Queens leaders vow money to turn paved-over Elmhurst Black cemetery into a memorial
Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. and other Queens officials want the city to buy the 90th Street lot, now in foreclosure. City Hall has not committed.
Queens elected officials say they will find the money for New York City to buy a historic Black cemetery at 47-11 90th St. in Elmhurst, which was paved over for a parking lot. Their goal is a memorial honoring the freed slaves laid to rest on the site.
Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. has asked Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to purchase the plot. Its owners paved the burial ground for parking, and abandoned vehicles towed under an NYPD program ended up piling up on the lot.
Who would pay for an Elmhurst burial ground memorial
Richards says he is ready to fund the purchase and a memorial from his $120 million budget. He has already set aside $3 million for a Holocaust memorial at Queens Borough Hall. “Let’s not slow-walk this,” he said. Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, whose district includes the site, also wants the city to buy the land and says he will work with other officials to secure the money.
The mayor has not taken a position. In his view, a landmarking decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission has to come before anything else. When questioned about the growing calls for a purchase, he said, “That is a conversation that’s ongoing.”
Foreclosure sale and the burial site law
The Department of Buildings closed the parking lot. The property is now in foreclosure and for sale, with real estate listings asking between $7 million and $11 million. None of the listings mentions the cemetery.
State Attorney General Letitia James has asked the judge in the foreclosure case to require the seller to tell buyers about the burial ground. Her motion would also make buyers handle the human remains as the state Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act requires.
The burial ground dates to 1818. In 1828, the year after New York freed enslaved people, the founders of what became St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church bought the land. The church sold it in the 1930s and moved to Jackson Heights, but under current law it is still the steward of the site and has a say in its future. Pastor Kimberly Detherage backs a city purchase. Richards organized a press conference at the lot on Sept. 18, and Detherage attended, along with two state senators, Jessica Ramos and Leroy Comrie.
Quick answers
Where is the Elmhurst African burial ground?
The site is at 47-11 90th St. in Elmhurst, Queens. It was paved over and used as a parking lot until the Department of Buildings closed it.
Is the city buying the Elmhurst burial ground site?
Not yet. Mayor Mamdani has not committed and says the Landmarks Preservation Commission must first make a landmarking decision.
Who owned the burial ground originally?
In 1828, founders of what became St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church bought the land. The church sold it in the 1930s but remains its legal steward.
