BROOKLYN’S FIRST GENTRIFIER (1814)
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?
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It was the evolution and availability of transportation which initiated this whole Brooklyn gentrification hubub.
But it started earlier than most people realize – in 1814.
HOW A FERRY RIDE HELPED MAKE BROOKLYN THE ORIGINAL SUBURB
A 2014 New York Times article laid out the story of how Manhattanites began their adventures in outer borough living – specifically, Brooklyn – when they started looking for cheaper digs and some lebensraum, or “elbow room,” in 1814.
Regular ferry service, from Manhattan to Fulton Street in Brooklyn, started in that year when the twin-hulled Nassau, of the Fulton and South Ferry Company, carried “549 passengers, one wagon and three horses” to the borough.
AMERICA’S FIRST COMMUTER
Was Brooklyn where it all began? The New York Times article noted that the first man to board that ferry on 10 May of 1814 could “justly be called America’s first commuter.”
Whether this claim is justifiable or not, another claim might be “justly” made:
The ferry service which began on that day could arguably have kick-started the birth of gentrification.
Throughout the century, as workers on Manhattan sought and found affordable housing in Brooklyn, farmers were pushed from the land. Like many selling their brownstones in Brooklyn today, though, they made tidy profits in the exchange, as Brooklyn City’s elders saw the writing on the wall and began entirely re-mapping a new Brooklyn.
BUT WHO DID THE FARMERS REPLACE?
Of course, this story is as old as time, and the original gentrifiers are numerous and spread far afield.
Our memories, though, go back only so far as they are convenient and allow us to understandably fight only those wars that affect our day-to-day lives.
As such, our first 1814 commuting gentrifier exists as simply a footnote to the ever-expanding and ubiquitous search for lebensraum.
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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.
