The 12-story federal building that now stands at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and Parsons Boulevard, housing the Social Security Administration and many other tenants, was named to honor Joseph P. Addabbo Sr., a popular Queens politician who served as a U.S. Representative from 1961 until his death in 1986. (His son, Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., has served as a New York State Senator since 2009.) But the site on which this building was erected in 1989 has a much deeper connection to the nation’s founding. Few people passing by the corner today would know that for more than 100 years, it was occupied by a hotel and tavern that was the focal point of many community celebrations, and even hosted President George Washington for the night! The history of the inn at the intersection had largely faded from public knowledge, but in 2011, a group of honor society students from nearby Immaculate Conception School, led by teacher and local historian Carl Ballenas, set out to correct the oversight. Sifting through many historical documents and photos, they learned that the hotel, opened in 1781 by Thomas Rochford as the Queens’ Head Inn, hosted the town of Jamaica’s grand celebration of the establishment of the new nation on December 8, 1783. This included the installation of a “Liberty Pole,” a common feature of similar festivities taking place throughout the 13 states. Several years later, President George Washington selected the inn for overnight accommodations during his 1790 tour of Long Island. He wrote in his diary for Tuesday April 20, that he and his company “lodged in a Tavern kept by one Warne – a pretty good and decent house.” The inn, which would have many changes in ownership and name through the decades, would later host meetings and rallies related to the Civil War and celebrations connected to such sporting events as bicycle races and the 100-mile Automobile Endurance Race of 1901. The building was razed in 1906. The results of the students’ research were published in a book about Jamaica history and preserved in a bronze plaque that they donated to the current building. The plaque was unveiled in 2013 but has yet to be affixed to the building, although efforts are being made to do that in honor of the sesquicentennial celebration. Nonetheless, Jamaica residents can feel confident that the often-used phrase, “George Washington slept here,” is indeed true at this now-bustling intersection. Sources: Ballenas, Carl. Unpublished correspondence, 2026. Ballenas, Carl, with the Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School (2011). Images of America: Jamaica. Arcadia Publishing. Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, Joseph Patrick Addabbo Bockmann, Rich. “Plaque to mark Washington's visit,” Queens Chronicle, December 1, 2013. National Archives: Founders Online, George Washington Diary Entry, 20 April 1790

Although parts of the house now known as King Manor date back to the mid-1700s, its most famous resident, Rufus King (1755-1827), did not live in it until 1805. In his younger years, however, King was intimately involved with the formation of the new nation. Born into a wealthy family in Massachusetts, King graduated from Harvard in 1777 and then volunteered for militia duty in the Revolutionary War. In 1780 he opened a legal practice and was elected to the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787. Here he began a lifelong commitment to the anti-slavery cause, introducing legislation to prevent the spread of slavery to the Northwest Territories. King was named a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution in 1787. After marrying Mary Alsop in 1786, and with the encouragement of his friend Alexander Hamilton, King moved to New York and served as a U.S. Senator from 1789 to 1796. He was then appointed ambassador to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803. In 1805, Rufus and Mary purchased 90 acres of land in Jamaica, including the farmhouse, as a country estate. They lived here with their five children and employed only hired help, at a time when slavery was still legal (and common) in New York. Eventually they expanded the house and enlarged their property to a working farm of 150 acres. King returned to the Senate for a second term from 1813 to 1825, and in 1820 delivered a passionate speech against the admission of Missouri to the Union as a slave state. He once again served as an ambassador to Great Britain from 1825 to 1826, and died at his home in Jamaica in 1827. He and Mary are buried nearby in the cemetery of Grace Episcopal Church, as are their sons John Alsop King, who served as a member of Congress and governor of New York, and Charles King, who was president of Columbia College (now Columbia University). King Manor is now maintained as a museum and is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, along with the surrounding 11.5 acres that make up Rufus King Park. Other sites in Queens that are named to honor King include P.S. 26 in Fresh Meadows and Rufus King Hall on the campus of Queens College. Sources: “History: The Home and Legacy of Rufus King,” King Manor “King, Rufus,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress "Rufus King Park: King Manor Museum and Park," New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Grace Episcopal Church, situated now in the heart of downtown Jamaica, is the oldest Episcopal parish located on Long Island, and the second oldest in New York State (Manhattan’s Trinity Church was established several years earlier). The congregation was founded in 1702 and met at first in Jamaica’s Old Stone Church, which was shared by several Protestant denominations. The first church building on this site was erected in 1734, and its graveyard was established. As the congregation grew, the first church was replaced by a larger structure in 1822; this was unfortunately destroyed by fire on New Year’s Day, 1861. Construction of a new church began almost immediately, and the present building was completed and consecrated in 1862. The Gothic Revival-style building, with its distinctive spire, was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The years leading up to the American Revolution were contentious times for the parish. As a Church of England congregation, Grace Church and its pastors remained loyal to the Crown, but not all of its members were in political agreement. As hostilities broke out, some Loyalist worshippers were harassed and arrested by Revolutionary fighters, and some congregants objected to the liturgical prayers for the King and Royal Family. Services were suspended at Grace Church for a short period at the beginning of the war until British forces occupied Queens following the Battle of Long Island. Grace then resumed services and became the official church of the British colonial government in the area. Following the victory of the Revolutionary cause, many Loyalist members of the parish fled to Canada, and it took the church years to recover from both the physical damages of war and the bitterness of the conflict among its congregation. Grace Church’s cemetery contains hundreds of graves dating from the 1700s. Among them are the resting places of two Founding Fathers: Rufus King (d. 1827), a signer of the U.S. Constitution, and William Duer (d. 1799), member of the Continental Congress. King’s wife, Mary Alsop King (d. 1819), and two of their sons, John (d. 1867) and Charles (d. 1867) are also buried here – a short walk away from their family home, now known as King Manor. Sources: Ballenas, Carl, with the Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School (2011). Images of America: Jamaica. Arcadia Publishing. Ladd, Horatio O. (1914). Origin and History of Grace Church, Jamaica, N.Y. Shakespeare Press. Larry E. Gobrecht (June 1983). National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Grace Episcopal Church Complex. National Archives and Records Administration.

Although all that remains today is a small plaque on the side of the Chase Bank Building, this busy intersection was once the site of the Old Stone Church, one of the earliest houses of worship in Queens. Constructed in 1699, the Old Stone Church was actually the third in a series of buildings erected as a combination town hall and house of worship by the first European settlers of Jamaica. In 1662, when the area was still part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, the townspeople, most of whom were Presbyterians, raised funds to build the first such structure. It was replaced twice as the population grew and the colony came under British rule, and the final building measured 40 feet square. The Old Stone Church was used as the site of town meetings, a courthouse, and a house of worship shared by the Presbyterian and Episcopalian congregations of Jamaica. However, in 1702, the English governor Lord Cornbury claimed the building for the Church of England and forbade the Presbyterian minister from preaching there. This began a series of disputes that ultimately resulted in the church being restored to the Presbyterians in 1728. During the British occupation of Queens during the Revolutionary War, the Old Stone Church was said to have been briefly used as a prison. However, the Presbyterians were allowed to continue holding services there, most likely because the current pastor, Matthias Burnet, was a Loyalist and married to an Episcopalian woman. The building remained in use until 1813, when the Presbyterian congregation built a much larger church, which is still in use today (located at 89-60 164th Street). Stones from the Old Stone Church were used for its foundation. In 1937, the Rufus King Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution arranged to have a plaque installed on the bank building to commemorate this nearly lost piece of Jamaica history. Sources: Anonymous (1882). History of Queens County, New York, 1683-1882. W.W. Munsell & Co. Ballenas, Carl, with the Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School (2011). Images of America: Jamaica. Arcadia Publishing. "Historic Site Marked; Tablet Unveiled at Location of Stone Church in Jamaica," The New York Times, February 23, 1937. "The Old Stone Church,," The Historical Marker Database.

Surrounded by the modern academic buildings of York College and barely noticeable to passersby on 159th Street lies the oldest cemetery in Queens – Prospect Cemetery. Established in 1668 as a town burial ground when Jamaica was still part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, the cemetery was cared for in its early years by the Presbyterian congregants of the nearby Old Stone Church. Like the church itself, the burial ground was shared and at times fought over by the Presbyterian and Episcopalian congregations of Jamaica. Ownership of the property remained with the Town of Jamaica until it was deeded to the newly formed Prospect Cemetery Association in 1879. The Association still maintains the cemetery today, though the site is now owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. There are approximately 2,100 burials in Prospect Cemetery, ranging from the earliest years of its establishment to the last interment in 1988. Researchers have discovered records of more than 50 Revolutionary War soldiers buried here, including Captain J.J. Skidmore and many of his band of Minutemen. Among the most notable graves is that of Egbert Benson (1746-1833), the first Attorney General of New York State and an associate of Alexander Hamilton. Prospect Cemetery was enlarged by 3 acres in 1857 with a donation of land by Nicholas Ludlum, who also constructed the Chapel of the Sisters as a memorial to his three daughters who died at very young ages. The Romanesque Revival-style chapel and its two large stained-glass rose windows were completely restored in 2008 following many years of neglect and vandalism. Prospect Cemetery was designated a New York City landmark in 1976 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Yet as with many historic cemeteries, the financial and physical challenges of preservation and maintenance persist, and thus conditions at the site vary. The grounds are generally kept locked but can be visited by appointment through the Prospect Cemetery Association. Sources: French, Mary, “Prospect Cemetery,” New York City Cemetery Project (October 5, 2024). “History,” Prospect Cemetery Association. Howe, Kathy (July 2001). National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Prospect Cemetery. National Archives and Records Administration. “Prospect Cemetery,” The Historical Marker Database.

Though its seaside location seems a world away from the busy streets of modern Jamaica, at one time the Rockaway Peninsula was considered a distant outpost of Jamaica township. It was perhaps the area’s remoteness and proximity to the shore that prompted Richard Cornell, a wealthy ironmaster from Flushing, to purchase land here in 1687. Three years later, he built what is considered the first home of a European settler on the peninsula, near today’s Beach 19th Street, and moved there with his wife and seven children. The cemetery, known as both the Cornell Family Cemetery and the Richard Cornell Graveyard, served as a private family burial ground until approximately 1821. Richard Cornell himself passed in 1693, and it is assumed but not certain that he is buried here. Closer to the Revolutionary era, Richard’s grandson Thomas Cornell was interred in the family cemetery when he died in 1764; Thomas had represented Queens in the Colonial Assembly of New York for 27 years. Research done for the site’s landmarking application indicates there are a number of Revolutionary War veterans buried in the cemetery as well. Later descendants of the Cornell family include Ezra Cornell (1807–1874), founder of Cornell University, and his son Alonzo Cornell (1822–1904), governor of New York from 1880 to1883. The family burial ground was not in active use at the time of their deaths. The site was designated a New York City landmark in 1970 and signage was installed, but unfortunately this is no longer extant. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation maintains the lot surrounding the historic cemetery as the Cornell Burial Ground Park, but the graveyard itself is in disrepair and currently inaccessible. Sources: “Cornell Burial Ground,” New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Lusty, Aimee (2020). “Historic Burial Grounds of Queens Public Parks.” Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy. Maiocco, John. “The Cornell Family Cemetery,” The Wave, October 1, 2021. Richard Cornell Graveyard, LP-0741, Number 7. Landmarks Preservation Commission, August 18, 1970.