John Bowne House | |
Location | 37-01 Bowne Street, Flushing, New York, U.S. |
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Coordinates | 40°45′46″N73°49′30″W / 40.762894°N 73.824948°W |
Area | 9 acres (3.6 ha) |
Built | c. 1661 |
Architectural style | Anglo-Dutch Colonial |
NRHP reference No. | 77000974 [1] |
NYCL No. | 0143 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 13, 1977 |
Designated NYCL | February 15, 1966 [2] |
The John Bowne House is a house at 37-01 Bowne Street in Flushing, Queens, New York City, that is known for its role in establishing religious tolerance in the United States.
Built around 1661, it was the location of a Quaker meeting in 1662 that resulted in the arrest of its owner, John Bowne, by Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Director-General of New Netherland. Bowne successfully appealed his arrest to the Dutch West India Company and established a precedent for religious tolerance and freedom in the colony. His appeal helped to serve as the basis for the later guarantees of freedom of religion, speech and right of assembly in the Constitution.
Many of John Bowne's descendants engaged in abolitionist anti-slavery activism. For example, John's great-grandson Robert Bowne was an early founder with Alexander Hamilton and others of the Manumission Society of New York in 1784. Some of its residents such as Mary Bowne Parsons' son William B. Parsons have also been documented as acting as conductors assisting fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad prior to the American Civil War.
The home is a wood-frame Anglo-Dutch Colonial saltbox, notable for its steeply pitched roof with three dormers. The house was altered several times over the centuries, and several generations of the Bowne family lived in the house until 1945, when the family deeded the property to the Bowne Historical Society. [3] [4] [5] [6] The Bowne House became a museum in 1947. The exterior has since been renovated. Archaeological investigations have been conducted by Dr. James A. Moore of Queens College, City University of New York. [7]
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, [1] and is also a New York City designated landmark. [2]
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue at its core is the third-busiest in New York City, behind Times Square and Herald Square.
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Junction Boulevard on the east; and the New York Connecting Railroad on the west.
The Flushing–Main Street station is the eastern terminal on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway, located at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Downtown Flushing, Queens. It is served by the 7 local train at all times and the <7> express train during rush hours in the peak direction.
The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at Flushing requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights.
John Bowne (1627–1695), the progenitor of the Bowne family in America, was a Quaker and an English immigrant residing in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He is historically significant for his struggle for religious liberty.
Sunnyside Gardens is a community within Sunnyside, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area was the first development in the United States patterned after the ideas of the garden city movement initiated in England in the first decades of the twentieth century by Ebenezer Howard and Raymond Unwin, specifically Hampstead Garden Suburb and Letchworth Garden City.
The Flushing Friends Quaker Meeting House, also the Old Quaker Meeting House, is a historic Quaker house of worship located at 137-16 Northern Boulevard, in Flushing, Queens, New York. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967 and a New York City designated landmark in 1970. Today, it still serves as a Quaker Meeting, with meetings for worship taking place every Sunday.
Kingsland Homestead is an 18th-century house located in Flushing, Queens, New York City. It is the home of the remains of The Weeping Beech, a landmark weeping beech tree, believed to have been planted in 1847. The homestead is also close to the 17th-century Bowne House, the location of the first Quaker meeting place in New Amsterdam. The homestead is operated by the Queens Historical Society, whose quarters are inside; the homestead is open to the public as a museum. The Kingsland Homestead is a member of the Historic House Trust, and is both a New York City designated landmark and a National Register of Historic Places listing.
Broadway–Flushing is a historic district and residential subsection of Flushing, Queens, New York City. The neighborhood comprises approximately 2,300 homes. It is located between 155th and 170th Streets to the west and east respectively, and is bounded on the north by Bayside and 29th Avenues, and on the south by Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue. Broadway–Flushing is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, also known as the Flatbush Reformed Church, is a historic Dutch Reformed church – now a member of the Reformed Church in America – at 890 Flatbush Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The church complex consists of the church, cemetery, parsonage and church house.
St. James Church is a historic Episcopal church building at 86-02 Broadway in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It is the city's oldest surviving Anglican building and Church of England mission church. It is also alternatively called the Old St. James Church to distinguish it from the St. James Episcopal Church two blocks away.
The Vander Ende–Onderdonk House, also known as the Van Nanda House, is a historic house at 1820 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens, New York City. It is the oldest Dutch Colonial stone house in New York City.
Flushing Town Hall is a performing arts center and historic town hall at 137-35 Northern Boulevard in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It served as the seat of government of the village of Flushing until the village became part of City of Greater New York in 1898. It was built in 1862 and is a 2-story, three-by-six-bay, brick building with basement and attic. A style of architecture that originated in Germany, Rundbogenstil, was used here and in a number of American buildings of the Civil War Era. The earliest photographs show the building to have been painted a light color. The use of paint was discontinued following adhesion problems during a restoration. A small rear wing was added in 1938 containing a block of jail cells. The front facade features a triple arched portico topped by a classic entablature with low balustrade.
Prospect Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Jamaica section of the New York City borough of Queens. It was established in 1668 and known as the "burring plas." The cemetery's original main gate was on Beaver Road which led from Sutphin Boulevard to Jamaica Avenue. The cemetery was generally known as the Presbyterian burial ground and is one of the few remaining Colonial cemeteries in Queens.
The Weeping Beech was a historic tree located at Weeping Beech Park in Flushing, Queens, New York City. It was the mother of all European weeping beeches in the United States.
The Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing is a historic house of worship at Roosevelt Avenue and Bowne Street in central Flushing, Queens, New York City. Built in the Romanesque Revival style, it is notable for a tall corner bell tower, extensive use of decorative brickwork, and its opalescent glass windows. The denomination has roots in the founding of New Netherland, and many other Reformed congregations were established during the 19th century in the former Dutch settlements along the Hudson River.
Bowne Park is a 11.79-acre (4.77 ha) park in Broadway–Flushing, Queens, New York, east of downtown Flushing. It is bordered by 29th Avenue on the north, 32nd Avenue on the south, 155th Street on the west, and 159th Street on the east. The park consists of a playground, basketball courts, bocce court, and a kettle pond. The area immediately surrounding the park, developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was originally also marketed as "Bowne Park" and is part of modern-day Murray Hill and Broadway–Flushing.
Margaret Isabel Carman was an American teacher and historian, best known for her contributions to the preservation and dissemination of the history of Flushing, New York. Born into a prominent family with a rich history, Carman spent her entire career teaching at Flushing High School, the oldest public secondary school in New York City, where she inspired generations of students to take an interest in history and become active citizens.