The End of the Franny Lew

Francis Lewis Boulevard (Cross Island Boulevard) at Crocheron Avenue in Auburndale in 1938. It was easy driving then! “Frankie Lew” has become an eight-lane behemoth since. (Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Collectibles.)

Francis Lewis Boulevard, named for a Queens resident (1713-1803) who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is the longest street that’s restricted to Queens (there are longer roads like Northern Blvd. that are longer, but extend far into Nassau and Suffolk Counties). It runs through Whitestone, Auburndale, Fresh Meadows, Holliswood, Hollis, Cambria Heights, and Rosedale.

Lewis, a Welshman by birth, arrived in New York in 1734 and moved to Long Island in 1775; he became a delegate to the Second Continental Congress from New York. Shortly after he signed the document, the British destroyed his home and property and took his wife prisoner for several months; she died shortly after her release. Lewis lived in poverty for the rest of his life.

The boulevard is a relatively recent arrival. It doesn’t appear on maps until the 1920s, was initially called Cross Island Boulevard, and initially extended only as far as Springfield Boulevard. Probably to avoid confusion, it was renamed for the Queens patriot at about the same time as Robert Moses’ new Cross Island Parkway, the eastern end of the Belt Parkway system, opened in 1940.

Below Springfield Boulevard, planners had a considerable obstacle to their plans of extending Francis Lewis Boulevard to Rosedale: Montefiore Cemetery.

A novel solution was implemented as 121st Avenue, 230th Place, and 138th Avenue were dragooned into service, and renamed Francis Lewis Boulevard in order to have the road continue on its southeastern push. In this neighborhood the boulevard takes on a weird “Z” shape.

When it arrives in Rosedale, Francis Lewis Boulevard assumes the route of one of the town’s former main drags, Rosedale Avenue. It finally meets its end at a gas station and a tangle of utility wires at Hook Creek Boulevard and 148th Avenue. This isn’t quite the end of Francis Lewis Boulevard, however. It has an oddly-named extension into Nassau County…

Hungry Harbor Road extends from Hook Creek Boulevard, crossing the boulevard’s titular creek before entering the town of Woodmere and changing its name to Rosedale Road. The origin of the name is unclear, but the town of Woodmere contains a lengthier road with the same name that has nothing at all to do with this road.