Queens officials urge the city to buy an Elmhurst African burial ground. A new Council law orders a citywide burial-site map

Queens leaders asked Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week to buy a private lot in Elmhurst where nearly 300 people, including formerly enslaved people, are believed to be buried, and to turn it into a memorial, The City Reporter reported.

Why it matters to residents: the lot at 47-11 90th St. dates to 1818. It later belonged to the founders of what became St. Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church. A developer that bought it in 2009 to build condos struck an iron coffin while digging, and archaeologists later found hundreds of graves, the outlet reported. In August, the outlet revealed that the owner had paved the site and rented it out to park towed cars.

What officials asked for

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. wrote to the mayor, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the state parks and historic preservation office. Eight Queens officials joined him. "We urge your administration to acquire the lot," he wrote, calling for a memorial to "the nearly 300 individuals who are interred there," The City Reporter reported.

The signers included Council Members Shanel Thomas-Henry, Ty Hankerson and Shekar Krishnan, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and state lawmakers. They want the landmarks commission to designate the site and the state to list it on its historic registry. City Hall had not answered questions about the talks as of Wednesday, the outlet said. Earlier this month, officials said they would find money for a memorial.

What our records add

A new city law covers sites like this one. Int. 220-A, from Council Member Kamillah Hanks, passed the Council on Sept. 10. Our records show it became law in October without the mayor's signature. Under the City Charter, a bill becomes law if the mayor neither signs nor vetoes it in time. The law requires the Department of Records and Information Services, working with Parks, Cultural Affairs, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and others, to publish a report on historical African American burial sites by March 1, 2028. The final text calls for:

• a list of known sites, with a plan to find unmarked ones;
• recommendations to preserve or commemorate them, including possible state or federal support;
• notice to local elected officials and community boards when a site is found in their district;
• an interactive online map and public education materials, according to the bill summary.

The bill had 35 sponsors, including Hankerson, Krishnan and Williams.

The Council heard testimony on these sites in May. The Cultural Affairs Committee held an oversight hearing on May 13 on honoring the burial sites of formerly enslaved people, together with the first hearing on Int. 220. Witnesses listed known African burial grounds across the boroughs (transcript). They also described a decades-long fight over a family cemetery along Northern Boulevard in Queens (transcript).

Buying land isn't a Council vote by itself. If the city buys the lot, the money would come through the capital budget. A landmark designation would go before the Council's Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings, Resiliency and Dispositions, followed by a full Council vote.

What's next

The Landmarks Preservation Commission hasn't said where a pending request to examine the site stands. The mayor hasn't said whether the city will buy the lot.