Introduction

Briarwood was long a part of the Jamaica, where English settlers arrived in 1656. In 1905, Herbert A. O’Brien launched a development in the area now known as Briarwood. His wife, Adeline, coined the name because of the briars stuck to her husband’s clothing when he returned from forays to wooden site. The neighborhood was well established in 1936. Since I live in this area I decided to take a better look into the surroundings of this lovely neighborhood. It took me a long time to decide what my interests were about this place, because it is housing area and there is nothing much going on around here and not too many interesting places to write about. But one night, when I was coming home from Manhattan, at a big intersection of Queens Boulevard and 82nd. Street I saw a huge white building. It was the NYC Courthouse. I thought to my self how the it affects the neighborhood? After a bit of thinking and putting the facts together I new that the existence of the courthouse in Briarwood affects the real estate prices and the crime rate in the area.