Flushing was established by Dutch settlers in 1645 as the town of "Vlissingen," part of the larger New Netherland colony. The town's development was strongly influenced by its Quaker community, with freedom of religion as one of its founding principles. How many of these historic sites of Flushing have you visited?

Though Flushing is well known as being a cultural hub, many might not be aware of its integral part in the establishment of religious freedom in New York

In celebration of the Municipal Art Society's 125th Anniversary, we've compiled a list of landmarks older than MAS.

Built c. 1661, the Bowne House is a microcosm of social, cultural, and political history. It is one of the oldest surviving structures in New York City and the oldest in Queens.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Municipal Art Society surveyed historic buildings in all five boroughs to create a database of potential landmarks to preserve. Local residents and MAS staff compiled individual sheets devoted to about 200 buildings. Each sheet outlined the building’s date, location, and style and provided a description and a small photograph. This is the list of Queens buildings.

John Bowne House, May 1918. John Bowne was an English immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, who settled in Flushing (originally called Vlissingen) in the early 1660s. He and his first wife converted to Quakerism after marriage, and their move to Flushing was motivated by a desire to join the English-speaking Society of Friends there. In 1662, Bowne was arrested on the orders of Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant for having a Quaker meeting in his home. Stuyvesant had long persecuted the Quaker communities of New York. Bowne was sent to the Netherlands, and despite not speaking any Dutch, appealed to the Dutch West India Company for freedom. With his release, a new precedent was set for religious tolerance and freedom in the colony. The home where Bowne was arrested still stands. Likely built in 1661 (a year before his arrest), it is a wood-frame home of Dutch design but constructed with English building techniques. The home was altered, unsurprisingly, a number of times in the centuries since it was built. Members of the Bowne family continued to live in the home until 1945 when they sold it to the newly-created Bowne House Historical Society, which opened it as a museum in 1947 and continues to operate it today.

A 1924 view of the Bowne House depicts some of the trees and landscaping that have been a part of the Bowne House plot since at least the early 19th century. Flushing was well known in the 1800s as the home of a number of nurseries. The most famous was the Parsons Nursery, where proprietor Samuel Parsons traveled the world to find new and exotic plants. By the early 1800s members of the Parsons family had married into the Bowne family and were living in the house. It is believed that most of the gardens and large trees that surround the house date to that time period.

With so many of us staying indoors these days, it is helpful to remember the glories of New York City’s public landscape, past and present. Here are a few examples to remind you of treasured sites we look forward to visiting again, appreciating in person, and sharing with others!

The Constitution of the United States of America establishes the laws and governmental structure of the United States. It was first drafted by James Madison and explains which rights are reserved to the national and state governments. The Constitution was ratified in 1787, four years after the official ending of the Revolutionary War. In the years between the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, and the Constitutional Convention, the United States was governed by a document titled Articles of Confederation. This document gave more power to the various states instead of a single national government. This made important decisions regarding trade, taxation, and defense, very hard to make. Many people recognized the serious situation the new nation found itself in and met in Philadelphia to create a new guiding document. After intense debate, they produced the US Constitution, which still forms the basis of our government. In fact, the US Constitution is the oldest constitution still in use today. While not perfect, this document laid out the fundamental rights that all Americans enjoy today. These different locations throughout New York help to highlight some of the powers and rules laid out in our founding document. NYS Social Studies Scope and Sequence Standards 7.4 & 11.2 For Teachers: US Constitution Lesson Plan

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!

John Bowne’s House John Bowne’s house became a landmark in American Quaker history and a symbol of the early struggle for religious freedom in New Netherland. One of the city’s few surviving 17th-century buildings, the house is now a museum. This postcard is modeled on an 1825 lithograph by Charles Etienne Pierre Motte. Image Info: Artvue Post Card Co., ca. 1955 CREDIT: Museum of the City of New York, Postcard Collection, F2011.33.1467

Not all New York City landmarks are made of stone or steel or glass. Here is a list of some of the city's famous topiary, both long gone and still standing. Much like buildings, these trees 🌳 🌳 dominated streetscapes, provided community gathering places, and witnessed history.

The Historic House Trust’s main effort is the preservation and maintenance of 23 historic house sites located throughout the five boroughs of New York City. To highlight the Trust's work, we're showcasing each house!

Queens is such an integral part of the metropolis that is hard for us to think of it as rural and agricultural. But when New York was New Amsterdam, Queens was no more than a series of remote villages scattered between the Dutch Brooklyn (Breukelen) and the English eastern Long Island settlements. As Dutch and English settlers moved closer to one another, they began to assimilate in what would later become Queens County. The Dutch colonial government of New Amsterdam exercised political and military control of this area, but permitted, even welcomed English settlement. The Dutch chartered Hempstead (Heemstede) in 1644, Flushing (Vlissingen) in 1645, Newtown (Middelburgh) in 1652, and Jamaica (Rustdorp) in 1656. These were predominately English towns, but they differed from the settlements at the eastern end of Long Island, not only in their recognition of the Dutch government and their accommodation of Dutch settlers but also in harboring many religious dissenters. These towns proved to be a comfortable place for Quakers in particular. Nowhere more so than Flushing was this religious welcoming evident. When the colonial government forbade the entertaining of Quakers, thirty inhabitants issued the Flushing Remonstrance objecting to the order on December 27, 1657. Today this document is considered instrumental to the concept of religious liberty. The tradition of acceptance and diversity is continued in Flushing, which is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Queens County with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, Afghan, and Indonesian communities.