The sun., 1900-08-26
BROOKLYN'S GREAT BOOM.
TEE ALMOST BBwILDBRINs GRoHTH
OF TEE BOROUGH IN FIVE YEARS.

VI Inn DohsOsoH N@'
n 10 Already the Great city Of Homes" In
the Upited states-It II 20 he the Real New
York-Consoiidstion and Trolley Develop
ment Responsible for the ChanEe-Purs
Air and Detached Houses In Less Than
Three Quarters OF an Hour From the New
York Eni Of the BridEe-No Limit to the
Growth-The Elaborate Trolley Service.
The census nEures Just issued show an In
crease OF s7s os5 individuals. or 80 IL per cent.
IN the population OF Brooklyn in the decade be-
tween 1890 and 1900. But these are mere hg-
ures They give no adequate idea OF the nor
nous expansion OF the great borough across
the East River. Sul less do they convey an
idea OF the astonishing era OF development
which really has only Just begun there.
As matter Of fact the mere numerical
growth Of the borough has been. To great er-
tent, accomplished not In ten years but In the
last Ave. 1t dates. for the most part, from the
movement Of consolidation. or at all events
from the expansion Of the trolley systems. and
this last has been mainly accomplished within
four years
The growth Of Brooklyn a. shown by the CEN
sis figures has been chiefly the work OF Ave. or
even four, years You still are far from having
any Just basis from which TO estimate the sur
prising things the near future has in store for
the borough. II Ia only by going and seeing
with your oun eyes that you will begin to grasp
the trome ndous possibilities that arc ahead OF
the big borough. And they are more than
possibilities moro than probabilities They
arc a. near oertainties as any human events
can be.
The handwriting is on the wall that Brooklyn
IA to be the big end Of New York. II sthe
future big city the greatest city of homes on
the continent Tbe great paatal hotels OF the
metropolis will not be there The sights OF
the big city will not be In Brooklyn, but Brook
lyn will be one Of the sights the bggest sight
Witch visitors from afar will have TO see. II
thew want 70 know where and how the over
rhelninR ma ajorlty NJ the thrifty. prosperous
New York workers live they have TO cross the
East River Brooklyn already Is called the
Borough Of Homes. And the presents only tho
beginning
The work OF home making that has taken
nlace within the past five years is but the
foundation work the clearing OF the ground Tor
that which Is TO come. Acres and square acres
Of homes are in process OF construction IN he
territory already within the borough houn-
dares Acres and square acres more are tacts
Of the not distant future in the unlimited terri
tory b,yond those boundaries the unlimited
territory which spreads away eastward Tor
BROOKLYN To grow over and absorb. Even now
Philadelphia no longer has precedence as tho
civ Of Homes New York with its Brooklyn
Is the City Of Homes.
When. following consolidation. came the eI-
pan,ion Of tho trolley line systems and the run
ming OF cars and trains from Park row to re-
mote outlying BROOKLYN districts, II was liks
the opening Of safety valve on boiler under
hlgh tension. Manhattan. long crowded and
overcrow ded and getting relief only by squeez-
ing Its way to the region Of comparatSe elbow
room far TO the north. swept Brooklynward
with n rush Wise men In their generation
had foreseen in measure what was
coming Farms which had beer farms
for generations back suddenly became
tracts divided into city lots. and fitted
out with all tho varieties of names that Sug-
Rest ideas OF shade and breezes and aristo-
cratic reserve "Hursts' and 'Manors' and
"Crests" and "MAres' and Parks" broke
out like a rash all over the suburban cab
bage and potato patches. or course the
great crush was, and still is, toward the spen-
did ridge that trends along down parallel with
the beach front. and which forms such an IDEAL
site for homes-homes that are at once city
homes and seaside homes with all that the
last means Of pure air and cool breezes.
FARMERS MADE MUCH or THE MONEY.
Il was not always the real estate spectators
either who made the money out OF this mar
veous transition from farm lands to city lots. |
Many of the farmers themselves were shrewd
enough to see what was coming and to know
that history had afforded instances more than
once Of twenty-fo foot city lot selling for what
not long before. would have been considered a
good prica for an acre Of ground. They held on
10 their holdings and when the tide swept down |
and eddied all around them they stood upon
their little princpalities and watched them be-
come islands in the sea OF population. Then |
they fixed Their own figures when they talked |
with the real estate speculator, Either that, or
they went into the hurst" and the manor
and the "by-the-sea" business on their own
account.
And all this stir In real estate was anticpatory.
1t was actually on before the troleys got across
the Bridge. and when It was only talk. as OF
possibility that one day you might take an ee-
vated train at Park Row and go without change
20 Manhattan Beach, or an electric car and 90
to Coney Island. And even when the fact came
that you could get 10 any part of Brooklyn
from Manhattan City Hall In from thirty
minutes to an hour-even then It took
New Workers a little time to grasp what It
meant to them, They were used to the high
rents and the sardne packing. They did not
like II. but It had come to be a habit with them
to regardit as an inevitable "what-are-you-
going to -do-about-it" part Of existence. The
news aapers and the dead walls were ablaze
with 'own-your-home" advertisements before
the people woke up to appreciate that the
houses you could own were not in Lionel willie
or Mosquitohurst, but In New York homes
that were near to the City Hall and moro
comfortably accessible therefrom than
were the fats and houses for which
they were paving big rents in Harlem
#t..Ig -