GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE… (1776)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In today’s great efforts to preserve our historical heritage, particularly as regards the ancient homesteads of our forebears, it gives great sadness to learn of the loss of old structures which once graced our city. One such house not only stood at one time as the last of its type, but it also had borne witness to historical events which contributed to the foundation of our country. Inside of the old Boughton House, which at one time existed close to the Wallabout Bay on Cumberland Street at about No. 33, George Washington had sat often in conference with his military leadership on the point of repelling the British occupational force during the Battle of Brooklyn. The “mansion,” which stood directly in line of the fortifications and redoubts thrown up by the Continental troops, found itself “smack in the middle” of these military improvements. It was an old-style dwelling of Dutch Colonial Architecture, with eaves and garrets, and was a true relic of Revolutionary times. There is no official record of when the house was erected, but around 1915 when workmen were repairing the roof, they found a shingle bearing the inscription “Erected 1727.” Later during the war, when Mr. Boughton’s house was used to quarter British soldiers,, the prison ship Jersey […]
RUTH & SAM & THE BUSHWICK FIRES (1977)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1977, a great conflagration burned out the very heart of Bushwick. It was, at the time, one of the largest-scale fires that the Fire Department had ever fought. A 10-alarm fire, it would become “one of the largest structural fires in the city’s history,” according to the New York Times. It started suspiciously at the corner of Knickerbocker Avenue and Bleecker Street in the old Schwaben Hall, an historic German meeting hall most lately used as a knitting factory. According to the Times, the fire would rage down seven blocks of houses, destroying 23 buildings, and forcing the evacuation of more than 250 people. The destructive fire came directly on the heels of the infamous Blackout of 1977, and although the fire would smolder for days after being put out, it took about three to five hours, initially, for 55 units of firefighters from Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, to get it under control. And even with this number of firefighters on the scene, it was apparent that they were working without the tools they needed to fight a fire of this intensity. Since the fire hydrants had been used by city residents throughout the summer to keep cool, they were low on water. Also, firefighters were working with an historic […]
OCEAN HILL VS. OCEAN HILL
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Before there was Ocean Hill, there was…Ocean Hill…. Researching the history of this Brooklyn moniker, though, points you in the direction of two very different places with two very different histories. There is the original Ocean Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery, a geographic location used famously by George Washington during the American Revolution. And then, there is the Ocean Hill in the eastern section of Bedford-Stuyvesant, created by developers in 1860s Bushwick. The only characteristic the two places have had in common – other than the name – was a view of the ocean from their perches. But, now, even that is gone for one of them. OCEAN HILL – GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY Ocean Hill in Brooklyn’s City of the Dead, Green-Wood Cemetery, is likely as old as the cemetery itself, which dates from 1838. While it was not likely known as such during the American Revolution, the high vantage point was used by George Washington before the Battle of Brooklyn to observe the British forces, which were gathering to the south (and which would subsequently drive him out of New York). Ocean Hill according to Green-Wood Illustrated (issue 1), “is one of the most elevated spots in the Cemetery,” and “it occupies the north-eastern corner of the grounds.” “The sea itself,” the […]
CAN WE IDENTIFY THESE PEOPLE? (1911)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** When Brownstone Detectives was recently questioned as to the possibility of identifying the people in this touring car from a 1911 short film – we took up that challenge. Historical research has taken a decidedly good turn in recent years with the advent of Google Books, Ancestry.com, and a variety of other now available research tools, archives, and resources. What was nearly impossible just 10 years ago has become not only possible, but probable. With the current box of tools available to us we can tell you everything there is to know about a variety of historical issues – we can investigate the history of your New York City property, track down historic photographs of your house and, often, its former residents/owners, determine how much people were paying in rent as your house’s boarders, and even discover the ages, occupations, and birth locations of almost everyone who ever lived in your house. Taken a step further, these tools have also allowed us the capacity to take a photograph and, with the right clues, determine where it was taken, who was in it, and where they lived. THE BEAUTY OF A RESTORED 1911 NEW YORK CITY FILM Take, for instance, a lately discovered 1911 reel of New York City that has been […]
FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING! (1895)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** From an 1895 issue of Brooklyn Life magazine comes this hopeful look forward to that year’s Spring through the words of The Mikado’s “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring (Tra-la).” The Mikado was about to enjoy a revival at The Savoy Theatre that year, and all indications were that it was a smashing success. “If the enthusiastic applause with which The Mikado was received last night at the Savoy Theatre is any criterion of success,” the New York Times wrote, “the revival of Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan’s popular opera should lead to as long a run as it achieved on its first production.” Brooklyn Life produced this drawing of six women (“flowers that bloom in the spring”) dressed in what appears to be costumes appropriate for the Spring. According to the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), Brooklyn Life chronicled “the social and economic life of Brooklyn from 1890 to 1931.” The BHS continues: “Looking through the issues one can see in the early issues the importance of bicycles, but at the turn of the century the emphasis turns toward the automobile. Other topics of the magazine include fashion trends, advertisements by Brooklyn businesses, real estate developments in up-and-coming neighborhoods like Flatbush and Ditmas Park, photographs of the then new construction in […]
A GANGLAND SLAYING AT 162 COURT (1922)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ********************************************************************************************************************************Above: The “Navy Yard Gang,” (l to r), (1) Stephen Collins, (2) John Keogh, (3) William Evans, (4) Frank Evans, and (5) Pellegrino Mucci On a frigid February evening in 1922, three young men stepped into the dimly lighted drugstore at No. 162 Court street in Cobble Hill. Druggist Paul J. Gillman, looking up from behind his counter, suspected something was up – the men, who seemed to be barely out of their teens, moved with a sense of purposelessness filled with less-than-good intentions. Gillman noticed as the first young man, who stood by the case in front of his prescription counter, pulled something from his coat and then began to walk towards the passageway leading to the place behind the counter where Gillman stood. “I just stood at the entrance and pointed the gun at him,” the gunman, William Evans, 23, of No. 24 Fort Greene Place, later explained to the police. “I told him to put his hands up.” The night, which was planned to be spent on a simple hold-up, would not turn out as the members of the “Navy Yard Gang” had expected, however, as Gillman would not be encouraged by what he certainly thought were young boys attempting to get away with a prank. Gillman, not complying […]
