March 15: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1908, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “That Brooklyn and Long Island will, within a few years — possibly ten — realize a population of 4,000,000 is nowhere given greater assurance than in the remarkable development of the Eastern District, Brooklyn, and the Long Island City section in Queens. Through the Newtown Creek waterway and steam and electric transportation lines the interests of these sections become mutual, and the benefits to be derived from the present vast activities are common. It is impossible to estimate the extent and magnitude of development that is sure to follow the completion of the great railway lines that are now under construction. Some idea, however, may be conveyed by the facts that within two years — between Broadway, Brooklyn, and eastern Long Island City — there will be fourteen new railway lines penetrating these sections from Manhattan and the Bronx, over and under the East River; and within three years, it is promised, there will be sixteen.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1911, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Following the formal request, which practically amounts to a demand, by the United States to Mexico for the release of two American prisoners named Blatt and Converse, declared to have been kidnapped on Texas soil by [Porfirio] Diaz soldiers and carried over the line, the State Department announced today that every American consul in Mexico had been instructed to make a prompt report of any mistreatment of American citizens by either military or civilian authorities in Mexico. Each successive step in the relations between the United States and Mexico in the present crisis reveals a strong and carefully planned policy by this country. The virtual demand for the release of Blatt and Converse is not an afterthought. The two Americans were arrested on February 23, and this Government has been investigating the case ever since that day. But it made no representation to Mexico on the matter until it had mobilized a strong military force along the border. Having placed an army within striking distance of Mexico, the United States now calls upon Diaz to surrender two of its citizens and follows that with an order to its consuls to be vigilant in reporting similar cases.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.