The Thin Line Between Queens and Long Island

When the western portion of Queens was incorporated into the city of New York, over seventy percent of the county didn't make the cut. 

But most resident of New York's largest borough are completely unaware that for over 215 years of American Colonial history, Queens actually extended all the way from the East River to Suffolk County.

"In 1898 however, the New York state assembly reorganized New York's 10 original counties and for whatever reason left the eastern three-quarters of Queens—now Nassau County—out of the New York City consolidation plan," said Kathleen McGrath, a local history enthusiast who lives in Little Neck.

According to McGrath, the exclusion of North Hempstead, Hempstead and Oyster Bay from the city, meant that the counties would remain a part of Queens, but not part of the city—a situation she stressed presented a significant set of challenges.

"In anticipation of Queens’ annexation into the city, state legislators had dissolved all of the autonomous townships in Queens County to make way for the ‘grand city,’” she said.

For a full year after the formation of New York City, the counties of Queens, which were not incorporated into the five boroughs, would be forced into what McGrath called ‘a state of municipal limbo,’ without any regional governments in place to protect the welfare of the villages therein.

Then in 1899, North Hempstead, Hempstead and Oyster Bay were permitted to secede from Queens and form Nassau County.

"It's really kind of funny how wonky governments can work sometimes though, because you'd think the state law makers would have addressed that issue as they were forming the city," McGrath said. “Really makes you wonder,” she added.

Today's Queens County is only 118 square miles of land area, less than one-quarter its original size, which is something McGrath stressed she struggles to comprehend.

"It's just hard to imagine that our predecessors would have let the other 400 square miles go," she said.

Pausing a moment to consider the history of New York City politics, McGrath interjected one last snarky reflection.

"I guess that's why I wouldn't make a good politician," she said.

Fun Fact: A county is a subdivision of a state, run by Municipal Corporation that is granted authority by state legislators to perform regional state functions. Counties can be broken up into cities, towns and Indian reservations.