Hamilton Beach Civic Association

The New Hamilton Beach Civic Association

Hamilton Beach, one of the oldest sections of Howard Beach, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Its boundaries are the 102nd Street Creek to the north, the IND Rockaway Line (A) tracks and JFK Airport to the east, Hawtree Creek to the west, and Jamaica Bay to the south. Hamilton Beach is one of the few communities in New York City that has its own volunteer fire department. Hamilton Beach is frequently referred to as West Hamilton Beach. East Hamilton Beach was on the east side of the then Long Island Rail Road tracks, but was taken by the City for expansion of Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport) in the 1940's.

There was a Hamilton Beach station on the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch. The station closed on June 27, 1955 in connection with the LIRR's sale of much of the branch's right of way to the New York City Transit Authority.

Hamilton Beach is a small community that has one long strip (104th Street) with ten dead-end blocks connected to it. It is mostly surrounded by water. There is one way into Hamilton Beach by car and two ways in by foot. It is accessible by a boardwalk that stretches from the A train station at Coleman Square to 104th Street, or you can cross the Hawtree Basin pedestrian bridge that is in between two of the ten blocks. The bridge connects Hamilton and Howard Beach. Hamilton has a small park at the southern end, with a 200-foot baseball field, a handball court, a small jungle gym area and beach. Gateways Hamilton Beach Park, just south of 165th Avenue, is the last stop for the Q11 bus, where the bus drivers take a quick break before returning to service.

Hamilton Beach was once an area with dirt roads, old shack-type houses (bungalows), and no sewer system, as the area was unincorporated. Recently Hamilton Beach has been "building up." There are new houses going up on almost every block.