Elmhurst is a neighborhood in western Queens. It has come a long way since troubles in the 1980s, even longer since its colonial founding in the 1650s and has recently experienced a economic revitalization developing rapidly, spurred by the subway's reach out into Queens. Elmhurst is the thriving community of families -- middle class and working class -- housed in a mix of older multi-family homes, and co-op and apartment buildings.

Elmhurst was first known as Middleburgh, and later as Hastings, when it was established in 1652. Colonists began to refer to Hastings as “new town” in order to distinguish it from Queen’s first and abandoned settlement of Maspeth (established in 1642, abandoned in 1644). In 1683, the name Newtown was officially given to the village and township. In 1898 when Queens became part of New York City , the name changed to Elmhurst (meaning “a grove of elms”), at the bequest of Cord Meyer jr. in an effort to disassociate his development from the notoriously polluted Newtown Creek. 

Multi-family homes on tight lots are the most common housing, with plenty of 4-6 story apartment buildings and some co-ops and newer condos, along the main roads. Many of the multi-families are owner-occupied rentals, and "Fedders-style" housing has become common in the last 10 years.