Flushing has a horticultural history. The post about Flushing has a quite bit of information about this history. But here is a short visit around some interesting gardens and a few other things as well.
1. The Queens Library Flushing Branch.
41-17 Main St, Flushing, NY 11355
The original library, long since replaced , was the first lending library in Queens. The current building, with the curious mitosis carving on the Kissena Boulevard side, is the latest in a series of three libraries located on this spot. It is one of the busiest branches in one of the busiest library systems in the world.
more information from the architects
2, The U.S. Post Office
41-65 Main Street 11365
Gone are the days when I eagerly awaited the igloo that would appear on the lawn selling holiday postage stamps. But the post office remains an impressive structure
From Forgotten New York
As post office architecture goes, Colonial Revival is a popular style — Flushing’s majestic post office building, Main Street and Sanford Avenue, with its pediment and six Ionic columns, is similar to post offices in Hunters Point and also in St. George, Staten Island. It was constructed from 1932-1934 and designed by Dwight James Baum and partner William W. Knowles; most of Baum’s other NYC buildings are in Riverdale, Bronx, including the neighborhood’s iconic bell tower at Riverdale Avenue and Henry Hudson Parkway.
Go inside, and the busy patrons never look up, but if you do you are rewarded with the sight of WPA era murals depicting different scenes from the history ( or perceived history, some representations are not exactly accurate) of the 12 towns that make up Flushing. The immigrant artist Vincent Aderente painted them. Much more information about each mural on the Forgotten New York website.
3. The Queens Botanical Garden
43-50 Main Street
From the Garden's website
Located at the northeast corner of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Flushing, QBG evolved from the five-acre “Gardens on Parade” exhibit showcased at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair. Officially opening as “The Queens Botanical Garden Society” in 1946 after local residents saved and expanded the original exhibit, the Garden remained at the original World’s Fair site until 1961, when it was moved to its current location on Main Street in Flushing. Among the original plantings taken from the 1939 site are two blue atlas cedars that frame the iconic tree gate sculpture at the Garden’s Main Street entrance today. QBG has become a 39-acre oasis in one of New York City’s most bustling and diverse neighborhoods.
4. Evergreen Community Gardens in the Kissena Park Corridor
Colden Street starting around Juniper Avenue
In the 1980s a group of Korean Immigrants began cleaning away the trash and creating a community garden. Today over 300 plots over 5 acres are lovingly tended.
5.) New York Chens Buddha Associates
46- 38 Kissena Boulevard
This pagoda structure sits on the corner of Kalmia Avenue and Kissena Boulevard. Sometimes I See people who are dressed in what I consider traditional Buddhist Monk clothing, coming out, sometimes I see people dressed in three piece suits coming out. I could find no information about it on the Internet.
6) Hindu Center of North America
The Ganesh Temple
45-57 Bowne Street
The Temple Canteen is often listed in guidebooks as an attraction. The canteen, originally developed in the 1980s to provide food for ritual use, is a bustling restaurant that serves good, reasonably priced vegetarian food. The Temple and Community Center cover several blocks and are ornately decorated. The community is welcoming and friendly to visitors from all faiths.
7) The Olde Town of Flushing Burial Ground
Entrance on 46th Avenue between 164th and 165th Street
When my children were in grade school this park is where we went for picnics and field days and hanging out. But then it was renovated and in the process of doing the renovation, it was determined that the area was, in fact, a burial ground. The story is filled with history and deception and of course Robert Moses, and the determination of one man,Mandingo Tshaka, to preserve its rightful place.
From the Website: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-olde-towne-of-flushing-burial-ground/history
The ‘re-discovery’ of burial grounds within our municipality is an experience shared by many cities world-wide. The City of New York has buildings and parks that stand on former burial grounds. In the 1990’s, when Parks began a renovation of the site, local activist Mandingo Tshaka drew attention to its previous history. In response, Parks commissioned a $50,000 archaeological study in 1996. Archeologist Linda Stone concluded that the site served as the final resting-place for between 500 to 1,000 individuals. Death records for the town of Flushing exist for the period 1881 until 1898, and show that during this period, 62 percent of the buried were African American or Native American, 34 percent were unidentified, and more than half were children under the age of five.
