Origin of the Name The name Flushing is an anglicized form of Vlissingen, a port city in the Dutch province of Zeeland. That Dutch city in turn was named because the word means the place of the tidal streams or salt meadows.

When the Dutch West India Company granted a charter in 1645 to settlers to found a new village on Long Island, the town was named Vlissingen in honor of that city, which had been a key Dutch naval and trading base. The New World site also has salt meadows. The English settlers, who formed the majority of the early population, gradually altered the pronunciation and spelling to Vlishing, and after the English takeover in 1664, the official English form Flushing became standard. The adoption of the English name reflected the settlement’s mixed Dutch and English heritage and its transition from a Dutch colonial outpost to part of the English Province of New York.

Early Settlement (1645–1664) Flushing, one of the earliest European settlements on Long Island, was established on October 10, 1645, under a charter from the Dutch West India Company. The town was originally called Vlissingen, after the Dutch port city that served as a base for the Company. Despite Dutch governance from New Amsterdam, many of the settlers were Englishmen who had migrated from the Connecticut Colony seeking greater autonomy and economic opportunity. The settlement lay along the eastern bank of Flushing Creek, in what was then the western part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

The charter of Flushing was unique for its time: it expressly guaranteed freedom of religion “as in Holland, without the disturbance of any magistrate or ecclesiastical minister.” However, when Director-General Peter Stuyvesant issued an edict in 1656 forbidding Quaker worship, the people of Flushing protested. On December 27, 1657, they issued the Flushing Remonstrance, a document asserting the principle of religious liberty for “Jews, Turks, and Egyptians” as well as Christians. One resident, John Bowne, held Quaker meetings in his house, was arrested and deported to Holland, but successfully appealed to the Dutch West India Company for religious toleration. His victory established Flushing as a cornerstone in the history of religious freedom in America.

Landmarks of this era include the John Bowne House (1661) on Bowne Street and the Old Quaker Meeting House (1694) on Northern Boulevard, both of which still stand. The site of the signing of the Flushing Remonstrance—on Northern Boulevard between Linden Place and Union Street—is today occupied by a police facility that once served as the State Armory.

English Colonial Period (1664–1783) When the English seized New Netherland in 1664, they renamed it the Province of New York. In 1683, Queens County was established, and the Town of Flushing became one of its original five towns. The town’s boundaries stretched from Flushing Creek on the west to the Hempstead line on the east, and from Jamaica on the south to the Long Island Sound on the north.

During the colonial period, Governor Cadwallader Colden maintained his estate, Spring Hill, in Flushing, making the town an informal seat of provincial authority. By the mid-eighteenth century, the town had become an agricultural and mercantile center, with several Quaker families—such as the Bownes, Lawrences, Embrees, and Burlings—deeply shaping its civic and moral character.

During the American Revolution, most residents of Flushing remained Loyalists, and British troops were quartered in the town. A battalion of Scottish Highlanders was stationed nearby, and a Continental officer named Zackary Perrine was captured and executed near Flushing Bay.

Flushing’s Horticultural Heritage (18th–19th Centuries): By the late eighteenth century, Flushing had become known for its horticultural industry, earning it the title “the garden of New York.” The first commercial nurseries in North America were founded here, notably by the Prince, Parsons, and Bloodgood families. Prince’s Nursery, founded around 1737 by Robert Prince, was the first of its kind in the colonies and later supplied trees and shrubs for Central Park during the 1850s. The Parsons Nursery, whose exotic plantings were later preserved in Kissena Park, became internationally renowned.

The nursery legacy endures in the names of the streets running east–west across the district: Ash, Beech, Cherry, Elder, Maple, Oak, and Rose Avenues, arranged alphabetically from north to south.

Village Incorporation and Growth (1837–1898): The Village of Flushing was incorporated on April 15, 1837, within the larger town. Its neighborhoods included Flushing Highlands, Bowne Park, Murray Hill, Ingleside, and Flushing Park. A public library was established in 1858—now the Queens Library’s Flushing Branch, one of the oldest in New York City. The Flushing and North Side Railroad (later the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington Branch) opened in 1854, linking the village to Hunters Point and Manhattan by ferry.

By 1875, Flushing had opened the first free public high school in what is now New York City. During the 19th century, it evolved into a genteel suburb with tree-lined streets, large estates, and summer residences for prosperous New Yorkers.

Consolidation and Modernization (1898–20th Century) In 1898, the Town of Flushing was consolidated into the City of New York and became part of the Borough of Queens. Despite opposition, the incorporation dissolved all town and village governments. Real estate development quickly transformed farmland into urban neighborhoods. Firms like the Halleran Agency, famous for its slogan “Ask Mr. Halleran!”, played a key role in marketing the new suburban Flushing, while its promotional maps coined the phrase “So This Is Flushing.”

The opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909 and successive bridge and road projects spurred rapid growth. By the early twentieth century, Flushing had become a major transportation and residential hub for middle-class commuters.

Legacy Today, Flushing is an urban center encompassing layers of its past—from its Quaker and horticultural heritage to its role in the birth of religious liberty in America. The Flushing Remonstrance, John Bowne House, and Old Quaker Meeting House remain enduring symbols of tolerance and independence, while the town’s horticultural history survives in Kissena Park and the street names that recall its flowering past.

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