This general store opened in 1828 establishing it as the first trading post in Northeastern Queens.

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The store was situated in the area known as "The Alley," the present site of the Long Island Expressway and Cross Island Parkway interchange.

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The original proprietor, Benjamin Lowerre, a former innkeeper from Flushing, ran the store for eleven years. He subsequently sold it to his son-in-law, William C. Buhrman, on April 30, 1839.