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The Islamic Society of Bay Ridge

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Located in a neighborhood so heavily dominated by Christians, it’s rare to find the presence of other religions. Fortunately, Bay Ridge has a small yet strong Muslim community centered around Bay Ridge’s only mosque, the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge. This storefront mosque, located at 6807 5th Avenue, attracts nearly 400 Muslims everyday for prayer and is open for all 5 prayers: sunrise, morning, afternoon, evening, and sunset. This mosque can get overcrowded on special holidays such as Eid and during the month of Ramadan. Many of the Muslims who regularly attend this mosque are new immigrants; this mosque serves as their feeling of “home away from home.” The mosque’s location in the middle of commercial Bay Ridge allows the Islamic people to interact with others, but the tight connection between Muslims is clear. Since it’s establishment in the 1980’s, the mosque continues to grow in numbers as the Islamic population rises in Bay Ridge.

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ISBR during Eid

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The Architecture of this mosque isn’t as glamorous as other mosques within New York City, but this does not take away from the mosque’s importance. The mosque looks like any other typical building on the block, but has a banner stretching across the front, reading “Islamic Society of Bay Ridge” in both Arabic and English. It also has a beautiful wooden door in front, with the Islamic symbol of a moon crescent and a star. The inside has base-colored carpeting with dark red geometric designs (a signature Islamic design); the carpet’s designs are pointed towards the Kaaba in Mecca because that’s the direction Muslims must pray in. At the head of the mosque is a space reserved for the Imam to pray; cut out of the wall is a beautiful design colored in black and gold. While the outside of the mosque may have a very conservative construction, the inside is beautiful and filled with a wide range of colors and designs.

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The door at I

Inside of the ISBR

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The Imam – Sheik Reda Shata

Perhaps even more amazing than the presence of a mosque in a Christian neighborhood, is the Imam who leads this mosque. To the Muslims of Bay Ridge, Mr. Shata is much more than a leader in prayer; he is a counselor in their journey of life. Mr. Shata often finds himself in a struggle, but attempts to find the middle ground between the Western “American” lifestyle and Islamic beliefs. He even faces some of the same challenges and advises people based on what he’d do. The Imam often goes out in typical western clothing like a leather jacket with jeans, and takes the subway just like anyone else in New York City; these are just part of the necessities to adapt to the city life.

Mr. Shata is known for making controversial and progressive decisions. Take for example the issue with halal meat; many Muslims believe that they should only eat halal meat no matter the circumstances. However, Mr. Shata believes having a Big Mac doesn’t diminish your faith, but eating a bacon cheeseburger will. Mr. Shata acknowledges the difficulty of being faithful in a Western World, and as a result the circumstances change. Sheik Shata has also faced several other issues such as divorce, serving alcohol, and taking out mortgages. When being compared to a judge, Mr. Shata replied, “I try to be more of a doctor than a judge. A judge sentences, a doctor tries to remedy” and remedy he does.

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A full list of pages and hierarchy can be seen in the sidebar to the right.

The Free Synagogue of Flushing

Location: 41-60 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY

(718) 961-0030

The first liberal reform Jewish congregation was The Free Synagogue of Flushing, which was founded in 1917.   Under the leader of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the Women’s Hebrew Aid Society founded a Free Synagogue movement. The Free Synagogue building today is of neo-classical design. The building includes a huge entrance along with four pillars. On the top of the building is inscribed with the words of Isaiah, a Hebrew Prophet, “For mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” Maurice Courland designed the building.

Inside of the Free Synagogue

Today the Free Synagogue of Flushing hosts a tremendous amount of services and events.  Shabbat and Holiday services are available for everyone.  In addition, education services are available for families and adults.  Children can participate in the family education program to learn more about Judaism.  The synagogue hosts a Bar or Bat Mitzvah along with lively events such as a Jazz Service.   This synagogue is just one of many that exist in Flushing today.

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345 Ovington Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11209

Located on 345 Ovington Ave, the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church is the most interesting and by far the most unique church in Bay Ridge. The name itself seems to be a contradiction, an Arabic Church? That’s right, and, of course, located in the very diverse Bay Ridge.  The architecture of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church is very modest, with its brick walls and its very tall, triangular roof, it can almost be confused for a house if it weren’t for the iconic engraved cross located above the entrance of the building.

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Background

Although an Arabic Lutheran Church now, the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church was once a Danish congregation that served Scandinavian worshippers since 1895.  Today, the Salam Lutheran Arabic Church serves the Arabic community, offering mass in both Arabic and English, of Bay Ridge in accordance with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America organization.

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Impressions

Before getting the opportunity to see the inside of the church, we all speculated how the inside of the church would look. One interesting questions we had was if the interior of the building would incorporate Arabic elements into the church.  In asking this question we, as a class, had always thought the term Arabic related to Islam. This prompted one of our peers to wonder if the church would even have sculptures or paintings of idols, since they are not allowed in Islam. In further discussing the issue we concluded that the church had to have idols, since the worshiping of Jesus and his image inside the church is so central to Christianity. However, the discussion invoked excitement and curiosity about the inside of this very unique church. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

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At first we thought the church would be extremely different from other Lutheran churches because of the ethnic group associated with the church. However, this wasn’t the case. The church is identical to other small churches; the front of the church has a statue of Jesus Christ and a podium for the pastor to stand when he preaches. Although the walls of the church have no stained glass, as one would see in larger churches, they are embellished  with many pictures of Christ. Surprisingly, Salam Arabic Lutheran Church has a lot more images of Jesus on its walls than any other church we visited.

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A Journey from the Middle Kingdom

The Museum of Chinese in America is located at 211 Centre Street. This location was originally an old industrial machine repair shop. The museum’s new home is designed by Maya Lin, a first-generation Chinese American who designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., while she was still an undergraduate at Yale University. Despite the size of the museum, it still contains an enormous amount of information of all the Chinese people who have ever been here in the United States.

At the entrance of the museum, there is a quote by the Taoist philosopher Laozi as he comments on his life’s journey: 千里之行, 始于足下, which means ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. The quote hangs over the core exhibit of the exhibition “With A Single Step”. Following the layout of a traditional Chinese house where all the rooms are connected through the courtyard, each section of the exhibition is connected with chronological and thematic threads. As you enter the exhibition, you start in the courtyard and you eventually end up back in the courtyard.  In each section of the courtyard, there are “Core Portraits” of Chinese people who correspond to the era in which they lived in.  Some of the famous Chinese people that are portrayed are Chinese Americans from the past such as Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American actress, Yung Wing, the first Chinese American who graduated from an American university and Chinese Americans in the present such as Jin Qian Xuesen, an important scientist who made major contributions to the space aeronautics programs in the US and in China, Michelle Kwan, a world-class figure skater, and Yoyo Ma, a cellist.

I have found that I have come to question myself on whether Chinatown is either a place or a state of mind. From this visit, I have come to the realization that Chinatown resides both in its mental and physical presence.  As I walked through the entire museum, there was one part of the museum that really struck me. That portion was a recreated general goods store. The room in the museum is called the General Store.  It includes discarded objects collected from old stores in Chinatowns across the United States. Chinese-Americans formed strong communities in Chinatown neighborhoods within many cities.  These include New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. The exhibit shows the importance of such stores in these communities. General stores are, at once, a supplier of everyday and specialty Chinese goods, pharmacy, post office, travel agency, and community center. There is also a renovated General Store in Chinatown that is located at 32 Mott Street. This one general store kept connections with other Chinatowns and even distributed goods to other Chinatowns. In the back of the general goods store at the Museum of Chinese in Americas, there was a clear glass window that peered outside into the street. I remember the guide as he said that the window is a symbolic wall of connecting the past with the present. I looked out through the window and saw the outside pavement, I realized that I was looking through the eyes of a Chinese immigrant. I was staring outside into the future (the present) and hoping for the best. Later on when I walked outside, I stared back into the general goods store and I saw the past. I imagined ghostly figures conducting business in the goods store, and I was thinking how is it possible for such a general store to contain so much life? As I thought about the general store and the livelihoods that people maintained there, I then realized how fortunate I am to be living in the present.

The past always serves as a reminder of our accomplishments and our failures. I am proud to call myself a Chinese-American. As Laozi has said, I have only took a single step in my journey of a thousand miles.

Museum of Chinese in America website

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Social Geography

Washington Heights Borders

The boundaries of Washington Heights, have long been debated. In the past, some have said that the site has run as far as south 125th Street, but currently the site’s limits are accepted as North of 155^th Street, running north to about Dyckman Street. The area runs, east to west, from the Harlem River to the Hudson.

View Washington Heights in a larger map

Transportation

Washington Heights is accessible by all forms of transportation. Bridges play an important factor in the movements of Washington Heights. Most widely known of its bridges, is the George Washington Bridge (GW Bridge), which connects to New Jersey. It was named after the Founding Father whose name was on the famous Fort in the area. That fort played a major role in the Revolutionary War. Near the GW Bridge, is the GW Bridge Bus terminal, which provides transportation to and from NJ.I-95 also partially runs through Washington Heights, on the west side.

Photo By Sara Gershon

On the eastern side of Washington Heights, there is the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and a piece of the Cross-Bronx Expressway. High Bridge is also in Washington Heights and is the oldest bridge to span the Harlem River. It is a pedestrian bridge, but has been closed since the 1970’s. Though, it is rumoured there will be a restoration project coming soon.

Aside from the bridges, there are subways and buses. The A,C, and 1 train all stop throughout Washington Heights.

Finally one of the most notable things about Washington Heights is that several of its streets are “Step Streets.” Due to its hilly topography, Washington Heights’ streets are sometimes nothing more than a staircase, the largest of which can be found at 187^th street, topping off at 130 steps. There are elevators located at 181^st Street Subway Station if you aren’t up to the challenge of climbing that step mountain.

Photo by Marcela Villa

Demographics

Historical Glance

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The original settlers of Washington Heights were the Native Americans, who remained settled on the land even after the Dutch purchased the Island of Manhattan. The Wiechquaesgeck tribal group, the natives of the Fort Tryon Park area, remained a visible, but minority, presence until the 1930’s. It was not until the late 17th century that the Dutch settlers were able to lessen the presence of the natives in the area.

At the turn of the 20^th century, the area was mostly settled by Irish Immigrants and remained so for about 30 years. It wasn’t until the period of Nazi rule over various portions of Europe in the 1930’s, that many Jews came to the area. This was the start of a relatively regular change in the groups of people calling the Washington Heights area home.

About 20 years later, in the 1950’s, and continuing to the 1960’s Washington Heights became known as the “Astoria” of Manhattan because of its large Greek population. Concurrently, a large Cuban and Puerto Rican population also settled into the area. By the 1990’s the residents were largely Dominican, and that is the largest majority until this day. Recently though, there has been movement of Dominicans to neighborhoods further north in Manhattan as well as The Bronx. There is currently a trend of Mexican and Ecuadorian’s moving into the area.

Image can be found at http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/native_american_life_in_washington_heights_and_inwood_135.html

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Points of Interest

Washington Heights is home to many exciting places to visit. Aside from the three sites we have chosen to spotlight, there are other interesting and impressive sights to check out while visiting! Below, you will find brief descriptions of some of the notable locations, as well as links to the three points of interest we have spotlighted.

The Hispanic Society of America

This museum is home to the second largest collection to El Greco and Goya art in the world.

The Paul Robeson House

This landmark has been home to several notable African American figures, including Paul Robeson, Count Basie, and Joe Louis.

The Audubon Ballroom

This is the site where Malcolm X was assassinated.

The Little Red Lighthouse

The Morris-Jumel Mansion

The Highest Point in Manhattan

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Photography:
Syeda Hasan [sunset, Green-Wood Cemetery, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Trinity Lutheran]
Deboleena Kanjilal [Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church and Tian Fu, Our Lady of Perpetual Help]
Elizabeth Kelman  [Xi Fang Temple, food, Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church and Tian Fu, Community Church]

BOOKS:

Winnick, Louis. New People in Old Neighborhoods. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1990.

WEBSITES:

http://www.sunsetparknc.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=13

http://www.sunsetparkchurch.org/

http://www.sunset-park.com/history/

http://www.olphbkny.org/

http://www.trinitybrooklyn.org/

http://buddhist-directory.org/ny_nyc_brook.php

Pictures:Elizabeth Kelman and Syeda Hasan

“Sunset Park $1 Eating Walk” Time Out New York

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Demographics

Geography

View Sunset Park in a larger map

Sunset Park is bounded in the…

West by New York Bay
East by 8th Avenue
North by Prospect Expressway
South by 65th Street

SUBWAY TRANSPORTATION

Along 4th Avenue are the D, M, N, and R trains. While the N and R continue with increasing street numbers, the D and M turn at 39th Street and go over to 9th Avenue.

COMMERCIAL HOT SPOTS

8 is the lucky number!8th Avenue is Brooklyn's Chinatow

8th Avenue is Brooklyn’s growing Chinatown.

4th and 5th Avenues are sometimes referred to as “Little Latin America.”
Both areas are filled with restaurants friendly to even the tightest student (or starving artist) budget. 5th Avenue is also home to many fast food joints, cheap clothing and shoe stores, and banks.

Historical Information

Sunset Park was originally an agricultural area owned by the Canarsee Indians. Later on, it was divided between two Dutch towns, New Utrecht in the south and Breuckelen to the north. In 1834, the region was added to the city of Brooklyn.

From around 1855, Irish immigrants began to settle in the area. The Irish initiated the urbanization of the west coast of Sunset, building the Gowanus Canal and other forms of transportation.

Bush Terminal

The next significant group to impact Sunset Park was the Norwegian sailors, lured by Sunset’s waterfront. In 1890, businessman Irving T. Bush began the creation of the Industrial Zone at the waterfront. This increase in industrialization opened up jobs for new immigrants from Italy, Poland, and Finland.

Work at the waterfront

The Scandinavian settlements in Sunset were unique because they were quite rare across the nation and city. Other European groups lived all over New York, but the Scandinavians were concentrated in Sunset Park. “Finntown” was located from 40th Street to 43rd Street, between 5th and 9th Avenues. “Little Norway” was just south of it.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal, built south of the Bush Terminal, was a major point of deportation (for both supplies and soldiers) during WWI and further fueled Sunset’s economy. By 1930, Sunset Park had matured as an urban area. However the Great Depression prevented further advancement. During WWII, the Industrial Zone returned to full power, with more than eighty percent of all supplies and troops (including Elvis!) passing through the Brooklyn Army Terminal. After the war, Sunset Park fell back on difficult times.

In the 1950s, the Gowanus Expressway was built above Third Avenue. Though it was a traffic necessity, it was detrimental to the community. Prior to the building of the highway, west of Third Avenue was of a lower socioeconomic level than the east of Third Avenue. The expressway physically separated these two sections.

Gowanus Expressway

As jobs decreased and overall prosperity and security was lost, residents began to move away to the suburbs, or at least more stable areas like Bay Ridge. The Industrial Zone, which was once the reason for Sunset’s boom, was unwanted.

In 1966, Sunset Park became an official community. In the 1960s and ’70s, Puerto Ricans came in swarms to Sunset because of the plentiful and cheap homes, availability of unskilled jobs, and public transportation. In 1970, more than 90% of Hispanic was Puerto Rican. By the next decade however, other Hispanic groups entered the scene.

In the ’60s and ’70s, Sunset experienced an economic and social downturn. By the mid ’80s, it began to rebuild itself. Also in the ’80s was the arrival of a new group of immigrants: the Chinese.

Today, Latinos and Chinese dominate Sunset Park, but one can see the emerging influence of other peoples. In the coming years, Sunset Park will continue to diversify and grow.

Points of Interest

SUNSET PARK

Second highest point in Brooklyn, after Greenwood Cemetery.

We’d recommend entering from 8th Avenue, at the top of the hill

GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY

Includes Battle Hill, the highest point in Brooklyn! Battle Hill is 200 feet above sea level.
granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006

Paul Goldberger of the The New York Times wrote that it was said “it is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood.”

Greenwood Chapel

Leonard Bernstein, Peter Cooper, Townsend Harris, Margaret Sanger, Henry Steinway, Boss Tweed, Samuel F. B. Morse, F. A. O. Swartz, and Teddy Roosevelt’s mother, father, uncle and first wife are all buried at Green-Wood, along with a whole bunch of other famous people!
For further reading about Green-Wood, click here

LUTHERAN MEDICAL CENTER
located at 150 55th Street.
Hopefully you won’t have to visit, but check out the description of the many services the hospital has set up to accommodate the diversity in immigrant culture of Sunset Park. Lutheran Medical Center Website

FIRST CO-OP IN NEW YORK

Established in 1916 by the Finnish Co-Operative Association on 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

First co-ops in America in Finntown

FOOD!
1. Time Out NY’s $1 Eats Walk (focus is on 8th Ave)

2. Get delicious, authentic, $5 pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) at Gia Lam on 8th Ave, between 48th and 49th Streets. We hear their Bahn Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) are also stellar. View Gia Lam’s menu here.

tea and pho condiments

A very healthy, mouthwatering dinner at Gia Lam to end a long day of walking!

3. Pick up some cheap, perfect dumplings at Prosperity Dumpling (8th Ave between 43rd and 44th). We highly recommend the veggie dumplings, but they have lots of different pork combinations. Since it’s just around the corner from the park, we brought them with us and snacked as we sat on the grass and watched the sun set.

Check out our interactive map!
We’ve plotted many of the places we visited (or really wanted to visit) on a handy Google Map. This includes various houses of worship and recommended food stops (mostly Asian and Mexican).
View sunset park in a larger map

.Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Current Information/Points of Interest

Charging Bull

The Charging Bull (also known as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green bull) is a symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity. The Charging Bull was created by Di Modica following the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of the “strength and power of the American people.” The Bull was not the city’s idea; it was the artist’s idea and was considered an act of “guerrilla art.” In December 15, 1989 the Charging Bull was installed beneath a 60-foot Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange. However, the police detained the sculpture and had placed it into an impound lot. This led to an upset public, which caused the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to place it in the plaza at Bowling Green.

The Charging Bull is a known tourist destination in the Financial District. Several visitors are always seen having their photos taken with the bull.

Bowling Green

Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan. It is the oldest public park in New York City and also the location of the Charging Bull sculpture. It marks the origin point for the ticker-tape parades. The Bowling Green Fence and Park is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The front entrance of the U.S. Custom House bounds the south end of the park. A portion of the park is a grassy area that is fenced in. This area has tables and chairs that are popular lunchtime destinations for local workers in the nearby Financial District. There is also a fountain and pool. Sometimes, there are official food stands in the area once or twice a week, as well as many unofficial vendors.

Demographics – Past and Present

Lower Manhattan circumscribes several neighborhoods, all located below the lateral barrier of Houston Street. The 2000 Census includes information on Lower Manhattan as a region incorporating areas such as Tribecca, Chinatown, Greenwich Village and Little Italy.

Within the decade of 1990 to 2000, the population of Lower Manhattan increased by 8 percent, from 144,334 to 155,962 people. This equaled almost nearly three times the overall Manhattan growth rate during that time. Lower Manhattan’s current population increase has been concentrated in Battery Park City (located on the southwestern tip of Lower Manhattan) and Chinatown (located in the central section of Lower Manhattan).

In the year 2000, approximately 10 percent of Manhattan’s total population of 1,537,195 lived in Lower Manhattan. Asians were the largest racial group in Lower Manhattan, followed by non-Hispanic whites (32 percent, or 49,288people), then Hispanics (19 percent, or 29,247 people), and blacks (6 percent, or 8,704 people). Manhattan, overall, consisted of non-Hispanic whites (46 percent), Hispanics (27 percent), blacks (15 percent) and Asians (9 percent).

45 percent, or 29,843 people, of Lower Manhattan’s immigrants arrived in the United States in the last 10 years.

Historical Information

Wall Street

Wall street is located in Lower Manhattan. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River. Wall Street runs right through the historical center of the Financial District. Wall Street is home to multiple U.S. stock and other exchanges such as the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYMEX, and NYBOT.

In the early 17^th century, the only thing that denoted plots and residences in the New Amsterdam settlement, which was bordered by Wall Street, were basic picket and plank fences. However, later, Peter Stuyvesant, on behalf of the Dutch, led the construction of a stronger defensive wall. This wall was 12-feet high, which helped to protect against attacks from the various Native American tribes. The British colonial government in 1699 then later took down this wall.

The Manhattan Financial District is one of the largest business districts in the United States. In 1914, 23 Wall Street, also known as the “House of Morgan” was created and stood as the bank’s headquarters, which was the most important address in American finance for decades. During the Great Depression, development of the financial district festered. However, the construction of the World Trade Center was undertaken during middle and end of the 20^th century in hopes to spur economic development downtown. However, it was not originally as successful as planned. While the main idea behind the creation of the towers was to house all the tools necessary for international trade, much of the remained vacant. However, eventually many large and powerful firms began to purchase space in the World Trade Center. It also attracted other powerful business to the immediate neighborhood.

The loss of the World Trade Center contributed to an immediate loss of business on Wall Street; however, eventually it spurred development in the Financial District. This is due to tax incentives provided by the federal, state and local governments to encourage development.

The New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is located at 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan. It is the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization. The New York Stock Exchange is used as a means for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading.

The origin of the NYSE can be traced to May 17, 1792 when 24 stockbrokers outside of 68 Wall Street signed the Buttonwood Agreement. On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself the New York Stock and Exchange Board. Anthony Stockholm was elected the Exchange’s first president. In 1863, the New York Stock and Exchange Board changed to its current name, the New York Stock Exchange.

The Exchange was closed shortly after World War 1 began, but was partially re-opened on November 28, 1914 in order to help the war efforts by trading bonds. It was completely reopened for stock trading in mid-December. On October 31, 1938, during the Great Depression, the Exchange disclosed a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public, in an effort to restore investor confidence.

Federal Hall

Federal Hall was built in 1700 as New York’s City Hall. It later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America. Federal Hall was the site of George Washington’s 1789 inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of Rights was ratified. The building was then demolished in 1812, and the New York Customs House replaced it in 1842. Currently, it is known as the Federal Hall National Museum. Many of the most important legislative actions in the United States occurred with the 1^st Congress at Federal Hall. In addition to the Bill of Rights, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was also enacted in the building, which led to the set up of the United States federal court system.

U.S. Custom House

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House was built between 1902-1907 by the federal government to house the duty collection operations for the port of New York. It is located next to Battery Park at 1 Bowling Green. Today, the building is known as the New York branch of the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum occupies two floors in the U.S. Custom House. The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District is also housed in the building.

Castle Clinton

Castle Clinton, also known as Fort Clinton, was once a circular sandstone fort now located in Battery Park. Over time, Castle Clinton has been used for various situations such as a beer garden, an exhibition hall, a theater, the first immigration station, a popular aquarium, and finally a national monument.

Fort Clinton was originally created in 1811 to complement Castle Williams on Governors Island to defend New York City from British forces. However, it never saw an action in the War of 1812, or any other war. The US Army stopped using the fort in 1821 and it was leased to New York City as a place of public entertainment.

In 1855 Castle Clinton became the Emigrant Landing Depot, the New York State immigrant processing facility until 1890. After 1890, the Federal Government took control of immigration processing and opened Ellis Island. About over 8 million immigrants were processed through Castle Clinton.

  

"The Immigrants" Dedicated to the people of all nations who entered America through Castle Clinton. In memory of Samuel Rudin

Castle Clinton was designated a national monument on August 12, 1946. Today it is administrated by the National Park Service and is a departure point for visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources

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Historical Information: The Neighborhoods of Queens by Claudia Gryvatz Copquin

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Demographics: US Census Bureau (2000)

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Flushing Town Hall

Information and Pictures from:  Flushing Town Hall

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Voelker Orth Museum

Information and Pictures from: Voelker Orth Museum

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Muslim Center of New York

Information and Pictures From:  Muslim Center of New York

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Hindu Temple Society of North America

Information and Pictures From : Hindu Temple Society of North America; New York Times1; New York Times2; Washington Post; VIP NYC; Yournabe; guardian.co.uk; Flickr

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Quaker Meeting House

Information and Pictures From: Christianbook.com ; Flushing Quaker Meeting House; Long Island Genealogy; MOVING SIDEWALK ;New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; Queens Chronicle; The Queens Historical Society

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St.George’s Episcopal Church

Information and Pictures From: The American Guild of Organists: NYC Chapter ; The New York Times ;   St.George’s Church ;   Picasa Web Albums;  The Queens Historical Society

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True Buddha Diamond Temple of New York

Information and Pictures From:  True Buddha Diamond Temple of New York; True Buddha School Seattle;

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Neighborhood Profile | Houses of Worship | Sources