The Report on Queens - From 1905

The Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens reports:

All sections of the borough are now undergoing rapid transformation.... A vast influx of population from Manhattan and Brooklyn is taking place and is supplemented from all over the country.

Just switch "from all over the country" to "from all over the world" and this 1913 quote would still be applicable almost a hundred years later.

The University of Michigan's Making of America digital library recently released online many digitized books on New York (see NY Times article), including an interesting Chamber of Commerce report on Queens back from its first building boom. Read the 1913 prices for new construction and lots, and weep. History buffs will enjoy the details from a time when many neighborhoods were just names on a map and plenty were still farmland.