OLD BUSHWICK


After the Revoluntionary War had come to an end the denizens of Bushwick held 
a peace celebration on the East River shore and then settled down to attend 
to their farmwork. 
The War of 1812 again brought excitement & the Town house being far too small 
for the meetings caused by this war, the courts & town meetings were 
transplanted to the old tavern at the Cross Roads. When this war was over 
once again the town folks settled back into their interests of farming.
The younger generation, however, being more progressive had become restless. 
One by one, they went to settle down in the fast growing settlements 
down by the river shore known as Williamsburgh. In 1882 a church was erected, 
helped along by the old town church. The following year Bushwick people 
replaced their own church .To the west was the village green, to which a 
branch of the Bushwick creek ,extended. Around the green stood some old 
Dutch farmhouses :
BEADEL House on Metropolitan Ave., 
CONSELYEA House & the Mill on the creek at Jackson St.,
Van RANST House also on the creek at Withers St. 
BLACKWELL House at Frost St. across the Woodpoint Rd.
Oposite the church, stood the Town House & the Liberty Pole in it's front. 
Further north near the old town burying ground stood on either side of the 
road a DEVOE house & still further along near 
Meeker Ave.,the old Manor House & the DEBEVOISE 
farmhouse, the barn of which had been the quarters of Hessians in the Revolution.
On the Woodpoint Rd. just north of the Church at Skillman Ave. stood the school 
house, erected in 1768, 20x50 ft in size, of stone, with a long sloping roof, 
like the farm houses. Here English and Dutch were used until the new school 
was erected in 1829. The sermons were preached in English and in the school 
the Dutch language was now eliminated.

To the south was the Charles SCHENCK farmhouse at 
Montrose Ave.
The Williamsburgh-Jamaica Tpke Rd was built in 1813-14. 
Stephen B. & Samuel MASTERS operated the turnpike
for abt 20 yrs. The toll gate stood near the grist mill and the bridge 
which later occupied the site of the present Metropolitan Ave. Bridge. 
Here was a white sandy beach and there were 3 boat houses on the beach. 
When the Bklyn & Newton Tpke. Rd. was built the toll gate was moved to 
the point where the 2 roads crossed, Metropolitan & Flushing Ave. 
Martin J. SUYDAM began to run a stage from the 
ferries thru Grand St & Metropolitan Ave. to Newton. A few houses were 
erected along the Jamacia Rd. in the 1840's.

In 1840, Maspeth Plank Rd. was opened and several houses were built in 1846. 
On the north side of the road was a patch of forest land known as 
BACKUS Woods.The road crossed FURMAN'S Island.

Peter COOPER had operated a glue factory on 
Manhattan Island, which he had purchased for the sum of $2.000, under 
a 21 yr. lease. This plant was located on Middle Rd, beteewn 31st & 32nd 
Sts on Murray Hill. COOPER bought in 1840 10 acres of land at Bushwick 
& moved his factory there. He was born in 1891, died in 1883. His 2 brothers 
married the BEADEL sisters. 
Gypsies used to camp at the place where William COOPER built his 
residence & a smaller house next to his own for the use of a neice.
In front of the houses ran COOPER'S Lane. An old wooden pump stood in front 
of the smaller house. In 1895, the family gave to the City of Bklyn., COOPER'S Pk. 
The park included COOPERS Lane and the 2 houses were moved to Morgan Ave. 
known as # 439 & 455. There was no house between them. They have recently 
been taken down & a brick building has been erected on their site.Opposite 
the park on Maspeth Ave. & Debevoise Ave. are still standing the remains of a 
group of frame houses surrounded by large trees. These houses were erected by 
Peter COOPER for his workmen. In the rear of the row was the glue factory near 
Kingsland Ave.,near there toward Grand St. was Garrett FURMAN'S trout pond.

Martin KALBFLEISCH was born in Holland in 1804, 
he came to the USA in 1826. He estab'd, chemical works in Harlem, NY. in 
1835. He moved his factory to Greenpoint in 1842. There being no 
schoolhouse in Greenpoint he applied for the use of Bushwick School which was 
then in a run down condition, had it repaired & secured the services of a teacher. 
His children  attended the school. Five years later he moved his plant to 
Bushwick proper, he located between Metropolitan Ave. & Grand St, Morgan Ave. & 
Vandervoort Ave. Gradually the works were enlarged & covered the ground on both 
sides of Grand Street between Morgan & Newton.

In 1867 the South Side Rail Road opened it's road from Bushwick to Patchogue. For 
it's depot the R.R. used the old Charles SCHENCK farmhouse. 
In the barn was found between the rafters an English bank note dating back to 
pre-revoluntionary war days.

The old Manor house built by the POLHEMUS family & for a 
time the home of the WYCKOFF family, became a road house.
 
When Bob CLARKSON was the inn keeper the CLARKSON Grounds 
were frequented by the baseball players. The Eckford Club used to play, until the 
Union Grounds were estab'd upon a strip of land on the BACKUS estate 
near the Manor house.
The Grand Street car stables were opposite the Manor house & fire of 1876, 
54 horses perished there.

Maspeth Plank Road, there was a toll bridge,the road formerly the SMITH'S Island 
& fom there another bridge led to the Maspeth side. 
The bridges have decayed, the approaches remain.

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