SO A TAXICAB JUMPS INTO A FOUNTAIN… (1909)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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 Brooklyn woke up one April morning in 1909, there in Prospect Park Plaza’s “Electric Fountain” sat a little blue taxicab. To many, the thing appeared as though it had always belonged there. Some wondered whether they’d simply not noticed it all along. But others realized that something was wrong. Something was certainly wrong. THE CASE OF THE IMPETUOUS TAXICAB It seems as though the Grand Army Plaza has always had a fountain. But back when the plaza was called Prospect Park Plaza and it encompassed a larger amount of land, that fountain was much larger and took up much more space. The fountain was then what was called an “electric fountain,” and after it was installed it would attract people by the thousands each year when the lights and the water were turned on. One year, after the winter had passed and after the water was supposed to have filled the reservoir, with the jets darting, and the lights dancing, the fountain sat silent. So, as popular as the fountain was to Brooklyn, the reporters of the city had descended upon Parks Commissioner Kennedy about it’s inactivity. And in the midst of the hubbub – came the crash. HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT It was 11:30 on a Sunday night […]
THE WILLIAMSBURG FIRE DEPT (1920)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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 about the early 1920s, comes this black & white Throwback Thursday photograph of the “Men of Hook and Ladder 104 with a hook and ladder, 161-163 South Second Street,” superimposed on the top of a Google Map (courtesy Department of Records and Google Maps). The second pic shows the same men in front of their engine house. The firehouse was established at this exact location in 1885 and exists to this day there. Follow @BrownstoneDetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
POLICE COMMISH LIKES THE LADIES (1915)
When Brooklyn’s Deputy Police Commissioner Godley laid eyes on the beauties in the newspaper spread, he couldn’t contain himself. He wrote to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to offer them police protection. “It is unusual for us to offer police assistance, since we ordinarily have enough work to do for all of the policemen we have and a good many more, but I am sure that you will need it after publishing photographs of but four of the beautiful young women of Brooklyn.” So, he made the following offer: “We shall be glad to furnish whatever protection may be necessary even to the extent of calling out the entire force.” The Eagle, in response, offered a poem, the last two stanzas of which we offer here – the first of which comes in the voice of the Deputy Commissioner Godley himself, followed by an answer from the newspaper: “If harm seems to threaten those charming young misses; We’ll keep them in Brooklyn, where nothing but bliss is. But why publish four, when you know that is hardly Fair to other Brooklyn girls? – Yours truly, Godley.” “Dear Godley” – (The Eagle makes haste to respond) “We note your advice, so please don’t despond; Send us lots of photos of beauties – don’t stint ’em; Be assured that The Eagle will be glad to print ’em.” Five years later women would begin to be taken more seriously. No longer just beauties to be gawked at in newspaper spreads, in 1920 they would […]
MOOKIE, A CHILD BRIDE & A PET HORSE
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Not much exciting took place at 173 Stuyvesant Avenue throughout its 140+ year history – unless you count 1) Spike Lee’s movie, “Do The Right Thing,” 2) a pet horse, or 3) a child bride. MOOKIE’S CRIB The brownstone where director Spike Lee’s character “Mookie” lived in the 1989 movie, “Do The Right Thing,” 173 Stuyvesant Avenue sits at the corner of Quincy Street. Filmed at various additional locations in Bedford-Stuyvesant – but mostly on Stuyvesant Avenue – “Do The Right Thing” was a commercial success that featured the debuts of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. A few years back, Spike Lee was in the news not only for his vilification of his old neighborhood’s “gentrifiers,” but also for his own request for a change in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Lee saw that change after he lobbied to have Stuyvesant Avenue – between Lexington Avenue And Quincy Street – renamed “Do The Right Thing Way.” YES, VIRGINIA, THERE WAS A HISTORY BEFORE SPIKE LEE Built at some point before 1877, it was listed for rent that year as a “partially furnished,” “two story basement brown stone house.” The owners included a rather interestingly worded phrase in this ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, stating that they were willing to “let the whole or part […]
WONG SING BOW’S WHITE WIFE MINNIE (1877)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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 1886, the life that Wong Sing Bow had been building up for years began to crumble before his eyes. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Wong Sing had been born “a subject of the emperor of China.” But he had been in America “long enough to save considerable money and to appreciate the beauty of Irish girls,” said one paper of the time. Wong Sing spoke English fluently and was often called upon by the authorities to interpret. With all that Wong Sing had going for him, it had originally seemed likely that he was going to have a good life. But this was the 1800s. And Wong Sing was Chinese. ANTI-CHINESE PREJUDICE IN 19TH CENTURY BROOKLYN After Wong Sing’s arrival in the U.S. around 1870, according to one paper, “the celestial youth immediately fitted himself in the groove of circumstances. “He decided to become intensely American. He shaved his cue off, doffed his Chinese garb, proclaimed his intention to become a citizen, and went to Sunday school ‘all samme like Melican man.’” Apparently, the papers, like most Americans, had no politically correct bent in those days. But the Chinese were located squarely at the bottom of the social construct – just slightly beneath the Irish and the Germans – and so […]
THE CLOCK HOUSE OF CLINTON HILL (1914)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Nothing says “time’s a-wastin’” like the gift of a good clock. And that “tick-tick-tick” on the old mantel back in the day was a constant reminder that there were only a certain number of hours, minutes, and seconds within each day. And, more than anyone else, James Arthur knew it. A CLOCK, A CLOCK, MY KINGDOM FOR A CLOCK! James Arthur, a wealthy industrialist and owner of a machine works in Brooklyn, collected all manner of timepieces. He also fixed them, traded them, dreamt about them, and talked about them all day long – literally. He lectured on clocks, giving hundreds of speeches on timepieces in his lifetime. And as a rich Brooklynite he had a lot of that time on his hands. He traveled. He sought out clocks. He talked some more about clocks through interpreters in foreign lands. Then, at some point, he realized that he needed a home for all of those clocks. And with the number of clocks he owned, it would need to be a big one. No. 357 CLINTON AVENUE – THE CLOCK HOUSE In 1914, Arthur found that place. It wasn’t a new building, and it likely needed some work, but it was grand, had great presence, and – most importantly – it was […]
