Middle Village is a neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the former LIRR Montauk Branch railroad tracks, and to the west by Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Middle Village is bordered by the neighborhoods of Elmhurst to the north, Maspeth and Ridgewood to the west, Glendale to the south, and Rego Park to the east.

[6] The Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike became an un-tolled road by 1873,[7] and St. John Roman Catholic Cemetery was laid out on the eastern side of the town in 1879.

[7][9] A housing boom that began in the 1920s eventually consumed the surrounding farmland and became continuous with neighboring towns and neighborhoods.

[16] In 2018, an estimated 19% of Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Many of the older families have left Middle Village but have not sold their homes but rather passed them down to their children; the result is many second and third generation residents.

The plant was closed by around 1965, after which United Merchants and Manufacturers Inc. acquired the land and built a three-story mall on the site between 1972 and 1974.

[22] The now vacant level 2 was used as a storage facility by the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) until 2023-2024,[23] and Amazon leased space for a fulfillment center in 2020.

The two-story art deco building is notable for imposing gargoyles and finely chiseled faces on its roof.

[29] Ferguson sold the remaining 1⁄4 acre (0.10 ha) to Schumacher in 1864, by which time the area's hotels were booming in popularity.

In 1888, Schumacher was dead and his wife, Catharina Sutter, sold the building and the business to John Niederstein, a German cook.

[7][30] The Artistic Building, on Metropolitan Avenue between 79th and 80th Streets, is a 1930 structure that is notable for having friezes of biblical scenes on its facade.

[31] In 2005, though, the Juniper Park Civic Association successfully petitioned to get parts of Maspeth and Middle Village rezoned to prevent aggressive redevelopment.

[36] Near the Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery, on Mount Olivet Crescent, is the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium, which has operated since the late 19th century.

Baseball player Lou Gehrig, screenwriter Ring Lardner, Sr., businessman J.P. Morgan, and Richard Hauptmann—notable for the Lindbergh kidnapping—are among the people cremated there.

[37] The Pullis Farm Cemetery, a small burial plot in Juniper Valley Park, is a gated mini-cemetery dating back to 1846.

St. John's Cemetery, a cemetery located in Middle Village, holds many famed mobsters, including John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, Joe Gallo, Carlo Gambino, Joseph Profaci, Joe Colombo, Vito Genovese and Carmine Galante.

Also buried here are fitness guru Charles Atlas, politicians Geraldine Ferraro and Mario Cuomo, slain New York City police officer Rafael Ramos, and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

The church's third structure, built in 1979, is located on a plot of land bounded by present-day Penelope Avenue, Dry Harbor Road, Juniper Boulevard South, and 81st Street.

[7] Our Lady of Hope is a hexagonal structure on Eliot Avenue with a bell tower and is located just north of the New York Connecting Railroad.

[7] Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, and Glendale are patrolled by the 104th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 64-02 Catalpa Avenue.

However, the precinct covers a large diamond-shaped area, and Maspeth and Middle Village are generally seen as safer than Ridgewood.

[13]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth is 0.008 milligrams per cubic metre (8.0×10−9 oz/cu ft), more than the city average.

[13]: 13  In Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth, 19% of residents are obese, 7% are diabetic, and 20% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 22%, 8%, and 23% respectively.

[45] A study by RentHop.com found that Middle Village had the highest number of dog feces-related complaints within New York City.

[50] The United States Post Office operates the Middle Village Station at 71-35 Metropolitan Avenue.

[51] Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update].

[52] Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City.

[14]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [13]: 6  Additionally, 82% of high school students in Middle Village, Ridgewood, and Maspeth graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.