FLUSHING MEADOWS, ENJOYING THE US OPEN TENNIS

Today, The Grandma has visited Flushing Meadows, the public park in the northern part of Queens, whose attractions include the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The Grandma loves tennis and it has been a wonderful experience for her.

Meanwhile, The Newtons have been preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied the Past Simple (Regular Verbs). 

More information: Past Simple (Regular Verbs)

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, or simply Flushing Meadows, is a public park in the northern part of Queens, New York City.

It is bounded by I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway) on the east, Grand Central Parkway on the west, Flushing Bay on the north, and Union Turnpike on the south. 

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is the fourth-largest public park in New York City, with a total area of 363 ha.

Until the 19th century, the site consisted of wetlands straddling the Flushing River, which traverses the region from north to south. Starting in the first decade of the 20th century, it was used as a dumping ground for ashes, since at the time, the land was so far away from the developed parts of New York City as to be considered almost worthless.

New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses first conceived the idea of developing a large park in Flushing Meadow in the 1920s as part of a system of parks across eastern Queens. 

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was created as the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Following the 1964 fair, the park fell into disrepair, although some improvements have taken place since the 1990s and 2000s.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park retains much of the layout from the 1939 World's Fair. Its attractions include the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the current venue for the US Open tennis tournament; Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets baseball team; the New York Hall of Science; the Queens Museum; the Queens Theatre in the Park; the Queens Zoo; the Unisphere; and the New York State Pavilion.

It formerly contained Shea Stadium, demolished in 2009. The Flushing River continues to run through the park, and two large lakes called Meadow and Willow Lakes take up much of the park's area south of the Long Island Expressway.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is owned and maintained by New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as NYC Parks. 

Private, non-profit groups such as the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Conservancy and the Alliance for Flushing Meadows–Corona Park provide additional funds, services, and support. The park is at the eastern edge of the area encompassed by Queens Community Board 4.

The park is named after the nearby neighbourhoods of Flushing and Corona, which are separated by the park. The name Flushing is a corruption of the port town of Vlissingen in the Netherlands.

By the 19th century, the word flushing had become associated with a cleansing by rushing water. Corona was added to the name during the 1964 New York World's Fair.

More information: NYC Parks

During at least three glacial periods, including the Wisconsin glaciation around 20,000 years ago, ice sheets advanced south across North America carving moraines, valleys, and hills. In particular, bays and estuaries were formed along the north shore of Long Island.

During glaciation, what is now Flushing Meadows Park was formed just north of the terminal moraine that runs across Long Island, which consisted of sand, gravel, clay and boulders. The moraine created a drainage divide, with rivers north of the moraine such as the future Flushing River emptying into the north shore.

The Flushing Meadows site became a glacial lake, and then a salt marsh after the ice melted. Prior to glaciation, the Flushing River valley was used by the Hudson River to drain southward into the Atlantic Ocean. Through the 19th century, the site continued to consist of wetlands straddling Flushing River. Species inhabiting the site included waterfowl and fiddler crab, with fish using water pools for spawning.

The area was first settled by Algonquian Native Americans of Long Island (referred to erroneously as Mantinecocks). They consisted of the Canarsee and Rockaway Lenape groups, which inhabited coastal wetlands across Queens and Brooklyn.

Beginning in 1640, Dutch settlers moved into the area, establishing the town of Newtown to the west of the site (which would become Elmhurst, Corona, and other areas in western Queens), and the town of Flushing to the east.

The meadows became known as the Corona Meadows. 

By 1666, the Native American population had been displaced from the Flushing Meadows site by European settlers, although a deed reserved the right to hunt on the land for the Native Americans. Several wealthy landowners began building farmhouses on the site in the mid-to-late 17th century.

The meadows provided numerous natural resources for settlers, including timber, water, fertile soil, and grass and hay for grazing domestic animals. During the American Revolution, a farmhouse on the site of the modern World's Fair Marina was used as a headquarters for British forces.

More information: Experience First

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City. 

It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August and September, since 1978 and is operated by the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

The facility has 22 courts inside its 0.188 km2. The complex's three stadiums are among the largest tennis stadiums in the world; Arthur Ashe Stadium tops the global list with a listed capacity of 23,200. All 33 courts used the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface since the facility was built in 1978. However, in March 2020, the USTA announced that Laykold would become the new court surface supplier beginning with the 2020 tournament.

Near Citi Field (home of the New York Mets) as well as LaGuardia Airport, the tennis center is open to the public for play except during the US Open, junior and wood-racquet competitions.

Formerly called the USTA National Tennis Center, the facility was rededicated for Billie Jean King on August 28, 2006.

More information: US Open

The first time I played golf was in Flushing Meadows,
Queens, when I was about 16 or 17.
They had an 18-hole pitch-and-putt.
My buddies and I would hop the fence
and sneak on and play.

Ray Romano