Flushing High School, April 8, 1921.

Flushing High School was founded in 1875 and is the oldest public high school in New York City. The school began with seven students and six of them graduating in 1878! The original building was three stories, had only two official classrooms, and the janitor and his family lived in the basement. By the turn of the century, the student population of the school had grown and a large addition was constructed onto the original building.

In 1907 a Board of Education member and Flushing resident began the fight for a larger, modern school in Flushing. That fight would last nine years. In 1915 the new C.B.J. Snyder designed school opened for students. The imposing Neo-Gothic (sometimes called Collegiate Gothic) style building features a five-story tower, buff-colored brick, turrets, and gargoyles, all reminiscent of British medieval universities.