FLUSHING, LONG ISLAND, NY, HISTORY
The History of Long Island,
from its earliest settlement to the present time.
Peter Ross.
NY Lewis Pub. Co. 1902

[transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

FLUSHING The Patentees of 1645 - Freeholders in 1688 - The Lawrences - The Churches - Modern Changes and Devlopments.

The earliest year of any settlement within the old township of Flushing, - Vlissingen, as it was called, - is 1643. Two years later Governor Kieft issued a town charter to the inhabitants, and this charter was afterward renewed by Governor Dongan in 1685. The town's early records and patents were destroyed by fire in 1789, but in 1792 a copy of Dongan's patent was furnished from the records in Albany under the seal of Governor Clinton, of the State of New York. There is a theory that the name given to the place was derived from that of a town in Holland, but the evidence as to this is a little hazy, and while the matter is practically of no moment, it seems fair to say that the honor of name giving to the Dutch towns should not be abandoned. The first settler was William Thorne (the name long survived in Thorne's Neck), who appears to have held views on religious matters which did not find sympathy among the Puritans, so he is said to have come to this neighborhood from New England in search of a place where he might enjoy liberty of conscience. What his views were is not exactly known, but they were of such a nature that he afterward found it congenial to throw in his lot with the Society of Friends. Soon he was joined by several others, and thus Flushing was another religious community, which, like Gravesend, was a standing reproach to the reputed religious toleration of Massachusetts. The names in Kieft's patent of the settlers to whom it was issued were Thomas Farington, John Townsend, Thomas Stiles, Thomas Saull, John Marston, Robert Field, Thomas Applegate, Thomas Beddard, Laurence Dutch, John Lawrence, William Lawrence, William Thorne, Henry Sautell, William Pigeon, Michael Milliard, Robert Firman, John Hicks, Edward Hart. They were empowered to elect a Schout, to build fortifications, "to have and enjoy the liberty of conscience according to the custom and manner of Holland without molestation or disturbance from any Magistrate of Magistrates or any other Ecclesiastical Minister." In return for all this and other privileges they agreed to "reverently respect the High and Mighty Lords for their Superior Lords and Patrons," and pay a really moderate tax "in cast it be demanded." All of those mentioned in the deed were not from New England, or exiles for religion. John Lawrence, who was one of the incorporators of Hempstead in 1644, was quite an enterprising gentleman, and was several times Mayor of New Amsterdam, and at the time of his death, 1699, was a Judge of the Supreme Court. William Lawrence was also prominent as an office-holder, and had the knack of "holding on" no matter what flag - Dutch or English - waved over the fort at New Amsterdam. In Dongan's patent the names of the freeholders were: Thomas Willett, John Lawrence Seinior, Elias Doughty, Richard Cornell, Moriss Smith, Charles Morgan, Mary Fleake, Wouter Gisbertson, John Masten, John Cornelis, John Harrison, Denius Holdron, John Hinchman, William Yeates, Joseph Thorne, John Lawrence Junior, Matthias Harveye, Harmanus King, John Farrington, Thomas Williams, Elisabeth Osborn, Joseph Havyland, John Washborne, Aaron Cornelis, John Bowne, William Noble, Samuel Hoyt, Madeline Frances Barto, John Hoper, Thomas Ford, John Jenning, John Embree, Jonathan Wright, Nocholas Parcell, William Lawrence, Richard Townly, Edward Griffin Junior, John Lawrence at the Whitestone, Henry Taylor, Jasper Smith, Richard Wilday, Thomas Townsend, John Thorne, Anthony Field, John Adams, Richard Stockton, James Whittaker, Hugh Copperthwaite, Richard Chew, James Clement, Margaret Stiles, Samuel Thorne, Thomas Hedges, William Haviland, Thomas Hicks, John Terry, David Patrick, James Feake, Thomas Kimacry, Philliip Udall, Thomas Davis, Edward Farrington, Thomas Farrington, Matthew Farrington, John Field, Joseph Hedger, John Talman, William Gael, William White, Elisabeth Smith, Thomas Partridge, William Hedger and Benjamin Field. Outside of the Lawrence, Farrington and Thorne families few representatives of the original patentees appear in this list. But so far as can be learned they were pretty much the same stamp as most of the pioneers - men and women whose law lay wholly in the sacred Scriptures. Most of these people were farmers; most of them were from New England. Probably many had left the mainland to get rid of the religious notions prevailing there and enjoy freedom of worship in their own way. But they brought with them their Bibles and their own peculiar views, and were prepared to set up as much of a theocracy as circumstances would pemit - some even were determined to carry out their spiritual ideas no matter what circumstances presented themselves. So it was as a religious colony that Flushing was to thrive. In 1647, by order of Governor Stuyvesant, the Rev. Francis Doughty settled in it as its minister.


Stuyvesant was curious in his friendships, his likes and disklikes, and what there was in Dr. Doughty's composition that won him the personal interest of the Governor it is difficult to imagine.

Doughty was an English clergyman, who had crossed the Atlantic that he might speak the truth, but his views on baptism did not suite the Puritans, and he was arrestged, tried and ordered to leave Massachusetts.

He promptly went to Rhode Island for a brief period, but in 1642 he went to Long Island, having with several associates secured a grant of 13,332 acres of land in Newtown.

An Indian outbreak soon scattered this settlement, and Doughty took rufuge in New Amsterdam for two years.

In 1645 Doughty and most of the patentees returned to Newtown, but trouble and quarrels broke out, and as a result Doughty threatened to refer the matter to Holland,

thereupon he was arrested and fined twenty-five-guilders.
In this case Stuyvesant acted in haste and without warrant, and when he recognized this he was anxious to "do something" for Doughty. A request from Flushing for a minister reached Stuyvesant about this time, and he at once named Doughty.

The good folks of Flushing, however, did not want the Newtown dominie, but Stuyvesant reasoned with them one by one.

As a result Doughty was accepted and his salary fixed at 600 guilders. It was probably Flushing's complaisance in this matter that impelled Stuyvesant in 1648 to permit it to elect three Schepens and a clerk in addition to the pimitive Schout.

Doughty does not seem to have become popular in Flushing. His religious views were not pleasing to many, and that singular compound, Captain John Underhill, when elected Schout in 1648, at once ordered the meeting-house closed, as the preacher "spoke against his betters." Doughty wandered forth again, but returned.

He had made his home in Flushing, and there his sons developed into splendid citizens, while his daughter, Mary married Adrain Van Der Donck, a Hudson River patroon, who included what is now the city of Yonkers in his holding.

As a settled minister Doughty was a failure, and probably the citizens did not care to ask for another in his place. In 1656 one of the pioneers of the Society of Friends, William Wickendam, a shoemaker, settled in Flushing from Rhoda Island, and the people seem to have accepted his views. They listened to his preaching and what he said appears to have united them under his spiritual leadership, and many were baptized by him.

Even Doughty accepted the workingman's theological views and threw in his lot with the Quakers.

Such a condition of things aroused attention in New Amsterdam and led to Stuyvesant's persecution of the Friends, which has been detailed at length in an earlier chapter of this work.

But this persecution failed, like most persecutions of similar nature, to stamp out the object of its enmity, and Flushing became more and more deeply a religious - a Quaker community.

In 1660 quite a number of Huguenots settled in the township, and their presence and pronounced views on matters of faith made Flushing more than ever a center of religious thought.

In June, 1672, George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, made his memorable visit to Long Island, and, as might be expected, Flushing was one of his stopping places.

He stayed in the home of John Bowne, Stuyvesant's victim and victor, and the couch on which he was wont to rest and other articles of furniture used by him or in use during his sojourn are still preserved. {Goodle "Bowne House"). Fox in his diary mentions holding one large meeting in Flushing, "many hundreds of people being there."

Although, however, Flushing was thus in a sense a center of Quakerism, it was not until 1690 that a meeting-house was erected. After Stuyvesant's experience in the case of John Bowne the Friends seem to have been permitted the utmost freedom of worship, so far as the civil government was concerned.

Under the English rule, indeed, they were more or less in trouble, because in accordance with their principles they refused to train in the militia service, a service which by law was made compulsory on all able-bodied men.

This refusal was punished by the imposition of a fine, and as it was not in keeping with their ideas of religion and right to pay this fine, their goods were seized and sold in satisfaction.

This procedure the Quakers regarded as an infringement of liberty and conscience, as a religious persecution; but it was not so in reality, as the law made no provision for creeds, the militia was for the defense of the people and the Quakers enjoyed the security of that defense and should contribute their share in it.

A much more dangerous distruber of the peace of the Quakers, and indeed of the community, was the attempt made in the reign of James II to establish the Church of England throughout the province. We say attempt, because, although it is the fashion for some writers to argue as though that church was established in New York, just as it was in England, it never really succeeded, Royal instructions and Gubernatorial edicts nothwithstanding.

The King's orders to Governor Dongan, in fact, avoided the question of "establishment," although that result was implied. "You shall take especial care that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served throughout your government; the Book of Common Prayer as it is now established read each Sunday and holiday, and the Blessed Sacrament administered according to the rites of the Church of England."

He was also ordered not to present a clergyman to any benefice within his gift "without a certification from the Most Reverend the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury of his being conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England."

Still he was to "permit all persons, of what religion soever, quietly to inhabit within your government without giving them any disquiet or distrubance whatever for or by reason of their differing opinions in matters of religion."

So far as Flushing was concerned, these instructions had little interest, and it was not until 1702, under Governor Cornbury - one of the most disreputable of men and blindest of churchmen - that any effort was made to foist an Episcopalian minister on the town. Then the turbulent George Keith came upon the scene, but as the story of his experiences and of his persecutions of the Quakers inspired by him have already been told in an earlier chapter, the story need not be repeated here.


Ecclesiastically in the Episcopalian fold, Jamaica, Newtown and Flushing were united for a time under one rector.

The first, Patrick Gordon, died a few days after his arrival, and then Cornbury sent the Rev. James Honeyman among the people to preach to them until he could determine upon a rector.

This rector, the Rev. William Urquhart, was put in possession of the charge in June, 1704, and continued to minister to such of the people as adhered to him until his death in 1709.

Flushing did not take kindly to him, nor did he to Flushing. "Most of the inhabitants thereof are Quakers," he wrote, "who rove through the county from one village to another, talk blasphemy, corrupt the youth, and do much mischief."

He held services once a month in the Guard House, which was amply sufficient for his auditory. Mr. Urquhart's headquarters were in Jamaica, and there, too, as wel shall see, his path was not one strewn with roses.

His successor was the Rev. Thomas Poyer, a Welshman. Flushing still continued obdurate, and matter were not much brighter in Jamaica, which still continued to be the rectorial headquarters, but Mr. Poyer "wras'led" on amid a host of discouragements, as we will read in the story of Jamaica, until his death, in 1731.

Two years later the Rev. Thomas Colgan was given the charge, and under him, in 1746, the first Episcopalian Church of Flushing was erected.

Mr. Colgan seems to have got on better with the Quakers than any of his predecessors, and one of them, it is said, actually aided the new congragation by a gift of money.

As was customary, the Society for Propogation of the Gosepl (in London) sent to the new church a Bible and Prayer Book, and that gift is now among the treasures of St. George's Church.

On the death of Mr. Colgan, in 1755, the Presbyterians and others endeavored to seize control of the ecclesiastical affairs in the three towns and elected a Prysbyterian minister.

Sir Charles Hardy, then Governor, would have none of this, and presented the Rev. Samuel Seabury to the charge. Mr. Seabury had not a very high opinion of Flushing, which he said was "in the last generation the ground seat of Quakerism, is in this the seat of infidelity," but under him the church was finished and in 1761 it received a charter from King George III under the title of St. George's, which it still retians.

His leading lay helper in Flushing was Mr. John Aspinwall, whom he described in one of his letters as "a man of low birth and strong passions, and violent in his resentments, who, having acquired a great fortune in privateering, removed thither from New York, and has really done very considerably toward finishing the church and giving it a good bell."

Not much of an angelic character, certainly, but this reformed piratge was a benefactor to the Flushing church in many ways, even to the extent of "bringing over many Quakers and Calvinists, so that I myself," wrote Mr. Seabury, "have been a joyful witness of a numerous congregation in a church wherein, within three or four years, seldom assembled above ten or twelve persons."

It is sad to think that the friendship of Mr. Aspinwall and Rectory Seabury should have ended in a violent rupture caused by an effort on Arpinwall's part to make Flushing a separate charge under a new rector, but so it was.

The effort did not succeed, and Seabury remained until 1765, when he removed to Westchester.

Afterward he was the first Episcopalian bishop in America. His successor in the three towns was the Rev. Joshua Bloomer. The tripartite rectoral arrangement continued until 1802, when Flushing and Newtown united in calling a rector, leaving Jamaica to its own course, and in 1809 Flushing and Newtown separated, and the Rev. Brazella Buckley became first sole rector of Flushing.

From then until now St. George's has held a long list of earnest, devoted rectors, but the name that stands out in boldest relief is that of the Rev. William A. Muhlenberg, who presided over it from 1826 to 1829.

This famous preacher and practical philanthropist founded the once famous Flushing Institute for the education of boys, and out of its success grew St. Paul's College, of which he continued to act as principal until 1844, when he accepted a call to New York.

Until 1811 St. George's Church and the meeting-house of the Society of Friends contained the only two organized religious bodies in Flushing.

In 1811 a congregation of colored Methodists was organized, although it did not possess a church edifice until 1837. The white Methodist brethern built a church in 1822, the Roman Catholic Church had its beginning with twelve adherents in 1826, when the Rev. Father Farnham celebrated mass for the first time in Flushing, and in 1835 the first place of worship was fitted up. In 1854 a second Episcopalian Church, St. Michael's, was erected, and St. George's Church was rebuilt for the third time, the second building having been erected in 1812. The Baptists also erected their first Flushing church in 1854.

The most prominent of the early industries of Flushing, next to agriculture - farming - was that of fruit and tree growing. The Huguenot settlers introduced many of the fruits of their native land, and their product won quite a measure of fame and brought them considerable profit.

In the early years of the eighteenth century a number of English gardeners settled in Flushing, attracted by stories of the varied nature of its soil and its adaptability to fruit raising, and established market gardens.

Its fame, however, in horticultural circles was really won by a native, William Prince, who was born in Flushing in 1766, and died there in 1842. His father, William Prince, in 1750 laid out a tract of land in Flushing for the propogation of trees, such as apple, plum, peach, cherry, nectarine and pear.

This venture proved quite a success, and the area of ground was steadily enlarged and the varieities grown extended to almost every variety possible in the climate, almond and fig trees, flowering trees and shrubs, berry bushes.

So famous did the place become that General Howe, when manoeuvring in Flushing on August 29, 1776, ordered it to be guarded so as to prevent any depredations on the part of his soldiery. The nursey, however, did suffer considerably during the British occupation, and for the time its business was paralyzed.

In 1789 the place was visited by General Washington, who had long heard of its beauties, but what he saw did not answer his "expectations," for at that time the business was just beginning to recover.

By 1792 Mr. Prince had twenty-four acres under his operations. His son brought the nursery up to the fullest measure of its usefullness. In 1793 he entered into business relations with his father and extended the area under cultivation until it exceeded sixty acres. He sent far and near for trees, fruits and plants for experimental purposes, successfully acclimatized several hundred, systematized the nomenclature of the best known fruits, such as the Bartlett pear and the Isabella grape, and wrote a "Treatise on Horticulture," the first work of the kind issued in the United States. The London Horticultural Society named William Prince apple in his honor, and he enjoyed the personal friendship of all the celebrated botanists and naturalists of his time.

The Morus multicaulis, long so well known in the manufacture of silk, was first grown here in 1826 by Mr. rince from trees imported from France a year after they had been received there from the Philippine Islands.

Perhaps this should entitle him to be regarded a the pioneer in the great American Philippine trade which is so certain to come as the result of more recent events.


Flushing had many other famous nurseries, such as that of Samuel Parsons, a man noted for his benevolence, his enterprise, his public spirit and his steadfast adherence to the Society of Friends, before which body he frequently preached. His love of trees led him to plant many along the streets of Flushing at his own cost, and he went into the business of tree raising simply for the good he might accomplish rather than as a commercial speculation.


With the upward progress which attended so many of the Long Island towns after the Revolutionary War, Flushing had but little share. Its business had been sadly shattered by that armed conflict, and its geographical position was such that it ws by no means easy of access. In the closing years of the eighteenth century communication with New York was had twice a week - Tuesdays and Fridays - by passenger boats, and that service sufficed until the advent of the nineteenth century.

In 1801 a daily coach service was established, running from Flushing through Newtown to Brooklyn, and such coach service, with slight change as to route, continued until 1854, when the opening of the Flushing & North Shore Railroad forced its cessation. But long after the railroad was an assured fact the carrying trade in merchandise continued to be done by packets.

The first steamboat from Flushing to New York was run in 1822. It was a small concern, but proved so successful that in the following year "The Linnaeus," a much more substantial and roomy vessel, was put on the route.


In 1837 Flushing began to feel that she really was becoming prosperous, and in that year it applied for and received its charter as a village.

The population was then about 2,000, the number of real estate owners was 103, and the assessed valuation $465,360. Robert B. Van Zandt was elected the first President under the charter.

The Re. H. D. Waller, to whose interesting "History of Flushing" this sketch has been much indebted, says: "The village boundary line began at the creek just beyond the bridge on the College Point causeway and ran east, crossing Whitestone avenue about 300 feet beyond Bayside avenue and Parsons avenue the line turned south and ran to the corner of Sanford avenue and Long land (now South Parsons avenue).

From this corner, which marked the furthest limits of the village in that direction, the line ran west to the creek, forming an acute angle with Sanford avenue and crossing Jamaica avenus just south of the Jagger homestead (now Captain Hinman's). Sanford avenue was not open below Jamaica avenue. Bowne avenue was the street furthest east. Long lane began at the village limits and ran south. Jagger avenue was a private lane leading from Main street to the Jagger house; Amity street was not then opened; neither was Locust street east of Main.

A tide mill, kept by William Hamilton, stood at the bridge on the College Point causeway. There were no houses northeast of the park except a few which stood in large country places. The lower part of Main street was more thickly settled, but even there the houses stood apart from each other with gardens between. The Pavilion, once a famous hotel, stood at the corner of Bridge street and Lawrence avenue, where the old electric power house now stands. The Town Hall stood where the fountain now stands, facing Main street, the school-house being on the lot now occupied by the Empire Hose Company's building in Lincoln street."


From the time olf her incorporation as a village until the closing scene in her history, when she became part and parcel of the Greater New York, the story of Flushing was one of great progress.

It was regarded as a residential quarter, sufficiently retired to be the seen of several county fairs, where abundant educational facilities were provided, and church, social and professional circles were all of the most desirable qualities. The Board of Education commenced work in 1848 in accordance with an act of the Legistlature passed that year, and under its direction the educational system of the village was steadily extended; in 1874 the Douglass Pond water supply was introduced and made the occasion of a great demonstration and parade, with the usual oratorical accompaniments.

In 1883 the old area of the village was considerably extended by a new act of the Legislature, and in the following year the Flushing Hospital and Dispensay was incorporated, a building being rented for its purpose until 1887, when the hospital was erected on ground presented for the purpose by the late John Henderson.

"The village of Flushing," writes Mr. Waller, "has always been a place of residence. Those institutions have been fostered that would render the village attractive to persons seeking homes; manufacture has not been encouraged. The village streets were macadamized, well shades with fine trees of many varieties, lighted by gas and electricity and swept and sprinkled at public expense. The sidwalks are paved with stone flagging. A complete system of sewers extends throughout the village. The steam and electric cars make frequent trips between Flushing and the city. These conveniences and improvements have made Flushing an attractive home for business and professional men of New York. Here they find pleasant homes and rural surroundings, within easy reach of their places of business."


Such are the salient points in the history of Flushing township in general, and epecially of Flushing village, the center of its life. There are several settlements or villages throughout the township which are deserving of some mention, however brief.

College Point (formerly Lawrence's Neck) on Flushing Bay was first settled by immigrants from Germany. It was the scene of operations of Dr. Muhlenberg's St. Paul College and from that got its modern name. It has some manufactories and a population of some 6,000. Within recent years it has become quite a suburban residential village, boasting all modern improvements in the wy of gas, electricity, etc., and many remarkably fine residences have been added to its attractions during the past year or two. It is confidently expected that it will continue to grow in favor.

Whitestone is regarded as being, next to Flushing village, the oldest settlement in the township. It derived its name from a large white piece of rock in front of it in the East River, and although several efforts have been made to change the name the efforts have failed. Even De Witt Clinton's popularity, which inspired the name of Clintonville, failed to make the change any more than a passing whim. Another name oce given it, "Cookie Hill," did not find many admirers at any time, so Whitestone has clung to it throughout its modern history. That history really amounts to very little. In 1800 it had less than twelve houses. It was not until 1853, when J. D. Locke & Company established a tin and copper ware factory, that it began to attract settlers, and a year later it had advanced sufficiently to induce Uncle Sam to establish a postoffice within the village. Some of its clay soil has been found eminently suited for making tobacco pipes, flower pots, flower vases and the like, and in connection therewith several establishments have arisen, and the village now boasts a population of about 3,400.

Whitestone is the terminus of the North Shore branch of the Long Island Railroad. It is one of the stations of the New York Yacht Club, and already before consolidation contained a considerable colony of New York business and professional men. The village has a new athletic club, and a school-house costing $200,000 has recently been completed. A tract of land fronting nearly a mile on the water is held jointly by the Realty Trust and the Cedar Cliff Park Association, part of which is under development by Edwin P. Roe.


Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, whose seat in Whitestone was one of the centers of Revolutionary activity, was born in Llandaff, Wales, in March, 1713, and was educated at Westminster School, London. In that city he also obtained his mercantile training. He sold all his property in England in 1735, and came to this country, where he at once engaged in business as a merchant, establishing houses in New York and Philadelphia. He met with remarkable success, and probably was the leading shipper in New York at that time. His enterprise was unbounded, and he paid frequent visits to Europe on business ventures, going as far as Russia, and was twice ship-wrecked. As a supply agent for the British army he was taken prisoner at Fort Oswego when it was surprised by Montcalm, was carried to Montreal, and from there to France. After his liberation, he returned to New York to find the conflict between the Colonies and the mother country already practically commenced; and, joining heartily in Revolutionary movements, he was in 1775 unanimously elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, where his business experience, executive talent and knowledge of commerce made him a valuable member. At the next session he with his fellow patriots signed the paper to the maintenance of which they pledged "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."

Having some time previous purchased a country seat at Whitestone, he removed his family to it in 1776, and then entered actively upon the performance of duties of importance with which he had been entrusted by Congress, one detail of which was the importation of the military stores, in which he expended the bulk of his large fortune, and for which he was never repaid. Hardly had his family been settled at their home in Whitestone before they were visited, in the fall of 1776, by a body of British light horse, who plundered his house, wantonly destroyed his extensive and valuable library, and, taking Mrs. Lewis a prisoner, retained her several months, without a change of clothing or a bed to rest on!

Through the influence of Washington she was released, but with her health so broken by the abuses she had suffered that she drooped and died - another victim to English chivalry in the eighteenth century. Mr. Lewis resided here until 1796, when he disposed of his property and retired to New York, where he died December 30, 1803, in his ninetieth year.

The second son of this patriot, Morgan Lewis, afterward Governor of New York, also lived at Whitestone for many years. He served in the War of the Revolution as a captain, and afterward as a major, retiring with the rank of colonel, to resume his legal studies and qualify for the bar. He soon acquired distinction in that profession, and in 1792 became Chief Justice of New York's Supreme Court. In 1804 he was elected Governor. In the War of 1812 he became a major general and served on the Niagara frontier. But the details of his career are too interesting to be condensed and we must refer the reader to the sketch of India Delafield, containing a sketch of his life and that of his father. Governor Lewis died in 1844.


Bayside, or Little Neck Bay, although in many respects a modern settlement, has really a history of almost equal antiquity with Flushing village, but its story is uninteresting, although it contained a building which like so many hundreds of others, bore the designation of Washington's Headquarters. It was really simply a scattered group of rural residences until within a comparatively few years, and its progress has been slow. It ha a population of 700, but is steadily rising into favor as a residential village, as it presents many advantages in the refined society already to be found there and the many beautiful villas which adorn its streets.


As much might be said of Little Neck, a similar community on the other side of Little Neck Bay and close to the Nassau county boundary line. The property was in the hands of the Hicks family from the time Thomas Hicks drove the Indian owners off the lands by force until a recent date; indeed, some of that redoubtable land grabber's descendants are still to be found in and near the village.

Douglas Point, however, as it is now called, one of the most beautiful "bits" of landscape on the sound, passed from their hands early in the last century. Little Neck is slowly but surely rising in popular favor, and its population of 600 are doing all that is possible to add to its attractiveness. Willets Point, Douglaston and several small settlements are also gradually finding their way into public favor and are certain to increase as the years roll on.

In fact, there seems little doubt that the whole of the township of Flushing is destined to be the "home land," as it were, of a great population of home owners - the best possible class of citizens. A recent article in one of our daily papers, speaking on this point evidently with the knowledge of an expert, saying: "Flushing, with a population of 9,700, on the ridge overlooking Flushing Bay, is a village of Dutch Colonial antiquity, of historic associations and substantial growth. Originally an agricultural community, its chief characteristics have come to be those of a suburban home settlement. It has good roads, schools and churches, libraries, banks, stores, shops and a complete system of public works. Fine old mansions, set in spacious grounds, break the uniformity of development present in more distinctly modern places, and the water affords variety to the enjoyment of nature and outdoor life. In the outskirts of the village are important suburban additions, developed by private enterprise, as Ingleside and Bowne Park. Both are located on high ground, abutting on fine residential streets, which are continued through them.

At Ingleside the Realty Trust has sold some hundred detached frame dwellings at $3,500 to $6,750, besides a number running as high as $10,000. Building sites are sold to investors at $260 to $1,000 a lot. At Bowne Park, where John Dayton & Company have built extensively, similar conditions as to prices of houses and lots prevail, this place, like the former, having maintained a high grade of suburban construction. Among smaller groups of houses in the market are eight dwellings at the Broadway station that are quoted by John N. Falkinburg, who is also improving a tract at Bayside, a station just east of Flushing, with houses selling at $3,500 to $6,000. Land in the various additions under development at Flushing has been carefully restricted against uses objectionable in a residential community, the aim having been to keep in harmony with the social and natural features which have made the village attractive to quite a colony of artistic and professional men.


"Corona, with a population of 2,700, is another center of suburban development in the section overlooking the Sound. Until recently houses were for the most part built by intending occupants with assistance from co-operative building and loan associations. Construction work is now largely carried forward on extensive tracts, as Luona Park and Hamilton's Homes. At Luona Park, laid out by the Realty Trust, several hundred houses have been built. The prices prevailing have been between $2,400 and $3,500. At Hamilton's Homes, developed by William J. Hamilton, quotations range from $2,000 to $3,000.

Elmhurst, near by, with a population of 3,000 is composed of two principal elements, an old village of Dutch origin and a modern suburban settlement. The newer Elmhurst comprises a tract of 1,800 lots controlled by Cord Meyer & Company. Houses are sold to intending occupants at $3,500 to $10,000.

About two hundred and fifty families have been drawn to the neighborhood since the tract was opened in 1896. Provisions are contained in all the deeds reserving the land for private residences, and property is thus guarded against construction which might tend to depreciate values. The management refuses to sell lots unless assurance is given that no house is to be erected without the plans having been approved by the company. This makes speculative building impossible. On the other hand, the village elsewhere offers attractive opportunities for building operations, and a group of new houses by Warren & Combes were for the most part readily disposed of last season at $3,800 to $4,300."