THE SURPRISE OF AUNT PATSY
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Last year, after an extensive search, I had the pleasure of discovering “Aunt Patsy.” Having located a nephew of hers in Tennessee, I informed him (a bit nervously) about my project – I was writing a book about our Macon Street house (who writes a book about their own house?) – and told him that I’d love to talk with her (if it was possible). I was surprised to learn that she lived quite close by – the next borough over, actually, in Floral Park, Queens. He gave me her telephone number, telling me she would love to see the house again. “She’s quite a character,” he half-warned and half-encouraged me. Over the following months, Patsy and I talked on the phone for stretches at a time about the house, her childhood memories of the block, and sometimes about nothing in particular. Often, she asked me about my family, my work, and about my life in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Through these conversations we began to develop a relationship that was at once effortless and engaging. In a way, at some point during our talks, she “became” Aunt Patsy. Born in 1936, Patsy lived at my Macon Street house for the first 15 years of her life. Her mother, who was in her 40s […]
BUTCHER, BAKER, UNDERTAKER (1895)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ********************************************************************************************************************************As the sleeping giant that is Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Ralph Avenue begins to awaken from its slumber, it is tempting to take a look back at some of the businesses that once lined this bustling thoroughfare. STUYVESANT EAST OF YORE The eastern section of Stuyvesant was alive with industry in the late part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries. As houses had recently been built along the main streets, stores, schools, and churches had gone up along the avenues and on corners, dotting the landscape with their offerings. The neighborhood, after its initial build-up in the 1890s, became completely self-sufficient in terms of goods and services. Residents of Macon Street, like those from the other streets in the neighborhood, found themselves surrounded by a variety of offerings that would allow them – and their servants, in some cases – to satisfy the needs of their families easily and quickly. THE BUSTLING BUSINESS CORRIDOR THAT WAS RALPH AVENUE Starting in the late 19th century, Ralph Avenue became a busy local business corridor filled with a wide variety of shops and stores that suburban families needed to support households of consumers. Since its inception, the avenue had public transportation, in the way of horse-drawn omnibuses and then later a streetcar line, […]
THE FILTHY STREETS OF STUY HEIGHTS (1891)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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 have lived in Macon Street since Nov. 28, and there has not been a soul to clean that street during that time.” It happened then as it does now – people complain about the condition of their streets and their neighborhood, in general. The above quote was from 1891, back when Stuyvesant Heights was in the throes of a major construction expansion. Apparently, there were construction materials everywhere – filling the streets and clogging the sewers. “There are at least a thousand tons of sand and stone in the street with grass growing all over it,” the same commenter noted. “The sewer is filled up with sand.” It got so bad for this section of town – due to the relatively unregulated construction industry – that every time there was a heavy rain storm, the article continued, residents’ cellars were “flooded with one or two feet of water.” Ironically, our current 21st century Mayor’s Office declared a few years ago that the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant were among the dirtiest in the city. Specifically, the office noted that the cleanliness of 15% of our streets was “unacceptable.” Now that Bed-Stuy is a built-up section of our city, maybe we don’t have much of an excuse for the filth. But it must […]
AFTER “NEGRO,” BEFORE “COLORED,” Pt. II (1920)
(Cont.’d from last week’s “After ‘Negro,’ But Before ‘Colored,’” Pt. I.) The permit for the “colored” Macon Street block party was revoked by the City at the last minute. Apparently, the white residents on Macon Street between Reid and Stuyvesant avenues, “who have been disturbed by the prospect of a block party there tonite for the benefit of a negro church are now at ease.” “The permit,” the July 1920 Brooklyn Eagle story noted, “which had been issued for roping off the block party” was revoked by the Highways Department, whose officials explained that Lucy Mayers had presented a petition from a number of residents on the block, asking permission for the party to be held.” However, as the residents of the block were predominantly white, when “some of them heard of the block party to be held for negroes they presented a counter petition with 140 names, a majority of the residents of the block, to the department, which then revoked the permit.” Police at the Ralph Avenue station said that “they had never been notified of the permit and they would have objected to the party,” if it had been held. The article does not say if the police meant that they would have objected to a party held by “colored folks” that was objected to by white residents, or if they would have objected to a “colored” block party, in general. The block party’s church committee stated that they were “returning the money for tickets bought for […]
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 […]
THE GENTRIFICATION OF SARATOGA PARK (1896)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Around the mid-1890s, the public in the Eastern District of Brooklyn – in what would come to be known as the Stuyvesant Heights section of Bedford-Stuyvesant – began clamoring for a space for a local park. There were three things driving this support: 1) the extension of the Brooklyn street grid system, along with 2) failing attempts by local governments in keeping pace with the growing population in the 25th Ward, and partly due to 3) the success and popularity of Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. As a result, the City’s aldermen, sensing the growing aspiration for “breathing space” in the locality, went looking around for an adequate stretch of land to acquire for a park – something that would suit the local residents. After a thorough exploration within the ward, the City’s elders settled upon a square little more than 3 acres in size, bounded by Halsey and Macon streets, and Howard and Saratoga avenues. Other than the fact that it was in a very desirable location, it was really the only choice they had – it was the single available piece of undeveloped land in the district of its size. O! And then there was the price… JAMES CLINTON BROWER ENTERS THE SCENE This singular […]
A BROWNSTONE DETECTIVES BOOK: PROGRESS!
This is from a chapter of a book we are currently working on! Those of you who’ve been to our home may recognize the woodwork along the left side of this image. Our graphic designer has a way with re-imagining 122-year-old millwork! Tell us how you like it! 🙂
CPL. ALBERT G. MASON (A BEDSTUY HERO)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 2014, The Brownstone Detectives partnered with the New York City Parks Department to help celebrate the lives of the servicemembers of Bedford-Stuyvesant Heights who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War. We researched these heroes to locate pictures, stories, and their descendants to be brought together for a ceremony that dedicated a new “Victory and Peace” war memorial at Saratoga Park. This biography tells the story of one of those servicemembers. CORPORAL ALBERT G. MASON Born in the Stuyvesant section on 3 April 1893, Albert G. Mason was the son of Mrs. Minnie Clifford Mason. Although he grew up at 591 Bainbridge and 798 Macon Street, his mother was living at 117 Patchen Avenue during the war. Mason was a member of the 47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, and had been in the Army for seven years before the U.S. got involved in WWI. He had served at that point from the Philippines to Texas to Mexico, but soon would find himself in another more dangerous theatre of war. On May 25th, 1918, Mason’s regiment landed at Brest in France. Two months were spent training with British and French units before July 27th, when “the Raiders” (the nickname of the 47th) were marching knee deep in mud to […]
Brownstone Detectives on TV
OK, all you house history fans! A certain TV network will be at Brownstone Detective H.Q. in May to begin filming an episode of a television series. The show will focus on the first family that lived in the house, The Corletts, and the “unfortunate occurrences” that seemed to emanate from the house in its early days. BAD LUCK? YOU DECIDE… It all started when the initial architect/builders of 738 Macon Street purchased the lot for the house and began building. About halfway through its construction, though, the house would go into foreclosure. About a year later, the man who would eventually finish building the house, Wilfred Burr, A.K.A. “Lucky 13,” would buy the foreclosure property in a tax sale. After the sale was completed, Burr had saved enough money in the purchase that he was able to add an additional floor to the home, increasing its number of rooms from 9 – to 13. Finally, after Burr completed the house, it would become the 13th house on the block. But the the odd luck didn’t end there. When the Corletts moved into 738 Macon Street, all seemed to be smooth sailing until the family matriarch, Margaret, passed away. Like dominoes, every year thereafter, until 1900, a Corlett would die – Margaret’s son, John; her son-in-law, Robert; and her daughter, Eleanor. At this point, Margaret’s remaining child, Robert, decided presumably to get his family away from the house. He sold the property to a flipper and moved the family to […]
