Queens Borough President Wants To Turn Former Cemetery Site Into Memorial

QUEENS, NY — Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and community leaders are calling on the city to purchase the site of a historic burial ground that is hidden beneath a parking lot in Elmhurst.

The site is located at 47-11 90th St. and dates back to the 1820s when it was originally purchased by the St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In the 1930s, the church sold the property off and moved to nearby Jackson Heights, according to Rev. Kimberly Detherage of St. Mark AME.

In 2011, construction workers found the remains of an African American woman that dates back to 1850.

According to historians, there could be as many as 300 formerly enslaved New Yorkers buried there.

Richards and Detherage are hoping the city can turn the site into a memorial and greenspace for the community.

The borough president's proposal draws inspiration from the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground, the site of African American and Native American remains.

A previous planned press conference on Friday has been cancelled.