It was the result of Cholera and Smallpox epidemics in 1840 and 1844, added by town elders north of Flushing Cemetery due to fears of contamination of church burial grounds.

By 1854 medical science had progressed and improved hygiene helped ward off such diseases, fewer epidemics resulted in a lessened need for the separate unconsecrated graveyard and it fell into disuse.

[10] In 2004, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and NYC Councilmember John Liu allocated $2.667 Million in funding to renovate the park, the largest improvement since 1938.

The trees provide shade for the burial ground as well as the newly installed playground which was moved to the northern end of the site, above whose entrance is the designation, ‘Martins Field".

In 2009 a naming ceremony for the site was held and parks department signs were placed for ‘The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground’ and ‘Martin’s Field".

In 2018, mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, and community members announced that $1.63 million in funding had been allocated to reconstruct a commemorative plaza at the site.

[3][12] In 2019, artist Alexandria Smith created an exhibition at the Queens Museum, Monuments To An Effigy, which sought to bring remembrance to the women who were buried at this site.