Rev. Floyd H. Flake (b. 1945) is a former congressman and the longtime pastor of the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997; served as president of Wilberforce University from 2002 to 2008; and is the senior pastor of the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York in Jamaica. Rev. Flake is also the author of the books "The Way of the Bootstrapper: Nine Action Steps for Achieving Your Dreams" and "The African American Church Management Handbook." In Congress, he funded the nation’s first One Stop Small Business Capital Center; it has been the model for additional centers that are now operating in the Federal Empowerment Zones and provides technical assistance and loans to small businesses.

Guy R. Brewer (1904-1978) was a pioneer in the Civil Rights movement and the first Black person elected to the New York State Assembly. After graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Brewer moved to Harlem in the 1920s, starting a real estate business and becoming involved in local Democratic politics. In 1941, he and his wife Marie Brown bought a home in South Jamaica and moved their real estate business there. He served as Secretary to the Borough President of Queens (1960-1962) and later as assistant Borough President. Brewer was elected to the state Assembly in 1968 and represented southeast Queens from 1969 to 1977, serving as the state’s first Black majority whip for several years.

In the course of his 25 years in politics, Joseph Addabbo (1925-1986) won respect from his colleagues, constituents and community for his ability to be just, compassionate and effective. A lifelong resident of Ozone Park, he was educated at City College and St. John’s University, where he received his law degree in 1946. Addabbo began his career as a lawyer.

First elected to represent the 6th District in Queens in 1960, Addabbo, a Democrat, was re-elected to Congress 12 times. He supported legislation to benefit the elderly, education, small businesses, veterans benefits, and appropriation of funds for economically depressed areas. As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (1979-1986), Addabbo played a powerful role in both shaping and challenging national defense policy. He worked to curb defense spending, sponsored legislation to halt the Vietnam War, and advocated a nuclear freeze while at the same time bolstering defense contracts for New York. Addabbo served in Congress until he died on April 10, 1986.

The 12-story Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building was constructed in 1989 and currently houses offices of the Social Security Administration, among other tenants.

Samuel Bowne Parsons Sr. (1819-1906) was the son of famed Quaker abolitionists Samuel Parsons and Mary Bowne Parsons. Along with his brothers Robert and William, he established the Parsons Nursery in Flushing in 1838-1840. Parsons traveled around the world to locate rare plants, including
pink-flowering dogwood, Japanese maple, rhododendrons, azaleas, fruit trees and roses. In 1847, he imported a European Weeping Beech, which became the legendary weeping beech tree that survived on 37th Avenue until 1998; a cross-section of that tree was replanted and now grows in the same spot in Weeping Beech Park.

According to research done by the Bowne House, the three Parsons brothers were actively involved in the New York Underground Railroad in the 1840s, providing assistance to fugitive slaves by raising funds and acting as conductors to help harbor them in their Flushing neighborhood.

Rufus King (1755-1827) was a distinguished lawyer, statesman and gentleman farmer. The son of a wealthy lumber merchant from Maine, King graduated from Harvard in 1777, served in the Revolutionary War in 1778, and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1780. He was a member of the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787, where he introduced a plan that prevented the spread of slavery into the Northwest Territories. King was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and made his most famous contribution to American history as a framer and signer of the U.S. Constitution.

After his marriage to Mary Alsop in 1786, King relocated to New York and was appointed to the first U.S. Senate, serving from 1789 to 1796 and again from 1813 to 1825. An outspoken opponent of slavery, he led the Senate debates in 1819 and 1820 against the admission of Missouri as a slave state. King served as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803 and again from 1825 to 1826. In 1816 he was the last Federalist to run for the presidency, losing the election to James Monroe.

In 1805, King purchased a farmhouse and 90-acre farm in Jamaica for $12,000. He planted orchards, fields and some of the stately oak trees that still survive near the house in the park. By the time of his death in 1827, the estate had grown to 122 acres. Cornelia King, granddaughter of Rufus, was the last family member to occupy the house. After her death in 1896, the house and the remaining 11 acres were bought by the Village of Jamaica for $50,000. The village was absorbed into City of New York in 1898, and the property came under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department.