In the Center Of It All

This marker shows the controversial geographic center of New York City. Tribune Photo By Iman Khan

By Iman Khan

According to the Department of City Planning, the geographic center of New York City is actually in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on Stockholm Street between Wyckoff Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue. Nonetheless, on a westbound traffic island at the corner of Queens Boulevard and 58th Street in Woodside, a marker there tells a different story.

A red and gold circle, representing both a compass and the city’s center, bears NYC and the number 58 crisscrossed the four directional points and the title, “The Geographic Center of NYC.”

The marker’s history remains a mystery since no bearing can be located on it, allocating it to any one of New York City’s various departments and agencies.

Was this marker placed here by the Parks Department, City Planning, or perhaps a federal agency? Was it the work of a benefactor from an era long past, or maybe some developer hoping to use the site’s unique feature of being the geographical center, who placed it there to prove validate his claim.

At press time, the mystery remained unsolved since neither Parks nor City Planning was able to locate any clear, confirmed information regarding the matter.

Regardless of whether or not the geographical center lies in Queens or Brooklyn, there is no doubt that the area in which the marker is located is an epicenter of immigrant culture, Woodside being home to large portions of the Irish, Latin, South Asian and Korean communities found in Queens.

Bushwick, for its part, is home to many different Latin groups and large numbers of the Hasidic Jewish community.

The site has its relevance as Albert Stern, a Flushing resident, announced three years ago that he wanted to build a New York City Hall of Fame in Woodside because of its official central location within the five boroughs.

The New York City Hall of Fame, Stern determined, would “recognize individuals who have contributed to the betterment of New York City. And we decided that it would be both celebrity as well as the average John Doe or Jane Doe.”

The criteria for acceptance into the New York City Hall of Fame, as Stern frames it, are fairly open-ended, allowing the trustees to evaluate nominees on a case by case basis. “We decided that the people that would be inducted into the New York City Hall of Fame would have to be people of principle and integrity,” Stern explained. “Now let me clarify that: we’re not looking for saints. You want saints, go to the Vatican!”

You want the center of the city? Come to Woodside.