Amazingly, though Flushing can claim two buildings from the 17th century (Manhattan has none), 18th Century buildings are few and far between!
The Kingsland Homestead has been located in three sites since its construction in about 1790. In the 1920s it was moved from Roosevelt Avenue (Amity Street) at 154th Street to make way for an eastern extension of the Flushing subway that was never built; until 1968 it was located at the southeast corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 155th Street, where it was beginning to become rundown. The Queens Historical Society had it moved to its present location in Bowne Park, and the Society is housed in the homestead now.
Quaker Joseph Doughty constructed this building at about 1785-1790. It is named for his son-in-law, sea captain Joseph King, who bought it in 1802. It was later occupied by the Murray family, who gave their name to Murray Hill and Murray Street in east Flushing, well into the 20th Century. The interior of the homestead has been preserved pretty much as it was in the 19th century, and a public exhibit by the Queens Historical Society occupies much of the first floor that includes a representation of the Flushing Remonstrance, a 17th-Century treatise in which the citizens of Flushing pleaded with the Dutch government for religious freedom.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
11/29/17