110 Bridge Street ARCHITECT: Louis E. Jallade DATE: 1908-09 The Thomson Meter Co. Building, among the most aesthetically interesting industrial structures in New York City, is a pioneering American building that employs, in part, a frank exterior expression of its concrete structure. It also displays a fairly early use in New York of polychromatic glazed terracotta. The success of the Thomson Meter Co., founded c. 1890 in Brooklyn to manufacture John Thomson’s patented water meters, led to a new 4-story (plus basement) factory, built in 1908-09 to the design of Louis E. Jallade, with the Hennebique Construction Co. as general contractor. Jallade’s use of ceramic ornament, particularly leaf motifs in terra cotta, was clearly influenced by Parisian examples. After Thomson’s death, this building was sold in 1927 to the New York Eskimo Pie Corp., a subsidiary of the parent firm, for the regional manufacture of the first American chocolate-covered ice cream bar (created in 1920). Eskimo Pie products were made here until 1966.

"97 Bridge Street, at the N.E. corner of York Street, showing also the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. tank on York Street." The frame building at the corner was recently demolished. Notice the architectural palimpsest on the building at the left. A palimpsest is traditionally a parchment made from animal hide that has been scraped "clean" again so that new text can be written on it. In many cases the ghost of the original text can be seen faintly behind the text words. In the case of architecture, a palimpsest is the partial remains or outline of a vanished building seen on existing buildings.

Commodore Barry Park, formerly known as 'City Park' is the oldest in Brooklyn. It was acquired by the Village of Brooklyn in 1836.

199 York Street, 1923. Following the opening of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1801, the Irish Catholic population of Brooklyn boomed. In that period, Brooklyn Catholics were required to travel to Manhattan to attend church. Given the inconvenience, the community began requesting that a priest come to Brooklyn to perform mass. At an unknown date circa 1820, Father Philip Larisey traveled to the home of William Purcel, on the corner of Gold and York Streets, to say mass for the nascent community. This was the first Catholic mass celebrated in Brooklyn. On January 7, 1822 a committee was organized in the same home to formally ask the consent of the Bishop for the establishment of a Brooklyn Church. In April of the same year, the plot for a church building was purchased on the corner of Jay and Chapel Streets. St. James Church was dedicated in August 1823, the first Catholic Church on Long Island.

135 Johnson Street, 1931. Edward Weck & Co. was a cutlery manufacturer established in Brooklyn in 1890. Weck was a German immigrant who, according to evidence, was raised in a city known for its production of straight razors. Early on the company manufactured pocket knives, kitchen knives, and scissors, though they were best known for an early shavette-type razor called the Weck Sextoblade. They sold the products out of storefronts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the equipment (which later included surgical instruments) was manufactured at this seven story building in Downtown Brooklyn. The company moved to Long Island City in late 1950s or early 1960s, and the building was demolished during the construction of MetroTech.

The intersection of Tillary Street and Park Avenue, 1941. The surrounding land had been cleared for the construction of the Fort Greene Houses (today the NYCHA Ingersoll Houses), completed in 1944. Soon after, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway would be routed along Park Avenue to connect Downtown Brooklyn’s East River Bridge Crossings with Williamsburg and points north. The church visible in the background is the Church of St. Michael and St. Edward at 108 St. Edwards Street, near Myrtle Avenue.

One out of every seven WPA dollars was spent in New York City. Robert Moses oversaw the construction of 650 playgrounds while serving as the parks commissioner. These playgrounds, a rule-less respite for kids without backyards, are ubiquitous with WPA projects of the 1930's.

Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge, The original Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge included two massive sculptures designed by Daniel Chester French. The 12 foot tall female figures symbolized the supposed attributes of the boroughs the bridge touched. Manhattan is prideful and powerful over money and world affairs, while Brooklyn is more artistic and education focused. The statues were removed in the 1960s, victims of Robert Moses vision. They now flank the entrance to the Brooklyn Museum. In December 2016, the city installed rotating, light-up replicas of the two ladies at Flatbush Avenue and Tillary Street. Otis Pearsall, a Brooklyn Heights preservationist was quoted as saying “This may prove to just be one of those stupid things or it could be kind of exciting, fun, and entertaining for the community — I’m hoping it’s the latter."

St. James Cathedral ca. 1936 In 1822, the small but growing Catholic community in Brooklyn sought a church, a pastor, and a burying ground of its own. On July 25, 1822, the cornerstone for the first Long Island Catholic church, St. James, was laid at Chapel and Jay Streets; the new building was consecrated a year later. A cemetery and a school soon followed. Under New York State law in effect through the 1830s, parish property was owned by an elected lay board of trustees. Lay trustees bought property, built the churches, schools, and related structures, and controlled the daily operations of the parishes.

Myrtle Avenue and the Myrtle Ave El, looking east from Navy Street, 1941. Opened in 1888, El service operated along Myrtle Avenue until 1969. Out of frame is the entrance to the Navy Street Station. At left, lots have been cleared for the construction of the Fort Greene Houses, later renamed the Ingersoll Houses after Brooklyn Borough President Raymond Ingersoll.

Dilapidated wood-frame houses on Lawrence Street, July 26, 1959. Photographer John D. Morrell's vantage point is roughly at the southwestern corner of the George Westinghouse Jr. High School (P.S. 5).

Boarded-up wood-frame houses on the east side of Lawrence Street, July 19, 1959. At far left is P.S. 5, which would become the George Westinghouse Vocational and Technical High School in 1963.

“St. Edwards Street, north from Auburn Place toward the Brooklyn Navy Yard. On the left, where Leo Place meets St. Edwards Street, is the Lattemen shoe factory. On the right is Public School No. 67. The dwellings preceding the school were later razed and an annex added to the school.” Out of frame to the left is the Church of St. Michael and St. Edward, 1927.

The Church of St. Michael and St. Edward was built between 1891-1906 at what was then the intersection of Canton and Division Streets (later St. Edwards Street and Leo Place). The Catholic church served a predominantly Irish and working-class congregation of local residents employed at the neighborhood’s factories, waterfront, and, during wartime, Navy Yard. In 2010, the diocese of Brooklyn closed the church, following years of declining attendance.

Images of small children boxing are not something we come across every day so when we found this picture in the Brooklyn Public Library's Brooklyn Daily Eagle collection we dove into its history.

General Exterminating Corp. at No. 24 Lawrence Street, July 26, 1959. This two-story brick structure, long-since razed for the MetroTech development, sat the southwest corner of Lawrence and Tillary streets, a site formerly occupied by an 1830s-era church. Built as the Second Baptist Church in 1834, the wood-frame structure was sold to the Free Presbyterian Church four years later. In 1845, that congregation elected to switch denominations, becoming Congregationalist. It is listed as a Congregational Methodist Church on an 1855 map. In response to Brooklyn's growing Polish population, Bishop Loughlin recruited Father Joseph Niedzielski of Cincinnati to become the pastor of the diocese's first Polish parish. The Tillary Street church was known as St. Casimir's from 1875 to 1890, when the parish outgrew its modest sanctuary. The humble church's next and final tenant was St. Michael the Archangel, a predominantly Italian parish. Al Capone, the infamous Chicago gangster, was born in Brooklyn and baptized at St. Michael's in January 1899. In 1942, St. Michael's merged with nearby St. Edward's in Fort Greene, leaving the 108-year-old church vacant.

Abandoned wood-frame dwellings at the corner of Bridge and Johnson Streets, July 26, 1959.

“Flushing Avenue, south side, west from N. Elliott Place. At the left foreground between N. Elliott Place and St. Edwards Street are some old buildings soon to be demolished. Beyond St. Edwards Street is a city park. August 25, 1938.” The “city park,” now called Commodore Barry Park, was acquired by the Village of Brooklyn in 1836 and is the borough’s oldest park. Today, the Commodore Barry Park Pool sits just west of North Elliott Place.

“North from a point just above Myrtle Avenue, running across Auburn Place and showing the New Cumberland Hospital on the left, 1940.” Founded as the Brooklyn Homeopathic Dispensary in 1852, the New Cumberland Hospital moved from Cumberland Street to its new nine-story building at the corner of North Portland Avenue and Auburn Place in 1918. Despite the change of address, the new hospital was officially named Cumberland Hospital in 1922. In the early 1940s, Cumberland Hospital was one of few structures spared from demolition as the surrounding blocks were razed for the construction of the Fort Greene Houses. The hospital was closed in 1983, as part of the City Health and Hospitals Corporation reorganization ahead of the opening of Woodhull Hospital. Today the 1918 building serves a homeless shelter while the 1950s hospital addition is the Cumberland Diagnostic & Treatment Center.

“St. Edwards Street, at the northeast corner of Auburn Place, showing the City Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. In the background is Cumberland Hospital; on the left Public School No. 67, 1940.” The predecessor to Walt Whitman Library (called the City Park Branch before 1943) opened in a storefront on Nassau and Bridge Streets in 1900. Eight years later, a beautiful new library, funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, built in the Classical Revival style, and designed by Rudolph L. Daus, opened on St. Edwards Street in Fort Greene. The library was named for Whitman on the125th anniversary of his birth in 1943.

"97 Bridge Street, at the N.E. corner of York Street, showing also the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. tank on York Street." The large natural gas tanks seen in this photograph, once dotted the streetscapes of the five boroughs. The most well known were in Elmhurst Queens, which were dismantled in 1996. A pair of tanks in Greenpoint met a more spectacular end in 2001 when they were imploded. It is unknown when the tank seen here was demolished, though considering the density and growth of this neighborhood (in comparison to Elmhurst or Greenpoint), it was likely gone long before the others.

"Sippy's Trucking" garage at 30-34 Lawrence Street (far left), July 26, 1959.

Sperry Gyroscope Company Building, ca. 1939. Designed by Frank Helmle and constructed in 1915-1916, the Sperry Gyroscope Company Building (today called the Howard Building) is a reinforced concrete industrial building. The Gyroscope Company was founded in 1910 by Elmer Ambrose. The gyroscope was an important new navigating tool for maritime and air travel. The location of the factory was purposeful, with the proximity to the Manhattan Bridge allowing the building to get sunlight from all directions. Built during the First World War, but prior to Americans entrance to the fighting, the factory manufactured items that aided in ship, plane, and torpedo navigation, actions that the U.S. felt they would likely be involved with soon enough. Despite further inventions and technological advances in the following decades, the Sperry Gyroscope Company was broken up by the mid century though mergers and legal actions. Today the Howard Building's largest major tenant is New York City College of Technology.

"Brooklyn: Concord Street - Jay Street. The view shows the wood-frame buildings between 117-125 Concord Street."