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.
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.
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.
Williamsburg evolved from rural Dutch land to a bustling village, later joining Brooklyn and growing with immigration and the 1903 bridge.
Windsor Terrace grew from Dutch farmland into a village by 1851, later shaped by Green-Wood Cemetery and the 1950s Prospect Expressway.
Sheepshead Bay was named for a fish once common in the area. It now includes Homecrest, Madison, and Plumb Beach, a protected parkland.
Red Hook was named by Dutch settlers in 1636 and later became a key Continental Army route via a former Canarsee trail in the 1760s.
Greenwood Heights was named as early as 1846 and is home to the Green-Wood Cemetery, a popular hangout before Prospect Park was finished.
Prospect Lefferts Gardens was developed from farmland into a planned neighborhood of single-family homes after Prospect Park opened.
Designed as an alternative to row house living, Prospect Park South was planned as a suburban-style retreat just below Prospect Park.
Prospect Heights grew after Prospect Park opened in 1873 and played a key role in both Brooklyn’s history and its cultural landscape.
Atlantic Yards, now Pacific Park, began in 2003 and includes Barclays Center and plans for 17 towers in Prospect Heights.
Midwood grew from wooded farmland to a film hub, later becoming a thriving Orthodox Jewish community shaped by transit and tradition.
Marine Park grew in the 20th century with parkland donated by wealthy families, but Depression-era cuts reshaped its grand original plans.
Kensington began as Dutch farmland and grew after 1850 into a Brooklyn neighborhood shaped by roads and housing booms.
Fort Greene’s name reflects its military roots, from Revolutionary forts to the Navy Yard and a park honoring war prisoners who died nearby.
Gerritsen Beach, named for early Dutch settler Wolfert Gerritsen, grew from rural land to a resort and boating hub by the early 1900s.
Lady Moody founded Gravesend in 1645 as a haven for religious dissenters, making her the first woman to charter land in the New World.
Greenpoint grew from a grassy East River peninsula to a shipbuilding hub and now thrives as a diverse, vibrant community.
Flatlands began as a Dutch land grant in 1636, grew into a farming town and was Brooklyn’s last area annexed before modern development.
Flatbush, once called Midwout, grew from Dutch farmland into Brooklyn’s Victorian suburbs and today’s diverse neighborhoods.
East Flatbush, once farmland, grew in the 20th century from smaller neighborhoods like Rugby and Wingate, shaped by transit and migration.
Dyker Heights, once Dutch farmland, grew into a hilltop suburb known today for its grand homes, deep roots and famous Christmas displays.
DUMBO, once an industrial zone turned artist haven, got its quirky name in the 1970s as residents sought to keep developers away.
Downtown Brooklyn grew from Dutch roots into a civic and commercial hub, shaped by transit, urban renewal, and high-rise development.
Cypress Hills, part of Brooklyn’s New Lots, was settled by European colonists using slave labor and named for local trees or the cemetery.
Crown Heights, settled by the Dutch in the 1660s, became home to freed slaves. Its name has debated origins.
Once isolated by the BQE, the Columbia Waterfront District is a historic Brooklyn area now experiencing renewal and revitalization.
DeWitt Clinton, NYC mayor and Erie Canal champion, lent his name to Clinton Hill, a historic neighborhood shaped by wealthy residents.
Carroll Gardens honors Charles Carroll, a Maryland signer of the Declaration, and Maryland soldiers lost in the Battle of Brooklyn.
Named for its Native founders, Canarsie grew from a fishing village to a beach resort, then into a suburban, diverse Brooklyn neighborhood.
The Meserole family, early Brooklyn settlers, owned much of Greenpoint and Williamsburg land in the 1700s, including a large orchard estate.
Brownsville, once farmland, grew into a working-class hub for Jewish immigrants; it’s now a diverse neighborhood with deep historic roots.
Once farmland, Borough Park became a Hasidic stronghold after waves of Jewish migration from the 1920s through postwar displacement.