2. Flushing Town Hall Dates Back to the Civil War

Opened in 1864, during the second year of the Civil War, Flushing Town Hall served the community with a multitude of purposes, including a mustering site for Union soldiers, a bank, jail, a grand ballroom, a public assembly hall, a space for light opera and traveling theatrical productions, a house for civic offices, and finally a courthouse until the mid 20th century; it’s also an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The town hall received landmark status in 1962 and was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1972 for its early Romanesque Revival architectural style. However, the building fell into disrepair until the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts was awarded a full-time lease in 1990 along with restoration funding from the NYC Department of General Services.