CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

This New York Times article from June 2nd 1972 discusses the progress and development of a once "ambitious" construction plan on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. The plan, which set about for the "radical transformation" of the area, focused, in no small part, on the creation of a 50-acre permanent campus for York College. As the article states, development planners called the college's construction as the "'key bridge' between the black and white communities in central Queens and one of the most essential elements in the over-all plan." The fiscal crisis of the 1970s, however, along with battles with Governor Nelson Rockefeller, threatened York's existence as a four-year school and stalled construction efforts throughout the decade. It was not until 1986 that the college moved into their permanent and present location.

Though founded in 1966 as the fifth senior college of the City University of New York, York College spent two decades without a permanent campus. Relying first on rented space in Bayside, Queens, the school temporarily re-located to the Queensborough Community College campus from 1968-1971, following which administration relied on a mix of rented and purchased buildings until the opening of their permanent campus in 1986.