#History

Originally part of Bay Ridge, the area got its own name with the creation of Sunset Park in 1891. Today, the neighborhood extends from Prospect Expressway to 65th Street and Eighth Avenue to the waterfront. Sunset Park’s first major development began after the Civil War when manufacturing enterprises were established on its waterfront. Beginning in the 1880s, the inland area developed as a residential neighborhood for middle- and working-class families, including many who worked on the waterfront. A major stimulant to its growth was the establishment in 1889 of a ferry service to and from Manhattan at Second Avenue and 39th Street. Sunset Park’s first waves of immigrants were Irish, German, and Scandinavian, but by the late 19th century, immigrants from Italy, Greece, and Poland also arrived. To accommodate them, large swaths of rowhouses were built. Puerto Rican and other Latin American populations began settling here in the 1940s, and large numbers of Asian immigrants arrived in the 1980s, establishing Brooklyn’s first and New York City’s third “Chinatown.” Sunset Park’s standout building type is the masonry rowhouse. In fact, Sunset Park contains one of the earliest and most extensive concentrations of two-family masonry rowhouses in the city. Mostly built between 1885 and 1912, these stunning blocks are accented by commercial thoroughfares and institutional and religious buildings mostly completed by the early 1930s. #history #sunsetpark

The initial development of Sunnyside was inspired by the garden city movement that had gained prevalence in England. Between 1924 and 1928, developers constructed the housing development of Sunnyside Gardens, inspiring a wave of residential newcomers to the area. The timing of this development would prove inopportune, as close to 60 percent of homes in the area were foreclosed upon followed by the depression. In early 2003, an initiative was started to preserve the historic value of the neighborhood, with residents and champions of the cause fighting to have the district rezoned as a New York City Historic District. In 2007, the area was finally designated by the Landmark Preservation Society. With these protections in place, Sunnyside has been on a gradual return to its former and original charm. #history

Let's recall some past memories: Off of Center Drive, there are 2,000 gravestones and buried bodies, much older than the park itself. This property, the only private property in the park, is a cemetery owned by the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers. Established in 1849, though it is believed there are graves that date to the 1820s, the 10-acre Quaker cemetery remains active to this day. In the original plan for the park by civil engineer Egbert Viele, which would have made the park about 55% smaller, the cemetery wasn’t even within the bounds. It is easy to miss as it is in a fenced-off area of woods and the stones are small and simple. Buried inside are a few famous Quakers such as Raymond Ingersoll, a former Brooklyn Borough President, and actor Montgomery Clift. #prospectpark #history

Let's dive in to the history: Borough Park is a neighborhood in southwestern Brooklyn, lying within New Utrecht southeast of Greenwood Cemetery bounded to the north by 37th Street, to the east by McDonald Avenue, to the south by 64th Street, to the west by Eighth Avenue and its eruv covers 225 blocks. The neighborhood is densely populated and mostly residential, with few parks. Often spelled Boro Park, the area was the site of commercial nurseries in the early nineteenth century and was developed in the 1880s as Blythebourne by Electus B. Litchfield, which the post office is still named after. Initially, the residents were comfortably middle class. Jews from Williamsburg arrived by the 1920s and Italians from the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1930s. Boro Park is rightfully known as the “baby boom capital” of New York City, not only for its high birth rate but also because more babies are delivered at the local hospital, Maimonides Medical Center, than any other hospital in New York. Responding to the needs of this growing unique population, many social welfares, and charitable Jewish organizations and institutions were formed. Among the more notable ones are Chevra Hatzolah, Shomrim, Chaverim, Tomchei Shabbos, Bikur Cholim of Boro Park, and later an Eruv Society and dozens of small, community-based charity groups. By 2009 Orthodox or Hasidic Jews accounted for about 80 percent of the population. Today, there are close to 300 shekels; small intimate synagogues preferred by most acids, and close to 100 of them are formal synagogues in synagogue-like buildings, about 130 religious schools, which enroll close to 30,000 students, and more than 20 Hasidic sects, including Belz(er), the Bobov, the Ger, the Satmar, the Skver, the Pupa, the Klausenberg, and the Viznitz. #history #boroughpark

Hey Friends! Let me tell you something interesting about Flatlands! While the flatlands are a huge part of the U.S. natural heritage, only about one percent of the original prairie remains in a pristine state. Many local organizations and communities have gone to great lengths to restore the prairie and stem the vanishing ecosystem. One such successful effort is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, a showcase of breathtaking prairies and grasslands named after one of the prominent architects of modern conservation. If you visit expecting to find flat, rolling grasslands, think again. Surreally textured with badland terrain, the volcanic rock structures may feel like you’ve journeyed to another planet. No wonder this otherworldly environment prompted the park’s presidential namesake to claim that the great romance of his life began here. #flatlands #legacy #history

Hey Friends! Let me share some info about Park slope: 1) Park slope’s name derives from its location relative to prospect park. 2) Park slope is home to one of the city’s oldest street signs. 3) There are over 50 species of butterflies and over 25 species of dragonflies at prospect park. 4) Prospect park was designed by the same architects who created central park. 5) The brooklyn dodgers used to play at park slope from 1879 to 1889. 6) Al capone’s childhood roots are from park slope. 7) The goddess of victory statue on the grand army plaza took a tumble in 1976. #parkslope #history