Park Slope Branch, ca.1925. Completed in 1906 to the designs of Raymond F. Almirall, the current Park Slope Branch was originally named the Prospect Branch (it was renamed in 1975). Raymond F. Almirall designed four Brooklyn branches and was a member of the Brooklyn Carnegie Committee’s Architects’ Advisory Commission. Built in a Classic Revival style, the building is set back from the street and is symmetrical in floorplan. The interior of this branch is notable for being particularly ornate and largely still original. The entrance floor is a multi-colored mosaic and the walls of the reading rooms are clad in wooden wainscoting. Other interior features include arched stained glass windows and tiled and wood-framed fireplaces.

In 2013 the Brooklyn Collection acquired several boxes of Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia from Al Todres, a lifelong collector. Todres certainly wasn’t the only one actively collecting Brooklyn Dodgers material nearly 60 years after the team was transferred to Los Angeles. Why does a baseball team that left Brooklyn in the middle of the last century still inspire so much loyalty and curiosity? Every collector has a different answer, and it certainly goes beyond statistics and player performance. The team that would become the Dodgers played in Eastern Park when Brooklyn was still an independent city, through a depression and two world wars. The story of the Dodgers runs parallel to the development of modern Brooklyn, but it wasn’t always an easy story.

Construction of the BMT Fourth Avenue line at Carroll Street, February 20, 1912. At far left is the D'Ambrosio Italian American Restaurant at No. 262 Fourth Avenue. At far right, with the American Flag flying, is Public Bath No. 7 at President Street. The neo-Renaissance baths, completed in 1910, are the oldest surviving public bathing facility in Brooklyn; the building was converted to a gymnasium, the Brooklyn Lyceum, in 1937. A multi-year restoration project was recently completed ahead of further conversion.

“View from behind home plate of a pitch thrown during a Brooklyn Dodgers versus Chicago Cubs game. Pitcher is Lefty Liefield of the Chicago Cubs from 1912-1913.” - Ralph Irving Lloyd This is the second Washington Park, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers (previously the Brooklyn Superbas, Bridegrooms, Trolley Dodgers, National Leaguers) from 1898 to 1913. In 1913 they decamped to Ebbets Field on the east side of Prospect Park. The apartment buildings visible over the right field fence were on the north side of 1st Street, between Whitwell and Denton Places.

Who said it's hot? Caption: "Who said it's hot?--The \[eleven] kids in front of 575 Carroll St., between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue, give a demonstration on how to beat the heat as they frolic in spray from a fire hydrant. Vincent Vollaro (left), 620 Carroll St. and Dominick Montemarano, 579 Carroll St., hold their dog, Rusty, who doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as they youngsters."

Public School 39 ARCHITECT: Samuel B. Leonard DATE: 1876-77 STYLE: French Second Empire Erected in 1876-77 as P.S. 39, this building was renamed in 1916 to honor Henry Bristow, whose home had served as a temporary schoolhouse during construction. Believed to have been designed by Samuel B. Leonard, the building is transitional in style, combining distinctive Italianate features – such as round-arched windows, cornices with modillions, and paired brackets – with mansard roofs typical of the French Second Empire style.

Park Slope Branch, Brooklyn Public Library 431 Sixth Avenue Raymond F. Almirall, 1905-06 This library was originally the Prospect Branch, housed beginning in 1900 in Prospect Park’s Litchfield Villa and consisting solely of books related to natural history. As Park Slope’s population grew, the demand for a larger, all-purpose library led to its relocation in 1901 to several storefronts on 9th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. By 1904, the city purchased a large site and began planning for a new Carnegie-funded building. Its name was changed to Park Slope in 1975. The Classical Revival style, brick-clad building with limestone trim features an imposing, projecting portico entrance with Doric columns and a stone pediment. Like those found on the Pacific Branch, the torches in the keystones above the entrance and windows represent the light of learning. Its intact interior features stained glass, tiled fireplaces, wood paneling and marble mosaic floors. The Park Slope branch was designated in 1998.

Etching of the Old Dutch House, Long Island, circa 1907, from Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks Built in 1699, the Old Stone House was originally home to a family of Dutch farmers. On August 27th, 1776, barely two months after the Declaration of Independence was made public, the Old Stone House served as the location for one of the first major battles in the Revolutionary War; the Battle of Brooklyn. The Battle of Brooklyn was a significant defeat for the American Continental Army. Realizing that they were outnumbered five to one, General William Alexander and Major Mordecai Gist led a regiment that came to be known as the Maryland 400 (although there were only about 270 soldiers) against 2,000 British troops. They fought to cover the retreat of another 9,000 American soldiers, led by George Washington himself. They were able to escape in a strategic retreat through the Gowanus Canal, across the East River, and safely into Manhattan. The British troops defeated the Maryland 400 due to their superior numbers. In the aftermath, the British began their occupation of both Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Laundry, grocery, and dry goods stores on Fifth Avenue, 1959.