A strange thing about Bath Beach: It doesn’t really have a beach.
It did at one time, of course, which explains part of its name. The “Bath” part refers to the famous spa and Roman baths in Bath, England.
Bath Beach was a portion of the Dutch town of New Utrecht when it was settled in 1652, part of a purchase of land by Cornelius van Werckhover for the Dutch West India Company. He made the deal with the Canarsie and Nyack Indians and named it after his home city in the Netherlands.
In the mid-19th century, freed slaves were given parcels of land in Bath Beach and created one of the first African American settlements.
The neighborhood developed with the opening of the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island steam railroad in 1862 to connect with the horsecar system of the City of Brooklyn. The Ulmer Park amusement center, with rides and a dance hall, was built by Ulmer Brewery (of Bushwick) in 1893 but lasted only about six years.
The extension of the subway system in 1916-17 brought new settlers, mainly immigrants, to the area, which gained a reputation as a retreat for the wealthier families, with mansions built to face Gravesend Bay. However, the market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Depression changed that to a great extent.
Growth was revived later, especially with the completion of the Belt Parkway around the southern edge of Brooklyn in 1939.
And the beach? It was paved over for the construction of the Shore Parkway in the 1950s.
