St Nicholas Orthodox Church of Whitestone, New York was established in 1916 in order to provide the faithful of Northeast Queens with an Orthodox house of worship. Prior to that time, one had to travel to Manhattan or Brooklyn to go to church. The original wooden church was built in 1919, and was in use for nearly 50 years. The present structure was built in 1968. Recent ambitious projects undertaken by the parish include the construction of the single, large blue cupola, surmounted by the three-bar Cross of Russian Orthodox Christianity (this makes the church a distinct feature of the local skyline); and the adornment of the interior with traditional Orthodox iconography. Whereas the founding fathers of the parish were almost exclusively of Russian, Galician, Carpatho-Russian, and Ukrainian heritage, today St Nicholas parish serves the needs of a primarily American congregation, of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.