Flushing, Queens: The Bowne House, the Old Quaker Meeting House and Main Street

The Bowne House stands at 37-01 Bowne Street. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it on February 15, 1966 as LP-00143, and that designation report calls it the oldest house in Queens. PLUTO records the current owner of the lot as the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Friends Meeting House, at 137-16 Northern Boulevard, was designated on August 18, 1970 as LP-00141. The Commission's report on it reads: "This is the oldest house of worship standing in New York City, and one of the oldest in the country." Flushing Town Hall, at 137-35 Northern Boulevard, was designated on July 30, 1968 as LP-00139. Along the same boulevard, the ground-floor interior of RKO Keith's, at 135-29 Northern Boulevard, is an interior landmark under LP-01257; the designation covers the ticket lobby and original ticket booth, the grand foyer and the twin staircases leading to the mezzanine promenade. The building's exterior is not designated.

Kingsland Homestead, at 143-35 37th Avenue, was designated on October 14, 1965 as LP-00005A, in the Commission's records as "Kingsland Homestead, Amendment to Landmark Site." The house was moved in 1968, which is why more than one address is attached to it, and it houses the Queens Historical Society. On the same avenue, between Parsons Boulevard and Bowne Street, is the landmark site of the Weeping Beech Tree, designated on April 19, 1966 as LP-00142. The tree itself is gone: NYC Parks, republished by the Queens Historical Society, records that it "lived for 151 years, from 1847 to 1998." The ground is now Margaret I. Carman Green-Weeping Beech Park, of 2.074 acres.

The Lewis H. Latimer House Museum is at 34-41 137th Street, designated on March 21, 1995 as LP-01924. The Commission dates the house to about 1887-89. In 1988, when it was threatened with demolition, it was moved to its present site; the Latimer Gardens housing project had been named in Lewis Latimer's honor.

St. George's Church, Old Parish House and Graveyard, at 38-02 Main Street, was designated on February 8, 2000 as LP-02053. That report records: "In 1761, under the leadership of Samuel Seabury, who later became the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, the church was officially incorporated under a Royal Charter from George III." The present church dates from 1853-54 and the Old Parish House from 1907.

The Bowne Street Community Church, the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing, is at 143-11 Roosevelt Avenue and was designated on December 13, 2016 as LP-02137. The Commission records it as built in 1891-92, with George E. Potter attributed as architect and Edward Richardson as builder, and notes: "Several of the windows were designed by artist and congregant Agnes Fairchild Northrop of Tiffany Studios."

Flushing High School, at 35-01 Union Street, was designated on January 8, 1991 as LP-01798. Its report reads "Built 1912-15; architect C.B.J. Snyder, Superintendent of School Buildings, New York City Board of Education," and describes the institution as "the oldest public secondary school institution in New York."

Two further designated landmarks stand in the Murray Hill-Broadway Flushing tabulation area, also in Community District 7: the Voelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden, at 149-19 38th Avenue, designated on October 30, 2007 as LP-02272; and the Fitzgerald/Ginsberg House, at 145-15 Bayside Avenue, designated on September 20, 2005 as LP-02160. Bayside Avenue is a Flushing street, and the house carries the ZIP code 11354.

The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground is on 46th Avenue between 164th Street and 165th Street, 3.474 acres in Community Board 7. NYC Parks records that it was established in 1840 as a pauper's burial ground, and that "Over time, the burials were mostly people of African American and Native American descent." It has been called the Town Ground, the Pauper's Burial Ground and the Colored Cemetery of the Olde Towne of Flushing, and as many as 1,000 people were buried there. Parks records that "more than half of those interred here are under the age of five and only a quarter are over the age of 30." The final burial was in 1898 and the ground was transferred to Parks in 1914. A survey in 1919 recorded four marble headstones: Alfred E. Bunn, who died in 1876 aged 3; George H. Bunn, who died in 1887 aged 17; James Bunn, who died in 1890 aged 53; and Willie Curry, who died in 1874 aged 4. In the 1930s a playground called Martin's Field was built over the site; in Parks' words, "The bodies were never relocated, and the grounds were completely desecrated," with contemporary reports of "bones galore." The advocacy of the community activist Mandingo Osceola Tshaka (1931-2022) led to the site's National Register listing, and the memorial there carries "a commemorative wall engraved with the names of 320 people that were identified, with room for additional names that may be discovered."

Flushing Cemetery is at 163-06 46th Avenue. A general reference work records that Louis Armstrong is buried there; he lived in Corona, where his house museum stands.

Kissena Park is at 164-01 Booth Memorial Avenue, 237.147 acres, which NYC Parks classes as a community park in Community Board 7. The Kissena Velodrome and a Korean War Memorial are inside it.

The Hindu Temple Society of North America, the Ganesh Temple, is at 45-57 Bowne Street, and the temple's own site names the Temple Canteen at that address. The Queens Botanical Garden is at 43-50 Main Street.

On the enclaves, a general reference work places the heart of Flushing's Chinatown on Main Street between Kissena Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, and describes that Chinatown as Mandarin-speaking rather than Cantonese-speaking. The same source places the origin of the Long Island Koreatown on Union Street between 35th and 41st Avenues, and a South Asian corridor south of Franklin Avenue.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park carries the neighborhood's name, but the city files it as a tabulation area of its own, QN8191, a joint interest area belonging to no neighborhood, and it lies outside Flushing's own tabulation area, QN0707 Flushing-Willets Point. NYC Parks records the park at 870.761 acres, spanning community boards 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, with the ZIP codes 11354, 11355, 11367 and 11368. Citi Field and the institutions inside the park are covered by the Citi Field guide, at /g/citi-field-guide.

The Main Street subway station stands on Main Street, which runs past St. George's Church at 38-02 and the Queens Botanical Garden at 43-50. A general reference work marks the heart of the Chinatown district on Main Street between Kissena Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue by the overpass of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch. The Q16 bus is routed via Union Street and Bayside Avenue, both of them Flushing streets.

Northern Boulevard carries the Friends Meeting House at 137-16, Flushing Town Hall at 137-35 and RKO Keith's at 135-29. Roosevelt Avenue crosses the neighborhood by the Bowne Street Community Church at 143-11, and Union Street runs past Flushing High School at 35-01. In the Murray Hill-Broadway Flushing tabulation area, 38th Avenue carries the Voelker Orth Museum at 149-19 and Bayside Avenue the Fitzgerald/Ginsberg House at 145-15.

For Kissena Park, the entrance address NYC Parks publishes is 164-01 Booth Memorial Avenue, which carries the ZIP code 11365 rather than one of Flushing's three; the Kissena Velodrome and a Korean War Memorial stand inside the park. For the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground, the location is 46th Avenue between 164th Street and 165th Street. For Citi Field and everything else inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, see the Citi Field guide at /g/citi-field-guide.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated no historic district in the QN0707 Flushing-Willets Point or QN0704 Murray Hill-Broadway Flushing tabulation areas. It has not designated the Main Street subway station, the Flushing Armory, the Free Synagogue of Flushing or the US Post Office-Flushing Main.