Much like neighboring Arverne, Edgemere was developed as a beachfront tourist district with easy access to Brooklyn and Manhattan by railway. After World War II, the late 19th and early 20th century resorts and cheap bungalows that lined the boardwalk were considered outdated and undesirable by city officials. East of Beach 32nd Street, the original pattern of development can still be seen: rows of very small, single-story bungalows packed close together on narrow streets. As part of an urban renewal project, nearly all structures south of Rockaway Freeway, from Beach 32nd Street to Beach 90th Street, were acquired and demolished by 1970. Despite many ambitious plans for proposed development, no construction occurred until after 1984 and the coastline of Edgemere and Arverne remained lined with hundreds of acres of vacant wasteland for decades.[6] Arverne has since been redeveloped, but the coastal section of Edgemere remains entirely vacant.
References
^ ab"Edgemere, Queens"(PDF). New York City Office of Environmental Remediation. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^The Rockaways. Accessed October 2, 2007. "Edgemere was developed by Frederick J. Lancaster in 1892. The area was a sandy waste, with only two or three houses and the Half-Way House. Mr. Lancaster called the place New Venice."