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Flushing
Neighborhood of Queens
Aerial view of the neighborhood
Aerial view of the neighborhood
Country  United States
State  New York
City  New York City
County/Borough Queens
Community District Queens 7
Founded 1645
Town 1683–1898
Named for Vlissingen, Netherlands
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 72,008 (176,000 with the subsections)
Race/Ethnicity
 • White 9.5%
 • Black 4.2%
 • Hispanic 14.9%
 • Asian 69.2%
 • Other/Multiracial 2.2%
Economics
 • Median income $39,804
Time zone UTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
11354, 11355, 11358
Area codes 718, 347, 929, and 917

Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing, a major commercial and retail area centered on the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, is the third-busiest intersection in New York City, behind Times Square and Herald Square.

Flushing was established as a settlement of New Netherland on October 10, 1645, on the eastern bank of Flushing Creek. It was named Vlissingen, after the Dutch city of Vlissingen. The English took control of New Amsterdam in 1664, and when Queens County was established in 1683, the "Town of Flushing" was one of the original five towns of Queens. In 1898, Flushing was consolidated into the City of New York. Development came in the early 20th century with the construction of bridges and public transportation. An immigrant population, composed mostly of Chinese and Koreans, settled in Flushing in the late 20th century.

Flushing contains numerous residential subsections, and its diversity is reflected by the numerous ethnic groups that reside there. Flushing is served by several stations on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch, as well as the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains), which has its terminus at Main Street.

Flushing is located in Queens Community District 7, and its ZIP Codes are 11354, 11355, and 11358. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 109th Precinct.

History

Dutch colony

Olde Flushing Burial center jeh
Old Flushing Burial Ground, used in 17th and 18th centuries, now a park.

On October 10, 1645, Flushing was established by the Dutch on the eastern bank of Flushing Creek under charter of the Dutch West India Company and was part of the New Netherland colony. The settlement was named after the city of Vlissingen, in the southwestern Netherlands, the main port of the company. However, by 1657, the residents called the place "Vlissing." Eventually, "Flushing," the British name for Vlissingen was used. Despite being a Dutch colony, many of the early inhabitants were British.

Unlike all other towns in the region, the charter of Flushing allowed residents freedom of religion as practiced in Holland without the disturbance of any magistrate or ecclesiastical minister. However, New Amsterdam Director-General Peter Stuyvesant issued an edict prohibiting the harboring of Quakers. On December 27, 1657, the inhabitants of Flushing approved a protest known as The Flushing Remonstrance. This contained religious arguments even mentioning freedom for "Jews, Turks, and Egyptians," but ended with a forceful declaration that any infringement of the town charter would not be tolerated. Subsequently, a farmer named John Bowne held Quaker meetings in his home and was arrested for this and deported to Holland. Eventually he persuaded 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.

Landmarks remaining from the Dutch period in Flushing include the John Bowne House on Bowne Street and the Old Quaker Meeting House on Northern Boulevard.

English colonial history

In 1664, the English took control of New Amsterdam, ending Dutch control of the colony, and renamed it the Province of New York. When Queens County was established in 1683, the "Town of Flushing" was one of the original five towns which comprised the county. Many historical references to Flushing are to this town, bounded from Newtown on the west by Flushing Creek (now Flushing River), from Jamaica on the south by the watershed, and from Hempstead on the east by what later became the Nassau County line. The town was dissolved in 1898 when Queens became a borough of New York City, and the term "Flushing" today usually refers to a much smaller area, for example the former Village of Flushing.

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 Avenue, Beech, Cherry ...Poplar, Quince, Rose). Flushing also supplied trees to the Greensward project, now known as Central Park in Manhattan.

During the American Revolution, Flushing, along with most settlements in present-day Queens County, favored the British and quartered British troops, though one battalion of Scottish Highlanders is known to have been stationed at Flushing during the war. Following the Battle of Long Island, Nathan Hale, an officer in the Continental Army, was apprehended near Flushing Bay while on what was probably an intelligence gathering mission and was later hanged.

History of Queens County, New York, with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals (1882) (14582985327)
Flushing in 1882

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

Nineteenth century

LIRR 1891 Flushing
Map of Flushing in 1891.

During the 19th century, as New York City continued to grow in population and economic vitality, so did Flushing. Its proximity to Manhattan was critical in its transformation into a fashionable residential area. On April 15, 1837, the Village of Flushing was incorporated within the Town of Flushing. The official seal was merely the words, "Village of Flushing," surrounded by nondescript flowers. No other emblem or flag is known to have been used. By the mid-1860s, Queens County had 30,429 residents. Flushing's growth continued with two new villages incorporating: College Point in 1867, and Whitestone in 1868. In 1898, although opposed to the proposal, the Town of Flushing (along with two other towns of Queens County) was consolidated into the City of New York to form the new Borough of Queens. All towns, villages, and cities within the new borough were dissolved. Local farmland continued to be subdivided and developed transforming Flushing into a densely populated neighborhood of New York City.

Twentieth century development

The continued construction of bridges over the Flushing River and the development of other roads increased the volume of vehicular traffic into Flushing. In 1909, the construction of the Queensboro Bridge (also known as the 59th Street Bridge) over the East River connected Queens County to midtown Manhattan.

The introduction of rail road service to Manhattan in 1910 by the Long Island Rail Road Port Washington Branch and in 1928 by the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains) hastened the continued transformation of Flushing to a commuter suburb and commercial center. Due to increased traffic, a main roadway through Flushing named Broadway was widened and renamed Northern Boulevard.

Flushing was a forerunner of Hollywood, when the young American film industry was still based on the U.S. East Coast and Chicago. 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.

Main Street, 1920

Asian communities

41stAveFlushing
Flushing Chinatown.

In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in the neighborhood of Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white, interspersed with a small Japanese community. This wave of immigrants from Taiwan were the first to arrive and developed Flushing's Chinatown. It was known as Little Taipei or Little Taiwan. Along with immigrants from Taiwan at this time, a large South Korean population also called Flushing home.

Bank of China on Main Street in Flushing
Bank of China on Main Street in Flushing, Queens New York

Before the 1970s, Cantonese immigrants had vastly dominated Chinese immigration to New York City; however during the 1970s, the Taiwanese immigrants were the first wave of Chinese immigrants who spoke Mandarin rather than Cantonese to arrive in New York City. Due to the dominance of Cantonese-speaking immigrants, who were largely working-class in Manhattan's Chinatown, as well as the language barrier and poor housing conditions there, Taiwanese immigrants, who were more likely to have attained higher educational standards and socioeconomic status, could not relate to Manhattan's Chinatown, and chose to settle in Flushing instead. As the Taiwanese population grew, a Flushing Chinatown was created with a higher standard of living and better housing conditions.

Flushing Main St, Kissena Blvd, and 41 Av crowded intersection
The intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing.

Over the years, many new non-Cantonese ethnic Chinese immigrants from different regions and provinces of China started to arrive in New York City. This led to the creation of a more Mandarin-speaking Chinatown or Mandarin Town that gradually replaced Little Taipei. This wave of immigrants spoke Mandarin and various regional/provincial dialects. Like the Taiwanese, they faced cultural and communication problems in Manhattan's Cantonese-speaking Chinatown and settled in Flushing as well as Elmhurst, Queens, which also has a significant Mandarin-speaking population. Flushing's Chinese population became very diverse over the next few decades as people from different provinces started to arrive, infusing their varied languages and cultures into its Chinatown.

Flushing and its Chinatown abuts the rapidly growing Long Island Koreatown as well. Koreatown originated in Flushing before sprawling eastward along Northern Boulevard and eventually into Nassau County. This Koreatown abuts the rapidly growing Flushing Chinatown as well.

Demographics

Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Flushing was 72,008, an increase of 2,646 (3.8%) from the 69,362 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 853.06 acres (345.22 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 84.4 inhabitants per acre (54,000/sq mi; 20,900/km2).

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 9.5% (6,831) White, 4.2% (3,016) African American, 0.1% (74) Native American, 69.2% (49,830) Asian, 0.1% (59) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (172) from other races, and 1.8% (1,303) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.9% (10,723) of the population.

The entirety of Community Board 7, which comprises Flushing, College Point, and Whitestone, had 263,039 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 84.3 years. This is longer than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged and elderly: 22% are between the ages of between 25 and 44, 30% between 45 and 64, and 18% over 65. The ratio of youth and college-aged residents was lower, at 17% and 7%, respectively.

As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 7 was $51,284. In 2018, an estimated 25% of Flushing and Whitestone residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in seventeen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Flushing and Whitestone, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Flushing and Whitestone are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Sections of Flushing

Chinese community

Chinatown, Flushing
Chinatown, Flushing
Flushing, After the Rain.jpg
The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue
Traditional Chinese 法拉盛華埠
Simplified Chinese 法拉盛华埠

Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), or Mandarin Town (國語埠) is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. In Mandarin, Flushing is known as "Falasheng" (Chinese: 法拉盛; pinyin: Fǎlāshèng).

Main Street and the area to its west, particularly along Roosevelt Avenue, have become the primary nexus of Flushing's Chinatown. However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward along Kissena Boulevard and northward beyond Northern Boulevard. In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in the neighborhood of Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white. Taiwanese began the surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone.

Chinese demographic

Flushing street vendor under LIRR bridge
Street vendor selling fruit under the Flushing–Main Street LIRR station

The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, the business center for Flushing, on the westernmost edge of the neighborhood, has a large concentration of Chinese and Korean businesses, including Asian restaurants. Chinese-owned businesses in particular dominate the area along Main Street and the blocks west of it. Many of the signs and advertisements of the stores in the area are in Chinese. Ethnic Chinese constitute an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population and as well as of the overall population in Flushing. Consequently, Flushing's Chinatown has grown rapidly enough to become the second-largest Chinatown outside of Asia. In fact, the Flushing Chinatown may surpass the original Manhattan Chinatown itself within a few years.

A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. High rates of both legal and illegal immigration from Mainland China continue to spur the ongoing rise of the ethnic Chinese population in Flushing, as in all of New York City's Chinatowns.

According to a Daily News article, Flushing's Chinatown ranks as New York City's second largest Chinese community with 33,526 Chinese, up from 17,363, a 93% increase. The Brooklyn Chinatown (布鲁克林華埠) now ranks #1 as the largest Chinatown of NYC with 34,218 Chinese residents, up from 19,963 in 2000, a 71% increase. As for Manhattan's Chinatown, its Chinese population declined by 17%, from 34,554 to 28,681 since 2000 to rank #3.

Culture

World Journal Whitestone jeh
The World Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside of China, is headquartered in adjacent Whitestone (白石), Queens, with offices in Flushing as well.

Flushing now rivals Manhattan's Chinatown as a center of Chinese culture and has been called the "Chinese Manhattan". The Lunar New Year Parade has become a growing annual celebration of Chinese New Year. More and larger Chinese supermarkets are locating and selling a diverse and uniquely vast array of Chinese food and ingredient selections in Flushing, the largest of which include Hong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket, which also happen to be rapidly growing Chinese American chain supermarkets. Flushing's rise as an epicenter of Chinese culture outside of Asia has been attributed to the remarkable diversity of regional Chinese demographics represented.

The World Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside of China, is headquartered in adjacent Whitestone (白石), Queens, with offices in Flushing as well. Numerous other Chinese- and English-language publications are available in Flushing.

The popular styles of Chinese cuisine are ubiquitously accessible in Flushing, including Taiwanese, Shanghainese, Hunanese, Szechuan, Cantonese, Fujianese, Xinjiang, Zhejiang, and Korean Chinese cuisine. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China is now available in Flushing, as well as Mongolian cuisine.

Mandarin Chinese (including Northeastern Mandarin), Fuzhou dialect, Min Nan Fujianese, Wu Chinese, Beijing dialect, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese, Suzhou dialect, Hangzhou dialect, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and English are all prevalently spoken in Flushing Chinatown, while the Mongolian language is now emerging. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China is now available in Flushing . Given its rapidly growing status, the Flushing Chinatown may surpass in size and population the original New York City Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan within a few years, and it is debatable whether this has already happened. The New York Times says that Flushing's Chinatown now rivals Manhattan's Chinatown for being the center of Chinese-speaking New Yorkers' politics and trade.

In accompaniment with its rapid growth, Flushing in particular has witnessed the proliferation of highly competitive businesses touted as educational centers as well as non-profit organizations declaring the intent to educate the community. Some entities offer education in Mandarin, the lingua franca of Mainland China; others profess to provide students with intensive training in computer and technological proficiency; while still others entice high school students with rigorous preparatory classes for college entrance examinations in mathematics, science, and English literacy.

A diverse array of social services geared toward assisting recent as well as established Chinese immigrants is readily available in Flushing.

Satellite Chinatowns

The Elmhurst Chinatown on Broadway in nearby Elmhurst, another neighborhood in the borough of Queens, also has a large and rapidly growing Chinese community and is developing as a satellite of the Flushing Chinatown. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this newly evolved second Chinatown in Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue.

A third and fledgling Chinatown is now emerging in Queens, geographically between Flushing and Elmhurst, in the neighborhood of Corona.

Korean community

Northern Boulevard, in Koreatown, Queens, New York
Northern Boulevard in the Flushing section of the Long Island Koreatown

There is a Koreatown which originated in Flushing, but has since spread eastward to Murray Hill, Bayside, Douglaston, and Little Neck in Queens, and also into Nassau County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the Korean population of Queens was 64,107.

History

In the 1980s, a continuous stream of Korean immigrants emerged into Flushing, many of whom began as workers in the medical field or Korean international students who had moved to New York City to find or initiate professional or entrepreneurial positions. They established a foothold on Union Street in Flushing between 35th and 41st Avenues, featuring restaurants and karaoke (noraebang) bars, grocery markets, education centers and bookstores, banking institutions, offices, consumer electronics vendors, apparel boutiques, and other commercial enterprises.

As the community grew in wealth and population and rose in socioeconomic status, Koreans expanded their presence eastward along Northern Boulevard, buying homes in more affluent and less crowded Queens neighborhoods and more recently into adjacent suburban Nassau County, bringing their businesses with them, and thereby expanding the Koreatown itself. This expansion has led to the creation of an American Meokjagolmok, or Korean Restaurant Street, around the Long Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, Queens, exuding the ambience of Seoul itself. The eastward pressure to expand was also created by the inability to move westward, inhibited by the formidable presence of the enormous Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠) centered on Main Street.

Per the 2010 United States Census, the Korean population of Queens was 64,107, representing the largest municipality in the United States with a density of at least 500 Korean Americans per square mile; while the Korean population of Nassau County had increased by nearly two-thirds to approximately 14,000 over one decade since the 2000 Census. Along with the two Koreatowns of Bergen County, New Jersey (in Palisades Park and Fort Lee) and the Manhattan Koreatown in New York City, the Long Island Koreatown functions as a satellite node for an overall Korean American population of 218,764 individuals in the New York City Metropolitan Area, the second largest population of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines provide non-stop flights from Seoul to JFK Airport in Queens.

Culture

The Korea Times, a news organization based in Seoul, carries a significant presence in the Long Island Koreatown.

The Long Island Koreatown features numerous restaurants that serve both traditional and/or regional Korean cuisine. As noted above, the development of this Koreatown has led to the creation of an American Meokjagolmok, or Korean Restaurant Street, around the Long Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, exuding the ambience of Seoul itself. Korean Chinese cuisine is now also available in Koreatown.

Korean and English are both spoken prevalently. Retail signs employing the Hangul alphabet are ubiquitous.

A significant array of social services toward assisting recent and established Korean immigrants is readily available in Koreatown.

Other ethnic communities

The neighborhood of East Flushing, technically within Greater Flushing, also houses a substantial Chinese community along with most of Downtown Flushing. However, East Flushing also substantially includes Irish, Greek, Russian, and Italian communities, as well as communities of Indians, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, and Hispanics, mostly Colombians and Salvadorans. This neighborhood tends to be more diverse visibly than Downtown Flushing because of the more even distribution of the ethnicities of East Flushing residents resulting in more businesses catering to each community rather than the dominance of Chinese and to a lesser extent Korean businesses in Downtown Flushing.

The northeastern section of Flushing near Bayside continues to maintain large Italian and Greek presences that are reflected in its many Italian and Greek bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants. The northwest is a mix of Jews, Greeks, and Italians. Most of central Flushing is an ethnic mix of Whites, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans.

Exterior Hindu Temple
Hindu Temple

An area south of Franklin Avenue houses a concentration of Indian, Pakistani, Afghan, and Bangladeshi markets. This concentration of South Asian businesses south of Franklin Avenue has existed since the late 1970s, one of the oldest Little Indias in North America. The Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam (Sanskrit: श्री महावल्लभ गणपति देवस्थानम्, Tamil: ஸ்ரீ மகா வல்லப கணபதி தேவஸ்தானம்) at 45-57 Bowne Street in Flushing was the very first of the traditional Hindu temples in the US.

Named subsections

Broadway-Flushing

Broadway-Flushing, also known as North Flushing, is a residential area with many large homes. Part of this area has been designated a State and Federal historic district due to the elegant, park-like character of the neighborhood. Recently much of the area was rezoned by the City of New York to preserve the low density, residential quality of the area. The neighborhood awaits designation as an Historic District by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Broadway-Flushing is bounded by 29th Avenue to the north, Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue to the south, 155th Street to the west, and 172nd Streets to the east.

Linden Hill

Linden Hill is part of Flushing and is served by the NYPD's 109th Precinct and Queens Community Board 7. Its borders are defined as 25th Avenue to Willets Point Boulevard. to the north, 154th Street to the east, Northern Boulevard to the south and the Whitestone Expressway to the west.

Linden Hill was originally a rural estate owned by the Mitchell family. Ernest Mitchell owned an adjacent area known as Breezy Hill and his father owned the area now called Linden Hill. The two areas are sometimes referred to as Mitchell-Linden. A major change in the rural nature of Linden Hill occurred in the 1950s. Builders envisioned a cooperative project to be set on Linden Hill and landfill of an adjacent swamp which would provide middle-income housing to veterans of World War II and the Korean War. Under Section 213 of the Federal Housing Act of 1950, and at a cost of $15 million, the project was enacted. It provided homes for about 1400 residents in the 41 six-story buildings of the Linden Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Linden Towers, and Embassy Arms cooperatives.

Once a primarily European-American neighborhood, Linden Hill is now a diverse mix of European-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latino-Americans. The Asian-American population has expanded markedly in the southern part of Linden Hill in the past decade (as it has in Flushing proper) and the Latino-American population has also grown noticeably. Conversely, the European-American population has lessened somewhat, though European-Americans still remain in great numbers north of Bayside Avenue, west of 149th Street.

The local branch of the Queens Borough Public Library is located on Union Street and is known as the Mitchell Linden Branch.

Murray Hill

This subsection has a median income of $38,978 and ZIP codes of 11354, 11355, and 11358. Traditionally the home of families of Irish and Italian immigrants, many Korean and Chinese immigrants have moved into Murray Hill in recent years. Murray Hill within Flushing is often confused with the larger Murray Hill neighborhood on the East Side of Manhattan.

Before the area was developed for residential housing in 1889, Murray Hill was the location of several large nurseries owned by the King, Murray, and Parsons families. The Kingsland Homestead has been preserved as the home of the Queens Historical Society. The Voelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden is also located in Murray Hill.

Comic strip artist Richard F. Outcault, the creator of The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, lived on 147th Street in Murray Hill.

Queensboro Hill

Queensboro Hill in southern Flushing is bordered to the West by College Point Boulevard, to the North by Kissena Park and Kissena Corridor Park, to the South by Reeves Avenue and the Long Island Expressway, and to the East by Kissena Boulevard. Queensboro Hill is a part of ZIP codes 11355 and 11367 and contains a New York Hospital Queens branch. One of the leading churches is the Queensboro Hill Community Church, a multi-racial congregation of the Reformed Church in America. Turtle Playground serves the residents of this section of Flushing.

This area is often referred to as South Flushing. This may also refer to Pomonok.

Waldheim

The Waldheim neighborhood, an estate subdivision in Flushing constructed primarily between 1875 and 1925, is a small district of high quality "in-town" suburban architecture that preservationists have tried to save for at least twenty-five years. Waldheim, German for "home in the woods", known for its large homes of varying architectural styles, laid out in an unusual street pattern, was the home of some of Flushing's wealthiest residents until the 1960s. Notable residents include the Helmann family of condiment fame, the Steinway family of piano notability, as well as A. Douglas Nash, who managed a nearby Tiffany glass plant. The neighborhood was rezoned by the City of New York in 2008, in order to halt the destruction of its original housing stock, which began in the late 1980s, and to help preserve the low density, residential character of the neighborhood. As with the Broadway neighborhood, preservationists have been unable to secure designation as an Historic District by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to date. Today, Waldheim stretches between Sanford and Franklin Avenues on the north, 45th Avenue on the south, Bowne Street on the west and Parsons Boulevard on the east. The area is immediately southeast of the downtown Flushing commercial core, and adjacent to Kissena Park.

Places

Houses of worship

Temple at Flushing, NY
Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam (Tamil: ஸ்ரீ மகா வல்லப கணபதி தேவஸ்தானம்), the oldest Hindu temple in the United States.
Pure Presbyterian Ch 142-08 32 Av Union St jeh
Pure Presbyterian Church.

Flushing is among the most religiously diverse communities in America. Today, Flushing abounds with houses of worship, ranging from the Dutch colonial epoch Quaker Meeting House, the historic Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens, St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic Church, St. George's Episcopal Church, the Free Synagogue of Flushing, the Congregation of Georgian Jews, St. Mel Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael's Catholic Church, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church, St. John's Lutheran Church, Queensboro Hill Community Church, Hindu Temple Society of North America, and the Muslim Center of New York.

There are "over 200 places of worship in a small urban neighborhood about 2.5 square miles (6.3 square kilometers)." "Flushing has become a model for religious pluralism in America, says R. Scott Hanson, a visiting assistant professor of history at the State University of New York at Binghamton and an affiliate of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University."

In 1657, while Flushing was still a Dutch settlement, a document known as the Flushing Remonstrance was created by Edward Hart, the town clerk, where some thirty ordinary citizens protested a ban imposed by Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of New Amsterdam, forbidding the harboring of Quakers. The Remonstrants cited the Flushing Town charter of 1645 which promised liberty of conscience.

Landmarks, museums, and cultural institutions

FitzG-Ginsberg 145-15 Bayside Av jeh
Fitzgerald-Ginsberg Mansion.
Arthur ashe stadium interior
Arthur Ashe Stadium, built in 1997 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, is the world's largest tennis-specific stadium.

Flushing has many landmark buildings. Flushing Town Hall on Northern Boulevard is the headquarters of the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The building houses a concert hall and cultural center and is one of the sites designated along the Queens Historical Society's Freedom Mile.

Other registered New York City Landmarks include the Bowne House, Kingsland Homestead, Old Quaker Meeting House (1694), Flushing High School, St. George's Church (1854), the Lewis H. Latimer House, the former RKO Keith's movie theater, the United States Post Office on Main Street, and the Unisphere, the iconic 12-story-high stainless steel globe that served as the centerpiece for the 1964 New York World's Fair. The Flushing Armory, on Northern Boulevard, was formerly used by the National Guard. Presently, the Queens North Task Force of the New York City Police Department uses this building. In 2005, the Fitzgerald-Ginsberg Mansion on Bayside Avenue and in 2007, the Voelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden were designated as landmarks. In addition, the Broadway-Flushing Historic District, Free Synagogue of Flushing, and Main Street Subway Station (Dual System IRT) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Several attractions were originally developed for the World's Fairs in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. There is a stone marker for the two 5,000-year Westinghouse Time Capsules made of special alloys buried in the park, chronicling 20th-century life in the United States, dedicated both in 1938 and 1965. Also in the park are the Queens Museum of Art which features a scale model of the City of New York, the largest architectural model ever built; Queens Theatre in the Park; the New York Hall of Science and the Queens Zoo. The New York State Pavilion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

The Queens Botanical Garden on Main Street has been in operation continuously since its opening as an exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Botanical Garden carries on Flushing's nearly three centuries-long horticultural tradition, dating back to its once famed tree nurseries and seed farms.

Parks

All the public parks and playgrounds in Flushing are supervised by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. For Queens County, the Department of Parks and Recreation is headquartered at The Overlook in Forest Park located in Kew Gardens.

  • Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, a 1,255-acre (5.08 km2) park, is considered a flagship park in Queens. The site hosted two World's Fairs, the first in 1939–1940 and the second in 1964–1965. As the result, the park infrastructure reflects the construction undertaken for the Fairs. Also located here is Citi Field, home of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center which is the home of the US Tennis Open. In 2008, a new Aquatic Center was opened in the park.
  • Kissena Park is a 234-acre (0.95 km2) park with a lake as a centerpiece.
  • Queens Botanical Garden is a 39-acre (0.16 km2) garden comprising the upper portion of Flushing Meadows – Corona Park.
  • Kissena Corridor Park is a 100.873-acre (0.40822 km2) park which connects two separate corridors, adjoining Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to Kissena Park. It contains a baseball field and it has a playground called Rachel Carson Playground.
  • Bowne Park is an 11-acre (45,000 m2) park developed on the former estate of New York City Mayor Walter Bowne.
  • Flushing Fields is a 10-acre (40,000 m2) greenbelt that includes the home athletic field of Flushing High School.

Transportation

Public transportation

The following MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes serve Flushing:

  • Q12: to Little Neck via Sanford Avenue and Northern Boulevard
  • Q13: to Fort Totten via Northern Boulevard
  • Q15 and Q15A: to Beechhurst via 41st Avenue and 150th Street
  • Q16: to Fort Totten via Union Street
  • Q17: to Jamaica via Kissena Boulevard
  • Q19: to Astoria via Northern Boulevard
  • Q20A/B: to Jamaica or College Point via Main Street and Union Street
  • Q25: to Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport (E J and ​Z trains) or College Point via Kissena Boulevard, Main Street, and Linden Place
  • Q26: to Fresh Meadows via 41st Avenue, Parsons Boulevard and 46th Avenue
  • Q27: to Cambria Heights via Kissena Boulevard, Holly Avenue and 46th Avenue
  • Q28: to Bay Terrace via Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue
  • Q34: to Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport (E J and ​Z trains) or Linden Hill via Kissena Boulevard, Main Street, Linden Place, and 28th Avenue
  • Q44 SBS: to Jamaica or West Farms, Bronx via Main Street and Union Street
  • Q48: to LaGuardia Airport via Roosevelt Avenue
  • Q50: to Co-op City, Bronx via Linden Place and Whitestone Expressway
  • Q58: to Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues (L​ and M train) via College Point Boulevard
  • Q65: to Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport (E J and ​Z trains) via Bowne Street and 45th Avenue
  • Q66: to Queensboro Plaza (7 <7>​, N, and ​W trains) via Northern Boulevard

The n20G Nassau Inter-County Express bus route, which runs along Sanford Avenue and Northern Boulevard, terminates in Flushing.

NYCSub 7 Main St
The Flushing–Main Street, the terminal station of the IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains)

There is one New York City Subway station in Flushing, the Flushing–Main Street station at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, served by the 7 <7> trains. It is one of the busiest stations in the New York City Subway system as of 2018

The Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch also serves Flushing via the following stations:

  • Mets–Willets Point
  • Flushing–Main Street
  • Murray Hill
  • Broadway

Roads

Major highways that serve the area include the Van Wyck Expressway and Whitestone Expressway (Interstate 678), Grand Central Parkway, and Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495). Northern Boulevard (part of New York State Route 25A) extends from the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City through Flushing into Nassau County. The Roosevelt Ave. Bridge over Flushing Creek was the largest fixed trunnion bascule type in the world when opened in 1927. However, it was decommissioned as a moving bridge when marine navigation was eliminated in the late 1930s.

Political clout

The political stature of Flushing appears to be increasing significantly, with many Chinese from Flushing becoming New York City Council members. Taiwan-born John Liu, former New York City Council member representing District 20, which includes Flushing and other northern Queens neighborhoods, was elected to his current position of New York City Comptroller in November 2009. Concomitantly, Shanghai-born Peter Koo was elected to succeed Liu to assume this council membership seat. Additionally, in 2012 Flushing resident Grace Meng, a State Assembly Member, was elected to Congress as the first Asian-American member of that chamber east of the Mississippi.

In popular culture

  • The first series of Charmin toilet paper commercials featuring Mr. Whipple (Dick Wilson) were filmed in Flushing at the Trade Rite supermarket on Bowne Street.
  • 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 boulevards.
  • 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.
  • The eponymous celebration in Taiwanese director Ang Lee's 1993 comedy hit, The Wedding Banquet, takes place in Downtown Flushing's Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel.
  • Fran Drescher's character "Fran Fine" on the TV show The Nanny, was said to have been raised in Flushing, where her family still lived. Drescher was born in Flushing Hospital.
  • Flushing was the location of the Stark Industries (later Stark International) munitions plant in Marvel Comics' original Iron Man series. In the movie Iron Man 2, the Stark Expo is located in Flushing.
  • On the Norman Lear-produced TV show All in the Family, in the episode when Edith Bunker was arrested for shop lifting, she mentions the now-defunct Q14 bus, and the names of a few long-gone stores that were in downtown Flushing. The Bunkers also mention having lived on Union St. in Flushing.
  • The main characters of The Black Stallion series resided in Flushing and many of Flushing's streets and landmarks in the 1940s were mentioned in the first book.
  • In the musical Hair the character Claude Bukowski is from Flushing.
  • It was the home of Shea Stadium and currently Citi Field the home of the New York Mets.
  • The 2014 novel Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish takes place largely in Flushing and surrounding neighborhoods. The novel depicts the unlikely romance between an Iraq War veteran and a Uighur immigrant.

Education

Flushing and Whitestone generally have a similar rate of college-educated residents to the rest of the city as of 2018. While 37% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 23% have less than a high school education and 40% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Flushing and Whitestone students excelling in math rose from 55% in 2000 to 78% in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 57% to 59% during the same time period.

Flushing and Whitestone's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Flushing and Whitestone, 9% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, lower than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 86% of high school students in Flushing and Whitestone graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.

Public schools

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IS 237
Alg eastwest-school
The East-West School

Flushing's public schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education. Flushing contains the following public elementary schools, which serve grades PK-5 unless otherwise indicated:

  • PS 20 John Bowne
  • PS 21 Edward Hart
  • PS 22 Thomas Jefferson
  • PS 24 Andrew Jackson (grades K-5)
  • PS 32 State Street
  • PS 107 Thomas A. Dooley
  • PS 120
  • PS 163 Flushing Heights
  • PS 214 Cadwallader Colden
  • PS 242 Leonard P Stavisky Early Childhood School (grades PK-3)
  • PS 244 The Active Learning Elementary School (grades PK-3)

Public middle schools include:

  • IS 25 Adrien Block
  • JHS 185 Edward Bleeker
  • JHS 189 Daniel Carter Beard
  • IS 237 Rachel Carson

The eight public high schools in Flushing are:

  • John Bowne High School
  • East-West School of International Studies (grades 6-12)
  • Robert F. Kennedy Community High School
  • Townsend Harris High School, a selective high school located on the Queens College campus, was once ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best public high schools in the United States.
  • The Flushing International High School
  • Flushing High School, the oldest free public high school (1875) in what is now New York City. It is housed in a distinctive Gothic Revival building built between 1912 and 1915 and declared a NYC Landmark in 1991.
  • The Queens School of Inquiry
  • Queens Academy High School

Private schools

The private high schools include:

  • Archbishop Molloy High School
  • Holy Cross High School

On December 22, 1980, The Japanese School of New York moved from Jamaica Estates, Queens into Fresh Meadows, Queens, near Flushing. In 1991, the school moved to Yonkers in Westchester County, New York, before moving to Greenwich, Connecticut in 1992.

As a result of the high number of Chinese and Korean immigrants with (Confucius) educationally orientated outlooks, there is a large number of cram schools (Buxiban and hagwon) located not only in Flushing, but also following Northern Blvd. west into Nassau County.

Higher education

Queens College Student Union
Queens College's Student Union building

Queens College, founded in 1937, is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), and is commonly misconstrued to be within Flushing neighborhood limits due to its Flushing mailing address. It is actually located in the nearby neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills on Kissena Boulevard near the Long Island Expressway. The City University of New York School of Law was founded in 1983 adjacent to the Queens College campus, and was located at 65-21 Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills until 2012. It moved to Long Island City for the Fall 2012 Semester. The Law School operates Main Street Legal Services Corp., a legal services clinic.

Libraries

QPL Flushing jeh
Branch of the Queens Public Library in Flushing

Flushing contained the first public library in Queens, founded in 1858. Today, Queens Public Library contains five libraries in Flushing.

The largest of the libraries is the Flushing branch, located at the intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing's central business district. It is the busiest branch of the Queens Public Library, the highest-circulation system in the United States. This library has 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 Carnegie library, built through a gift of Andrew Carnegie.

The other branches are:

  • East Flushing – 196-36 Northern Boulevard
  • McGoldrick – 155-06 Roosevelt Avenue
  • Mitchell-Linden – 31-32 Union Street
  • Queensboro Hill – 60-05 Main Street

In addition, the Auburndale, Hillcrest, and Pomonok libraries carry Flushing addresses but are not located in Flushing proper.

Notable people

  • Judd Apatow (born 1967), stand-up comedian, director, producer, actor, screenwriter
  • Annet Artani (born 1976), singer-songwriter and international pop star
  • Yak Ballz, rapper, born Yashar Zadeh
  • Daniel Carter Beard (1850-1941), founder of the Boy Scouts of America
  • Jerry Beck (born 1955), animation historian
  • Michael Bellusci, musician
  • Black Sheep, rap group
  • James A. Bland (1854-1911), singer and composer
  • Joe Bolton (1910-1986), host of the WPIX show "Clubhouse Gang" and "The Three Stooges Funhouse" as Officer Joe Bolton
  • Action Bronson (born 1983), rapper
  • Godfrey Cambridge (1933-1976), comedian and actor
  • Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776), Lieutenant Governor and acting Governor for the Province of New York. Estate was at Springhill, now the location of Mount Hebron Cemetery.
  • Glenn Consor, American-Israeli NBA and NCAA basketball analyst, who played collegiate and pro basketball.
  • Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), artist
  • Manuel De Peppe, actor, singer, musician, arranger, music producer, songwriter
  • Harris Doran (born 1978), writer, director, actor, producer
  • Fran Drescher (born 1957), actress, author, politician/humanitarian, cancer survivor, activist (known for The Nanny as Fran Fine)
  • Thomas Duane (born 1955), first openly gay member of the New York State Senate
  • Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), singer, pianist, comedian and actor
  • Jon Favreau (born 1966), actor/producer/director
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), novelist who lived at 29-34 146th Street
  • Franky G (born 1965), actor
  • Mic Geronimo (born 1973), rapper
  • Nancy Gertner, federal court judge
  • Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), illustrator
  • Eugene Glazer (born 1939), American Olympic fencer
  • Mary Gordon (born 1949), writer
  • Al Greenwood (born 1951), former keyboardist of Foreigner
  • Marvin Hamlisch (1944–2012), composer
  • Han Hee-jun (born 1989), American Idol contestant
  • Mark Hurd (1957–2019), former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and former CEO of Oracle Corp
  • Dan Ingram (1934–2018), retired radio disc jockey
  • Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning stage actress and poet
  • Steve Karsay, baseball player
  • Keith and The Girl, podcasters
  • Kevin "Flushing Flash" Kelley, boxer
  • Clarence King, explorer and geologist
  • Yul Kwon, television personality and winner of Survivor: Cook Islands
  • Cathy Ladman, stand-up comedian, actress, writer (grew up in Little Neck)
  • Large Professor, hip-hop producer
  • Gene Larkin, Major League Baseball player
  • Lewis Latimer, inventor
  • Martin Lawrence, actor and comedian
  • Sandra Lee, "Dr Pimple Popper", TV and YouTube reality host
  • Paul Martin Lester, author and educator
  • Ken Levine, Creator of Bioshock Series, CEO of Irrational Games
  • Reggie Lucas (1953–2018), musician, songwriter and record producer
  • Gene Mayer, tennis player
  • Sandy Mayer, tennis player
  • Nettie Mayersohn, New York Assemblywoman from 1983 to 2011
  • Charles Momsen, vice admiral who organized rescue of USS Squalus
  • Robert Moog (1934-2005), inventor of the Moog synthesizer
  • Rick Moonen, executive chef of RM Seafood and R Bar Café at Mandalay Bay
  • Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), architecture critic and historian
  • Tito Muñoz (born 1983), conductor and is Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony
  • Prong, crossover thrash band
  • Richard Outcault, creator of Buster Brown, The Yellow Kid, and Hogan's Alley
  • Samuel Parsons (1844-1923), landscape architect
  • Nancy Reagan (1921-2016), actress and former First Lady
  • Richard Riordan (born 1930), Los Angeles mayor
  • Royal Flush, rapper
  • Martin Scorsese, Oscar winning movie director
  • David Schwimmer, actor, comedian, director and producer
  • John Seery, artist
  • Kasey Smith, Danger Danger keyboardist
  • Paul Stanley, member of the band KISS
  • Beau Starr, actor
  • Mike Starr, actor
  • Henry E. Steinway (1797-1871), founder of Steinway & Sons piano company
  • Jeannie Suk, Professor of Law / Harvard Law School
  • Himanshu Suri, musician
  • Tobias Truvillion, actor
  • Bill Viola, video artist
  • Tommy Victor, rock singer, guitarist, songwriter
  • John Vinocur, journalist
  • Suzanne Weyn, children's author
  • Harvey (born 1952) and Bob Weinstein (born 1954), founders of Miramax and the Weinstein Company
  • John Williams (born 1932), Academy Award-winning film composer
  • Najibullah Zazi (born 1985), convicted al-Qaeda member
  • Susan Wu Rathbone (1921–2019), a community leader in New York City, founder and head of the Chinese Immigrants Service and the Queens Chinese Women's Association

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Flushing para niños

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