On November 12 , 2001 , American Airlines Flight 587 , bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic , crashed in the center of Belle Harbor , killing all 260 passengers and crew on board , as well as five others on the ground . Many of the passengers on the plane were from the Dominican community in Washington Heights . After consultation with families in the Belle Harbor and Washington Heights communities , a memorial was erected at Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park , a major shopping district and transportation hub in the area , making it accessible to all . Although a temporary memorial was developed at the actual site of the disaster , on Newport Avenue , many still annually gravitate toward that area for commemoration . In 2001 , a resident stated to '' The Guardian '' , " It 's impossible to understand unless you live here . " Father Michael Geraghty , a priest quoted in the same article , said that it was common for people to live in the houses that their parents lived in and that many families lived in the same houses for generations . The neighborhood suffered heavy losses from the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks . " Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of the combined area of Breezy Point/Belle Harbor/Rockaway Park/Broad Channel was 28,018 , an increase of 1,307 ( 4.9 % ) from the 26,711 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of , the four neighborhoods had a population density of
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587
Belle Harbor, Queens