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Beginnings
Hollis is a comparative newcomer on the Queens scene, although the area in east-central Queens was part of the Jamaica land purchase in 1656. The Dutch encouraged a group of colonists from Hempstead to homestead in the Beaver Pond area. And for the next century, the section now called Hollis was known as East Jamaica, a farm hamlet between Jamaica and Queens Village. The area consisted of about 20 farms, and there was little development until the American Revolution.
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The Revolution
Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull, commander of the Queens and Suffolk militia, was trapped by the British at Carpenter's Tavern in the future Hollis in 1776. Woodhull was fatally wounded by the British, and although he was from Mastic in Suffolk, Hollis claimed him as a hero and placed a Woodhull memorial on a granite block at PS 35, two blocks from the site of the original tavern.
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Turning Point
East Jamaica remained rural until 1885 when Frederick W. Dunton, Jamaica town supervisor, and associates purchased 136 acres and sold them as home lots. He was able to purchase the land by virtue of being nephew of one Austin Corbin, a railroad promoter and the supervisor of Jamaica Town.He had planned to name the land Woodhull, but because Woodhull was the name of a town in upstate Steuben County he decided to name his new purchase after his birthplace, Hollis N.H. Dunton was said to dabble in astrology, and liked things ``round.'' Hence every street in his ``Hollis Woods'' section had to curve and have an ``o'' in its name. Like much of eastern Queens, Hollis first experienced signs of development when the railroad arrived in 1885. A tollgate was established at Jamaica Ave. and 186th St.in 1886 and it was used until 1895.The area's growth was accelerated when fine Victorian houses were erected along 188th and 189th Sts. around the beginning of the 20th Century, and Manhattanites looking to flee the city eagerly snapped them up.The extension of the trolley line in 1906 attracted developers of upper-middle-class homes to the area. Hollis Park Gardens was built between 192nd and 195th Sts. along Hillside Ave. and was developed as a community of high-class houses. A few years later the growing demand for middle and working class housing stimulated the construction of blocks and blocks of row houses, mostly concentrated along Jamaica and Hollis Ave. commerical strips. Even Carpenter's Tavern, the site of Woodhull's capture, was replaced by housing in 1921.
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Boom Times
From 1922 until World War II, hundreds of tract houses were built; many were later replaced by apartment houses and shops. Hollis began an economic decline in the 1960s, and community leaders lately have worked to revitalize the area. The ethnic composition changed during the 1960's and 1970's and by 1980 Hollis was 80% black and Hispanic, according to the U.S.Census. Large numbers of immigrants from Guyana, Colombia, India and China were added to the mix in the 1990's. The sense of community has not waivered and today Hollis is in the midst of a revitalization and current and past residents all agree that it has always been a great place to raise a family.
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