TILTING AT FLATBUSH WINDMILLS (1879)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** It was iconic like the Williamsburg Bank building (1 Hanson Place) at Flatbush Avenue. It had stood on the same Flatbush farm for 75 years – a relic of our Dutch past and a connection to our Brooklyn roots. Most Brooklyn residents had never seen it – but everyone knew of it. It had even made such an impression on the psyche of 19th century Brooklynites that socialite Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt included its destruction in her book, The Social History of Flatbush. And, incredibly, it had even had a special significance to the “colored” people of New York and Brooklyn, as it was used during the Civil War draft riots of 1863 – which had spread from New York to Brooklyn – to shelter much of the city’s black population. By the late 19th century, though, it was no longer operable as a windmill. As landmarks went, however, no one could relegate the structure to any sort of second class status. It was a Brooklyn landmark through and through. But all of that changed on a single night in 1879 when, through the bottom windows, the Vanderveer windmill began to spout flames. CONFLAGRATION! The flames rose so high, filling the eastern expanse of the night’s horizon, that people in the center […]
