Metropolitan Avenue

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Forest Hills

Eastern end, Jamaica Avenue

Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.

Metropolitan Avenue runs mainly through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, East Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill and Jamaica in Queens. The four-lane avenue marks the northern borders of Ridgewood and Glendale, southern borders of Maspeth and Middle Village, and passes through Forest Park.

Metropolitan Avenue is served by the following subway stations:

• Metropolitan Avenue on the IND Crosstown Line (G train)
• Lorimer Street and Graham Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line (L train)
• Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line (M train)
• The Q54 bus runs along most of the avenue.

The Avenue crosses the Bushwick Branch at the busiest level crossing in New York City. 40°42′49.4″N 73°55′10″W / 40.713722°N 73.91944°W / 40.713722; -73.91944

A public high school, Queens Metropolitan High School on the avenue opened in Fall 2010. ^[1][2]

History

Originally an Indian trail, Metropolitan Avenue was constructed in 1816 as the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike^[3], a toll road which connected the then villages of Williamsburgh (as it was originally spelled) and Jamaica, New York. The road became a farmer's and stage coach route to the Williamsburgh ferries across the East River to Manhattan^[4]. The easternmost segment of the present avenue in Williamsburg initially had several names before it was joined to Metropolitan Avenue circa 1858^[5]: Bushwick Street, then Woodhull Street, and, later, North Second Street. The City of Brooklyn acquired Metropolitan Avenue from the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike Road Company in 1872^[6]. Several of the neighborhoods through which it passes originated as villages along its length.

References

Coordinates: 40°42′50″N 73°55′26.6″W / 40.71389°N 73.924056°W / 40.71389; -73.924056