[13] The vicinity came to be called Snake Woods, and one source maintains that "during New York's colonial period, the area was known as 'suicide's paradise,' as it was largely snake-infested swamps and wolf-ridden woodlands.

By the middle of the 18th century, the area's farmers had drained some of its marshes and cut back some of its woods to expand its arable land and eliminate natural predators.

Agricultural produce found markets in New York City, and at the beginning of the 19th century the area came to be "abundantly conspicuous in the wealth of the farmers and in the beauty of the villas.

[19] Its size and central location made it a natural meeting place, its surface one on which to tack public notices, and a strategic point of considerable military significance during the Revolutionary War.

[9][12][19] A 19th-century antiquarian wrote of the great tree as it stood during the American Revolution and in doing so named the families of the local landowners: Around the roots of the old tree were the huts and stables of the cavalry: with a number of settler's huts ranged in woods... Great festivities too were constant in the spacious rooms of the old Moore house, during the winter months when the snow was deeper and the frost more cold than now-a-days.

[Has it] not been for two centuries the "Legal Notice" centre of Newtown, for all vendues, real estate transfers, town meetings, lost "creeturs" and runaway slaves?

[19]Woodside was first developed on a large scale beginning in 1867 by speculative residential neighborhood builder Benjamin W. Hitchcock, who also founded Corona and Ozone Park, and John Andrew Kelly.

There is an abundance of good fruit trees in the vicinity...[21]By the middle of the 19th century, drainage and improved agricultural techniques had increased the proportion of Woodside's arable land to some two-thirds of its total.

As it became quicker and more convenient for residents to travel from their homes to other parts of Queens, to Brooklyn, and to Manhattan, the area came to be seen as both desirable and affordable for the construction of housing for city-dwellers and increases in land values enticed farm owners to sell out.

[30] As other well-to-do merchants had done in other areas of Queens, Kelly and Buddy bought farm property for use as a rural estate where they planned to live in the warmer months of the year.

Once the area had been surveyed and 972 plots laid out, he organized excursions from the city, hired brass bands to play, and gave prospects free lunch.

After his success with Woodside he undertook similar real estate promotions in other parts of Queens including hamlets that he dubbed Corona and Ozone Park.

In the years before the Panic of 1907 and again after its close, the wage-earners in many of these low-income families, having been able to improve their skills and obtain higher-paying jobs, began pressing for construction of housing that was better than the tenements but still within their means.

[66] Although real estate developers had previously thought Woodside to be too remote and rural in character for marketing of low cost rental units, some changed circumstances convinced them to meet this need by putting up higher-density apartment buildings in the village.

With the incorporation of Queens into New York City in 1898 and subsequent passage of legislation mandating a five-cent citywide transit fare in 1904, Woodside residents had both abundant and inexpensive options for rapid public transportation.

Although cheap, fast, and convenient transit made it possible for workers from Queens to have other-borough jobs, intra-borough employment opportunities were increasingly a realistic option.

However, Woodside had provided fire protection, sewers, and street lights earlier on, and its transit facilities gave way to a wide variety of retail options.

[86] As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, Woodside's plentiful advantages convinced real estate developers to invest substantially in high-occupancy housing and duplex homes to complement the single-family units which had dominated the area.

[90] The Woodside Development Corporation built four-story apartments with stores on the ground floor and both two- and one-family houses on two large plots of land near the center of the village.

Although the rapid population growth of the 1920s had fallen off in the 1930s, the authors of the profile expected improved transit (the IND Queens Boulevard Line which opened in 1933) and a new shopping center to draw larger numbers of new residents.

The neighborhood nonetheless continued to be seen as an attractive place to live—characterized by "wide avenues, leafy streets and a mix of private homes, small apartment buildings and the occasional towering co-op.

[14] In 2008 the chairman of the local Community Board said that large apartment buildings were replacing smaller ones and single-family homes were being converted into multifamily rental properties.

[113][114] Although the estate did not go out of his heirs' hands until the close of the Depression and beginning of World War II, his passing nonetheless helps mark Woodside's transition from country village to suburban bedroom community.

The Philippine Forum also hosts the annual Bayanihan Cultural Festival at the Hart Playground in September in commemoration of Filipino American History Month.

[122] The Philippine Forum also hosts the annual Bayanihan Cultural Festival at the Hart Playground in September to commemorate Filipino American History Month.

[123] On June 12, 2022, a sign-unveiling ceremony and celebration were held at the intersection of 70th Street and Roosevelt Avenue to commemorate the Filipino community's growing presence and contributions in Queens.

When New York City Mayor Dinkins intervened on their behalf, ILGO members were allowed to march for that one time, but their presence was received with hostility from other marchers as well as the spectators, who openly hurled abuse at them and doused with beer.

[128] In the wake of these court rulings, Brendan Fay founds the Lavender and Green Alliance (LAG), which organizes an inclusive event "open to anybody who wished to celebrate the spirit of Irishness and their connections to Ireland" and name it "St. Pat's for All".

In the inaugural year of 2000, the parade attracted over 70 groups of people, including the Korean community honoring the important role that Irish nuns had played in their education, Chilean folk musicians honoring Bernardo O' Higgins, the founding father and first president of Chile, and the son of an Irish immigrant, children and their puppets, the Sunny Side Drum Corps, and LGBT organizations.

[101]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Woodside and Sunnyside is 0.0093 milligrams per cubic metre (9.3×10−9 oz/cu ft), higher than the city average.