THE WHITE ELEPHANT OF AVENUE “O” (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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** We came across an old newspaper photograph from 1914, republished 30 years later in an old newspaper in 1954. This picture not only celebrates our first entry for a house in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, but it specifically illustrates a “long-familiar landmark in Old Flatlands.” So noted the text accompanying the picture in the Old-Timers section of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from May of 1954. Having stumbled across this interesting picture, we were curious to learn if the 2-story and basement structure in question – No. 5407 Avenue O, Brooklyn – was still there, and, by the way, if it was still “white.” So, we looked the address up on Google Maps, expecting to find a shopping mall or a 1940s era soap factory, and – miracle of miracles – there it was! There is a “newer” house to the left of it now, and it seems to have been faced with some vinyl siding (yes, white), but the house appears to be largely as it was back in 1914. The story accompanying the pic in the 1954 article reads as follows: “THE OLD WHITE ELEPHANT”-This picture, taken in 1914, shows a long-familiar landmark in Old Flatlands located at 5407 Avenue O.” COMPLETE FAMILY “The Di Carlo family is shown. […]
WATCHING THE (HOUSE) DETECTIVES…
Have you ever wondered about the people who once lived in your house? Where did they sleep? How did they dress? Were they bankers, doctors, carpenters, engineers…? What were the hopes that encouraged them to go on and the secrets that kept them awake at night? Well, if you live at 738 Macon Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn – which is a decidedly very low probability – then you are privy to the answers to these questions. And more. Brownstone Detectives, an historical investigation team, published 738 Macon Street: The Story of a House, a 170-page full color coffee table book laying out the history of the brownstone house at that address. Published in 2014, it was their first book of many others to follow. Since then, they have gone on to publish more than 50 others for homeowners in Brooklyn and Manhattan. And they plan to expand soon to the remaining boroughs and eventually to the tri-state region. Their first book – like the many that have come after it – spanned the ownership of the house for many generations, including the ownership of the land that the house was built on back to the time of the original Dutch settlers. The story is revealed in a manner that seamlessly weaves the individual owners’ stories into one continuous and flowing narrative. Rich, colorful pictures, ancestral documents, newspaper clippings, and architectural records fill the almost 200-page hardbound document. FALLING INTO HISTORY… Brian Hartig, the chief Brownstone Detective, fell […]
HOW A CENSUS-TAKER SAVED OUR BLOCK (1900)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** I can tell you a little bit about every single family on my block. Well, not the present day families, of course – that might be a little creepy. Actually, it is a lot easier to extract such personal information about the families that lived on my block more than 100 years ago – in the year 1900. No, I am not a mesmerist or paranormal investigator. I don’t read cards or tea leaves. Nor do I make tables float or ask the spirit guides to knock in answer to my questions. I happen to use a less fantastic, more pedestrian source for this type of information for my answers. For, you see, I am a Brownstone Detective – and I use the 1900 Federal Census. I’M FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND I’M HERE TO HELP. The founders of our Federal government in the 18th century demanded that a decennial census be instituted. The demand was delineated within the U.S. Constitution, and the first attempt at listing Americans took place in 1790. The State of New York decided, too, that knowing who lived within its political boundaries was important. And so the state also began taking its own census in 1825. It was a decennial census, as well, which, in order […]
REDEMPTION COMES FOR A BOY FIREBUG (1913)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** (Ed.’s Note: A few weeks ago we received a letter from out of the blue. The writer claimed something fantastic – something astounding. It was a coincidence that spawned a story which gave life to an incredible – but true – tale. A story that we had written in a Brownstone Detectives blog several months earlier had recently popped up in this gentleman’s Google search about his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather, though, was no ordinary Brooklynite. For months in 1899 he had set fires in the houses – and fear in the hearts – of the Brooklynites of the Eastern District. He had also set the city to talk about, theorize on, and fabricate what had been causing the fires and where they would blaze next. The story you will read lays out the very particulars and the characters involved in the case. It is written by a particularly credible and relevant source of the information, information that was uncovered through some keen and dedicated detective work. For the gumshoe detective work behind this piece of crime investigation was performed by a man who only last year came to learn of this fantastic and amazing tale – fantastic because it was about his family, and amazing because no one in his family […]
A CARIBBEAN HISTORY OF BED-STUY (2014)
“There is more serendipity in heaven and earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy.” Although that is not an exact quote from Shakespeare, it is close enough for my purposes. It very adequately lends a certain je-ne-sais-quoi to a chance experience I had a few years ago here in Bedford-Stuyvesant. FINDING AUNT CAR It was 2014, I found a posting on a genealogical site by a woman searching for information about a relative of hers named Caroline Gill. Since, at that time, I had been researching the lineage of my home – a 120-year-old brownstone in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn – I knew that one of the previous owners of my house went by that name, so my interest was piqued. I responded to the APB-like message and gave what information I had, hoping for an exchange. As it turned out, that poster, Stacey Maupin Torres, had more information about Caroline than I had ever found. This she began to share with me in what can only be described as pages of beautifully descriptive prose. I could tell that there was love in her words and I consumed them with an avid interest. In one of her emails, though, she casually mentioned some information that I was sure that she didn’t know I already possessed. She told me that her “Aunt Car” had lived in a beautiful old brownstone at 738 Macon Street in Brooklyn – the house my husband and I had been living in for […]
WHERE WAS THIS PICTURE TAKEN? PT. II (1924)
Junior Brownstone Detectives! In last week’s episode, “Where Was This Picture Taken, Pt. I,” we challenged you to a task of monumental proportions: “Study an historic photograph and determine where in Brooklyn it was taken.” As you’ll recall, while the photograph had some distinguishing elements in it, the location of the subject was not immediately discernible. Each of the elements therein could have been found within any of the sections of the borough. We decided, though, that studying the elements of the picture itself, along with just a bit of information about the individual within the picture, we might determine, with great specificity, exactly where the photograph was taken. Today, we are going to review some sources that the Brownstone Detectives use on a daily basis to solve everyday dilemmas such as this one. AN HISTORICAL DETECTIVE’S TOOLKIT Where do we begin when attempting to determine the Brooklyn location of an old photograph? There are a number of resources that can be of use in any mystery such as this. For the particular one we’ve presented you with, though, we will list the resources that we often use and show you how to use them in attempting to find a solution: Ancestry.com – If you have a name connected with the subject in the photo, as we did, this is always a good place to begin your search. At Ancestry.com, using the search function, place any names that you have into the engine, and then see what pops up. With […]
THE RETURN OF AUNT CAR (2013)
A few years ago, I found a posting on a genealogical site searching for information about a person named Caroline Gill. One of the owners of my house went by that name, so my interest was piqued. I wrote and gave the poster what information I knew, hoping for an exchange. As it turned out, that poster, Stacey Maupin Torres, had more information about Caroline than I ever did, which she began to share with me. In her reply, though, she casually mentioned some information that she didn’t know I already had. She told me that her “Aunt Car” had lived at 738 Macon Street in Brooklyn. As I read her message, I began to realize that I had not divulged to her that I lived in her aunt’s old house. So, imagine Stacey’s surprise when I told her that I was writing to her from that very house! After this revelation, every email we wrote to one another seemed to be pages in length. Stacey would tell me details about her Aunt Car’s and Uncle Henry’s lives (they lived at 738 Macon Street in the 1950s and 1960s), and I would tell her what 738 Macon Street is like now, and send her pictures of the house – including invitations to come and visit. Stacey told me that, in the 1960s, she had lived in Queens and had been to 738 Macon Street with her family many, many times. Her Aunt Car, she explained, had had large family gatherings […]
