Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of theNew York Cityborough ofQueens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largestcentral business district in New York City.^[3][4] Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the intersection of Main Street andRoosevelt Avenue at its core is the third-busiest in New York City, behindTimes Square andHerald Square.^[5]

Flushing
Neighborhood in Queens
Aerial view of the neighborhood
Location within New York City
Coordinates:40°45′54″N73°48′18″W / 40.765°N 73.805°W /40.765; -73.805
Country	United States
State	New York
City	New York City
County/Borough	Queens
Community District	Queens 7[1]
Founded	1645
Town	1683–1898
Named after	Vlissingen, Netherlands
Population  (2010)[2]
• Total	72,008 (176,000 with the subsections)
Race/Ethnicity
• White	9.5%
• Black	4.2%
• Hispanic	14.9%
• Asian	69.2%
• Other/Multiracial	2.2%
Economics
• Median income	$39,804
Time zone	UTC– 05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC– 04:00 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	11354, 11355, 11358
Area codes	718, 347, 929, and917

Flushing was established as a settlement ofNew Netherland on October 10, 1645, on the eastern bank ofFlushing Creek. It was named Vlissingen, after the Dutch city ofVlissingen. The English took control of New Amsterdam in 1664, and when Queens County was established in 1683, the Town of Flushing was one of the original five towns of Queens. In 1898, Flushing was consolidated into theCity of Greater New York. Development came in the early 20th century with the construction of bridges and public transportation. An immigrant population, composed mostly ofChinese,Indians, andKoreans, settled in Flushing in the late 20th century.

Flushing contains numerous residential subsections, and its diversity is reflected by the numerous ethnic groups that reside there. Flushing is served by several stations on theLong Island Rail Road'sPort Washington Branch, as well as theNew York City Subway'sIRT Flushing Line (7 and<7>​ trains), which has its terminus atMain Street.

Flushing is located inQueens Community District 7, and its ZIP Codes are 11354, 11355, and 11358.^[1] It is patrolled by theNew York City Police Department's 109th Precinct.

Flushing was originally inhabited by theLenape Indians prior to colonization and European settlement.^[6]

On October 10, 1645, Flushing was established on the eastern bank ofFlushing Creek under charter of theDutch West India Company and was part of theNew Netherland colony that was governed from New Amsterdam (Lower Manhattan). The settlement was named Vlissingen, after the city ofVlissingen, which was the European base of the Dutch West India company. By 1657, the residents called the place "Vlishing". Eventually, the formal traditional English name for the Dutch town, "Flushing", would be settled upon (despite being a Dutch colony, many of the local early settlers wereBritish, who trickled down from nearbyConnecticut colony).^[7]

Unlike all other towns in the region, the charter of Flushing allowed residentsfreedom of religion as practiced in Holland "without the disturbance of any magistrate or ecclesiastical minister". However, in 1656, New Amsterdam Director-GeneralPeter Stuyvesant issued an edict prohibiting the harboring ofQuakers. On December 27, 1657, the inhabitants of Flushing approved a protest known as TheFlushing Remonstrance. This petition contained religious arguments even mentioning freedom for "Jews, Turks, and Egyptians," but ended with a forceful declaration that any infringement of the town charter would not be tolerated. Subsequently, a farmer namedJohn Bowne held Quaker meetings in his home and was arrested for this and deported to Holland. Eventually he persuaded the Dutch West India Company to allow Quakers and others to worship freely.^[8] As such, Flushing is claimed to be a birthplace of religious freedom in the New World.^[9]Landmarks remaining from the Dutch period in Flushing include theJohn Bowne House (c. 1661) on Bowne Street and theOld Quaker Meeting House (1694) onNorthern Boulevard. The Remonstrance was signed at a house on the site of the former State Armory, now a police facility, on the south side Northern Boulevard between Linden Place and Union Street.

In 1664, the English took control ofNew Amsterdam, ending Dutch control of the New Netherland colony, and renamed it theProvince of New York. When Queens County was established in 1683, the "Town of Flushing" was one of the original fivetowns which comprised the county.^[10] Many historical references to Flushing are to this town, bounded from Newtown on the west by Flushing Creek (nowFlushing River), fromJamaica on the south by thewatershed, and fromHempstead on the east by what later became the Nassau County line. The town was dissolved in 1898 when Queens became a borough of New York City, and the term "Flushing" today usually refers to a much smaller area, for example the former Village of Flushing.

Flushing was a seat of power as theProvince of New York up to the American Revolution was led by GovernorCadwallader Colden, based at his Spring Hill estate.^[11][12]

Flushing was the site of the first commercialtree nurseries in North America, the most prominent being thePrince, Bloodgood, and Parsons nurseries.^[13] A 14-acre (5.7 ha) tract of Parsons's exotic specimens was preserved on the north side ofKissena Park.^[14] The nurseries are also commemorated in the names of west–east avenues that intersect Kissena Boulevard; the streets are named after plants and ordered alphabetically from Ash Avenue in the north to Rose Avenue in the south.^[15] Flushing also supplied trees to theGreensward Project, now known asCentral Park in Manhattan.^[16] Well into the 20th century, Flushing contained many horticultural establishments and greenhouses.

During the American Revolution, Flushing, along with most settlements in present-day Queens County, favored the British and quartered British troops, though one battalion ofScottish Highlanders is known to have been stationed at Flushing during the war. Following theBattle of Long Island, Zackary Perrine, an officer in theContinental Army, was apprehended near Flushing Bay while on what was probably an intelligence gathering mission and was later hanged.

The 1785Kingsland Homestead, originally the residence of a wealthyQuaker merchant, now serves as the home of theQueens Historical Society.^[17]

During the 19th century, as New York City continued to grow in population and economic vitality, so did Flushing. Its proximity toManhattan was critical in its transformation into a fashionableresidential area. On April 15, 1837, theVillage of Flushing was incorporated within the Town of Flushing.^[18][19][20] The official seal was merely the words, "Village of Flushing", surrounded by nondescript flowers. No other emblem or flag is known to have been used. The Village of Flushing included the neighbourhoods of Flushing Highlands, Bowne Park,Murray Hill, Ingleside, and Flushing Park.^[20]

TheFlushing and North Side Railroad opened itsPort Washington Branch to Flushing in 1854, providing access toHunters Point on theEast River shore.^[21] By the mid-1860s, Queens County had 30,429 residents. TheVillage of College Point was incorporated in 1867,^[22] and theVillage of Whitestone was incorporated in 1868. The first free public high school in what is now New York City was established in Flushing in 1875. Flushing, then a small village, established a library in 1858, the oldest in Queens County and only slightly younger than the library of theCity of Brooklyn (built in 1852).

In 1898, although opposed to the proposal, the Town of Flushing (along with two other towns and other land of Queens County) was consolidated into theCity of New York to form the newBorough of Queens. All towns, villages, and cities within the new borough were dissolved.

Local farmland continued to be subdivided and developed transforming Flushing into a densely populated neighborhood of New York City. A major factor in this was the Halleran real estate agency. From theAmerican Civil War to the end of the 1930s its slogan "Ask Mr. Halleran!" could be seen in ads all over Long Island, and the phrase from its maps "So This Is Flushing" became a catchphrase.^[23][24]

The continued construction of bridges over theFlushing River and the development of other roads increased the volume of vehicular traffic into Flushing. In 1909, theQueensboro Bridge over the East River opened, connecting Queens County tomidtown Manhattan.^[25] With the opening ofPennsylvania Station the next year, the Port Washington Branch, now part of theLong Island Rail Road, started running to midtown Manhattan.^[26] Broadway, a main roadway through Flushing, was widened and renamed Northern Boulevard.^[27] The Roosevelt Avenue Bridge over the Flushing River, which carries four lanes of traffic and theNew York City Subway's elevatedFlushing Line (7 and<7>​ trains), was the largest trunnion bascule bridge in the world when it was completed in 1927.^[28][29] The next year, theMain Street terminal of the Flushing subway line opened in downtown Flushing, giving the neighborhood direct subway access.^[30]

Flushing was a forerunner ofHollywood, when the young American film industry was still based on theU.S. East Coast andChicago. Decades later, theRKO Keith's movie palace would hostvaudeville acts and appearances by the likes ofMickey Rooney, theMarx Brothers andBob Hope.

In the 1970s, immigrants from Taiwan established a foothold in Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white, interspersed with a small Japanese community. Additionally, a large South Korean population also called Flushing home. The Taiwanese immigrants were the first wave of Chinese-speaking immigrants who spoke Mandarin (Taiwanese also spoken) rather than Cantonese to arrive in New York City. Many Taiwanese immigrants were additionallyHokkien and had relatives or connections toFujian province in China, which led to large influxes ofFuzhounese Americans.^{[citation needed]}

Over the years, many new non-Cantonese ethnic Chinese immigrants from different regions andprovinces of China started to arrive in New York City and settled in Flushing through word of mouth. This wave of immigrants spoke Mandarin and various regional/provincial dialects. The early 1990s and 2000s brought a wave ofFuzhounese Americans andWenzhounese immigrants, who mostly spoke Mandarin, and who settled in Flushing as well asElmhurst. Flushing's Chinese population became diverse over the next few decades as people from different provinces started to arrive.^{[31][32][33][34]} Due to loosened emigration restrictions in mainland China, there has been a growingNorthern Chinese population in Flushing. The regional food cuisines have led to Flushing being considered the "food mecca" forChinese regional cuisine outside of Asia.^[35][36]

In the 21st century, Flushing has cemented its status as an international "melting pot", predominantly attracting immigrants from Asia, particularly from throughout the variousprovinces of China, but including newcomers from all over the world.Flushing Chinatown is centered aroundMain Street and the area to its west, most prominently alongRoosevelt Avenue, which have become the primary nexus of Flushing Chinatown. However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward alongKissena Boulevard and northward beyondNorthern Boulevard. The Flushing Chinatown houses over 30,000 individuals born in China alone, the largest Chinatown by this metric outside Asia and one of the largest and fastest-growing Chinatowns in the world.^[37] In January 2019, theNew York Post named Flushing as New York City's "most dynamic outer-borough neighborhood".^[38] Flushing is undergoing rapidgentrification by Chinese transnational entities.^[39]

Based on data from the2010 United States census, the population of Flushing was 72,008, an increase of 2,646 (3.8%) from the 69,362 counted in2000. Covering an area of 853.06 acres (345.22 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 84.4 inhabitants per acre (54,000/sq mi; 20,900/km²).^[2]

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 69.2% (49,830)Asian, 9.5% (6,831)white, 4.2% (3,016)black, 0.1% (74)aboriginal American, 0.1% (59)Pacific Islander, 0.2% (172) fromother races, and 1.8% (1,303) from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 14.9% (10,723) of the population.^[42]

The entirety of Community Board 7, which comprises Flushing, College Point, and Whitestone, had 263,039 inhabitants as ofNYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 84.3 years.^{[43]: 2, 20} This is longer than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.^{[44]: 53 (PDF p. 84) [45]} Most inhabitants are middle-aged and elderly: 22% are between the ages of between 25 and 44, 30% between 45 and 64, and 18% over 65. The ratio of youth and college-aged residents was lower, at 17% and 7%, respectively.^[43]: 2

As of 2017, the medianhousehold income in Community Board 7 was $51,284.^[46] In 2018, an estimated 25% of Flushing and Whitestone residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in seventeen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Flushing and Whitestone, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018^[update], Flushing and Whitestone are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and notgentrifying.^[43]: 7

Flushing Chinatown, or Mandarin Town^[47] is the world's largest and one of the fastest-growing Chinatowns, known as the "ChineseTimes Square" or the "ChineseManhattan".^[48][40][41] InMandarin, Flushing is known as "Falasheng" (Chinese:法拉盛;pinyin:Fǎlāshèng).^[49] The Chinatown of Flushing is centered around the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, and many of the area's Chinese businesses are located on the blocks around, or west of, Main Street.^[37] However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward along Kissena Boulevard and northward beyondNorthern Boulevard.

In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in the neighborhood of Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white.Taiwanese began the surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese.^[31] A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone.^[50] By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population.^[31] However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. High rates of both legal^[51][52] and illegal^[53] immigration fromMainland China continue to spur the ongoing rise of the ethnic Chinese population in Flushing. According to aDaily News article in 2011, Flushing's Chinatown ranked as New York City's second largest Chinese community with 33,526 Chinese, surpassed only by theBrooklyn Chinatown (布鲁克林華埠), and larger than Manhattan's Chinatown.^[54] The growth of the business activity at the core of Downtown Flushing, dominated by the Flushing Chinatown, has continued to flourish despite the Covid-19 pandemic.^[55]

Flushing now rivals Manhattan's Chinatown as a center ofChinese culture.^[56][57] TheLunar New Year Parade has become a growing annual celebration ofChinese New Year. In addition, severalChinese supermarkets such asHong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket have locations in Flushing.^[58][59][60] TheWorld Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside China, is headquartered in adjacentWhitestone.^[61] Numerous other Chinese- and English-language publications are available in Flushing, includingSinoVision, one of North America's largest Chinese language television networks.

The popular styles ofChinese cuisine are ubiquitously accessible in Flushing,^[62] includingHakka,Taiwanese,Shanghainese,Hunanese,Sichuanese,Cantonese,Fujianese,Xinjiang,Zhejiang, andKorean Chinese cuisine. Even the relatively obscureDongbei style of cuisine indigenous toNortheast China is now available in Flushing,^[63] as well asMongolian cuisine andUyghur cuisine.^[41] Varieties of Chinese spoken in Flushing includeMandarin Chinese,^[64]Fuzhou dialect,Min Nan (Hokkien),Wu Chinese (Wenzhounese,Shanghainese,Suzhou dialect,Hangzhou dialect), andCantonese; in addition, theMongolian language is now emerging. Given its rapidly growing status, the Flushing Chinatown has surpassed in size and population the original New York City Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan^[37] and this substantial growth has resulted in a commensurate rise in this Chinatown's cultural status.^[65]

In accompaniment with its rapid growth, Flushing in particular has witnessed the proliferation of highly competitive businesses touted as educational centers as well as non-profit organizations declaring the intent to educate the community. Some entities offer education inMandarin, the most spoken Chinese variety in mainland China.^[66] A diverse array of social services geared toward assisting recent as well as establishedChinese immigrants is readily available in Flushing.^[67] As of the 2020s, about 3/4 of the Asian population in the area are of Chinese descent making them the majority of the Asian population.^[68][69][70]

There is a Koreatown that originated in Flushing, but has since spread eastward toMurray Hill,Bayside,Douglaston, andLittle Neck in Queens, and also intoNassau County. The Koreatown has historically been centered around Union Street, with the later growth being concentrated aroundNorthern Boulevard east of Union Street.^{[71][72][73][74][75]} As of the2010 United States census, the Korean population of Queens was 64,107.^[76]

In the 1980s, a continuous stream ofKorean immigrants emerged into Flushing, many of whom began as workers in themedical field or Koreaninternational students who had moved to New York City to find or initiateprofessional orentrepreneurial positions.^[72] They established a foothold on Union Street in Flushing between 35th and 41st Avenues,^[72] featuring restaurants andkaraoke (noraebang) bars, grocery markets, education centers andbookstores, banking institutions, offices,consumer electronics vendors,apparelboutiques, and other commercial enterprises.^[71] As the community grew in wealth and population and rose insocioeconomic status, Koreans expanded their presence eastward along Northern Boulevard, buying homes in moreaffluent and less dense neighborhoods in Queens and Nassau County.^[71][75] This expansion has led to the creation of an AmericanMeokjagolmok, or KoreanRestaurant Street, around theMurray Hill station.^[71] The eastward pressure to expand was also created by the inability to move westward due to the Flushing Chinatown on Main Street.^[72] Per the2010 United States census, the Korean population of Queens was 64,107,^[76] representing the largest municipality in the United States with a density of at least 500 Korean Americansper square mile.^[77] TheKorean American population, consisting of 218,764 individuals in theNew York metropolitan area,^[78] is the second largest population of ethnic Koreans outside Korea.

The Korea Times, a news organization based in Seoul, carries a significant presence in the Long Island Koreatown. The Long Island Koreatown features numerous restaurants that serve both traditional and/or regional Korean cuisine.Korean is spoken frequently alongside English and Chinese varieties, andretail signs employing theHangul alphabet are ubiquitous. A significant array of social services toward assisting recent and established Korean immigrants is available in Koreatown. There is also a significant population of Korean-Chinese or Chinese-Koreans in Flushing who can speak Mandarin, Korean, and English.^[79]

The neighborhood of East Flushing, technically within Greater Flushing, also houses a substantial Chinese community along with most ofDowntown Flushing. However, East Flushing also substantially includesIrish,Greek,Russian,Italian,Jewish,Spanish, andPortuguese communities, as well as communities ofIndians,Sri Lankans,Japanese,Malaysians, andHispanics, mostlyColombians andSalvadorans. This neighborhood tends to be more diverse visibly than Downtown Flushing because of the more even distribution of the ethnicities of East Flushing residents resulting in more ethnic businesses catering to each community rather than the dominance of Chinese and to a lesser extent Korean businesses in Downtown Flushing.

The northeastern section of Flushing near Bayside continues to maintain large Italian and Greek presences that are reflected in its many Italian and Greek bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants. The northwest is a mix ofJews,Greeks, andItalians. Most of central Flushing is an ethnic mix ofWhites,Hispanic Americans, andAsian Americans.

An area south of Franklin Avenue houses a concentration ofIndian,Pakistani,Afghan, andBangladeshi markets. This concentration of Indian American and otherSouth Asian American businesses south of Franklin Avenue has existed since the late 1970s, one of the oldestLittle India neighborhoods in North America. TheSri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam (Sanskrit: श्री महावल्लभ गणपति देवस्थानम्,Tamil: ஸ்ரீ மகா வல்லப கணபதி தேவஸ்தானம்) at 45–57 Bowne Street in Flushing was the very first of the traditionalHindu temple organized in North America.^[80][81] However, Indians are migrating eastward into neighborhoods in northeastern Queens and into Nassau County, as with many Chinese and Korean immigrants.^{[citation needed]}

Broadway–Flushing, also known as North Flushing, is aresidential area with many large homes. The name refers to the area served by the"Broadway" station of the Long Island Rail Road. The Broadway station is located immediately east of the location where the LIRR's Port Washington Branch crosses Northern Boulevard, which when the station was opened in 1866 was called "Broadway". Part of this area has been designated a State and Federal historic district due to the elegant, park-like character of the neighborhood. Much of the area has been rezoned by the City of New York to preserve the low density, residential quality of the neighborhood. Broadway-Flushing is approximately bounded by 29th Avenue to the north, Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue to the south, 155th Street to the west, and 172nd Streets to the east.

Linden Hill is bound by 25th Avenue to Willets Point Boulevard to the north, 154th Street to the east,Northern Boulevard to the south and theWhitestone Expressway to the west.^[82]

Linden Hill was originally a rural estate owned by the Mitchell family. Ernest Mitchell owned an adjacent area to the west known as Breezy Hill and his father owned the area now called Linden Hill.^[83] The two areas are sometimes referred to as the Mitchell-Linden neighborhood. A major change in the rural nature of Linden Hill occurred in the early 1950s. Neisloss Brothers with architect Benjamin Braunstein envisioned acooperative project to be set on Linden Hill and landfill on the adjacent swamp to the west which would provide middle-income housing to veterans ofWorld War II and theKorean War.^[83] The construction was carried out under Section 213 of the Federal Housing Act of 1950 which provided mortgage insurance for non-subsidized projects.^[84] Gerace and Castagna with architects Samuel Paul and Seymour Jarmul subsequently developed the larger Linden Towers several years after this. Paul was additionally the architect of Embassy Arms. In total, 41 six-story buildings containing 3,146 apartments comprising the Linden Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Linden Towers, and Embassy Arms cooperatives were erected.

Once a primarily European-American neighborhood, Linden Hill is now a diverse mix ofEuropean-Americans,Asian-Americans andLatino-Americans. The Asian-American population has expanded markedly in the southern part of Linden Hill in the past decade (as it has throughout Flushing) and the Latino-American population has also grown noticeably. Conversely, the European-American population has lessened somewhat, though European-Americans still remain in great numbers north of Bayside Avenue, west of 149th Street.

Murray Hill is bounded by 150th Street to the west and 160th Street to the east and straddles ZIP Codes 11354, 11355, and 11358.^[75] Traditionally the home of families ofIrish andItalian immigrants, manyKorean andChinese immigrants have moved into Murray Hill in recent years.^[85] Murray Hill within Flushing is often confused with the largerMurray Hill neighborhood on the East Side ofManhattan.^[75][86]TheLong Island Rail Road'sMurray Hill andBroadway stations serve the area.

Before the area was developed for residential housing in 1889, Murray Hill was the location of several largenurseries owned by the King, Murray, and Parsons families.^[87] TheKingsland Homestead has been preserved as the home of theQueens Historical Society.^[75] TheVoelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden is also located in Murray Hill.^[88]Comic strip artistRichard F. Outcault, the creator ofThe Yellow Kid andBuster Brown, lived on 147th Street in Murray Hill.^[89]

Queensboro Hill in southern Flushing is bordered to the west by College Point Boulevard, to the north byKissena Park and Kissena Corridor Park, to the south by Reeves Avenue and theLong Island Expressway, and to the east byKissena Boulevard. Queensboro Hill is a part of ZIP Codes 11355 and 11367 and contains theNewYork–Presbyterian/Queens hospital. One of the leading churches is the Queensboro Hill Community Church, a multi-racial congregation of the Reformed Church in America.Turtle Playground serves the residents of this section of Flushing. This area is often referred to as South Flushing.

Pomonok is a neighborhood in South Flushing. This large public housing development^[90] was built in 1949 on the former site ofPomonok Country Club. The name comes from anAlgonquian word foreastern Long Island, and means either "land of tribute" or "land where there is travelling by water".In Pomonok, there is alsoElectchester, acooperative housing complex at Jewel Avenue and Parsons Boulevard in Pomonok, which was established byHarry Van Arsdale, Jr. and Local 3 of theInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1949, when Van Arsdale worked with the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry to purchase 103 acres (0.42 km²) of the former Pomonok Country Club and build apartment buildings. 5,550 people live in about 2,500 units in 38 buildings, many of which are six-story brick structures. It is served by Public School 200, which is on land donated by Electchester. The union provided the majority of the mortgage. New York state offered tax abatements. Electchester was classified as a "limited dividend nonprofit", subject to state regulations. The first families paid $475 per room for equity shares, and carrying charges of $26 per month per room, on apartments ranging from three-and-a-half to five-and-a-half rooms.^[91]

Both housing complexes are patrolled by the N.Y.P.D.'s 107th Precinct. There is also an N.Y.P.D. P.S.A.-9 Housing Police Unit station located in the Pomonok Houses.Pomonok is part ofQueens Community District 8.^[92]

The Waldheim neighborhood, anestate subdivision in Flushing constructed primarily between 1875 and 1925, is bound by Sanford and Franklin Avenues on the north, 45th Avenue on the south, Bowne Street on the west and Parsons Boulevard on the east. The area is immediately southeast of the downtown Flushing commercial core, and adjacent to Kissena Park. a small district of upscale "in-town" suburban architecture. Waldheim, German for "home in the woods", is known for its large homes of varying architectural styles and is laid out in an unusual street pattern.^[93]

Waldheim was the home of some of Flushing's wealthiest residents until the 1960s. Notable residents include the Helmann family of condiment fame, theSteinway piano-making family, as well as A. Douglas Nash, who managed a nearbyTiffany glass plant. Starting in the 1980s, homes in Waldheim were destroyed by the Korean American Presbyterian Church of Queens, one of the area's largest land owners.^[94] In 2008, the city rezoned the neighborhood to help preserve the low-density, residential character of the neighborhood. As with the Broadway neighborhood, preservationists have been unable to secure designation as an Historic District by theNYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and as of 2017^[update], structures in Waldheim were still being torn down.^[95]

Flushing is a religiously diverse community. Houses of worship in Flushing include the Dutch colonial epoch Quaker Meeting House, the historic Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens, St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic Church, St. George's Episcopal Church, theFree Synagogue of Flushing, theCongregation of Georgian Jews, St. Mel Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael's Catholic Church, St. NicholasGreek Orthodox Shrine Church, Holy Annunciation Russian Orthodox Church, St. John's Lutheran Church, Queensboro Hill Community Church, Hindu Temple Society of North America, and the Muslim Center of New York.^[96]

There are more than 200 houses of worship in Flushing.^[97]

In 1657, while Flushing was still a Dutch settlement, a document known as theFlushing Remonstrance was created by Edward Hart, the town clerk, where some thirty ordinary citizens protested a ban imposed by Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of New Amsterdam, forbidding the harboring of Quakers. TheRemonstrants cited the Flushing Town charter of 1645, which promised liberty of conscience.^[9]

Flushing has manyregistered New York City Landmarks, several of which are also located on theNational Register of Historic Places. Several city landmarks are located on the Queens Historical Society's Freedom Mile.^[98]Flushing Town Hall on Northern Boulevard is the headquarters of the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, an affiliate of theSmithsonian Institution, and houses a concert hall and cultural center.^[99] Other landmarks include theBowne House,^[100]Kingsland Homestead,^[101] theWeeping Beech,^[102]Old Quaker Meeting House,^[103]Flushing High School,^[104]St. George's Church,^[105] theLewis H. Latimer House,^[106] and the lobby of the formerRKO Keith's movie theater.^[107] TheFlushing Armory, on Northern Boulevard, was formerly used by the National Guard.^[108]

There are several other landmarks in Flushing, but outside the Freedom Mile. These include theProtestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing,^[109] theFitzgerald/Ginsberg Mansion,^[110] on Bayside Avenue and theVoelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden.^[111] In addition, theBroadway-Flushing Historic District,Free Synagogue of Flushing,United States Post Office, andMain Street Subway Station (Dual System IRT) are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.^[112]

TheQueens Botanical Garden is located on 39 acres (16 ha) between College Point Boulevard and Main Street.^[113] It has been in operation continuously since its opening as an exhibit at the1939 New York World's Fair,^[114] and has been at its current location since 1963.^[115] The Botanical Garden carries on Flushing'shorticultural tradition that dates back to the area's 18th-century tree nurseries and seed farms.^[114]

Public parks and playgrounds in Flushing are supervised by theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, an 897-acre (3.63 km²) park, is the largest park in Queens.^[116][117] The site hosted two World's Fairs, in1939–1940 and1964–1965, and the park infrastructure reflects the construction undertaken for the Fairs.^[118][119] The northern part of the park containsCiti Field, home of theNew York Mets ofMajor League Baseball; the field, opened in 2009, replaced the formerShea Stadium.^[120] To the south is theUSTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center which is the home of theUS Tennis Open.^[121]

Several attractions were originally developed for the World's Fairs in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. One of the most prominent is theUnisphere, the iconic 12-story-high stainless steel globe that served as the centerpiece for the 1964 New York World's Fair, which was made a city landmark.^[122] Additionally, there is a stone marker for the two 5,000-yearWestinghouse Time Capsules made of specialalloys buried in the park, chronicling 20th-century life in the United States, dedicated both in 1938 and 1965. Also in the park are theQueens Museum of Art which features a scale model of the City of New York, the largest architectural model ever built;Queens Theatre in the Park; theNew York Hall of Science; and theQueens Zoo.^[123] TheNew York State Pavilion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.^[112]

• Kissena Park is a 234-acre (0.95 km²) park with a lake as a centerpiece.^[124]
• Kissena Corridor Park is a 100-acre (0.40 km²) park which connects two separate corridors, adjoining Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to Kissena Park. It contains a baseball field and a playground calledRachel Carson Playground.^[125]
• Bowne Park is an 11-acre (45,000 m²) park developed on the former estate of New York City MayorWalter Bowne.^[126]
• Flushing Fields is a 10-acre (40,000 m²) greenbelt that includes the home athletic field of Flushing High School.^[127]

• Queens Crossing, at 39th Avenue and 136th Street, which opened in 2017.^[128]
• New World Mall, at Roosevelt Avenue east of Main Street
• One Fulton Square, at 39th Avenue and Prince Street, which opened in 2014.^[129]
• The Shops at Skyview Center, at College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, which opened in 2010.^[130] The mall also contains a condominium development atop it.^[131]
• Flushing Commons, at 39th Avenue and Union Street, which opened its first phase in 2017. This is a multi-phase retail and housing development project.^[132]
• Tangram, at 39th Avenue and 133rd Street. It is in development and set to house the first4DX movie theater in Queens.^[133]

Flushing, College Point, and Whitestone are patrolled by the 109th Precinct of theNYPD, located at 37-05 Union Street.^[134] The 109th Precinct ranked 9th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.^[135] As of 2018^[update], with a non-fatal assault rate of 17 per 100,000 people, Flushing and Whitestone's rate ofviolent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 145 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.^[43]: 8

The 109th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 83.7% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 6 murders, 30 rapes, 202 robberies, 219 felony assaults, 324 burglaries, 970 grand larcenies, and 126 grand larcenies auto in 2018.^[136]

Flushing contains the followingNew York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:^[137]

• Engine Company 273/Ladder Company 129 – 40-18 Union Street^[138]
• Engine Company 274/Battalion 52 – 41-20 Murray Street^[139]
• Engine Company 320/Ladder Company 167 – 36-18 Francis Lewis Boulevard^[140]

In addition,FDNY EMS Station 52 is located at 135–16 38th Avenue.

As of 2018^[update],preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Flushing and Whitestone than in other places citywide. In Flushing and Whitestone, there were 63 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 8 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).^[43]: 11 Flushing and Whitestone have a higher than average population of residents who areuninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 14%, slightly higher than the citywide rate of 12%.^[43]: 14

The concentration offine particulate matter, the deadliest type ofair pollutant, in Flushing and Whitestone is 0.0073 milligrams per cubic metre (7.3×10⁻⁹ oz/cu ft), less than the city average.^[43]: 9 Thirteen percent of Flushing and Whitestone residents aresmokers, which is lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.^[43]: 13 In Flushing and Whitestone, 13% of residents areobese, 8% arediabetic, and 22% havehigh blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 22%, 8%, and 23% respectively.^[43]: 16 In addition, 15% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.^[43]: 12

Ninety-five percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 71% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", lower than the city's average of 78%.^[43]: 13 For every supermarket in Flushing and Whitestone, there are 6bodegas.^[43]: 10

The nearest major hospitals areNewYork–Presbyterian/Queens andFlushing Hospital Medical Center.^[141] NewYork–Presbyterian/Queens serves Flushing as well as surrounding communities with comprehensive medical care services.^[142] Numeroustertiary medical clinics also serve the residents of Flushing.

Flushing is covered by multipleZIP Codes. Downtown Flushing and western Murray Hill is covered by 11354; south Flushing, including Queensboro Hill and Waldheim, is included in 11355; and eastern Murray Hill and Broadway-Flushing fall within 11358. ZIP Codes 11356 and 11357, which are part of College Point and Whitestone respectively, also cover small parts of northern Flushing and Linden Hill.^[143] TheUnited States Post Office operates three post offices nearby:

• Flushing Station – 41–65 Main Street^[144]
• Linden Hill Station – 29–50 Union Street^[145]
• Station A – 40–03 164th Street^[146]

ZIP Codes prefixed with 113 are administered from a sectional center at the Flushing Post Office. The 113-prefixed area extends west toElmhurst andJackson Heights; southwest toRidgewood; south toForest Hills; southeast toFresh Meadows; and east toBayside andLittle Neck.^[147]

Flushing and Whitestone generally have a similar rate of college-educated residents to the rest of the city as of 2018^[update]. While 37% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 23% have less than a high school education and 40% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher.^[43]: 6 The percentage of Flushing and Whitestone students excelling in math rose from 55% in 2000 to 78% in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 57% to 59% during the same time period.^[148]

Flushing and Whitestone's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Flushing and Whitestone, 9% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days perschool year, lower than the citywide average of 20%.^{[44]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [43]: 6} Additionally, 86% of high school students in Flushing and Whitestone graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.^[43]: 6

Flushing's public schools are operated by theNew York City Department of Education. Flushing contains the following public elementary schools, which serve grades PK-5 unless otherwise indicated:^[149]

• PS 20 John Bowne^[150]
• PS 21 Edward Hart^[151]
• PS 22 Thomas Jefferson^[152]
• PS 24 Andrew Jackson (grades K-5)^[153]
• PS 32 State Street^[154]
• PS 107 Thomas A. Dooley^[155]
• PS 120^[156]
• PS 163 Flushing Heights^[157]
• PS 214 Cadwallader Colden^[158]
• PS 242 Leonard P Stavisky Early Childhood School (grades PK-3)^[159]
• PS 244 The Active Learning Elementary School (grades PK-3)^[160]

Public middle schools include:^[149]

• IS 25 Adrien Block^[161]
• JHS 185 Edward Bleeker^[162]
• JHS 189 Daniel Carter Beard^[163]
• IS 237 Rachel Carson^[164]
• East-West School of International Studies (grades 6–12). Located in the same building as I.S. 237

The eightpublic high schools in Flushing are:^[149]

• John Bowne High School
• East-West School of International Studies (grades 6–12)
• Robert F. Kennedy Community High School
• Townsend Harris High School, a selective high school located on the Queens College campus, was once ranked byU.S. News & World Report as one of the best public high schools in the United States.
• The Flushing International High School
• Flushing High School, the oldest free public high school (1875) in what is now New York City. It is housed in a distinctiveGothic Revival building built between 1912 and 1915 and declared a NYC Landmark in 1991.
• The Queens School of Inquiry
• Queens Academy High School^[165]

Theprivate high schools include:

• Archbishop Molloy High School
• Holy Cross High School

On December 22, 1980,^[166]The Japanese School of New York moved fromJamaica Estates, Queens intoFresh Meadows, Queens,^[167] near Flushing. In 1991, the school moved toYonkers inWestchester County, New York, before moving toGreenwich,Connecticut in 1992.^[166]

As a result of the high number of Chinese and Korean immigrants with (Confucius) educationally orientated outlooks, there is a large number ofcram schools (Buxiban andhagwon) located not only in Flushing, but also following Northern Blvd. west into Nassau County.^[168]

Queens College, founded in 1937, is a senior college of theCity University of New York (CUNY), and is commonly misconstrued to be within Flushing neighborhood limits due to its Flushing mailing address. It is actually located in the nearby neighborhood ofKew Gardens Hills on Kissena Boulevard near theLong Island Expressway. TheCity University of New York School of Law was founded in 1983 adjacent to the Queens College campus, and was located at 65–21 Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills until 2012.^[169] It moved toLong Island City for the Fall 2012 Semester. The Law School operates Main Street Legal Services Corp., a legal services clinic.

Flushing contained the first public library in Queens, founded in 1858. Today,Queens Public Library contains five libraries in Flushing.^[170]

The largest of the libraries is the Flushing branch, located at the intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing's central business district.^[171] It is the busiest branch of the Queens Public Library,^[171][172] the highest-circulation system in the United States.^[173] This library has an auditorium for public events. The current building, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, is the third to be built on the site—the first was aCarnegie library, built through a gift ofAndrew Carnegie.^[172]

The other branches are:

• East Flushing – 196-36 Northern Boulevard^[174]
• McGoldrick – 155-06 Roosevelt Avenue^[175]
• Mitchell-Linden – 31-32 Union Street^[176]
• Queensboro Hill – 60-05 Main Street^[177]

In addition, theAuburndale,Hillcrest, andPomonok libraries carry Flushing addresses but are not located in Flushing proper.^[170]

The followingMTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes serve Flushing:^[178]

Then20GNassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus route to Great Neck, which runs along Sanford Avenue and Northern Boulevard, terminates in Flushing.^[178] The n20x NICE bus route toRoslyn Clock Tower, which follows the n20G route that goes between Flushing and Great Neck, and the n20H that goes between Great Neck and Hicksville.

There is oneNew York City Subway station in Flushing, theFlushing–Main Street station at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, served by the7 and<7>​ trains.^[179] It is one of the busiest stations in theNew York City Subway system as of 2018^[update].^[180]

TheLong Island Rail Road'sPort Washington Branch also serves Flushing via the following stations:^[181]

• Mets–Willets Point
• Flushing–Main Street
• Murray Hill
• Broadway

Major highways that serve the area include theVan Wyck Expressway andWhitestone Expressway (Interstate 678),Grand Central Parkway, andLong Island Expressway (Interstate 495).Northern Boulevard (part ofNew York State Route 25A) extends from theQueensboro Bridge inLong Island City through Flushing intoNassau County. The Roosevelt Avenue Bridge over Flushing Creek was the largest fixed trunnion bascule type in the world when opened in 1927. However, it was decommissioned as a moving bridge when marine navigation was eliminated in the late 1930s.^[182]

The political stature of Flushing appears to be increasing significantly, with many Chinese from Flushing becoming New York City Council members.Taiwan-bornJohn Liu, formerNew York City Council member representing District 20, which includes Flushing and other northern Queens neighborhoods, was electedNew York City Comptroller in November 2009. In 2018, Liu defeated incumbentTony Avella to become the first of two Asian Americans in theNew York State Senate.

At the same time,Shanghai-bornPeter Koo was elected to succeed Liu to assume this council membership seat. Additionally, in 2012 Flushing residentGrace Meng, aState Assembly Member, was elected toCongress as the first Asian-American member of theUnited States House of Representatives from the eastern United States.

• The first series ofCharmin toilet paper commercials featuringMr. Whipple (Dick Wilson) were filmed in Flushing at the Trade Rite supermarket on Bowne Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
• The rock bandKISS first played at the Coventry Club on Queens Boulevard in 1973, and is said to have derived its name fromKissena Boulevard in Flushing.^[183]
• Joel Fleischman, the fictional character from the 1990s comedic dramaNorthern Exposure, was said to have relocated from Flushing. Often, references were made to actual locations around Main Street, Flushing.
• The eponymous celebration in Taiwanese directorAng Lee's 1993 comedy hitThe Wedding Banquet takes place in Downtown Flushing'sSheraton LaGuardia East Hotel.
• Fran Drescher's characterFran Fine on the TV showThe Nanny, was said to have been raised in Flushing, where her family still lived. Drescher was born in Flushing Hospital.
• Flushing was the location of the Stark Industries (later Stark International) munitions plant inMarvel Comics' originalIron Man series. In the movieIron Man 2, the Stark Expo is located in Flushing.
• On theNorman Lear-produced TV showAll in the Family, in the episode whenEdith Bunker was arrested forshoplifting, she mentions the names of a few long-gone stores that were in downtown Flushing. The Bunkers also mention having lived on Union Street in Flushing.
• The main characters ofThe Black Stallion series resided in Flushing and many of Flushing's streets and landmarks in the 1940s were mentioned in the first book.
• In the musicalHair, the character Claude Bukowski is from Flushing.
• In episode seven of the TV showWhite Collar, main characters Neal Caffrey and FBI Special Agent Tim Burke investigate a crime that takes place in Chinatown, though part of the episode is actually filmed in Flushing.
• InThe Simpsons episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", Homer, after having drunk a large quantity of crab juice and unable to find a restroom, sees a bus going to Flushing Meadows and imagines it to be a field full of toilets.
• The 2014 novelPreparation for the Next Life byAtticus Lish takes place largely in Flushing and surrounding neighborhoods. The novel depicts the unlikely romance between anIraq War veteran and aUighur immigrant.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald'sThe Great Gatsby alludes to Flushing: "About half way between West Egg (Great Neck) and New York, the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile."^[184]

• List of Queens neighborhoods
• Community boards of Queens

•   Media related toFlushing, Queens at Wikimedia Commons
•  Queens/Flushing-Northeast travel guide from Wikivoyage
• "Flushing (Queens)" .Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.