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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Main Street (Queens)

street in Queens, New York

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ6736067 ↗
Source-derived summary

Main Street is a major north–south street in the borough of Queens in New York City, extending from Queens Boulevard in Briarwood to Northern Boulevard in Flushing. Created in the 17th century as one of Flushing's main roads, Main Street has been lengthened at various points in its existence.

Route description

Main Street runs relatively north to south with two to three lanes in either direction, and serves as the major road for Flushing, Queens. From the north, it begins at Northern Boulevard in Downtown Flushing, also known as Flushing Chinatown, one of New York City's largest Asian enclaves. Just south of Roosevelt Avenue and the Long Island Rail Road overpass, Kissena Boulevard (formerly Jamaica Road) branches off from Main Street at a triangle, before traveling on a parallel course. After passing through Kissena Park, Main Street intersects with the Long Island Expressway north of Queens College.

South of Queens College, it intersects with Jewel Avenue near the neighborhood of Pomonok. The stretch of Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills south of the Long Island Expressway is home to a large Jewish community, including many Orthodox, Ashkenazi, and Bukharan Jews. At the south end of Kew Gardens Hills near Jamaica, Main Street intersects with Union Turnpike and the Grand Central Parkway service road. Westbound Union Turnpike feeds into the Kew Gardens Interchange, connecting to the Grand Central, the Van Wyck Expressway, the Jackie Robinson Parkway, and Queens Boulevard.

Editorial summary

“Main Street (Queens)” enters the record as street in Queens, New York. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Main, Street and Queens can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current 238-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Main, Street and Queens.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Main Street (Queens)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Main, Street and Queens provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6736067. Authority coordinates are 40.761, -73.831. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Main Street (Queens)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Main Street (Queens) primary sources, Main Street (Queens) archive and Main research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Main Street (Queens)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Main Street (Queens)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.