NYBROOKLYN-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: [NYBROOKLYN] Pt 6
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 21:52:23 EST

Upper Bushwick Ave. was laid out abt 1865 was opened in 1870 east of Menahan
St. This was originally called Evergreen Ave, because it led to Cemetery of
the Evergreens. The present Evergreen Ave. had always been a part of Old
Bushwick Rd, modernized to Bushwick Ave.North and East of the Pwky between
Menahan & Madison Sts. was in 1852 the farm of Watson BOWRON, who laid out
his land on Bushwick Pwky & Evergreen Ave. in building lots, calling it
Bowronville. This name later often applied to all the land east of the
Crossroads. Watson BOWRON was born in New Castle, Westchester County, N.Y.,
on Jan. 5, 1807. He settled in Bushwick in 1842 on a farm adjoining the land
of Adrian M. SUYDAM. In 1852 he bought another farm in Flushing. In 1871 he
moved to # 257 Tompkins Ave. Bklyn where he died on July 13, 1876. In the
early days he ran a dairy business on his Bushwick farm, It is said that he
borrowed $1,000 from friends and bought 40 acres of land for which he
promised to pay $40,000. He sold out when he had made $70,000 on his
investment of $1,000.
There was a time when the old Bushwick road was known as New Bushwick Lane.
When the Indians sold their lands along the river to the white man they
resevered the land on either side of the Green Hills as hunting grounds. The
Green Hills are the ridge which runs all through the island. Eastern Pwky of
today follows the line and Cypress Hills and Cemetery of the Evergreens are
located upon them. Between the Cross Rds and these Green Hills lay a tract of
grass and meadows and woodlands, part of the hunting grounds. The Cross Rds
Settlement was made along the boundary of this early reservation, just as out
west, starting out as trading posts . After the 2nd Indian War, the Indians
having left this section to fight in the war, the white men were busy diving
the lands and several parcels were granted to nearby towns for pasture land.
The Town Of Flatbush received a section which became known as The New Lotts
of Flatbush, which in 1852, became the seperate town of New Lotts. Each of
the 6 towns of Kings Co. came thus into possession of a tract known as The
New Lotts of each town. The New Lotts of Bushwick was quite handy to the
town, meadows and woodland on one tract. The Indian trail which led from the
original town of Bushwick starting at Cross Rds became now a road known as
New Bushwick Lane. The soil of New Lotts was mainly coarse sand and gravel,
and the numerous boulders found among it greatly interfered with ploughing
the ground. It was adapted to grow potato or cabbage, however the entire
tract was culivated as market gardens. As late as 1883 there was an open
country east of Flushing Ave, with farm houses, with a few residents who
wanted to live in the open and the cottages of laborers. There were the farms
of Jacob SUYDAM, Wm. COVERT, Sarah DURYEA, Wm. Van VOORHEES, Hannah COOPER,
Job NOSTRAND, Francis DUBOISE and Samuel M. MEEKER. The farms were surveyed
and mapped in 1852 and a number of Germans formed a building society known as
the New York Building & Savings Assoc. Some of the members acquired lots
along Central Ave., for which they paid as high as $250.00 a peice, in some
cases they erected cottages. However there was no sign of a boom beyond B'way
& Flushing Ave. when the Bklyn Bridge was opened. 2 years later though
Lexington Ave. Elevated R.R. began to run and then the price of lots began to
rise.
On May 13, 1885 the first trains began a building boom began, frame houses
were erected, sand and boulders to be used for the foundations were on nearly
every lot. The houses found buyers as soon as they were completed. School
houses could not be built soon enough. In 1889 the first on Evergreen Ave &
Menahan, 2nd Bushwick Pwky & Kosciusko and a 3rd Evergreen & Covert St.
GASCOIGNE & COZINE erected during the first years abt 100 houses a year.

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