 The architect's concept of Rochdale Village was an attractive community covering 122 blocks that would provide the residents with a park-like setting and facilities of suburbia, within the limits of the Urban Jamaica Area.Rochdale Village was designed to be a "city within a city" when it was planned beginning in 1939, in order to boost tourism to the surrounding area also including Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, and Laurelton.The property is the former site of Jamaica Race Course, which was the area's only tourist site and was operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club and its successor, the Greater New York Association (now the New York Racing Association.)