View of construction on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from the Fort Hamilton Parkway, at 100th Street; June 16, 1963.

St. John's Episcopal Church ca. 1939 9818 Fort Hamilton Parkway Church: 1890 Rectory: 1910 St. John’s Episcopal Church, originally Church of the Generals, was founded in 1834 and built by soldiers from Fort Hamilton. Numerous military leaders worshipped here, including Robert E. Lee, a vestryman from 1842 to 1844, and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, a parishioner from 1848 to 1850 after he fought in the Mexican War. This small country church has a frame structure with details painted red, white and gold, and features a rustic stone base and a slate roof.

When one speaks about the historic buildings of New York City, images of the stately brick rowhouses of Brooklyn, the cast-iron office buildings of SoHo, and the elaborate mansions of 5th Avenue come to mind. But the interesting architecture of the city is not limited to buildings constructed before 1900 in a classical style. Buildings built in the modern styles in the middle of the 20th century dot the streetscape and range from tall office buildings, to transportation structures, to private residences. These Mid-Century Modern buildings with their unique shapes, unusual massing, and uncommon materials (at least uncommon compared to architecture that came before) stand out from the earlier masonry buildings and the contemporary glassy structures that surround them.

Narrows Coffee Shop (right), June 23, 1963. In 2017, the coffee shop is still operating at the same location.

Throwing around the pig-skin is an all-American pastime. See what the early history of football looked like in New York City.

Fort Hamilton Veterans' Hospital. Designed in 1950 by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, one of the preeminent modernist architects.

John Paul Jones Park ca. 1963 Dover Patrol Monument: Sir Aston Webb, 1931 This site is steeped in military history, beginning in 1776 when it served as the launching point for the British when they mounted their Battle of Brooklyn campaign, which is commemorated on a plaque in the park. A few decades later, Fort Lewis was constructed here to protect the city during the War of 1812. In 1825–31, Fort Lewis was replaced with Fort Hamilton, which played a significant role in quelling the Civil War draft riots of 1863 and was a major embarkation point for troops going to fight in both World Wars. Fort Hamilton still exists today, and though this park was once part of the fort, its boundaries are just east of here. Today the site is named for Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones, but is also referred to as Cannonball Park after the Rodman gun displayed here. The Rodman gun, a 116,000-pound cannon designed for Civil War use, was tested at Fort Hamilton but proved unsuitable and has remained a fixture here ever since. Also in the park is the Dover Patrol Monument, a granite obelisk commemorating U.S. Navy service in World War I.

Fort Hamilton is New York City's last active-duty military post. The fort was named for Alexander Hamilton. The first cornerstone was laid in 1825 and the first garrison flag raised in 1831. Fort Hamilton was the first National Guard training facility, opening its doors in 1839. The earliest recorded use of the location by the military was Narrow's Fort, a small battery that defended New York against the British on July 4th of 1776. Almost 50 years later, a fort was designed on these grounds by French Engineer Simon Bernard in 1825. He had previously served under Napoleon's Army until the emperor's defeat in 1815. The fort was considered a landward defense for Fort Lafayette, an island fortification in the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island that was demolished during the building of the Verrazzano-Narrows in 1959. Fort Hamilton's sister was Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. During the Civil War, the site included a Prisoner of War Camp and protected New York's Harbor from the Confederate Army. For the duration of World War I and World War II, the fort was used as a mobilization center. In the 1960s it hosted the United States Army Chaplain School, which trained ministers and their assistants for active duty. Remnants of the original fort on the site include Colonels Row, the Fort Hamilton Community Club, the Lee House, and the Harbor Defense Museum, all of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Roman Catholic Church of St. Patrick and the associated parish school, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; June 16, 1963.

Robert E. Lee plaque, July 13, 1958. Brooklyn does not seem the likeliest place for a Confederate plaque, but yet they did exist. According to a neighborhood legend, Robert E. Lee, while stationed at Fort Hamilton in the 1840s, planted a Norway maple in the churchyard at St. John's Episcopal Church. The parish (established in 1834) was given the nickname of "Church of the Generals" because its proximity to the fort meant many military men worshiped there. (Stonewall Jackson was supposedly baptized there.) The current church building dates to 1890s. In 1912 the rotting condition of the tree was mentioned by the rector to a group that he was speaking in front of; that group was the Daughters of the Confederacy. The group, made aware of the connection to Lee, petitioned the Parks Department to save the tree. Once it was stabilized the Daughter's installed a plague honoring Lee. In 1935 the original tree, by then dead or fallen, was replaced with a new tree and new plaque. In 2017 following the protests and violence surrounding the removal of Confederate statues in Virginia, the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island (which had closed the church in in 2015) removed the plaques.

Fort Hamilton Branch, BPL ca. 1939 9424 4th Avenue Designed by Lord & Hewlett, 1906 The Fort Hamilton Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library began as a small book collection donated by Mrs. Gelston of Shore Road in the 1890s. Thanks to a gift from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in 1901, the library was expanded and this modest the building was constructed. Recently restored, the building is clad in red brick with horizontal black brick courses and features a dentilled cornice and limestone window sills and doorway surrounds.