The Whole World's Eyes Are On Flushing

Well, the title of this most may not literally be true (it's a quote from the Rutles movie), although it ought to be, from time to time: as Flushing is the most diverse neighborhood on earth. We haven't posted here on this cultural travel blog for a reason that ought to be obvious, as it's indicated in our last post, over a year ago. Pandemic lock-down has kept us in our house. 

But now we are fully vaxxed, and have begun to tentatively get our toes wet in the wider world again, continuing to wear a mask when surrounded by lots of people, as in, for example, Flushing. I've popped over there a few times in recent months, as I begin to grow interested in the history of the 'hood, and it's not far from where I live. I visited the site of the much-transformed RKO Flushing theatre back in December, as we reported on our other blog. Back in April I gave a zoom talk to the Greater Astoria Historical Society about show biz history in Queens; research for that made me aware of locations for two or three movie studios formerly located in Flushing that I still want to visit. 

I also learned that a great-great aunt of mine spent her last years in Flushing, at a house on Sanford Ave. The fact is amazing to me because my bus goes down that street; I've been on it a hundred times, without knowing of the connection. Most of the historic houses are gone now. My relative died in 1926. Virtually nothing is left from her day. Even the very old looking Episcopalian church, St. Johns, dates from the year she died, although the parish house, built 1909, remains to give us an idea of what the former character of the neighborhood was. (I walked the street a couple of days ago to get a feel for the 'hood).

St John's Parish House, 1909

But my real reason for the post is that I learned of some surprisingly old historical buildings not far from there, and these will be of more general interest. Check it out -- these colonial landmarks are located right in the middle of this densely populated New York City neighborhood. They look like they washed up there on the waves of a temporal tsunami. I don't usually write science fiction but it looks like I just did. Here are some of the amazing treasures in Flushing, all a short walk from each other:

The Bowne House, ca. 1661 (although clearly with some modern alterations). Quaker Meetings were held here before the nearby meeting house (below) was built, which also still stands:More info on the Bowne House, which is now a museum, here. 

The Old Quaker Meeting House, circa 1691, with some later additions. It's located on Northern Blvd. across from Flushing Town Hall . Friends still worship there! I imagine this is how and why both of these two building were preserved. More here. 

The Kingsland Homestead was built 1774-1785 (kind of hard to build a house when there's a war going on, I imagine) and it's now the headquarters of the Queens Historical Society. More info here. 

Flushing Town Hall is probably much better known than the previously mentioned places, as it has been an arts center and entertainment venue since 1990. It dates to 1862, and though much less old than the other places we've mentioned, it's still an eye opener, as it speaks to the time when Flushing was still an independent country village. It must have had the character of a small town in those earlier years. Queens wasn't made part of New York City until 1898, and the population didn't truly begin to explode until well into the 20th century. More info here.