the ten most populous (of 3,000 counties) counties in the United States. What Queens has lacked is an interpretive, scholarly, and readable history. Jeffrey Kroessler has wonderfully filled that gap, and his Rural County, Urban Borough is a magnificent tribute to add to his scholarship and his decades of service to his home county.”
— Kenneth T. Jackson, President Emeritus, New-York Historical Society

"Finally, a comprehensive history of the physical and social evolution of the borough of Queens! Whether discussing suburbanization, the influence of rail lines, noxious industry, or world fairs, Kroessler's book provides the broad context and enlivening details that explain how Queens has developed and changed for over four hundred years and, most importantly, why the architecture, neighborhoods, and people of Queens have made significant contributions to the American story."— Andrew S. Dolkart, author of Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development

"You can't understand New York City by staying in Manhattan, and in this superb book Kroessler brings to life the story of the city's largest and most fascinating borough. A masterful creation that gives new insight into Queens and New York City itself."— Clifton Hood, author of 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York

TABLE OF CONTENTS