Flushing, Queens

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Several landmarks from two New York World's Fairs still stand in Flushing Meadows, including the US Steel Unisphere

Flushing is an urban neighborhood in the northern part of the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. Flushing is now home to large Chinese, Korean, Indian, Hispanic, and African American communities. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 7.

History

Pre-American Revolution

Before European settlement, northeastern Queens was inhabited by the Matinecoc Native Americans, a tribe of Algonquian-speaking people.

The town of Flushing was first settled by Europeans in 1645 under charter of the Dutch West India Company and was named after the city of Vlissingen, in the southwestern Netherlands, the main port of the WIC.

It is said that the name Vlissingen means "salt meadow" and that the name was given as a nod to the tidal waters of Flushing Meadows. "Flushing" is the common English name of Vlissingen.

The town was inhabited mostly by British settlers, including John Bowne, who would later become a leader in the movement to stop the harassment of local Quakers, prohibited by Governor Peter Stuyvesant from worshiping openly. Remnants of the Dutch period include the John Bowne House on Bowne Street, and the Flushing Quaker Meeting House on Northern Boulevard. The Flushing Remonstrance, signed there on December 27, 1657, protested religious persecution and led to the decision of the Dutch West India Company to allow Quakers and others to worship freely. As such, Flushing is claimed to be a birthplace of religious freedom in the new world.

Flushing was occupied by British troops for most of the revolution.

Post-American Revolution

The 1785 Kingsland Homestead, originally the residence of a wealthy Quaker merchant, now serves as the home of the Queens Historical Society.

Map of Flushing in 1891.

Flushing was the site of the first commercial tree nurseries in North America, the most prominent being the Prince, Bloodgood, and Parsons nurseries. Much of the northern section of Kissena Park, former site of the Parsons nursery, still contains a wide variety of exotic trees. The naming of streets intersecting Kissena Boulevard on its way toward Kissena Park celebrates this fact (Ash Street, Beech, Cherry ...Poplar, Quince, Rose). Flushing also supplied trees to the Greensward project, now known as Central Park in Manhattan.

20th century until today

Flushing was a forerunner of Hollywood, when the young American film industry was still based on the east coast. Decades later, the RKO Keith's movie palace would host vaudeville acts and appearances by the likes of Mickey Rooney, The Marx Brothers and Bob Hope. The theatre now lies vacant and in disrepair due an unauthorized real estate development project that took place in the early 1990s. A plan to rename the site RKO Plaza and convert it for residential use awaits city approval.

In 1921, Anne Francis Robbins was born in Flushing. She would later be known as Nancy Davis and, finally, Nancy Reagan, wife of Ronald Reagan.

What is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was the site of two World's Fairs. The 1939 New York World's Fair was held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Among the innovations presented to the world from Flushing in 1939 were the television, which broadcast a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt. On July 4, 1940, Two New York City Police Department officers were killed examining a bomb they removed from the British Pavilion of the World's Fair.. After the fair, the New York City pavilion was turned into the temporary headquarters of the United Nations. In 1947, the UN vote in favor of the establishment of the State of Israel took place here.

The 1964 New York World's Fair was also held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Remnants of the fair include the Unisphere and the New York State Pavilion, The New York City Pavilion (from 1939 Fair) which was converted into an ice-skating and roller rink, and later the roller rink became the Queens Museum of Art. Pope Paul VI attended the fair on October 4, 1965. Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Pietà, also exhibited during his trip. With this papal trip, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit United States. An exedra now commemorates the site of the Vatican pavilion,

The USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, originally consisting of Louis Armstrong Stadium (the Singer Bowl, built for the '64 World's Fair), is the home of the US Open, which was once held in Forest Hills.

The crime rate in Flushing has dropped significantly since the 1990s, mirroring the city-wide decrease in crime. However, gang warfare has become a problem in the downtown Flushing area, resulting in a string of stabbings and murders, such as Wendy's Massacre on Main Street.

Demographics

Today, the neighborhood is 55% Asian American, with the largest ethnic Chinese community in the New York metropolitan area, ahead of Manhattan's Chinatown. It is the second-largest Chinatown in United States. Flushing is also home to significant Hispanic American, African American, Indian American and Southeast Asian populations.

Flushing was not always an ethnic enclave. In 1970, with 45,569 residents, Flushing had a 76% non-Hispanic white population (much of which was Irish-American.)After the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Flushing saw its own share of demographic shift. Within a span of only two decades, Flushing, a neighborhood that was prominently White, has been transformed into a neighborhood with 36% Asian in 1990. The non-Hispanic white population of central Flushing declined to 29%, while the total population has increased to 54,488 in 1990. Traditionally, white flight is associated with urban decay, but in Flushing the trend has brought an economic boom. The reaction to this demographic change is mixed amongst the long-term residents.

Education

Queens College, one of the most respected colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY), is located on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing. It opened in 1937. Adjoining it is the City University of New York School of Law, which operates a pro bono law firm that serves Flushing's immigrant and working-class communities.

Public high schools in Flushing include John Bowne High School, Robert F. Kennedy High School, Flushing High School, and Townsend Harris High School, as well as private schools such as Holy Cross High School.

Flushing High School, the oldest public high school in New York, is housed in a distinctive building in the Gothic Revival style, built in 1912-1915. It was declared a historical landmark in 1991.

The Flushing branch of the Queens Borough Public Library, located at the intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street, is the largest branch library in New York City. The library has developed into a valuable community resource and houses an auditorium for public events. The current building, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, is the third to be built on the site--the first was a gift of Andrew Carnegie. The greater Flushing area is also served by 8 other Queens Library branches.

Transportation

7 train Flushing station

Flushing is a major transportation hub with major air, rail, and bus links located within a half-mile (800 m) radius of downtown. The New York City Subway IRT Flushing Line's (7 and <7>​) terminal is at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, with the Flushing Main Street of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch located one block away. Over a dozen local bus routes serve Flushing with destinations in Nassau County by MTA Long Island Bus, the Bronx by MTA Bus, and Jamaica and other Queens neighborhoods by MTA New York City Transit buses. La Guardia Airport is located 10 minutes away by car or bus. The Van Wyck Expressway, Whitestone Expressway, Grand Central Parkway and Long Island Expressway service Flushing.

Until the IRT Flushing Line made its way to the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in 1928, downtown Flushing's center was at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Main Street, the site of a number of trolley lines.

Flushing Airport was in operation from 1927 to 1984, located at the northern end of Linden Place. Being north of the informal Willets Point Boulevard boundary, the site is considered by some to be in College Point, Queens. The airport opened in 1927 as Speed's Airport. The airport was the busiest airport in New York City before the emergence of the larger LaGuardia Airport. In 1977, a Piper Twin Comanche crashed shortly after taking off, which eventually lead to the close of this airport in 1984.

Ethnic culture

Roosevelt Avenue is one of the main commercial streets in Flushing.

The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue has become a center for Korean and Chinese culture and small businesses. Flushing is known for its selection of authentic ethnic restaurants. The Jackson Heights area is home to a large Indian and Pakistani market. In 2007, many Korean businesses moved out and Chinese enterprises have taken their place. Today it is a concert hall and cultural center. The Flushing armory, also on Northern Boulevard, formerly used by the National Guard, was a shelter for the homeless in 1981-1994. In 1996, it was taken over by the Queens North Task Force and became a police station.Other registered New York City Landmarks in Flushing include the Bowne House, Kingsland Homestead, Quaker Meeting House (1694), Flushing High School, St. George's Church (1854), the Latimer House, the RKO Keith's Movie Palace, and the Unisphere, a 12-story high globe that served as the symbol of the 1964 New York World's Fair. A weeping beech tree, planted in 1847 just north of the Bowne House, was a registered New York City Landmark until it died in 1998 (at 151 years old). New trees that have sprouted on the site have been nicknamed "sons of the beech."

• North Flushing, on the border of Bayside and Whitestone, is a residential neighborhood with many large mansions that have been designated landmark buildings. This area is located between 29^th Avenue and 35^th Avenue, and 155^st and 164^th Streets .
• Flushing's Waldheim area is known for its beautiful, individually crafted homes. Its 110 original houses made up Queens' first estate subdivision.

Museums and cultural institutions

Other attractions and remnants from the World's Fairs in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park worth visiting include the Queens Museum of Art (housed in the New York City Building from the 1939 New York World's Fair), featuring a scale model of New York City (the largest architectural model ever built); The New York Hall of Science, and the Queens Zoo. In addition to the Unisphere, the park contains a variety of sculpture and markers from the fairs. There are markers for the two 5,000-year time capsules buried in the park, chronicling 20th Century life (dedicated 1938 and 1965).

The Queens Botanical Garden is located on Main Street and has been in operation continuously since its opening as an exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair. The Botanical Garden carries on Flushing's long horticultural tradition begun by its once famous tree nurseries and seed farms.

Flushing's tradition as a place of religious tolerance continues as well. It is fitting that Bowne Street, named for John Bowne, is known for its diverse array of houses of worship, including one of the largest Hindu temples in North America.

Flushing in art and culture

• The rock band KISS first played at the Coventry Club on Queens Boulevard in 1973, and is said to have derived its name from "Kissena," one of Flushing's major streets.
• Joel Fleischman, the fictional character from the 1990s comedic drama Northern Exposure, was said to have relocated from Flushing. Often, references were made to actual locations around Main Street, Flushing.

Notable residents

• James A. Bland (1854-1911), singer and composer.
• Fidel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, Cuban leader Fidel Castro's son
• Joseph Cornell, artist.
• Fran Drescher, actress
• Erik Estrada, actor
• Jon Favreau, actor/producer/director
• Franky G, actor
• Mic Geronimo, rapper
• Charles Dana Gibson, illustrator
• Al Greenwood, former keyboardist of Foreigner
• Marvin Hamlisch, composer
• Ron Jeremy, porn star
• Steve Karsay, Baseball player
• Keith and The Girl, popular podcasters
• Kevin "Flushing Flash" Kelley, boxer
• Carole King, singer-songwriter
• Large Professor, hip-hop producer
• Gene Mayer, tennis player
• Sandy Mayer, tennis player
• Charles Momsen, the vice admiral who organized rescue of USS Squalus disaster
• Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer
• Lewis Mumford, architecture critic and historian
• Prong, crossover thrash/thrash metal band
• Richard Outcault, creator of Buster Brown and Hogan's Alley
• Nancy Reagan, actress and First Lady
• Richard Riorden, Los Angeles mayor
• Ray Romano, comedian
• John Seery, artist
• Kasey Smith, musician
• Paul Stanley, member of the band KISS
• Bill Viola, video artist
• Harvey and Bob Weinstein, founders of Miramax and the Weinstein Company.

Buried in Flushing

See also: Flushing Cemetery

• John Bowne, Quaker advocate
• Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, mob boss
• Alan King, comedian
• Louis Armstrong, jazz musician
• Bert Lahr, actor
• Henny Youngman, comedian
• Aris San, acclaimed Greek-Israeli singer

Famous Visitors

• George Washington visited the Prince nurseries with Vice President John Adams.
• Francis Lewis, signer of the Declaration of Independence—a merchant and patriot who lost his wife and gave his fortune to the revolutionary cause, served as vestryman at St. George's Church.
• Theodore Roosevelt gave a campaign speech from the steps of Flushing Town Hall
• The Ramones often played Flushing's clubs
• The Beatles, The Who, and other bands played at Shea Stadium

External links

• The Queens Historical Society: Freedom Mile
• nywf64.com (1964/1965 New York World's Fair Website)
• A Journey Through Chinatown - Downtown Flushing map
• Waldheim neighborhood