There's Really Important History In Southern Brooklyn

While Brooklyn was developing as a center of commerce and industry Southern Brooklyn wasn't sitting quietly letting the rest of the world go by. Especially so in Gravesend. Thrusting itself against the Atlantic Ocean its location was natural for development. The industrial revolution played a great role in its rise to prominence, as did the rise of the moneyed class in New York and Brooklyn. And greed, corrupt politics and vice played significant roles as well.

Walt Whitman discovered Coney Island at a time when it was dismissed by most local residents as a mucky mess. It's relative remoteness and quietude was a most desired quality making it a excellent location for solitary reflection. Away from the bustle of the developing cities of Brooklyn and New York where he worked and lived he could replenish his creative energies here. Perhaps he recited some of his early poems to an audience of local rabbits.

Coney Island House opened in 1829. Eventually it became a destination for the privileged classes. But the main road to Coney Island was a shell road. Of course one could also get there by water. Such was the method used by gamblers and other "undesirables". It is said that the moneyed classes who came to the island often became the prey of these various criminal types. I do rather suspect that the historians have engaged in a bit of overstatement about their effect upon the visiting.

In the 1840s the village of Sheepshead Bay , then known as The Cove, started, most of the original dwellings were in the vicinity of what is now East 23rd Street south of Voorhies Avenue. The well-to-do would lay claim to this area as well for a time. Many would eventually build homes here, causing Voorhies Avenue to become known as "Millionaire's Row".

In 1850 a plank road was built along the route of what is now Coney Island Avenue. This road led to the development of the eastern section of Coney Island, and the better classes of visitors started migrating towards this area. Hotels were built and the Island grew in importance as a resort. Numerous people made their fortunes in part from the increasing popularity of the area. Racetracks were built, and early signs of its later role as an amusement area manifested itself. And a local carpenter, an Irish immigrant named John McKane played a large role in making Coney Island, and Gravesend itself nationally known both as a resort and as a haven for all manner of criminals. We shall discuss John Y McKane further in our next installment.

Welcome to MY Brooklyn

There's been a lot written about the "Mistake of '98". When Brooklyn became part of New York City many feared that it's individual identity would lost. I think that history has proved that sort of thinking to be wrong. Brooklyn is still Brooklyn, and New York, well...

The cultural center of the borough still is, as it was in 1898, within the area of what was the City Of Brooklyn until 1894. Many of the institutions founded in the 19th century still exist, and scores of others have joined them. The arts thrive with theater companies, art galleries and an ever-growing creative community. In recent years an exodus from Manhattan has augmented their number. Most importantly, there is a sense of community, and a strong commitment by many to do everything possible to preserve the unique character of this historical area. Of course, all areas are historical, which brings us to the part of Brooklyn south of the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch.

Brooklyn used to consist of six towns. To simplify matters somewhat, the towns of Brooklyn and Bushwick comprised the City of Brooklyn in 1885. To the south of these were originally the towns of Flatbush, New Utrecht, Gravesend, and Flatlands. New Lots, which became part of Brooklyn in 1886, was originally part of the town of Flatbush.

A short history with maps can be found here.
www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/modules.php?name=Sections&op=printpage&artid=45

While parties in Manhattan were planning to annex the surrounding areas (including Brooklyn) Brooklyn civic leaders were also hoping to absorb the rest of Kings County. Williamsburgh, which split from Bushwick in 1840, incorporates as a city in 1851. Three years later, Williamsburgh, along with Bushwick, become Brooklyn's Eastern District.

The country towns of southern Kings County were quite happy with their independence. Certainly their political leaders were quite happy with the situation. Especially so in Gravesend, where John Y. McKane ran the town almost singlehandedly. McKane's ambitions were quite grand, and his arrogance made him dangerous enemies in Brooklyn. When he was brought to trial and convicted on election fraud charges in 1894 it wasn't too difficult for Brooklyn politicians to have Gravesend's town charter revoked, along with the charters of Flatbush and New Utrecht. The logic was that these small towns were incapable of self-government. Flatlands, still independent but surrounded by Brooklyn, capitulates two years later. But it was an empty gesture as all of Kings County was to be incorporated into "Greater New York" anyway.

The residents of the former southern towns did little to stop Brooklyn from swallowing them. Outside of the political machines that were being ousted by arrests and disenfranchisement there was no strong community organization. This scenario repeated itself a hundred years later, when community outrage at overdevelopment is confined to the small memberships of local interest organizations. Their voices are but whispers against the loud tones of the developers. The neighborhoods of southern Brooklyn have changed over the years, most who live here now were not born in Brooklyn, and have no attachment to its past. The old-timers who remain, just like their counterparts 110 years early, feel resigned to merely watch as their history and memories are erased before their very eyes.

And all I can do is document what is here before it no longer exists.