Crown Heights, which lies in central Brooklyn on both sides of the ridge of Eastern Parkway, was first settled in the 1660s by the Dutch, who used African-American slave labor to farm the land. The names of three hills in the area became names of neighborhoods: Prospect Hill, Ocean Hill and Crow Hill.
Crow Hill evolved into Crown Heights, but the origin of Crow Hill is itself debatable. Most accepted is that it was derived from the crows who preyed on the neighboring farms and found a retreat in the trees scattered over the ridge — an 1877 article in The Brooklyn Eagle went with that explanation.
Others believe that the inmates of the local Kings County penitentiary were referred to as crows. And still others say it was a derogatory term for the residents of the black communities of Weeksville and Carrville in the southern portion of the neighborhood.
In any case, the name was changed in 1916 when Crown Street was cut through the neighborhood — the “crown” being the top of the hill.
