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our community
ARTS & culture |
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King Manor
Museum, today the centerpiece of an 11-acre park
in Jamaica, Queens, was the home and farm of Founding
Father Rufus King from 1805 to 1827. Rufus King
was an author of the U.S. Constitution, as well as one
of New York's first United States Senators, Ambassador
to Great Britain and an early, and outspoken, opponent
of slavery. |
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King Manor later became the estate
of King's son, John Alsop King, who served as New York's
Governor. King Manor has been a museum since 1900. |
Jamaica Center
for Arts & Learning (JCAL) is a non-profit organization
that offers visual, performing and literary arts, arts education
and artist programs to encourage participation in the arts
and to contribute to the cultural enrichment of Queens and
the Greater Metropolitan area. |
Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JPAC),
located at153rd Street and Jamaica Avenue, is a premier mid-size, performance complex. Housed in a completely renovated 1858 landmark building, the former First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, JPAC, features a 400-seat multi-purpose performance space that offers theatre productions, music concerts, film festivals, dance performances and arts education. This venue is available for productions, special
events, seminars, rehearsals and meetings. |
The Afrikan
Poetry Theatre is a non-profit organization that provides
a range of cultural, education, recreational, and social programs
that celebrate African-based culture and heritage. |
The Jamaica
Center YMCA promotes positive values through programs
that build spirit, mind and body, welcoming all people, with
a focus on youth. The YMCA offers a full-service gym and special
programming for children and older adults. |
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PARKS |
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King
Rufus Park is an 11.5 acre park, and named after
Founding Father Rufus King, whose residence is now home
to the King Manor Museum, located in the center of the
park. Facilities include a playground, handball courts
and bathrooms. |
UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES |
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York
College is a senior college of The City University
of New York (CUNY). The College offers baccalaureate
degrees in the liberal arts and the sciences, as well
as in a variety of professional programs such as accounting,
business, computer studies, education, health, and social
work, as well as a graduate program in occupational
therapy. York College is located one block from Jamaica
Avenue in the heart of Jamaica Center.
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Founded in 1870, St.
John's University is a private Catholic university
that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in health,
business, and education, as well as a graduate law degree
program. |
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CHURCHES &
CEMETERIES |
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For nearly 350 years, the First
Presbyterian Church in Jamaica has worshiped and
served in the same community of Jamaica, Queens. Organized
in 1662, the first stone church built in 1699, is said
to have been used as British prison in Revolutionary
times. The present church was originally built on Jamaica
Avenue in 1813, and was moved to its current location
by mules in 1920. |
Founded in 1702, Grace
Church served as the official church of the British colonial
government by those who split from the Presbyterian Church.
The congregation moved to its current location in 1734, and
built the Gothic Revival church that stands there today in
1862. Among those buried in the adjacent graveyard is
Rufus King, whose house still stands 1 block away. The church
offers church services, a soup kitchen, youth programs, music
& arts workshops and more.
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The Tabernacle of Prayer, located at 165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
was once home to the Loew's Valencia Theater. The spectacular
and ornate movie theater, built in 1929, was designed in the
Baroque Spanish style, with a facade constructed of terra-cotta
and brick. The church is open to visitors on Sundays. |
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Jazz greats Charles Mingus & Count Bassie lived in Jamaica, Queens.
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Get the card that
gets you discounts.

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