Was formerly E. Street.
The American Porcelain Manufacturing Co., plant was on Eagle Street near West St.
The Tannery at #22. was destroyed by fire om March 18, 1891, the site later occupied by
a wagon works.
James ROONEY, mason, #76. Eagle & 229 Franklin Street.
Martin VOGEL, another mason, #131.
James D. LEARY'S Lumber Yard was at the corner of
Provost Street, Leary financed in 1888 the Joggins raft which safely arrived in New York
after a trip of 700 miles from Nova Scotia on August 11, the time required was eleven days.
The raft was 595ft in length & 38ft depth. The mass of logs were bound together with iron
chains and steel wire and was almost as solid as though it were the trunk of some giant tree.
Peter F. BEERSHENK, stair builder , was on Eagle Street & Whale Creek.
The Brooklyn Range Boiler Works were on Eagle St.
The plant of the Eagle Box Co., occuying a block on Eagle St, was partially destroyed by fire
on March 17, 1893.
The New York Cedar-Ware Co., was on the corner of Paidge.
EASTERN PARKWAY
Known as Parkway from Propect Park to the New Lots town line between Ralph & Howard Avenuess.
When the extension was constructed from that point to Highland Blvd., this portion was named
Eastern Parkway, and eventuallty the entire length.
The forest trees covering the hills of what was to become Eastern Parkway rose 50ft in height.
Eastern Parkway was constructed during the years 1871-74. It was 270ft wide containing 88 acres.
The length was 2 and a half miles.
Governor MORTON, signed on June 1906, the bill providing for the extension.
A part of Vanderveer Street was included, the removal of several homes was necessary.
ECKFORD STREET
Formerly 5th Street, Greenpoint. It was graded and paved in 1869.
Eckford Hall was on the west side near Calyer Street, the main place for political and
social gatherings. The building is now used for manufacturing purposes.
Wm. CORWITH, the ferry master of the Greenpoint Ferry, lived on Eckford near Meserole Avenue
The Union Porcelain Works, #300.
David H. HULSE, mason, #214.
ELLERY STREET
Named for Wm. ELLERY, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
H. KUNZWEILER, mason, #48.
Thos. BROWN, mason, #134.
Jos. CATHREIN, strap maker, #191.
Anton BRUCKHAUSTER, mason, #226.
Heinrich SIOR, wheelwright, #283.
Martin BURKHARDT, musical instruments, #306.
ENGERT AVENUE
Was Van Pelt Street, aka Van Pelt Avenue.
EVERGREEN AVENUE
Opened in 1870 thru the farm of Adrian Martense SUYDAM.
The upper part of the avenue from Menahan Street eastward to the Cemetery of the Evergreens
had in the early days had been a farmers road winding it's way, in some spots
it touched present Central Avenue and even went beyond the line of that road.
The old Bushwick Road was straightened in 1852, it's name modernized to Bushwick
Avenue.
The upper portion of the present parkway was laid out at the same time and
as it led to the heights of the Cemetery of the Evergreens, the road was named
Evergreen Avenue.
Not long after the two roads named exchanged with each othere, Evergreen Avenue became
Bushwick Avenue and formed one continous road, Bushwick Avenue as named in 1852 became
Evergreen Avenue The road was graded in 1888.
Henry AHRENS, Manufacturer Mineral Waters, #206.
The Zion Protestant Episcopal Church, 1870, corner of DeKalb.
The site of P.S. 75, corner Menahan was the southeast corner of Blvd. Grove.
The school was built in 1889. To the north of here and beyond Myrtle Avenue Plank Road
was the Myrtle Grove, the northeast, covering the high ground in the vicinity of
Bushwick High School was the second Grove.
Henry SCHNEIGER, manufacturer of mouldings, #384.
Frank IBERT'S Brewery, #405.
____________SUYDAM HOUSE._______________
A swampy pond stretched along the line of Evergreen Avenue from Myrtle Avenue
Park to Woodbine St. At the corner of Woodbine stood the SUYDAM house.
Jacob SUYDAM, born in 1740 and settled in 1768 upon the farm which consisted of
136 acres. He died in 1811.
His son Jacob SUYDAM, was born in 1773 and he died in 1843.
Adrian Martense SUYDAM, the last of the name to occupy the house, was the son of
the second Jacob. He was born in 1825 and died 1894.
The house was built about 1700 by one Van NUYSE.
The first story was built of stones gathered in the surrounding fields. It rceived
it's light through tiny panes of glass set in heavy sash. The Suydam haouse stood
at #453 Evergreen Avenue.
Adrian Martense SUYDAM, the last male member of the family, died in California. He
would not allow anything in the old house to be changed, everything remaining the
same as it was in the days of his forefathers.
Cornelia Street was named for his wife. He willed the homestead to his namesake Adrian
SUYDAM HALBURT, son of his friend and neighbor.
The house built about 1700 on the New Bushwick Lane, the land conveyed in 1724 to
Leffert LEFFERTS and his wife Annetje by Wm. Van NUYSE. LEFFERTS son
sold the farm in 1768 to Jacob SUYDAM. The house was then in run down condition.
When Col. RAHL took up his quarters in the old house it was owned
by Hendrick SUYDAM, who like his brother Lambert SUYDAM was a whig. Col. RAHL had
21 men and a women cook with him. They remained about 3 months, occupying the south room.
They sacked the house. The stone walls about 2ft deep were covered in leather boarding,
and the gables and negro quarters at the rear were shingled.
In the latter a capacious fire place had at one corner the entrance to the huge oven.
There remained hooks, driven into the ceiling here and there, upon which the enemies
hung their muskets. The marks on a front door post, chopped in by a Hessian officer,
remained as long as the house stood and the little square window panes showed names
scratched with a diamond.
In the upper part of the dutch half door was inserted a bullseye light. This was usually
done in Dutch farm houses, but in this case it was said that the bullseye had formerly
been the bottom of a Hessian demijohn.
There were other relics, as a set of huge keys and a quaint old horse hair trunk.
There were some old tombstones in the back yard bearing the names of members of the
SUYDAM family, but the remains of the bodies had been removed to a cemetery.
There stood also a liberty pole in the front yard.
The old house was razed during October & November 1899, to make room for the
Second German Baptist Church.
The deep roof and the heavy blue stone blocks that formed part of the old house gave
the wreckers much trouble. These stones were used as the foundation of the church.
In the front yard stood a tombstone bearing the inscription:
"In memory of Jacob SUYDAM, died 1847, aged 74 years, 4 months, 28 days."
It is known that Jacob was brought to the house when he was 2 years old. The body was
removed to Cypress Hills Cemtery many years ago and the tombstone bought by a relic hunter
when the demolishion began.
The great age of the structure was attested by the fact that the plaster thruout the house
was spread on hand made laths and all the nails were hand made. The mortar between the
foundation stones was made from good clay mixed with meadow grass instead of hair. The
bricks were hand made. The main frame work was heavy oak timber sometimes a foot or more
square. Scattered about in the debris of laths & plaster were found quantities of walnut
shells. The condition of the sheels plainly showed that the squirrels had used the old
farmstead for a storage house.
A chicken house at the rear was a verible fort, it's walls were of stone and nearly a foot
thick.
Lefferts LEFFERTS who became the owner in 1724 was born in Flatbush, his
son, Leffert, sold the farm of 136 acres with about 25 acres of woodland lying in the town
of Newtown and some meadows for the sum of 2160 francs, 10 shillings to Jacob SUYDAM who
reshingled the house.
Jacob's grandson was born in the homestead in 1825.
His farm extended in an irregular line from Broadway to Knickerbocker and from Linden
to Jefferson. In 1869 there was no other dwelling upon the farm, save the homestead and the
Bushwick Road passed the house. SUYDAM laid the farm out in building lots and
gave one lot to a man on the condition that he once would erect and cooupy a dwelling
thereon. The policy being liberal, 125 dewllings were erected on this farm in the course
of 15 years.
The Second German Baptist Church on the site of the SUYDAM House on the corner of Woodbine
Street was dedicated on June 24, 1900.
_______________________
The house of John C. KELLY, of Tammany Hall, Manhattan, a 2 story shingled
structure was standing at about the present Madison St.
The Dietrich HOMEYER House, stood at a point betwen present Putnam Avenue and Cornelia Street,
it was a very old low Dutch farmhouse. A pond covered the low ground now traveled by
Central & Wilson, between Myrtle & the Cemetery of the Evergreens. Sometime in the 1870's
the ground was filled in to the depth of 15ft. in places and was drained.
A Dutch farmhouse as late as 1875 stood in the hollow on Evergreen somewhere between
Hancock & Halsey Street. This old house was occupied in 1855 by Henry WAGNER
& Henry FREEMAN.
WAGNER'S father had emmigrated from Baden in the early part of the 19th century and
had settled on the DURYEA farm in the neighborhood of Evergreen & Hancock Street.
Henry WAGNER, the son, moved in 1862 to a farm in the Ridgewood section and made his home
at 54 Buchman Avenue.
The DURYEA barn is still standing on Hancock Street, near Evergreen Avenue.
P.S. No. 85, extends along the north side from Eldert Street to Covert Street. The original
building was opened in 1893.
Michael ARMENDINGER, mason, #109.
George G. ENGLERT, undertaker, #144.
Emil VIERLING, moulding maker, #384.
Next..."F" of the EASTERN DISTRICT StreetsBack to EASTERN DISTRICT MainBack to TOWN Main PageBack to STREETS MainBack to BROOKLYN Main