The history of Fresh Meadows is not as thrilling and exciting as other neighborhoods of New York City but plays a crucial part in the development and creation of the Fresh Meadows that we have come to experience to this day.

The name “Fresh Meadows,” came from the Dutch when they first arrived in the Americas. The Dutch found the land to be extremely fertile and perfect for farming. This land will develop over time to be mostly agricultural as was most of Queens, New York. Fresh Meadows would remain to be mostly agricultural through the Revolutionary War. It might be important to note that this area was pro-British as they wished to maintain their agricultural way of life. After the war, the area would begin its structural development and slow. [1]

During World War II, the New York Life Insurance Company bought Fresh Meadows and developed it into a growing suburban area. The area was intended to provide housing and comfortable living for the veterans in 1950. However, due to segregation, Fresh Meadows housing was only gifted to the white WWII veterans. [2]

It would not be until post-segregation that more P.O.C. would move into the area. To this day, we could see that the population of P.O.C. has grown substantially and will be the final changes to the community and the area that give us the Fresh Meadows that we know today.

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