How Sunset Park got its name
September 22, 2025
Sunset Park offers stunning harbor views and a rich history, evolving from Dutch farmland to a diverse, multicultural Brooklyn neighborhood.
Sunset Park offers stunning harbor views and a rich history, evolving from Dutch farmland to a diverse, multicultural Brooklyn neighborhood.
Sunset Park evolved from Dutch farmland to an immigrant hub, industrial center and vibrant multicultural neighborhood with renewed commercial life.
Manhattan Beach began as farmland and became a Gilded Age seaside resort, later evolving into a quiet Brooklyn neighborhood.
East New York, settled in 1670 as New Lots, grew from farmland to a Brooklyn neighborhood shaped by history and 20th-century development.
East New York, once called Ostwout or New Lots, grew from 17th-century farms to a diverse immigrant hub, later facing decline before community-led revitalization.
Along with iconic New York, Coney Island, a peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Brooklyn, is a name known around the world.
Sheepshead Bay was named for a fish once common in the area. It now includes Homecrest, Madison, and Plumb Beach, a protected parkland.
Once a beach resort, Canarsie grew into a suburban hub; after setbacks, it became a diverse, Caribbean-influenced neighborhood.
The Meserole family, early Brooklyn settlers, owned much of Greenpoint and Williamsburg land in the 1700s, including a large orchard estate.
Bushwick, once a German brewery hub, faced decline after Prohibition and 1977’s blackout but is now undergoing modern renewal.
Brownsville, once farmland, grew into a working-class hub for Jewish immigrants; it’s now a diverse neighborhood with deep historic roots.
Brownsville, once dubbed “Jerusalem of America,” declined mid-century but began a grassroots-led revival with new housing by the 1980s.
Blythebourne, founded in 1887, merged with Borough Park in the 1920s, which grew rapidly with transit and became an Orthodox Jewish hub.
Once farmland, Borough Park became a Hasidic stronghold after waves of Jewish migration from the 1920s through postwar displacement.
Blythebourne, founded in 1887, merged with Borough Park in the 1920s, which grew rapidly with transit and became an Orthodox Jewish hub.
Boerum Hill, named for Simon Boerum, evolved from marshland to Mohawk enclave to a revived, gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood.
Bensonhurst began as part of Dutch New Utrecht, later named for the Benson family. It grew fast after 1915 and lost its gated status.
Bed-Stuy, formed from Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights, has deep Black roots in Weeksville and remains NYC’s largest Black neighborhood.
Bath Beach, named for English spas, lost its beach by the 1950s; it grew from Dutch roots and immigrant waves.
Bath Beach began as a weekend retreat for the elite and evolved into an Italian American enclave after the 1929 crash opened housing access.
It’s hard to miss the blue and white North Brooklyn Angels delivery truck outside the Church of the Ascension when walking in Greenpoint.
Brooklyn’s 158th annual Memorial Day Parade started at 11 a.m. at Third Avenue and 78th Street and proceeded down to Marine Avenue.
The 12:30 Club is dedicated to the promotion of the general welfare of its members and the economic welfare of Bay Ridge.
On a Wednesday evening, two dozen New Yorkers gathered outside Rounder’s, a sports bar in Greenpoint for a trash pick up.
Honoring a local leader, the corner of Fourth Avenue and 95th Street was co-named after community leader Mary Nolan April 27.
Two Bay Ridge brothers said goodbye to “The Amazing Race” as they were eliminated from the competition reality television show.
Following the death of Pope Francis, many have traveled to a mural of him in Bay Ridge to pay their respects.
Fort Hamilton High School alum Sebastian Mazeneth, 22, won seven straight fights in the New York Ring Masters Championships.
The unveiling of the “Fort Hamilton” sign at the 92nd Street Verrazzano Narrows Bridge overpass drew a significant crowd.
Brooklyn Heights, perhaps the best-known of all the Brooklyn neighborhoods, owes its name to the Dutch, with a tweak from the British.
The early inhabitants of what is Brooklyn Heights included the Canarsee people and Dutch farmers, who settled in the area in the mid-1600s.
Thirteen-year-old Bay Ridge resident Scarlett London Diviney sang “God Bless America” in the middle of the seventh inning at Citi Field.
Industry City is a 35-acre mixed-use complex composed of 16 buildings attracting a diverse mix of companies and retailers.
The NYCEDC meeting exceeded its programmed time by several hours, and over 100 visitors engaged in two rounds of tense presentations.