Underwood & Underwood, Manhattan Bridge, circa 1910, Gelatin silver print, v1973.5.324; Brooklyn Historical Society. The Manhattan Bridge opened to the public on the morning of December 31, 1909. It was the third suspension bridge built to span the East River, joining the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges. At the beginning of construction, its name was “Bridge No. 3” but that didn’t stick. In the end, the city opted for simple, christening the bridge Manhattan.
In 1901, the city recruited Department of Bridges commissioner Gustav Lindenthal and engineer R.S. Buck to…
John D. Morrell, [View of waterfront, taken from Esplanade], February 5, 1961, Chromogenic color print, v1974.9.140; Brooklyn Historical Society. Even though winter doesn’t officially arrive until December 21, it sure feels like it has already invaded Brooklyn! We are bracing ourselves for the inevitable drop in temperature and the dreadful wintry mix— two words put together that nobody wants to hear. It is especially chilly down on the waterfront, as shown above. This image by John D. Morrell shows a view of the waterfront taken from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in the…
Harry Kalmus, Edna Machtiger’s wedding, Thanksgiving day, 1946, Black-and-white negatives, V1991.11.103.4; Brooklyn Historical Society. From all of us here at Brooklyn Historical Society, we hope you have a safe and happy holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!
This image comes from the Harry Kalmus papers and photographs (ARC.046). After serving in World War II, Kalmus took up photography, working for advertising agencies and corporate offices in Manhattan. Later in life, he and his family moved to Kew Gardens in Queens and eventually settled on Long Island in the town of Freeport. He…
G. Frank E. Pearsall, [Portrait of child], circa 1870, Cabinet photographs, V1992.17.32; Brooklyn Historical Society.G. Frank Edgar Pearsall was born in New York City on November 23, 1841. His parents died when he was young leaving Frank, along with his brother Alva, to be raised by their aunt in Saratoga, New York.
In the early 1850s, the Pearsall brothers’ uncle, Townsend Duryea, took them under his wing. A pioneering daguerreotypist, Duryea owned a photography studio and taught the brothers his trade. After only two years, Duryea left the United States for Australia and…
Alva A. Pearsall, [John Yapp Culyer], circa 1870, Photographic print, 1977.430; Brooklyn Historical Society.John Yapp Culyer was born in New York City on May 18, 1839. After studying surveying and engineering at New York University, he became a member of the engineer corps working under Frederick Law Olmsted, who was then superintendent of Central Park. Over the course of the next decade, Culyer also volunteered his services in the United States Sanitary Commission (A federal relief agency that provided support for sick and wounded Civil War soldiers), splitting his time…
[Elephantine Colossus], circa 1893, Illustration, V1972.1.1090; Brooklyn Historical Society. The Elephantine Colossus was an elephant-shaped hotel attraction located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island from 1885 through 1896. Also known as the Elephant Hotel, this unique structure stood twelve stories high and contained a total of thirty-one rooms, including a tobacco shop and a museum. At the time, it was such a site to behold that it was dubbed the eighth wonder of the world!
During its short life on Surf Avenue and West 12th Street, the Elephantine Colossus was…
John D. Morrell, [Carroll Street bridge], February, 28, 1960, Gelatin silver print, V1974.4.1450; Brooklyn Historical Society. The Carroll Street Bridge crosses over the Gowanus Canal between Bond and Nevins Street and resides near the border between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. Of the 794 bridges and tunnels currently operating under the purview of the New York City Department of Transportation, it is the least-used bridge in the city.
Despite this, the Carroll Street Bridge is actually a New York City historic landmark. It is one of only three…
Lucille Fornasieri Gold, [Russian women in Brighton Beach], circa 1975, Digital image, V2008.013.16; Brooklyn Historical SocietyEvery photograph in Lucille Fornasieri Gold’s collection is a story unto itself. Case in point, the image above of an early morning scene on the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, a neighborhood alongside Coney Island on the southern shore of Brooklyn. Seated at two tables are four Russian women, collectively looking off into the distance at something out of frame. I wonder what it could be they are looking at.
In 1930, Lucille Fornasieri Gold was born in…
Frank J. Trezza, [Ship fitters], 1977, Color slide, v1988.21.120; Brooklyn Historical Society. This image comes from the Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, which documents the Brooklyn Navy Yard through a turbulent period of change. Closed by the Department of Defense in 1966, the Navy Yard was reopened a few years later under the management of the Seatrain Shipbuilding Corporation. A subsidiary of the shipping and transportation company Seatrain Lines, the Seatrain Shipbuilding Corporation was founded in 1968 with the help of federal government subsidies and…
John D. Morrell, [Sharon Hall Hotel], March 6, 1960, Gelatin silver print, v1974.4.1504; Brooklyn Historical Society. Some readers might remember this building as the Sharon Hall Hotel. Prior to its revamping however, it was an apartment building known as the Montrose.
This magnificent structure was designed, sometime between the 1860s and 1880s, by Montrose W. Morris, the Brooklyn based architect best known for designing some of the earliest multi-unit apartment buildings in New York City. The design of the Montrose is very similar in style to the Alhambra, another larger…
James and Karla Murray, Zig Zag Records, 2005, 2009.004.28; Brooklyn Historical Society. The image above shows the exterior of Zig Zag Records, a family-owned shop in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, which shuttered its doors in 2011.
This photograph is part of an ongoing project by photographers James and Karla Murray which documents the storefronts of Brooklyn and New York City. It was featured in the 2009 Counter Culture, part of the “Public Perspectives” exhibition series held at Brooklyn Historical Society. The exhibition also coincided with the publication…
[Bliss Estate, Owl’s Head Park], circa 1915, V1973.6.680; Brooklyn Historical Society. Located in the Brooklyn neighborhood previously known as Yellow Hook (today Bay Ridge), Owl’s Head Park is tucked along the water in the neighborhood’s northern most section, offering spectacular views of the bay and nearby New Jersey.
In 1856, Henry Cruse Murphy - former Brooklyn mayor, founder of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and first director of the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society!) - built his estate on the site that would eventually become Owl’s Head Park…
Altar to Liberty, Green-Wood Cemetery, August 27, 1920, V1973.5.1005: Brooklyn Historical Society.Situated on Brooklyn’s highest point, Battle Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery, stands the Roman goddess of wisdom and war, Minerva. Designed as an altar to independence, the bronze Minerva appears to be waving to the Statue of Liberty which is clearly visible from her vantage point.
Charles Higgins, the creator of Higgins India Ink, led the charge on this project. He considered the Battle of Brooklyn, fought on August 27, 1776, to be an overlooked event of historic significance in…
[The Ocean Parkway, Three Drives, Two Bicycle Paths and Sidewalks], circa 1894, V1986.250.1.78; Brooklyn Historical Society. Stretching from the southwest entrance of Prospect Park to the ocean shore of Coney Island, Ocean Parkway spans just under five miles across the borough of Brooklyn. In 1894, the parkway became New York City’s first dedicated bicycle path, and the very first in the United States!
In 1866, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux proposed constructing two stretches of open public parkways to Brooklyn’s board of Park Commissioners, an extension of their…
Ralph Irving Lloyd, [Cats on a roof], circa 1905, V1981.15.219; Brooklyn Historical Society. Brooklynites have been obsessed with photographing cats long before social media was a thing. These fancy felines were photographed by Brooklyn’s own amateur photographer and ophthalmologist, Ralph Irving Lloyd.
Lloyd was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on September 11, 1875. After high school, Lloyd moved to New York City and attended the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, graduating in 1896. Two years later, he enrolled at the New York Ophthalmic Hospital for further…
[Clay Lancaster and August Heckscher, reception at Gage & Tollner], November 28, 1967, v1973.5.1582; Brooklyn Historical Society. Architectural Historian and author Clay Lancaster (on left) was born on March 30, 1917 in Lexington, Kentucky. After receiving his Master’s from the University of Kentucky he moved to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights and worked as both a librarian in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library and as a lecturer on architectural history at Columbia University in Manhattan.
One of Lancaster’s most noteworthy accomplishments was…
Anthony Costanzo, [Brooklyn Navy Yard], circa 1960, v1988.37.118; Brooklyn Historical Society. This photograph comes from the Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection (ARC.023). Costanzo was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1963, he attended Teachers College at Columbia University and received his Master’s in Education. After graduating, Costanzo stayed in New York City, working as a Public Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He would remain in…
[Marianne Moore, reception at Gage & Tollner’s], November 28, 1967, v1973.5.1588; Brooklyn Historical Society.Coincidentally enough, the other day I was enjoying my lunch on the Brooklyn Heights promenade when an elderly gentleman approached me and asked if I had heard of Marianne Moore. When I told him I had, he sat down next to me and shared the story of his day. He had been walking up and down the promenade all morning asking people if they knew who she was. This man was delighted to have found me, although we ended up not actually talking about Marianne Moore.…
[The Williamsburg Bridge, spanning the East River], circa 1910, v1973.6.575; Brooklyn Historical Society.The Williamsburg Bridge opened to the public on December 19, 1903, spanning the East River and connecting Manhattan’s Lower East Side with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. It was designed by American Civil Engineer Leffert L. Buck and architect Henry Hornbostel who would later also collaborate on the design of the nearby Queensboro Bridge.
This time period coincided with a massive population growth in New York City, prompting an ease of movement between boroughs…
[Fabulous Coney Island], circa 1950, Photographic postcard, v1973.4.1511; Brooklyn Historical Society. Summertime in August means it’s time to beat the heat. New York of course has its fair share of beaches but one of its more well-known spots to go for a swim is Brooklyn’s own Coney Island.
Pictured above is “Fabulous Coney Island” as captured from the 1950s! The Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone, attractions that both received landmark status in the late 1980s, are represented here as well as the historic Steeplechase Park. All but Steeplechase Park remain today. The park…