Hamilton Hall was a school for the local parish of St. George. The simple two-story building was erected at a site on the corner of what is now Main Street and 39th Avenue. Built in 1803 at the cost of $520, the school was never a financial success and changed hands between the parish and a board of trustees from the local community a number of times in its early years. The school failed and the building was then used as a Sunday School for the church. At some point, it is unclear as to when, the building was moved to the corner of 37th Avenue and Prince Street. By the late 19th century the building functioned as a tenement house and it was still standing and in good repair in 1922 when this photograph was captured.

Main Street in Flushing has been the commercial center of Flushing for literally centuries. This 1935 image reflects this commercial nature with a series of storefronts: a furniture store, hat shoppe, dress store, sign shop, glove shop, dance hall, and chop suey restaurant. The types of businesses have changed and the wood-frame structures of the late 19th and early 20th century are no more, but the residents of Flushing and beyond still walk this street to shop.

R.R. Stapleton's Cedarhurst Hotel, ca. 1910-1920 This hotel was previously the home of George B. Roe. Roe was the owner of a lumber and coal yard in Flushing under the name George B. Roe and Company. His company was one of the oldest in the area, as reported in the 1882 History of Queens County: 'It owns extensive properties, both on the waterline and in town." The property was converted into a hotel in the 1890s.

The 1862 Flushing Town Hall is a Romanesque Revival style building. Popular during the Civil War, this style can be seen in hundreds of other buildings throughout the city. The two story building has a grand triple-arched portico for an entrance. It served as the seat of government of the village of Flushing until the consolidation of Greater New York City in 1898. Early photographs of the building, including this one from 1922, show a light colored building. The building facade had long been painted— layer upon layer—with white paint. During the 1990s renovation, the original brown and beige stone and brick were revealed and deemed safer for continued preservation.

While Flushing is home to some of the oldest buildings in New York City and many historic religious and civic buildings remain preserved, most of the housing stock from the 19th century has been demolished and updated to modern standards. This row of wood-frame homes on 37th Avenue disappeared long ago and in its place, now, a series of simple brick storefronts with residences above occupied by Flushing's thriving Asian businesses and communities.

Broadway & Lawrence Street, 1912.

Flushing Bridge, c. 1905. The Flushing Bridge, also known as the Northern Boulevard Crossing, is located at the site of the oldest crossing of the Flushing River which was built between 1800 and 1801. Multiple variations of this crossing were built between the first structure and the current bridge, which opened in 1980. Pictured here is a swing-bridge variation that was free to cross (other iterations required a toll) unless you exceeded the speed limit of five miles per hour.

The three story wood-frame building on the corner of Main Street and 38th Avenue was once the home of the Flushing Female Seminary, a boarding and day school for young women. The school was in existence by the years after the Civil War, perhaps earlier. The building was no longer in use a school by the time this photograph was taken in 1922.

Opened on Christmas Day 1928 and designed by noted theatre architect Thomas Lamb, the RKO Keith's Theatre was a vaudeville and movie house. Some early live performers included Bob Hope, Mae West, and the Marx Brothers. Though the exterior of the building was designed plainly, the interior was quite extravagant, with a grand lobby and a Spanish Baroque Revival style auditorium. The theatre closed in 1986 and has lived a very hard life since then (as is evident from its current exterior). Despite the lobby and foyer being landmarked the owner of the building (after the theatre's closure) removed features, did nothing to prevent theft, and actively destroyed the interior, admitting during a trial to leaking 200 gallons of oil from the theatre’s furnace into the basement. Despite an active preservation community interested in the building, it has changed ownership a number of times in recent years and its future remains in question.

Listen to the Gotham Center and Micheal Hutton's podcast on the history of the Quaker Meeting House, one of the important sites of religious freedom in the US, while examining these related archival images!

The Quaker Meeting House sits adjacent to the Quaker cemetery. Both are situated on land purchased and donated by prominent Flushing citizen and Quaker, John Bowne (who was once arrested for having a Quaker meeting in his home). This 1925 photograph captures a view of the cemetery and the meeting house. During the early years after the founding of the Meeting House, an unknown number of Quakers were buried here without headstones, as was the custom of the time. During the 18th century burials began to be accompanied by simple stones that usually only noted a name or initials.

Ye Olden Tavern (Fountain House) at 3609 Main Street, ca. 1901. The Ye Olden Tavern stood at the southeast corner Northen Boulevard (then, Broadway) and Main Street for nearly two centuries before torn down in the early 20th century. In its last years, the owners called it Ye Olde Tavern.

The Old Quaker Meeting House is one of the oldest houses of worship in New York State. At least one-third of the current building (the section closest to Union Street) dated to 1694 when the wood-frame structure was constructed on land purchased by John Bowne and John Rodman. The building was expanded in 1716 and 1719. The particularly steep roof is evocative of medieval Dutch architecture, and the interiors remain in the simple style of the Society of Friends: dark floorboards and plain benches. The building continues to be the place of worship for the Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. It has served this purpose for more than 300 years.