Flushing River

The Flushing River, more properly and historically known as Flushing Creek, is a waterway that flows through the northern part of central Queens in New York City (mostly through Flushing Meadows–Corona Park) and empties into the East River. The river runs through a valley that may have been a larger riverbed before the last Ice Age. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it divided the towns of Flushing on its right bank and Newtown on its left; today, it divides Queens into western and eastern halves.

Flushing Creek once rose in the present-day neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills, where Vleigh Place traces the Vleigh (old Dutch for Valley) of the headwaters. In the larger valley that comprises the present-day Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the creek meandered through salt marshes, collecting water from Fly and Ireland Creeks and Horse Brook before emptying into Flushing Bay on the East River. The Flushing River, from the Water Gate buildings in Flushing Meadow Park, is measured about 200 feet wide with a depth of about 15 feet and marsh river mud bottom. This tide, or water gate, acts as a dam to maintain the water surface moving upstream at a constant level, while the downstream side does not permit inflow even when the surface is raised above the impounded water level. The area near the mouth of the creek became the site of the early Flushing settlement.

In spring 1614, Captain Adrian Block, who was testing a tiny vessel built by himself and his men during the previous winter, the "Onrust," sailed up the East River, through Hellgate and out Long Island Sound. He explored and mapped the bays as he went.

The town of Flushing was settled in 1645 under charter of the Dutch West India Company and was named after the port of Vlissingen, in the southwestern Netherlands. It is said that the name Vlissingen means "salt meadow," given as a nod to the tidal waters of Flushing Meadows. As the English version of the name of the Dutch town is "Flushing", the same English version was used by the town's English-speaking inhabitants. During his presidency, George Washington arrived at Flushing by ferry across the creek. The first road crossing, a drawbridge at Northern Boulevard, was built in the early 19th century.

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