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Queens · Neighborhood guide

Flushing and Willets Point

Flushing's historic houses and cultural buildings offer a visit beyond its busy commercial center. Bowne House, Lewis Latimer House and Flushing Town Hall connect religious liberty, invention and public life. This selection focuses on historic Flushing; the mapped unit also includes Willets Point.

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The seventeenth-century Bowne House in Flushing, Queens
Station1 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized.
Bowne House on NYFE

Understanding Flushing and Willets Point

Bowne House links a 17th-century home with John Bowne's defense of liberty of conscience and later family abolitionist work. It opened as a museum in 1947.

Flushing Town Hall was built in 1862 and now serves as a cultural center. Latimer House presents the work and life of an African American inventor and electrical pioneer. These sites tell different parts of the area's story.

Places to explore

  • Bowne House

    37-01 Bowne Street

    Visit on a scheduled guided-tour day or contact the museum about another date. The historic house is not an unrestricted walk-in interior. Use the museum's current tour page for booking and group arrangements.

    Read the NYFE place guide

  • Lewis Latimer House Museum

    34-41 137th Street

    Explore Latimer's life and inventions. Self-guided admission is free; guided tours use reservations and a separate ticket arrangement.

    Read the NYFE place guide

  • Flushing Town Hall

    137-35 Northern Boulevard

    Choose a performance, exhibition or workshop from the cultural center's current program. Do not assume a ticket for one activity includes every part of the building.

    Read the NYFE place guide

Planning a visit

Latimer House and Town Hall both identify Flushing Main Street on the 7 as an arrival point. Latimer House also lists the LIRR Flushing Main Street station. Check current service and the street approach to each site.

Latimer House describes its museum as wheelchair accessible. Ask Bowne House about interior access and check the street approach to the venue you choose.

Sources and visitor information