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HISTORY Martin Van Buren High School, dubbed the "East Queens High School" meant to ease overcrowding at other schools, opened in 1955 after 10 years of laboring by the Eastern Queens High School Committee. Although several names were suggested, several politically ambitious citizens from the area felt the school should be called Queens Village High School. Then-Mayor Robert Wagner stayed out of the fracas. After it was decided that the school's name would honor the country's eighth president, the first to be born in New York state, Wagner was asked "Why Van Buren?" He replied, "I suppose Queens Village needed another Democrat."
Van Buren, at Hillside Avenue and 232nd Street, has been noted for its reputation...