Formerly O Street.
BULMAR Lumber Co., at the foot of the street.
Theodore DAVIS, mason, #112.
Greenpoint Home for the Aged, at #137.
OAKLAND STREET
William D. McNAUGHTON, paints, #185.
Temperance Hall, between Kent & Java Streets.
Brother JONES' Mission School, was on Oakland Street.
Captain Pieter PRAA'S stone house, built about 1700, stood close to the meadows near the northeast
corner of Oakland & Freeman Streets. Known later as the PROVOOST House.
The site of the Provoost House, was later owned by, James W. VALENTINE.
Burned down, September 12, 1898.
E. C. SMITH, manufacturer of packing boxes, #420.
American Flag House, located on Water Street, opposite Oakland Street.
A. WALKER, his specialty was preserved fruit, 1880s, #137.
George H. STELES, piano maker, #30.
W. E. & E. D. GERARD, manufacturer of cork goods, as life preservers, #200-202.
D. BARRY, horse shoer, #255.
John J. McELROY, Livery stables, #328.
Joseph HALSTEAD, mason, #395.
Martin HILBERER, wheelwright, #391.
M. M. SMITH, maker of wire nail machines, #404.
OLD WOODPOINT ROAD
Woodpoint Road was the early town road, from the village plot, through the fields past the
burying ground, near the Devoe Houses and over the meadows to the town dock on the Woodpoint.
In the early settlements the burying grounds were near the church edifice.
Bushwick village, having been settled by Frenchmen, had its burying ground, but no church
within or near the grave yard.
Dutch settlers joined the Frenchmen, and their dead were buried in the town burying ground
near the village.
The block house upon the Lockout near the river shore served as place of worship of the
Dutch settlers, but being an elevated and distant from the village, the vicinity of the block
house was not suited for a grave yard.
The oldest tombstone in the original burying ground, was still legible in 1861, was set up in
memory of Isaac LOTT who died in 1771, aged 66. This stone and others were later transferred
to the church yard. Several bore Dutch inscriptions, some dating as late as 1780.
The Bushwick Reformed Dutch Church,
between the Old Woodpoint Road, Humboldt Street, Conselyea Street & Skillman Avenue.
The original, dated from 1720. A new roof was put on in 1790.
The second and last one was erected in 1829.
A church yard was established around the church, in 1814, with the entrance on Humboldt Street.
In the old church the sermons were preached in Dutch and in the new church in English.
The Sunday School was founded in 1827 and a building was erected in a portion of the church
yard in 1879.
The church was razed in 1914, to make room for the continuation of Conselyea Street.
Old Bushwick Church, had been turned over by the North Classis of Long Island, to the
City of New York. The City sold the building to a house wrecker for the $28.00.
The trustees of the classis had stated that the building could not have been moved on
account of its age and as a part of its site was needed for the extension of the street. It had to
be razed. This was done in the latter part of January, 1914.
The pews were of solid rose wood and were estimated to be worth, $700.00.
The organ was included in the sale to the wrecking concern.
The church members succeeded in having the old bell and a couple of memorial windows, which
had been dedicated to former pastors, turned over to them by the wreckers.
In the metal box, enclosed in the cornerstone, were found nothing but the covers of what appeared
to have been a Bible and a hymn book. The cornerstone bore the date of, March 30, 1829.
One of the tablets was a tribute to the Rev. Stephen H. MEEKER, who served the from 1824 until 1876
with a few months interruption and who died, February 2, 1876.
In the 1850s he lived on Metropolitan Avenue near Graham Avenue.
The North Classis still retained nine lots of the church plot.
The site of the church had been granted on the condition that the land be forever used for
non-secular purposes.
About 1889 a goodly portion of the property had been divested and sold for other than religious
purposes. The nine lots left, after the church had been razed were sold to the Roman Catholic
Church, and an edifice was erected for Italian Catholics.
The remains of about 250 bodies, which had been moved, from the old town burying ground on
Kingsland Avenue, in 1879, and had been reinterred under the church building, later again moved
to the Cemetery of the Evergreens.
The Sunday School building, was in a corner of the church yard, in 1878-79, in an attempt to
rejuvenate the old church; this had involved the removal of several graves and had started a
controversy which disrupted the small congregation.
The Bushwick people constituted a part of the, Collegiate Church, of the county and as such were
ministered to by the pastors of the Five Dutch Towns.
Revs. FREEMAN & ANTONIDES were the first regular ministers and preached here alternately every
third Sunday. There is still extant a receipt from the Rev. FREEMAN for his salary in 1709.
Tradition was that after the Battle of Long Island a detachment of the American Army, passing
through this town left their wounded and sick in the Bushwick Church, to be cared for by the
Dutch farmers. Lord HOWE, after finding that the Bushwick folk had given sympathy to the enemy,
ordered the rebel church to be closed up and it remained thus, until peace was restored.
After 1800, a bill passed in Albany, that gave the village title to ten acres of land in the
village, then in posession of the Reformed Dutch Church, on the ground that they had held
continued possession of the property for more than 50 years. That document did not give the
boundary lines but went a long way toward proving the title to the property.
When the territory of the village of Williamsburgh was extended in 1835, it was provided that
a piece of land occupied by the Reformed Dutch Church, for public worship and a burying ground
known by the name of, Bushwick Church, shall be excepted and excluded from the said village
of Williamsburgh and the same shall continue to form part of the said town of Bushwick.
The Bushwick Church Records, which were in 1921, in the custody of the;
Rev. C. K. CLEARWATER at Elmhurst, Long Island. The records are as follows:
Register of Church of Bushwick, 1792-1871.
Old Bushwick Church Records, 1873-1880.
Old Bushwick Church, 1880-1896.
Old Bushwick Consistorial Records, 1876-1910.
The Rev. S. Miller HAGEMAN, on November 9, 1894, was dismissed as pastor of Old Bushwick
Reformed Church. He then, opened a meeting place at Humboldt Street & Skillman Avenue, on
November 18, 1894, 600 people being assembled. He called the place the
New Old Bushwick Church and this was dedicated on, February 14, 1895. He resigned as pastor of
Old Bushwick Church on, November 14, 1895.
The Bushwick Town School, was organized in 1662.
Two years later, the English rule succeeded the Dutch rule in the Colony and the free school
system was abolished.
For the next century and a half the school depended upon the support of its patrons.
The School was held in the church or Town House and the Dutch tongue was taught.
In 1768 the church masters bought a plot of ground from Abraham BOGART, and erected a school
house with a long sloping roof. Dutch and English languages were used until 1829, when the
new church was erected and English was there after used in church and school.
When Martin KALBFLEISCH settled in Greenpoint, there was no school house in that part of the
town. The school in Bushwick village was in a run down condition. KALBFLEISCH applied for
permission to make use of the old structure, repaired it and obtained the services of a teacher.
This school, on the southwest corner of, Skillman & the Old Woodpoint Road, was long known as
Bushwick District School No. 1.
After consolidation, in 1855, the institution became, P. S. #23.
The City Superintendent of Schools said in his report, referring to the Bushwick School:
"This building belongs to the period prior to that of Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane and Sleepy Hollow."
Fire consumed the building before the year had ended.
New, P. S. #23, was erected on the north side of Conselyea Street, west of Humboldt.
The Town House, stood near the church, just across Old Woodpoint Road.
The Court occupied the main floor, excepting a small room at the southern end, in which the
town records were kept.
About 1805, one GIBSON, leased this small room and opened a bar. When the lease expired the
barroom was discontinued.
The War of 1812, caused large meetings to be held and the Town House, being too small for this
purpose, the town court was removed to the tavern at the Cross Roads.
This tavern was at the time kept by Abraham BOGART.
The old town house was later cut in two and the two small buildings were occupied as dwellings,
were still standing a score years ago.
A liberty pole was long standing in front of the Town House.
The burying ground of the Canon Street Baptist Church, in New York City was bounded by the
Woodpoint Road, Humholdt, Withers and Frost Streets.
In 1864, the congregation was authorized to remove the remains of the bodies.
A DEVOE House, stood on either side of the Old Woodpoint Road, in the vicinity of the town
burying ground. One of these houses, a little stone structure, was still standing in 1910,
buried by stores and dwellings in the middle of the block bounded by Withers & Frost Streets.
The Manor House, stood on a neck of land, between Newtown Creek and the salt meadows and
bounded by Meeker Avenue on the south. This tract, had since 1660, been the plantation of
Pieter Jansen De WITT.
Pieter LOTT, the son-in-law of De WITT, purchased the farm in 1720.
Abraham POLHEMUS, of Brooklyn, born 1719, settled in Bushwick, where he died in 1781. He bought
the farm in 1749 and erected the Manor House on the Woodpoint Road, on what is now the roadway
of Monitor Street, near Engert Avenue, close to the Junction of Meeker Avenue. It stood back
from the roadway in a big clump of trees; facing southeast, its rear toward the creek.
It was an unusually large frame house of Dutch architecture, with half doors, four good rooms
on the ground floor and a large hall running through the centre and wide piazzas along the
front and rear.
In course of the years, the house had become dilapidated and shattered by age and the storms of
the hard winters of the 1840's and was almost untenable. It was known as the MENIUS Manor House.
Peter WYCKOFF had bought the property in 1797, and the WYCKOFF family occupied it for a time.
The WYCKOFF'S, sold in 1847, a large part of the land to, David C. & A. G. KINGSLAND, who in
turn disposed of it in 1880. It was then laid out in building lots. The Manor House had been
repaired and turned into a road house.
Ball games were played in the surrounding grounds, on Kingsland & Norman Avenue.
They became known as CLARKSON'S Grounds, Bob CLARKSON being the inn keeper.
The people returning from Calvary Cemetery, used to stop there for refreshments.
Later one RUGHER kept the inn.
In 1892 the structure was demolished and its timbers were used in erecting a house on the corner
of Maspeth & Morgan Avenues, which was occupied by workmen of Peter COOPER.
It was painted a red color and was still standing about 6 years ago.
The Manor House Cafe, on the corner of Meeker & Kingland, carried the name of the old Manor House,
which is remembered by the baseball fans, who used to frequent the ball grounds.
Until the Union Grounds were laid out, between Harrison & Marcy Avenues, the Eckford Club played
opposite the Manor House on a vacant strip of land of the BACKUS estate. The club did not have to
pay any fee for this privilege.
Conselyea Street and the nearby streets running east, led into a patch of forest known as the
BACKUS Woods.
Grand Street car stables, stood opposite the Manor House. In a fire in 1876, fifty horses were
lost here.
The DeBEVOISE farmhouse, built in the Dutch style, stood on the Woodpoint Road in the vicinity of
the Manor House.
Carol DeBEVOISE was born in Brooklyn in 1704.
He settled in Bushwick in 1736 and died there in 1757.
The barn on this farm, was occupied by Hessians during the War of the Revolution.
Charles I. DeBEVOISE. the grandson of Carol, was born in 1796 and lived to a ripe old age.
He erected the DeBEVOISE House on DeBevoise Avenue & Frost Street.
At the Manor House, two immense poplars, stood sentries at the gate on the Woodpoint Road.
The Woodpoint Road, ran from Bushwick Church, along the edge of the salt marsh to the town dock
at about the present Franklin & Green Streets. A branch led to Bushwick Creek and was later called
Fifth Street.
A remnant of the Woodpoint Road was for a time included in Bushwick Avenue and is now known as
Old Woodpoint Road.
The Bushwick Town House, stood on the east side of the Old Woodpoint Road, opposite the Church. The
original hall or court room occupied nearly the whole of the main floor, except a small room to the
south end where the records, a few chairs, one small table and the necessary benches were kept.
The heavy timbered ceiling would now appear strangely low.
The old Court room, however, was occasionally a very busy place, where large public gatherings met,
as the polling place on elections, town meetings, or on court days, to settle their cases, usually
without the aid of a lawyer.
While GIBSON kept the bar in the small room, occasionally, large quantities of liquor were consumed
here, especially on court days and town elections.
After his lease had expired GIBSON was refused a renewal.
The War of 1812, induced large meetings to be held and in this old building they were so poorly
accommodated. Another place with larger rooms was sought after. The public tavern at the Cross Roads,
on the north east corner, kept by Abraham BOGART, was found to be suitable and more conveniently
located. The business of the Bushwick Town Court, was now transacted at the Cross Roads.
The "Old Court House" was afterward repaired, leased to James McKINLEY, a shoe maker, and his
brother John. The brothers occupied it as their shop and home, until the death of James. Then
John changed the character of the business and opened a school in the building, after a few years
he left and engaged where his talents were employed in the higher branches.
Jacob BENNETT, now opened a tavern in the premises and when his lease expired,
John P. Van COTT, leased the place for a term of years and kept an old fashioned grocery store,
he continued until about 1840.
Since then the old building had various tenants.
In 1878, the structure, then divided into two small dwellings, was occupied by German tailors.
The Bushwick Town House, is believed to have been the first building erected in the county for the
exclusive use of town government.
The "old" Bushwick town burying ground, was situated less than a hundred yards west of the DeVOE
stone house, on the Old Bushwick Road, where all who had died previous to 1828 except those who
were buried in private burial places on their farms, had been interred.
Since that period the progress of laying out streets, the erection of small dwellings and other
cheap class houses had brought so many residents of all sorts, that it became impossible either
to keep a fence around the premises or the rough and unruly boys out of the enclosure, as they
made it a playground, built bonfires with the fencing, which split and otherwise defaced the head
tombstones.
This caused the grounds to be made an open common for many years. Most of the old families had
removed the remains of their loved ones, to other cemeteries.
The lower part of the south end of the burying ground, had been set apart for the burial of the
slaves. There were no hewn head or footstones to mark the place of the burial of any of them,
usually two small, flat, rough pieces of rock were found at the head and feet of each one to
tell the grave digger that the place was occupied by the body of a once faithful slave.
There were, in the 1870s, a number of headstones, both white and brown stones, still standing.
Two of these bore dates later than 1828,
Isaac DEBEVOISE,
born 1757
died 1831
Sarah Ann DeVOE
wife of John SKILLMAN
died 1845
aged 26
This was no doubt the last burial made in the old burying ground.
It was said, that the first grave here, had been in 1655, but the gravestone had been stolen by
some relic hunters.
The records of the interments since 1711 were in the possession of the;
Consistory of the old Reformed Church
When interments ceased, the records were placed in a trunk and were carried to the loft of the
Bushwick church nearby, where dampness and mice destroyed them.
The extension Kingsland Avenue necessitated the removal of the remains.
The officers of the church met, and by a resolution, made a contract to have the whole burial
ground dug over to the depth of six feet in November, 1878.
When a plate or fragment of a coffin sufficiently large to show the bones once
enclosed was found, these were deposited in boxes, subject to the order of friends or relatives,
but there were not one dozen, which could be recognized. All the remaining bones were put
in proper boxes and placed in a vault for that purpose.
Mill Lane, was a narrow lane, which led from the Woodpoint Road to LUQUEER'S Mill.
John DeVOE, built his house on the Old Mill Road.
Johannes DeVOE was born in Morrisania, New York, on February 6, 1728.
He crossed the East River and settled in Bushwick where he married;
Maria BENNETT,
a granddaughter of Captain Pieter PRAA, on May 25, 1750.
After some years he erected the stone house on the north side of the Old Bushwick Road near
the corner of the Woodpoint Road. The latter was a small crooked lane which led to the general
landing place on Bushwick Creek, where the farmer of the neighborhood kept their strongly made
skiffs and rowboats, which carried their various farm products to the New York markets.
Johannes DeVOE died in 1813 and his wife soon after.
Five children survived them.
On the opposite side of the Old Bushwick Road, a few yards west of the stone house, stood another
building which Johannes DeVOE had erected. At first he used it for a granary and for winter roots,
reserving a portion for his slaves.
Afterwards it was altered for one of his sons, but, this son moved to other quarters. Then it
became the home of his grandson, John, at the time of his marriage and John died in that house.
In 1878, Peter COOPER was the owner of this building. The barn stood about three hundred feet
north of the house; this structure was erected about 1785;
Charles DEBEVOISE purchased the barn in 1853 and moved it to his lane.
William, a son of Johannes DeVOE, occupied the old homestead built by his father. He used to
attend the Fly Market and Catherine Market in New York City, in his rowboats.
He died in 1832.
He had three children.
William's sister, Maria;
born in 1750
married in 1777, David MOLLENAR, his name afterward became MILLER.
He died in 1817.
Mrs. MILLER, died upon her Keikout farm in the old MESEROLE Homestead, in 1854, aged 101.