The first Dutch settlers who came to this area called their town "Rustdorp," meaning "rest town." When the English colonists took over in 1664, they renamed it "Jameco," from the indigenous Lenape term for beaver, which were abundant here at the time. Learn more about Jamaica's history during the Revolutionary War by taking a tour through the town!

In celebration of the Municipal Art Society's 125th Anniversary, we've compiled a list of landmarks older than MAS.

Commercial Cable Company Building, ca. 1912. In 1912, the Commercial Cable Company shifted operations from its Coney Island hub to a new building near the corner of Rue de St. Felix and Grandview Avenue (today, New Haven and Caffrey Avenues). The Far Rockaway building became New York’s link to Transatlantic telegraph cables, via Nova Scotia. Telegraph communication had declined by the 1930s, and the building was sold and later converted into a yeshiva. In 1985, the structure was demolished, revealing another historic site: the Cornell Burial Ground, situated at the rear of the lot, a 17th century cemetery containing the remains of Far Rockaway’s first European settlers. In 1992, the Parks Department took control of the property, thereby ensuring access to the burial ground as restoration progresses.