Pest Control in Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst sits in the middle of Queens, south of Jackson Heights and west of Corona and Rego Park, with Queens Boulevard slicing through its southern half. It is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the country, with large Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, Bangladeshi, Tibetan and Latin American communities. Broadway and Whitney Avenue are lined with restaurants and small grocers serving these groups, and Queens Center Mall draws shoppers from across the borough. The neighborhood is served by the E, M and R at Elmhurst Avenue and Grand Avenue-Newtown, plus the 7 train along its northern edge. Elmhurst Hospital is a major public medical center, and Elmhurst Park occupies the site of former gas storage tanks.
Also known as: Newtown.
About Elmhurst
Settled by the English in 1652 as Middleburgh, the area soon became known as Newtown and served as the seat of Newtown township for over two centuries. St. James Church and the Newtown Reformed Church date to the colonial era. In 1896 developer Cord Meyer renamed it Elmhurst to escape the association with polluted Newtown Creek. Subway expansion in the 1930s brought large apartment buildings, and immigration after 1965 turned Elmhurst into a global crossroads.
Common Pest Problems in Elmhurst
Elmhurst's crowded apartment buildings and busy food corridors make German cockroaches and rats the most common complaints. The restaurant clusters along Broadway, Whitney Avenue and near Queens Boulevard generate constant garbage, and rats nest in tree pits, vacant storefronts and the backyards of older houses on side streets. Roaches spread between units through shared plumbing and ventilation in the many six-story buildings, where overcrowding and frequent tenant turnover can make infestations hard to eliminate.
Mice are persistent in both apartments and older attached houses, especially in the colder months when they move indoors through gaps around pipes and utility lines. Pigeons congregate near the elevated 7 line along Roosevelt Avenue and on the rooftops around Queens Center, where food waste is plentiful. Humid bathrooms and basements in older buildings support silverfish, and apartments carved into subdivided houses often have hidden gaps that let pests pass between units.