Isaac Schenck's Home—Jamaica Avenue
(Highland Park) Looking West

Abraham Linington Home
New Lots Road at Vermont Street

J. Schenck's Home
Foot of East 93rd Street, looking N.W.
(Canarsie Landing)

## "Good Old East New York"

Garrett Duryea House
New Lots Road opposite Wyckoff's Lane
(Wyona St.), 1894

For millions of commuters, East New York is merely a place where the Long Island Railroad stops on its way to and from Jamaica. Yet, within its borders—in the Town of New Lots—Dutch, German and Irish settlers founded a community that was destined to play an important role in the commerce and prosperity of New York.

The first Dutch colonists called the Town of New Lots "et-Oost-wout"—the East Woods. The region became, when cleared of trees, the "New Lots." It extended from the cemetery hills, and what is now Highland Park, on the North, to Jamaica Bay on the South, and from Rockaway Avenue on the West to Elderts Lane on the East.

New Lots Road, frequently noted in Revolutionary War annals, was the major highway through town, and among the pioneers who lived along its winding path were such famous Colonial families as the Van Sindrens, Wyckoffs, Schencks, Rapaljes, Vanderveers, Van Siclens, Lotts and Livingstons. Prosperous farmers, traditionally cautious, they could not be induced to sell their fertile farms for building lots.

It was not until 1835 that the first such sale in the Town of New Lots was made. The move was undoubtedly prompted by a proposal to run the Long Island Railroad further West from its Flatbush Avenue depot to the East River, providing a direct access via the South Ferry to the foot of Wall Street and the business and financial markets of New York.

Among the prominent hotels and road houses along the Turnpike were Howard's Halfway House, Mattowak Hotel, and the famous hostelry of John I. Snediker, popularly known as "John I's." Partly located in the Town of New Lots and partly in Jamaica, the county line ran through John I's parroom. Acquired by the City of Brooklyn in 1869, the building later became the site of the Truant Home, which was destroyed by fire in 1924. It is now the site of Franklin K. Lane High School.

Horse cars were introduced on Broadway in 1866. "The running of the first open car from Broadway Ferry to East New York that summer," writes Heidenreich, "was quite an event. It had seats for forty passengers and was drawn by six white horses. The superintendent of the Broadway Railroad Company handled the reins and the invited guests were entertained at the Howard House. It was an event of unusual importance and was hailed with great delight by the residents of East New York."

Improvements in transit facilities, however, did not come overnight. Though new transit lines within the City of Brooklyn indirectly benefitted East New York, mass transportation did not come to the community until 1885, when an elevated railroad running along Brooklyn's Lexington Avenue to the junction of Gates Avenue and Broadway was opened and extended that same year to East New York. The Kings County Elevated Railway Company quickly followed with trains from Fulton Ferry to East New York on March 24th, 1888. Electric trolleys came a year later.

Across the river, New York City installed its first elevated train in 1870, finished the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, and added the Williamsburg span by 1903. Rushing pell-mell into the complexity of modern civilization, New Yorkers and Brooklynites would soon discover the painful paradox of progress.

Old Howard Half-Way House

Jamaica Avenue Plank Road—Old toll gate on Jamaica Avenue opposite the cemetery at about Hemlock Street

28

Site of Former Post Office at 74 Pennsylvania Avenue

Cast of Trilby—Coterie Dramatic Corps

A Local Merchant of East New York

The Way of Life

Life in East New York in the second half of the nineteenth century was both changeless and changing. The outside world was still a strange land, and you felt uneasy until you returned. Life was simple, self-sustaining and happy, even though light came from kerosene lamps, heat from coal stoves, and water from wells.

St. Clement's Protestant
Episcopal Church.
Organized as a mission
on November 11, 1888.
Located on the corner
of Pennsylvania and
Liberty Avenues

In this photograph of the
church's Vestrymen,
the bank's sixth president—
Edward A. Richards—
can be found in the
top row, extreme left.

Old Time Religion

Building of the old 26th Ward Branch Y.M.C.A.

In 1868, East New Yorkers supported six churches—Reformed, German Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Baptist and Congregational. The first permanent Jewish congregation was organized in 1880.

Of these, the New Lots Dutch Reformed Church is the most historic. Built by its parishioners in 1824 at a cost of $35 for lumber and paint, it still stands today on its original site—New Lots Avenue corner Schenck Avenue. It is now known as the New Lots Reformed Church. In addition to regular services of the established churches, there were open air revival meetings, where the faithful could spend their excess

religious fervor. It is told that when the good sisters at Dave Tibner's camp meetings in the East New York Grove "got religion," they could be heard down in the village.

East New York's first YMCA was organized in 1876, and meetings were held in the Town Hall and later at Schluechtner's Hall and Waggoner's Hall. In October of 1890, a group of citizens met in the home of Ditmas Jewell to raise a fund of $15,000 to build a permanent "Y".

The first building was erected at Pennsylvania and Liberty Avenues and opened on November 3, 1893 as the 26th Ward Branch-YMCA. As the years went by and membership grew, the need for new and larger quarters with more modern facilities became evident. In 1925, the Association purchased the Van Siclen homestead on Jamaica Avenue between Shepherd Avenue and Highland Park, where the present "Y" is located.

One of the guiding forces in the "Y's" development for more than 30 years was the Chairman of its Board of Directors, Judge Edward A. Richards, the sixth president of The East New York Savings Bank, who, as a boy, was a member of the original 26th Ward Branch.

EAST NEW YORK I

The East New York Vest Pocket project is contained in the Central Brooklyn Model Cities area and will provide a variety of improved residential and community facilities through redevelopment and rehabilitation. The plan designates the construction of approximately 2,100 dwelling units for low and middle income families, with convenient community facilities including parks, playgrounds, and shopping areas.

1. Proposed Dwelling Units

Public Housing 931
New Middle Income 530
Rehabilitated Middle Income 698
Total 2,159

2. Relocation

| | Residential | Commercial | Total |
| :--- | :---: | :---: | :---: |
| Maximum workload | 1,359 | 132 | 1,491 |
| Total relocation to date | 850 | 84 | 934 |
| Percent completed | 63% | 64% | 63% |

3. Demolition

Total buildings to be demolished 250
Buildings demolished to date 35
Percent completed 14%

Ninety-five buildings are under contract to be demolished.

4. Land Disposition

Sponsor: Baptist Church Extension Society
(Sites 2, 3, 15, 26, 28)

Architect: Roger Glasgow

Sponsor: Council for a Better East New York and six churches
(Sites 8, 10, 13)

Architect: Roger Glasgow

Sponsor: Community Redemption Foundation and Long Island University (Sites 16, 18, 25)

Architect: John Wilson of Design Group IV

Sponsor: Grace Baptist Church
(Site 32)

Sponsor: Brooklyn Hispanic Organizations and Federation of Community Organizations (Sites 1, 5)

Sponsor: I. U. E. Union Local 485
(Sites 14, 19, 20, 39, 40)

Architect: Norval White

Sponsor: New York City Housing Authority (Sites 4, 5A, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35)

Residential - (745 D. U.'s), (Low income housing)

Field office

2095 Pitkin Avenue
Brooklyn, New York

Tel. 345-6363