Interestingly, Flushing and Queens are considered by many to be the birthplace of religious freedom in the United States.
It all began in the 1600s when New York was known as New Netherlands and the governor at the time was Netherlands-born Peter Stuyvesant. He was a practicing member of the Dutch Reformed Church, who was against religious pluralism and forbade worship outside his faith.
John Bowne moved to Flushing, Queens. He was a practicing Quaker and welcomed others to gather in his home for worship. Stuyvesant tried to stop him and make an example of him. Bowne was arrested and sent back to the Netherlands for two years for trial, having to leave his wife and family at home. His 1622 fight to practice his own faith and gather with others is recorded as one of the earliest legal appeals for religious freedom in the New World. Bowne was eventually able to win his rights to worship and went on to buy the land and establish the Flushing Quaker Meeting House and burial ground, which is still on nearby Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens.
His historic home has been moved to a different street in Flushing but his memory lives on Bowne Street. There is a sacred strip of land on Bowne Street that is filled with diverse places to worship, including the Ganesha Temple (also known as Ganapati Temple), which was the first known Hindu Temple of its kind in the United States. The street corner was recently renamed Bowne Street and Ganesha Temple Street. It went from being a project that involved a small group of devotees who bought a former church in which the couple build a temple in, to a vibrant community of over 15,000 families.
The Ganesha Temple was the first temple to grace Queens, but many more have followed. And there is an array of places where anyone can celebrate Hindu culture.