4. Queens Museum, World’s Fair

The New York City Building was constructed for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and designed by Aymar Embury II. After the fair, the building served as both a roller skating rink and an ice skating rink. Between 1946 and 1950, the New York City Building was the home of the United Nations General Assembly. On November 29, 1947, as one of its first acts, the General Assembly passed a resolution creating the State of Israel, and as one of its last acts there in 1950, the General Assembly raised the Israeli flag over the New York City Building.

After the United Nations departed from Flushing, the building returned to its use as a skater rink, it would be incorporated into the 1964 World’s Fair and is currently home to the Queens Museum. Today, it is the only remaining building from the 1939 World’s Fair (though a time capsule is still buried deep below ground).

Read about 10 other secrets of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.