Sitting in Eastern Brooklyn, Brownsville has a long history. But how did the neighborhood develop? Its story begins with a small church in East New York.

The first decade of the 20th century the population of Brooklyn exploded, particularly in the neighborhood of Brownsville which saw a significant influx of Jewish immigrants from the overcrowded Lower East Side. The Williamsburg Bridge opened at the end of 1903, and between 1905 and 1912 the city established four new schools in Brownsville to attempt to meet the demand of the new school-aged population. Public School 125 predated the opening of the bridge by two years but was heavily renovated in 1917 to add educational and "activity" spaces. The overcrowding never truly abated even as the demographics of the neighborhood changed by the mid-century. By the 1950s the school was predominantly African American (the nearby Brownsville Houses opened in 1948) and was over capacity by 30%. Strangely, the closing date for the school is unknown. The building long stood but was left to ruins, creating a somewhat creepy scene on Rockaway Boulevard. Scaffolding has been erected since late 2017 and work underway. As of late 2018, the work seems completed, but it is unknown what the building's use will be.