BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS.. Present & Past
BATH BEACH & FORT HAMILTON Named for the famous watering place of Bath, England, this territory consisted mostly of farmlands and forests until the 1870s when affluent families built summer homes in the area. The neighborhood is on Gravesend Bay. Bounded by Shore Parkway along Gravesend Bay to the south, 86th Street to the north, 14th Avenue to the west and 23rd Avenue to the east. Early summer resort for wealthy New Yorkers. BAY RIDGE 1873 MAP Was originally part of a tract of land that was purchased from the Nyack Indians in 1652 and settled by the Dutch in 1653. It lies at the southwestern tip of Brooklyn. The area was originally called Yellow Hook for the yellow clay found there. But after an outbreak of yellow fever in 1853 its name grew out of favor and it became known as Bay Ridge. FORT HAMILTON 1873 MAP Named after Alexander Hamilton. Today, the fort, built in 1831 to protect the Narrows. Strategically situated at the entrance to New York Harbor, it was the site where the Continental Army barraged the British ship H.M.S. Asia in 1776. BEDFORD-STUYVESANT Named after the Duke of Bedford & the town of Stuyvesant (namesake of New Amsterdam Governor, Peter Stuyvesant), the area was originally part of the land purchased by the Dutch in the 1640s. This farmland turned residential after the American Revolution. The area was originally comprised of two distinct sections with two separate histories. The neighborhood name is derived from the joining of two 19th-century middle-income communities: Bedford to the west and Stuyvesant Heights to the east. The woodlands of Bedford were purchased in the mid-1600s by the Dutch West Indies Company from the Canarsee Indians, and the land was used as a farming village inhabited by Dutch farmers and black slaves. Over the years, farmland was gradually divided into housing lots. By 1873, the population had reached 14,000, and included Irish, Germans, Jews, Scots, Dutch and free blacks. Further growth was spurred in the 1880s by the opening of the elevated railway and then the Brooklyn Bridge; by 1920, the population had grown to 45,000. BEDFORD was a modest Dutch village established in 1663, STUYVESANT was an upscale community built in the 1890s, In 1835, a portion of Stuyvesant was sold, combining the two. STUYVESANT HEIGHTS ghost neghborhoods: BEDFORD / CROW HILL BEDFORD CORNERS CARRVILLE : Formed by the merger of two communities: Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights. Freed slaves bought land here after slavery was abolished in New York in 1827 WEEKSVILLE BENSONHURST Originally settled by the Dutch in 1661 as part of the town of New Utrecht, today it is bordered by 61 St, McDonald Ave, Gravesend Bay and 14th Ave. Includes the areas known as Mapleton and New Utrecht, whose origins date back to the late 1880s when the Benson farm was parceled into 20 x 100 foot lots and sold to newly arrived immigrants. *The New Utrecht Reformed Church, (1827 84 Street) constructed in 1828 as the center of the original Dutch settlement. During the time of the British occupation (1776-1783), Bensonhurst residents erected flagpoles, (liberty poles), on which they raised the flag of independence, as a sign of derision for the British. The liberty pole that stands on the lawn of The New Utrecht Reformed Church marks the site of the first liberty pole. BERGEN BEACH Named after the descendants of Hans Hansen BERGEN, a Dutch settler of the 17th century. GEORGETOWN BOERUM HILL Bounded by 4 Avenue, State, Warren and Court Streets, named for the colonial farm of the Dutch BOERUM family. Developed in the mid-1800s BOROUGH PARK Settled in the 1880s by major landowners in the area, it was originally named Blythebourne, while a neighboring expanse of land was called Borough Park. The influx of more and more Eastern Europeans into Borough Park caused its expansion into, and overtaking of, the Blythebourne area. MAPLETON ghost neighborhood: Blythebourne BRIGHTON BEACH Named after the British sea resort Brighton BROOKLYN HEIGHTS Called by the Indians " ICH-PA-TON-GA," Once known as Clover Hill, one of NY's first suburban areas. It was first settled in 1642 by Dutch farmers. *Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims at (75 Hicks Street), founded in 1847 BROOKLYN VILLAGE BROWNSVILLE Named after Charles S. Brown, a mid-19th century real estate developer who built houses in the area. OCEAN HILL BUSHWICK One of the original Dutch towns of the borough. Peter Stuyvesant named it Boswijck, "town of the woods". Originally, it included Greenpoint, Williamsburgh & Ridgewood. Today it is bordered by Flushing Avenue, Queens County, the Cemetery of the Evergreens and Broadway. CANARSIE So called from the French word, canard, meaning duck, the symbol of the Indian tribe that lived on the edge of Jamaica Bay, where ducks were plentiful. The area was originally a part of the town of Flatlands. *The Canarsie Reformed Church, 82 Conklin Ave., built in 1877. PAERDEGAT CATOOLL GARDENS (CARROLL) The area is said to be named for Charles Carrol, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. Bordered by Degraw, Hoyt & 9th Sts, Hamilton Ave. Until the 1960s, the area was considered part of Red Hook. CLINTON HILL Named after the family of New York's Governor De Witt Clinton. The area was originally farmland that was parceled and sold for development in the mid-19th century to prosperous merchants who had been forced out of Brooklyn Heights. COBBLE HILL Named for the cobble stones disposed in the area from ships that carried them over from Europe as ballast and for the steep hill that served as a look out for American forces during the Revolutionary War, *St. Frances Cabrini Chapel, Degraw St & Strong Pl, built 1852 COLUMBIA STREET WATERFRONT District CONEY ISLAND Originally an island that was heavily populated with rabbits, named by the Dutch "konyn" meaning rabbit; transformed to become "conyne" and then coney. bounded by Coney Island Creek, Belt Pkwy, Ocean Pkwy and the Atlantic Ocean. CROWN HEIGHTS Formerly called Crow Hill, and was the site of a prison. It was a quiet, sparsely populated settlement in the original Dutch town of Breukelen. Once home to Ebbet's Field, Brooklyn Dodgers from 1912 through 1957. Crow Hill was its pre-prohibition name. When it was Dutch farmland, it was believed to have been called Crow Hill after its tallest hill, whose trees were always filled with crows. Then again that name could have come from the mid-1800’s when there were African and African American settlements there, and the whites called them ‘crows’. A third story has it that the ‘crows’ were inmates in the Kings County Penitentiary that was there from 1846 to 1907. CYPRESS HILLS Originally named Union Place for a area racetrack built in 1821, renamed for the abundance of cypress trees that grew in the hilly area. HIGHLAND PARK City Line ghost neighborhood: UNION PLACE DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN Home to state and federal courts. *The Episcopal Church of St. Ann The Holy Trinity 157 Montague Street FULTON FERRY The settlement was formed around the ferry landing: beginning with Cornelis Dircksen's regular rowboat crossings in 1642, a number of boat lines operated from both sides of the river, until finally all were merged under the ownership of the New York and Brooklyn Ferry Company in 1839. Before Robert Fulton introduced his steam ferry Nassau in 1814, crossings were made in row boats, flat scows with sprit sails, piraguas, and boats propelled by horses walking on treadmills. The last ferry stopped running in 1924. VINEGAR HILL About a four or five block square neighborhood in Brooklyn located just east of the Manhattan Bridge anchorage. In 1800, a John JACKSON purchased the land on which the neighborhood would later arise from the SANDS brothers, for whom Sands Street is named. Jackson hoped to attract Irish immigrants and named the tract Vinegar Hill after the site of a fierce battle in the Irish rebellion of 1798. In Ireland, the name "Vinegar Hill" was an English transliteration of a Gaelic (Irish) term meaning "hill of the wood of the berries". Vinegar Hill has also been known as Irish Town in the past. Most of Vinegar Hill is comprised of 19th Century style homes and Cobblestones line the streets on Hudson Ave, Plymouth, Water and Front Sts. FARRAGUT DUMBO DYKER HEIGHTS EAST FLATBUSH RUGBY REMSEN VILLAGE Bounded by Linden Boulevard, Rockaway Parkway, Ditmas Avenue and Ralph Avenue. WINGATE FARRAGUT ERASMUS EAST NEW YORK Originally settled by the Dutch in the 1600s. *The Dutch Reformed Church and Cemetery (Schenck & New Lots Aves) offers a glimpse into the area's history as a Dutch farming community in the 1600s. *The Protestant Dutch Church (620 New Lots Ave) erected in 1823 by Dutch settlers, designated as a Historic Landmark. NEW LOTS STARRETT at SPRING CREEK FLATBUSH One of Brooklyn's original Dutch towns est. in 1652. It's name derived from the Dutch vlachte, with bios, a "flat plain" with "woods", anglicized to Flatbush. It included areas now known as: Kensington, Windsor Terrace, East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York, New Lots & Cypress Hills. *The Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church 890 Flatbush Ave Ordered built by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1662 and was completed in 1796. DITMAS PARK DITMAS PARK West ALBERMARLE TERRACE KENMORE TERRACE BEVERELEY SQUARE East BEVERELEY SQUARE West Riske TERRACE South MIDWOOD West MIDWOOD Midwood PARK CATON PARK FLATLANDS One of the original Dutch towns, established in 1693 as Nieuw Amersfort. Its name was derived from the flat terrain. It included areas now known as Canarsie, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin & Marine Park. It was founded in 1647 and remained farmland until 1875 *Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church 3931 Kings Highway) was built in 1663 by order of Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant. Many early Dutch families are buried in the cemetery next to the church. *Long Island Dutch colonial style can be seen in the Stoothoff-Baxter-Kouwenhoven House 1640 East 48 St, constructed in 1747 & completed in 1811. FUTURAMA FORT GREENE The area, and the park, were named in honor of Nathaniel GREENE, American General in the Revolutionary War. A tomb containing the remains of thousands of colonial prisoners who had been captured and confined aboard rotted hulking vessels and left to die by the British, The Prison Shop Martyrs' Monument proudly stands. GERRITSEN BEACH Named after Wolphert GERRITSEN, who, was granted 15,000 acres of land from the West India Company, settled there before the Revolutionary War. In 1665, his descendant, Hugh GERRITSEN, a farmer, built a tidewater mill off Burnett Street. A century later, the mill was still operational and supplied Washington's troops with food supplies. It burned down in 1931. In 1899, 67 acres of the GERRITSEN property was purchased and, along with a refurbished 150 year old mansion, was used as a racing lodge for the adjacent Sheepshead Bay Race Track. The lodge still stands at Burnett St, btwn Ave V & Whitney Ave. GOWANUS GRAVESEND One original English town in Brooklyn. It originally included the communities of what are now Kings Highway, Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach. Lady Deborah Moody, came from England to the colony at Lynn, Massachusetts where she was shunned for her political and religious views. In 1643 she arrived in the Dutch province of New Amsterdam. She and her following were granted refuge and issued a charter for the establishment of a town. She named the town after her estate in Kent, England, thus Gravesend came to be. In 1645 she received the charter for Gravesend. This charter was unique in many ways. Lady Moody was the first woman in the New World ever granted a charter; it was the only charter written in English (opposed to being in Dutch); it allowed her and her followers absolute freedom of conscience, in addition to granting religious freedom within its confines, well before this liberty was granted to all of Dutch America via the Flatbush Remonstrance in 1657; it allowed her to set up her own government and hold town meetings. She then divided the land into four equal squares, with a common yard to each, apportioning the land like slices of pie to her followers and making her home at 27 Gravesend Neck Road. Lady Moody died in the 1650s. *Graveyard on Gravesend Neck Road (between McDonald Avenue and Van Sicklen Street) is the burial site of Lady Moody. GREENPOINT Named for the greenery that covered the land. It lies on Newtown Creek and was originally a meadow-like area. This area was bought by the Dutch in 1638 and saw rapid development in the mid-1800s. KENSINGTON & PARKVILLE A residential area development named after a western borough of London, Kensington is a small community that lies within Borough Park along Ocean Parkway from Caton Avenue to Avenue H. It was once part of the town of Flatbush. It developed in 1885, after the completion of Ocean Parkway. DAHILE ALBERMARLE ghost neighborhood: GREENFIELD MANHATTAN BEACH Named after Manhattan Island. It is located on a peninsula on the eastern end of Coney Island. Developed by Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Rail Road, who opened the Manhattan Beach Hotel in 1877 and the Oriental Hotel in 1879. MARINE PARK Residential area adjacent to the park of the same name situated in the marine area of Jamaica Bay. The area of Marine Park was developed during the 1930s after construction of the Belt Parkway MIDWOOD Part of old Flatbush, situated between the towns of Gravesend and Flatlands, from the Dutch midwout, for "middle woods", was a forested area, settled in 1652. The area remained mostly undeveloped until its annexation as part of NYC in 1898. *Jan Martense Schenck House, a 17th century farmhouse that originally stood on East 63 Street, was dismantled and stored in 1952. In 1960, it was reassembled and is now on display at the Brooklyn Museum. East MIDWOOD NOTTINGHAM MILL BASIN Named after the many tide mills set up in the area. Situated along Jamaica Bay, Mill Basin was called equandito (broken land) by the local Canarsee Indians, who sold the land to developers in 1664. It became part of Flatlands, and remained a rural area until 1890 OLD MILL BASIN PARK SLOPE The area sloping away from the glacial ridge that cuts through adjacent Prospect Park. It was never developed by the Dutch and remained rural until Prospect Park was completed in the 1860s. North SLOPE & South SLOPE PROSPECT HEIGHTS The area was developed in the 1870s, after Prospect Park was built. PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS LEFFERTS MANOR PROSPECT PARK South RED HOOK Settled in the 1630s by the Dutch. A hook of land on the Upper Bay, originally named Roode Hoek for the color of the clay found there. It is surrounded on three sides by water and on the fourth by the Gowanus Expressway. SEA GATE At the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, this private, 43 square block, 900 home, walled community is situated at the western tip of Coney Island. SHEEPSHEAD BAY Was the site of a large Canarsee Indian village and was named for the principal fish catch of the time, the sheepshead. Once famous for seafood from its waters, the fish are now long gone, depleted or killed off by pollution. In 1877 farmlands were subdivided and developed, prompting permanent growth in the area. HOMECREST MADISON PLUMB BEACH SUNSET PARK Situated between Bay Ridge and Gowanus, its name was taken from the local park built in the area in the 1890s. *The Brooklyn Army Terminal, completed in 1919, served as a military ocean supply facility. During World War II, over 50 million tons of supplies destined for overseas passed through the terminal. *Greenwood Cemetery - built in 1838, was meant to be a rural retreat where visitors could ponder death as a natural part of life. It is a designated New York City historic landmark. One of its most prominent features is its Gothic style front gate that stands at 5 Avenue and 25 Street. Many elaborate and ornate headstones can be found among the more modest. *Our Lady of Perpetual Help (5 Ave & 59 St) is Brooklyn's largest Roman Catholic Church. *Noted for its egg-shaped dome atop a lofty 200 foot tower is St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church (42 Street & 4 Avenue). WILLIAMSBURG Was originally part of the town of Boswijck. Williamsburgh was founded in 1827 and named after a nephew of Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Williams, an army engineer who laid out early settlements in the area. Southside / Los Sures & Northside ghost neighborhood: CRIPPLEBUSH WINDSOR TERRACE 1873 MAP Windsor is named so from England's Windsor Castle, terrace is from the terrace work that had to be done to make this steep area between the high points of Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery habitable. This half mile square that lies between Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery is chiefly composed of limestones and brownstones. It was originally inhabited by the Gouwane and Werpos Indians. In the 17th century the Dutch made a land grant to John VANDERBILT and settlement in the area began. After Vanderbilt's death, the land was divided into two large farms. Robert BELL, who laid out the settlement, bought both farms in 1851. Bell, quite progressive, succeeded in helping to establish the village's own fire department and public school by century's end.
.....BROOKLYN / Kings Co.....PRESENT
..... Bath Beach Bay Ridge Bedford-Stuyvesant Bensonhurst Bergen Beach Borough Park Brighton Beach Brooklyn Heights Brownsville Bushwick Canarsie Coney Island The indians long ago called it "NARRIOCK" Crown Heights Dyker Heights Said to be named for dikes built by the Dutch that aided in the draining and reclaiming of the marshland. East New York Flatbush Flatlands Fort Hamilton Gerritsen Beach Gravesend Greenpoint Kensington Manhattan Beach Midwood Mill Basin New Lots The eastern end of original Flatbush. Settled in 1670 by Dutch farmers migrating from western Flatbush, then called Old Lots, New Utrecht First settled in 1652. Borough Park, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach form one undistinguished neighborhood stretching from the southern tip of Greenwood Cemetery down to Gravesend Bay. The western part, along the shore from Bay Ridge to Gravesend, was until the 1890's the town of New Utrecht. In that year Cornelis van Werckhoven, a citizen of Utrecht, Holland, and a member of the Dutch West India Company, hearing that the English were making claims on the Dutch possessions on Long Island, came to the New World to found several colonies. He bought land from the Indians, paying a quantity of shirts, shoes, stockings, knives, scissors, and combs, erected a house and mill, and returned to Holland to recruit settlers for his new colony. In 1657 the settlement became a town and was named for Werckhoven's native city. *The New Utrecht Reformed Church, 18th Ave & 83d St, 1677. The present building, in meetinghouse style, was erected in 1828, with stone from the older church, built about 1700. The Liberty Pole in front of the building is the last remaining on Long Island, and the fourth (1910) on this spot since 1783. Among the relics of the church is an hourglass once used to limit the duration of the sermons. (From the (1939) WPA Guide to New York City) Oriental Beach Park Slope Red Hook Sheepshead Bay South Brooklyn Spring Creek A nearby community to Starrett City, which has become more heavily populated since the 1980s. Starrett City Is the largest federally funded housing project in the nation. It maintains its own power plant, security force and cable television station. Built on a large tract of land along Jamaica Bay in 1970, it is comprised of 46 high rise apartment buildings, housing some 15,000 residents, surrounded by ball fields, shopping centers, playgrounds, schools and churches. Sunset Park Vinegar Hill The earliest houses in the area were built by John Jackson, a shipbuilder and developer who bought land in the area in the late 1770s. Jackson sold 40 acres of the land to the US Government. He built simply designed houses in the early 1800s, many of which were used to house Navy Yard personnel. Williamsburg Thanks to: Sean Flannery & Sean Fox Back to EASTERN DISTRICT Main Back to TOWN Main Page Back to STREETS Main Back to BROOKLYN Main