Four Horses of Fort Greene

In this Photo of the Week, Brooklynites of two and four legs are lured to what appears to be a refreshing fountain on a warm day. The women wear light, summery patterns, and the workmen have bared their shirtsleeves and even forearms. Yet neither heat nor work could disrupt hat fashions. The women display their ornamented millinery while the men sport a variety of styles, including (left to right) an early version of the fedora, golf caps, a derby, a boater, and a just-visible uniform cap for a Borden’s milkman. It is unclear what drew the crowd (perhaps the fountain, the four horses, or the photographer), but what we are left with is an excellent, somewhat candid shot of the streets of Brooklyn in the late 1890s. The only individual breaking the fourth wall, as it were, is the woman in the striped jacket who has perched her little dog on the fountain’s edge. 

Judging from the businesses and addresses in the background, this shot was likely taken at the crossing of Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street in Fort Greene. Today, locals may select their produce from Mr. Mango, but in late Victorian Brooklyn August Kretzer was the local grocer at 65 Lafayette Avenue, flanked by Joseph Nadler, “fashionable ladies tailor” at number 63, Theodore Eisenbiegler, butcher, at number 67, and William Fricke, furrier, directly above on the second floor. 

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.