The land just east of the Flushing River in the center part of Queens has been occupied for many centuries by the Matinecock Indians, later by Dutch and English settlers, and currently by immigrants from Southeast Asia and their families. Rivers are the
The land just east of the Flushing River in the center part of Queens has been occupied for many centuries by the Matinecock Indians, later by Dutch and English settlers, and currently by immigrants from Southeast Asia and their families. Rivers are the original superhighways, and the East River inlet known as the Flushing River provided a convenient method for importing and shipping out goods for trade. The Dutch founded a small town on its eastern shore earlier than New Netherland was founded further west. Led by New Netherland Governor William Kieft, the Dutch took the region by force from the Native Americans and warred with them until the English arrived in 1645, on invitation from Kieft, who granted the English a vast 16,000-acre tract that included what is now Flushing. The name is an English transliteration of the Dutch town of Vlissingen meaning “salt meadow valley.” The Dutch, under the firm hand of Director General Peter Stuyvesant, were in charge, however, until the British arrived with an overwhelming naval force commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls and assumed control in 1664.
Seen above is Flushing’s oldest building. English settler and Quaker John Bowne built this house in Flushing Village in 1661, on what would b