Carroll Gardens Branch, May 16, 1923. Originally called the Carroll Park Branch (it was renamed in 1973), the Carroll Gardens Library was completed in March of 1905. Deigned by William Tubby, a well-known Brooklyn architect better known for his Romanesque and Dutch Revival-style private residences, the library structure is a more modest Classical Revival building. The facility served the considerable Italian-American community of the neighborhood, providing lectures in Italian on Sunday in the decade after it opened. In the 1930s the library offered citizenship classes and worked with National League of American Citizenship assisting more than 10,000 people in the naturalization process.

Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, 1951. According to the history of the church, "At 3:00 p.m. on the crisp Wednesday afternoon of January 10, 1951, the clock in the tower of what was now known as Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen’s Church rang only twice instead of the usual three times." A five-alarm fire, which started in the choir loft, burned through the church, collapsing the roof and destabilizing the tall steeple. The fire destroyed many of the stained glass windows, the new $20,000 organ, and all of the vestments. Thankfully no one was killed, but the damage was estimated at $2 million. The church rebuilt with donations from parishioners and the generosity of local Jewish and Protestant congregations. St. Stephen's was founded in 1866 in a former Episcopal Church at Carroll and Hicks Streets. The church building seen here was erected in 1875 and designed by famed Catholic church architect Patrick Keeley. Its high steeple cross, illuminated at night, served as a beacon for sailors entering New York Harbor. The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was established in 1882, the first Italian parish on Long Island. It first used space in a church at Warren and Hicks Streets. The parishes merged in 1941 when Robert Moses' BQE plans forced the razing of the Sacred Heart Church (as well as two other early Italian parishes nearby). The combined parish remains a vibrant part of the Carroll Gardens community. Its annual Good Friday procession is one of the oldest and most well known in the diocese.

Commercial strip on the east side of Columbia Street, 1934. In the first half of the 20th century, prior to the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway's South Brooklyn segment, the docks to the west of Cobble Hill were a major employer and Columbia Street was one of a few vibrant commercial areas serving the community.

The name Cobble Hill came into use in the 1950s, likely an update from the name "Cobles Hill" which can be found on a 1766 map. Organized community groups fought against large housing projects, and advocated to make the area an historic district.

The Seamen’s Goodwill Mission of the Brooklyn Church and Mission Federation, 1937. Blocks away from the wharves of the Atlantic Basin, neighborhood institutions suited the working class waterfront community. It was described in list of Brooklyn charitable organizations as, "a comfortable building houses hundreds of homeless and friendless seamen every year and furnishes food and shelter to many thousands of men who would seek friendships in the speakeasies of that section. It has been a life-saving station for tens of thousands of men during the years of the past."

“Hamilton Avenue north from Summit Street. Many of the buildings on the east side (right) of the avenue were later razed to make way for the construction of Gowanus Parkway. October 21, 1939.” Construction on the Gowanus Parkway (later the Gowanus Expressway) began in 1939, but it was the construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel entrance via Hamilton Avenue that saw the demolition of much of this neighborhood; every building pictured was torn down. At right is the intersection of Carroll and Van Brunt Streets. The triangular building at left is no. 100. In the background at left is the India Wharf Warehouse, at Conover Street. The block-long building sat between Hamilton Avenue and the India Wharf frontage of the Atlantic Basin. It was formerly home to the India Wharf Brewery.

In 1878, the cornerstone was laid for the Pilgrim Chapel on the corner of Henry and Degraw Streets. The architect, J. Cleveland Cady, designed an Italianate-style building with a tall tower that had an exterior of Philadelphia pressed brick trimmed with Belleville stone and terra cotta. The auditorium had a high ceiling with open timbers, and was lighted by a continuous clear-story in which were windows filled with rolled cathedral glass of beautiful designs. There were 15 rooms grouped around the auditorium, all having direct light, ventilation and heat. When the Sunday-school rooms were opened into the auditorium, there was a capacity of 1,200 people.

Bakery at the corner of Henry and President Streets, June 26, 1961. This late 19th century corner building draws architectural elements from the Romanesque Revival (rough-hewn stone, round-arched upper windows) and Queen Anne (asymmetry, tiled roof) styles. The corner tower and pressed metal cornice along the entire roofline include intricate detail.

Twin rowhouses on Strong Place, 1958. Built in 1897 for developer James Dunne, both houses were designed as residences for multiple families, one per floor. The Romanesque Revival pair are notable for their full-height curved bay windows and ground level stonework.

By 1916, the Pilgrim Chapel had been decommissioned and was known as the Oriole Theater. Today's it's a MET supermarket.

36 Strong Place, 1958. In 1834, Cobble Hill's current street grid was laid out between Atlantic Avenue and Butler Street (later Harrison Street, now Kane Street). Strong Place was the first new street paved below that boundary, in 1856. Sitting at the back of its lot, no. 36 was likely a stable belonging to the broker Charles Kelsey, who owned several lots on or near Strong Place and developed properties in the surrounding area.

Jenny Jerome, Winston Churchill's mother, was born in 1854 just a few blocks away at 197 Amity St. However it's the house on the corner at 426 Henry St., where Jenny later lived with her uncle that (inaccurately) bears a plaque to mark the event. In 1953 (seven years before this photo was taken) Churchill at the age of 74 made a visit to New York, and came to the house, to the delight of the neighborhood and city. He stood in front of the house and proclaimed “I am most grateful to those who have put up this tablet in commemoration of my mother, who was born here in Brooklyn.” The plaque has been there ever since.