Ganesh Temple (Hindu Temple Society of North America)
45-57 Bowne Street | also 45-50 Smart Street | East Flushing | built 1977
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1970
Builders from India begin a South Indian-style Hindu temple on Bowne Street
Work on the temple began in 1970 on Bowne Street land bought from the Russian Orthodox Church, to serve New York's fast-growing Hindu immigrant community. Craftsmen and temple builders from India built it in the South Indian style, and its sacred images were carved from granite shipped from India.
Source: atlasobscura.com
- 1977
The Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam is consecrated on Independence Day
Before the Hindu Temple Society of North America formed in 1970, co-founder Alagappa Alagappan held its meetings in his living room. The society acquired land that had belonged to a Russian Orthodox church and planned a traditional temple whose facade drew on those of South India. Construction finished in 1977, and the consecration ceremony took place on July 4 of that year.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1993
The Temple Canteen opens under the temple and soon feeds thousands every week
In 1993 the temple opened a vegetarian restaurant, the Temple Canteen, beneath its ground floor. It serves about 4,000 diners in an ordinary week, a figure that can reach 10,000 over Deepavali, or Diwali.
“The Temple Canteen was established in 1993. The canteen feeds 4,000 people a week, with as many as 10,000 during the Deepavali (Diwali) holiday.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1994
Dr. Uma Mysorekar becomes president of the Hindu Temple Society
Uma Mysorekar, an obstetrician and gynecologist with a medical degree from Bombay University, began working with the temple's services in the mid-1980s and became the society's president in 1994. Her honors include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Karnataka's Kannada Rajyotsava Award, and she joined the national prayer service on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1995
Worshippers report the temple's Ganesha image drinking milk
In September 1995 devotees at the temple reported the Ganesha milk miracle. People held spoons of milk up to the trunk and mouth of the image, and the milk was reported to be taken up.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2003
A lawsuit over the temple's leadership ends in a court-supervised board election
In 2003 six plaintiffs sued, saying the temple was run too autocratically and asking to elect a board of trustees; the trustees answered that the plaintiffs wanted control for themselves. Judge Joseph Golia ruled that a referee would oversee an election for a new board, and the trustees who had run the temple before won re-election.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
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