Lithuanian restaurant at Union Avenue and Stagg Street. September 24, 1941. In the early 20th century, Eastern European immigrants began to settle in Williamsburg, including a significant Lithuanian community (today, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary continues to provide services in Lithuanian). Across Union Avenue from the restaurant is Lithuanian Square (then Lituanica Square), a small gore park with a monument to two Lithuanian aviators who perished in a 1933 attempt to complete a transatlantic flight from Brooklyn to Kaunas, Lithuania.

ca. 1975 George Washington at Valley Forge is the name of the sculpture by Henry Shrady that stands in Brooklyn near the approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. It commemorates the months Washington and his army spent in a camp northwest of Philadelphia over the course of a deadly winter. Washington did, of course, also spend some time in Brooklyn during the Revolutionary War, although Shrady opted, perhaps understandably, not to memorialize Washington escaping capture following his defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn. Although it might not have seemed like a statue-worthy moment, that escape, made possible by dense fog and strong winds over the East River, is what allowed Washington to continue to lead the Continental Army to eventual victory.

North 7th Street, west from Union Avenue, during construction of the BMT Canarsie line, October 20, 1920. Construction derricks are visible in the distance, as excavation for the Canarsie line moves through Williamsburg. North 7th Street bisected the ninety-degree angle formed by Metropolitan (left, our of frame) and Union (right) Avenues, prior to the construction of the Brooklyn—Queens Expressway. The buildings in the foreground have been razed; today, the site is Macri Triangle Park.

(Former) Colored School No. 3, later Public School 69 ARCHITECT: Samuel B. Leonard DATE: 1879-81 STYLE: Romanesque Revival Built in 1879-81, the former Colored School No. 3 schoolhouse was designed by architect Samuel B. Leonard, the Superintendent of Buildings and Repairs for the Brooklyn Board of Education. The only known “colored” school building remaining in Brooklyn, Colored School No. 3 as an institution evolved from the town of Williamsburgh’s original African Free School, which had been founded prior to 1841. The school was taken over by the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn in 1855, when it was given the name “Colored School No. 3.” It was renamed P.S. 69 in 1887, and was later absorbed by the school system of the City of New York after the consolidation of 1898. Romanesque Revival in style, the school building has arched window openings and a prominent entrance with large keystones, a raised central section with a gable and blind arcade, corbelled brickwork, and dentil courses.

Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. August 9, 1935. The Lombardian Romanesque Roman Catholic Church was completed in 1870. Originally a German parish, the church was purchased by a coalition of Lithuanian Catholics in 1914. Today, the church provides English, Lithuanian, and Spanish-language services.

Now lined with trendy restaurants, fun bars, and interesting stores, its easy to imagine that Metropolitan Avenue is part of a new New York, but its history stretches back much further. Metropolitan Avenue was laid in 1813 following an American Indian Trail. It runs nearly eight miles between Brooklyn and Queens, connecting the East River with Jamaica Avenue.

“George Washington at Valley Forge,” at Continental Army Plaza at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. The plaza has been decorated by the Mayor’s Committee to Welcome the British and French War Commissions. May 1, 1917. The bronze statue by Henry Mervin Shrady was cast at Roman Bronze Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and installed ahead of the park’s opening in 1906.