Colonial and Revolutionary Times
Fresh Meadows was originally of Dutch sailors who discovered the area in 1628. The name translates to "salt meadow" and is also the name of a town in Holland. After the influx of people to Flushing after a British colony, it was founded in 1640, a migration to Fresh Meadows, the "southern suburb of Flushing, followed. The area was then called "Black Stump" is used for the blackened stumps were separated by a large arable land. 
Black Stump was a British base during the American Revolution, Benedict Arnold and his troops marched through Black Stump and even spent some nights in the area. While in Fresh Meadows, British troops remained at Ryerson's Tavern, now 74th on the Avenue and Utopia Parkway could be found. The Klein family, a large landowner in Fresh Meadows, the building was demolished in 1933.
