Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Bay Ridge

South Brooklyn was originally settled by the Canarsee Indians, one of several indigenous Lenape peoples who farmed and hunted on the land. The Canarsee Indians had several routes that crossed Brooklyn, including a path from Fulton Ferry along the East River that extended southward to Gowanus Creek, Sunset Park, and Bay Ridge.[7]^: 9[8] The Canarsee traded with other indigenous peoples, and by the early 17th century, also with Dutch and English settlers.[7]^: 9

The first European settlement at Bay Ridge occurred in 1636 when Willem Adriaenszen Bennett and Jacques Bentyn purchased 936 acres (379 ha) between 28th and 60th Streets, in what is now Sunset Park.[9][10][lower-alpha 1] However, after the land was purchased in the 1640s by Dutch settlers who laid out their farms along the waterfront, the Canarsee were soon displaced, and had left Brooklyn by the 18th century.[7]^: 9 Present-day Bay Ridge was the westernmost portion of New Utrecht, founded in 1657 by the Dutch.[11]^: 8[12] The area consisted of two sister villages: Yellow Hook to the north, named for the color of the soil, with "Hook" from the Dutch hoek, meaning "corner"[13] and Fort Hamilton to the south, named for the military installation at its center.[9][11]^: 4

Yellow Hook was mostly farmland until the late 1840s. In 1848, Third Avenue within the area was widened. Two years later, a group of artists moved to the area and founded a colony called Ovington Village, named after the family who owned the farmland in the area.[14]^: 1[15] Around 1853, Yellow Hook changed the community's name to avoid association with yellow fever.[16][17] "Bay Ridge" was suggested by local horticulturist James Weir after the area's most prominent geographic features: the high ridge that offered views of New York Bay.[18][19] The natural beauty attracted the wealthy, who built country homes along Shore Road, overlooking the water.[20]

The first settlers referred to Fort Hamilton as the "Nyack Tract", after the Native American tribe that lived there.[9] Fort Hamilton began to develop in the 1830s as a resort destination when the corresponding military fortification was created. The mostly-immigrant laborers in the area started to create a community to the fort's north and west, which included stores, houses, churches, and a school. The community was linked by stagecoach to New Utrecht, Gowanus, and downtown Brooklyn, as well as by ferry to Staten Island and Manhattan.[21]^: 2[22]

George Bradford Brainerd, Bay Ridge, c. 1872 – c. 1887 Brooklyn Museum

In the mid-19th century, a large number of country houses were built in Bay Ridge, especially along Shore Road, which faced the New York Harbor to the west.[9] The advent of the telephone allowed estate owners to communicate with their businesses in Manhattan while enjoying their stays at the elegant estates of Bay Ridge.[11]^: 8[23]^: 5 Through this period Greek Revival, Italianate, and Gothic Revival villas were built on Shore Road; many of these villas were constructed by the descendants of the area's original settlers.[11]^: 8[21]^: 2 Development in Bay Ridge continued through the 1890s.[24] One of the most prominent organizations in Bay Ridge was the Crescent Athletic Club, a football club built in 1884, which contained a summer clubhouse, boathouse, and playing fields.[11]^: 8[14]^: 2 By the late 19th century, it was anticipated that a series of parkways would be built across Brooklyn, connecting Bay Ridge to Eastern Parkway, Ocean Parkway, and Prospect Park. As such, several wide, tree-lined streets were laid through the neighborhood, including 75th Street (now Bay Ridge Parkway); Fort Hamilton Parkway; and Shore Road.[25][lower-alpha 2]

Until the late 19th century, Bay Ridge would remain a relatively isolated rural area,[21]^: 4 reached primarily by stagecoaches, then by steam trolleys after 1878.[23]^: 15 In 1892, the first electric trolley line was built in Brooklyn, starting at a ferry terminal at 39th Street and running via Second Avenue to 65th Street, and then via Third Avenue. The Fifth Avenue Elevated was then extended to Third Avenue and 65th Street.[23]^: 19[26] This had the effect of raising land prices: one entity, the Bay Ridge Improvement Company, was able to buy land for $1,000 per acre ($2,500/ha) in 1890, and then sell land off for $1,000 per lot several years later.[23]^: 19

Real estate speculation commenced at the beginning of the 20th century.[27] A building boom in South Brooklyn started in about 1902 and 1903, and thousands of people started coming to the area from Manhattan and from other places.[26] The first definite plans for a Fourth Avenue subway (today's R train) were proposed by Rapid Transit Commission engineer William Barclay Parsons in 1903,[28] and two years later, a citizens' committee was created to aid the creation of the subway line.[29] The announcement of the subway line resulted in the immediate development of row houses in Bay Ridge.[28][30] In 1905 and 1906 realty values increased by about 100 percent, and land values increased due to the promise of improved transportation access.[26] Such was the rate of development, houses were being sold before they were even completed, and land prices could rise significantly just within several hours.[11]^: 11

The subway itself faced delays. In 1905, the Rapid Transit Commission adopted the Fourth Avenue route to Fort Hamilton; following approval by the Board of Estimate and mayor of New York City, the route was approved by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.[31][32][33] Bids for construction and operation were let,[31][32] but in 1907, the Rapid Transit Commission was succeeded by the Public Service Commission (PSC).[29] For much of 1908, there were legal disagreements about whether the project could be funded while remaining within the city's debt limit.[11]^: 12 The PSC voted unanimously for the Fourth Avenue subway line in March 1908,[29][31] but the Board of Estimate did not approve contracts for the line until October 1909. By then, a non-partisan political body, with the backing of 25,000 South Brooklyn residents, was created that would only support candidates in the municipal election that pledged support for the Fourth Avenue subway.[31][34][35] Groundbreaking for the first section of the subway, between DeKalb Avenue and 43rd Street took place in 1909.[36] Not long after the contracts were awarded, the PSC started negotiating with the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in the execution of the Dual Contracts, which were signed in 1913.[31] During the Dual System negotiations, the construction of an extension of the Fourth Avenue subway was recommended as part of the Dual System, which was approved in 1912.[31] Construction began on the sections between 61st–89th Streets and between 43rd–61st Streets in 1913, and was completed two years later.[33]

The Bay Ridge–95th Street terminal station of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line was opened in 1925.

The line opened to 59th Street on June 21, 1915,[37] and was extended to 86th Street on January 15, 1916, at which time development started to accelerate.[38] At the time, Bay Ridge extended northward to what is now present-day Sunset Park.[39] Industrial developments were constructed along the waterfront north of present-day 65th Street, such as Bush Terminal (now Industry City), and those were considered to be within Bay Ridge.[40] By the 1920s, the number of apartment buildings had increased fivefold, replacing old farms, homesteads and houses.[41]^: 17[42] Schools, churches, stores, movie theaters, and other structures were also created to serve the growing population.[23]^: 23 The Fourth Avenue subway was extended further to Bay Ridge–95th Street in 1925,[43][44] by which point Bay Ridge's population had more than doubled since 1900.[41]^: 17 By World War II, almost all of these large houses had been replaced with apartment buildings.[20]

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Norwegian and Danish sailors emigrated to Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge and neighboring Sunset Park; Lapskaus Boulevard, referring to the salted Norwegian beef stew, was the nickname of Eighth Avenue in this area.[45]

The Verrazzano Bridge on a foggy day

There had been plans to build the Staten Island Tunnel, a railroad or subway tunnel, from Bay Ridge to Staten Island as early as 1890.[46] By the 1910s, there were two proposals to build a tunnel splitting from the Fourth Avenue subway in Bay Ridge, either at Fort Hamilton or at between 65th and 67th Streets.[47] The plan for the tunnel from 65th-67th Streets was ultimately selected[48] and work started in 1923, though the project was halted two years later.[49] In 1927, two years after the cancellation of the Staten Island Tunnel, engineer David B. Steinman brought up the possibility of constructing a vehicular bridge, the "Liberty Bridge", across the Narrows.[50]^: 135[51] The tunnel proposal was also revived with the announcement of the Liberty Bridge, and proposals for vehicular and rail tunnels were both considered.[52][53] The bridge was disapproved by the United States Department of War in 1934,[54] and plans for a bridge were revived in 1936.[55] By the time the bridge was approved by the city's Board of Estimate in 1943, residents of Bay Ridge had turned against it, citing a detrimental impact to the neighborhood's character.[56]

Robert Moses, the chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), announced the revival of plans for what would become the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1947.[57] U.S. Representative Donald Lawrence O'Toole, whose constituency included Bay Ridge, opposed the proposal for the bridge in part because he believed it would damage the character of Bay Ridge.[58][59] The U.S. military approved the proposal anyway,[60][61] and in 1957, Moses proposed expanding Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway and extending it to the Narrows Bridge by way of Seventh Avenue, which would require cutting through the middle of Bay Ridge. This proposal drew opposition from the community, who wanted the approach to follow the Belt Parkway along the Brooklyn shore.[62] After holding a hearing for concerned Bay Ridge residents, the Board of Estimate affirmed the Narrows Bridge plan in October 1958,[63] though this angered Bay Ridge residents since the construction of the approach would displace 7,500 people.[64] Also destroyed was Fort Lafayette, part of New York City's defense system along with Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island; it was replaced by the base of the bridge's east tower.[65][66] The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964.[67]

The 2007 Brooklyn tornado hit this area, specifically 68th Street and Bay Ridge Avenue between Third and Fourth Avenues.[68] Eleven houses had to be vacated after they suffered significant damage, and many of the trees on the two blocks toppled, landing on cars and stoops. The 4th Avenue Presbyterian Church had its very large stained glass window blown out.[69] As the tornado lifted, it peeled the roof of a nearby Nissan dealership and deforested 40% of Leif Ericson Park. The tornado has been rated EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds between 111 and 135 MPH.[70]

Local newspapers include The Home Reporter, Sunset News, The Bay Ridge Courier, and Bay Ridge News. The neighborhood is also often covered by The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. These newspapers publish other local offshoots: The Home Reporter also publishes The Spectator; the Courier's parent company also publishes The Brooklyn Paper; and the Eagle publishes a weekly digest called Bay Ridge Life.

In the 1990s and 2000s, many decades-old two-family houses were demolished and replaced by condominiums known colloquially as "Fedder Homes", after the branded air conditioners poking out from the buildings' facades. In 2005, local community leaders and community activists from across the political spectrum united to issue rezoning laws.[93] The six-story apartment complexes lining Shore Road are among the tallest buildings in the neighborhood.[94]

69th Street Pier in 2008

The park strip between the shore road and Narrows

• 8200 Narrows Avenue House, designed by James Sarsfield Kennedy in 1917, is a city landmark.[14]
• American Veterans Memorial Pier (commonly referred to as the 69th Street Pier) at Bay Ridge Avenue and Shore Road is the community's key seaside recreation spot. Sports fishermen travel to fish the waters of "The Bay Ridge Anchorage" and along the seawall promenade that runs south from the pier to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and east along Gravesend Bay. The pier features a sculpture that emits a beam of light as a memorial to those who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Commuter ferry service operated between this pier and the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island from 1912 until 1964, the year the Verrazzano Bridge opened.[95] Ferry service to Wall Street and points along the western coast of Brooklyn began in 2017 from the pier as part of NYC Ferry's South Brooklyn route.[96]
• Bennet-Farrell-Feldman House, located at 119 95th Street,[97] was built in 1847 and is now an official city landmark.[21] An accompanying structure, thought to have been used as a barn, couldn't be saved and was demolished. Legend has it the house was turned so that its "widow's walk," a balcony that traditionally faces the sea so women left at home could watch for their husbands' ships, would no longer face the Narrows.[98]
• Doctors' Row, a series of houses along Bay Ridge Pkwy between Fourth and Fifth Avenues (see § Doctors' Row)[11]
• Fort Hamilton, an active military base near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (see § Fort Hamilton Army Base)
• The Houses at 216–264 Ovington Ave. were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[99]
• Owl's Head Park (also known as Bliss Park), in the neighborhood's northwest corner, was previously the private estate of the Bliss Family, for whom nearby Bliss Terrace is named. They sold what remained of the estate to the city in 1928 for $850,000, after Eliphalet Williams Bliss specified in his will 25 years earlier that he wanted the city to buy the land and convert it into parkland. Before them, a portion of the property was owned by Henry C. Murphy, a former Mayor of Brooklyn, ambassador, congressman and New York State Senator for whom the nearby Senator Street is named. Remnants of the estate—mansion, stable, observation tower—were still visible into the 1930s and 40s, when they were finally demolished, having been left to fall into disrepair.[100] It is a 24-acre (97,000 m²) walking park[101] that has a state of the art skate park, dog run, children's playground and basketball courts; it has the first concrete skatepark built in Brooklyn.[102]
• The Senator Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[99]
• Shore Road Park New York Road Runners hosts a weekly 3-mile (4.8 km) open run.[103]
• Step streets are public staircases in the middle of a street. As a rule they were placed on hills that were too steep to build a road for cars but still allow access to pedestrians.[104]
• St. John's Episcopal Church[105] was where Robert E. Lee served as a vestryman and where his future "right hand," Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, was baptized.[106] The building no longer hosts services.[107]

Historic Fort Hamilton Army Base is located in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, with gates in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, and is one of several posts that are part of the region which is headquartered by the Military District of Washington. Its mission is to provide the New York metropolitan area with military installation support for the Army National Guard and the United States Army Reserve. The base is considered to be part of Bay Ridge. The children stationed at the base are zoned into Bay Ridge schools.

Fort Hamilton houses one of the neighborhood's few cultural attractions, the Harbor Defense Museum.[108]

Doctors' Row is a series of rowhouses located on Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th Avenues, built in the 1900s and 1910s prior to the opening of the Fourth Avenue subway line. The 54 houses that comprise Doctors' Row, include elements of the Renaissance Revival architectural style, with some elements in the Colonial Revival style.[11]^: 7 In 2019 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission made Doctors' Row an official city-designated historic district, making it the first such district in the neighborhood.[109]

The New York City Department of Education operates area public schools. Educational institutions in Bay Ridge include P.S. 102,[131] P.S. 170, P.S. 127, P.S. 185[132] (Walter Kassenbrock Elementary School), P.S. 104[133] (called the Fort Hamilton School), P.S. 264[134] (Bay Ridge Elementary School for the Arts), Lutheran Elementary School, St. Anselm's Roman Catholic School, P.S./I.S. 30[135] (also known as Mary White Ovington), I.S.259 (also known as William McKinley Junior High School) Angels Catholic Academy[136] Bay Ridge Preparatory School,[137] Fort Hamilton High School, High School of Telecommunications (originally all-girls Bay Ridge High School), Poly Prep Country Day School, Visitation Academy, Adelphi Academy, Fontbonne Hall Academy, St. Patrick Elementary School, D., G. Kaloidis Parochial School,[138] and Xaverian High School. Fort Hamilton High School, between 83rd and 85th streets, was erected in the 1940s on the grounds of the Crescent Athletic Club, a country club. The High School of Telecommunications was formerly Bay Ridge High School, which was once an all-girls school.

Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) operates two public libraries in the neighborhood. The Bay Ridge Library is the larger of the two, and is located at 7223 Ridge Boulevard at 73rd Street. The Bay Ridge Reading Club first organized the library in 1880. It opened on its present site in 1896 and became a BPL branch in 1901. The current two-story facility opened in 1960. In 2004 it received a $2.1 million renovation, including new furniture and shelving, new lighting equipment, a new roof, and 27 additional public access computers.[139]

The Fort Hamilton Library, located at 9424 Fourth Avenue between 94th and 95th Streets, was built as a Carnegie library in 1906. The current branch's predecessor became a part of the BPL system in 1901 and moved to its current location in 1905. Since then it has gone through numerous renovations. The most recent renovation was completed in March 2011.[140]

• Between Two Moons, Aisha Abdel Gawad's debut novel, is set in the Arab immigrant community of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, during the month of Ramadan.[178]
• Two of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder novels, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes and A Walk Among the Tombstones, are partially set in Bay Ridge.[179]
• Kenneth H. Brown's The Narrows (1970) is set in Bay Ridge during the 1950s.[180]
• The Fort Hamilton army base is the setting for most of Nelson DeMille's novel Word of Honor (1985).[181]
• Tom McDonough's novel Virgin with Child is set in Bay Ridge.[182]
• Several short stories by Hubert Selby, Jr. are set in the neighborhood, including "Liebesnacht" and "Double Feature."[183] Some of his novels are also set in the neighborhood or nearby, like Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Demon.[184]
• Several novels by Gilbert Sorrentino are set in the neighborhood, including Steelwork, Red the Fiend, Crystal Vision, A Strange Commonplace, Little Casino, and The Abyss of Human Illusion.[185]

• The movie Saturday Night Fever (1977) was set in Bay Ridge as well as Sunset Park and Bensonhurst[186]
• The film White Irish Drinkers (2010), directed by John Gray, is set in Bay Ridge[187]

• NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) on CBS-TV's Blue Bloods lives in Bay Ridge; his home at 8070 Harbor View Terrace, near Fort Hamilton High School, is seen in each episode[188]
• The 2012 reality series Brooklyn 11223 was set in Bay Ridge[189]
• Peggy Olson, the Norwegian-American copywriter on AMC's Mad Men, is from Bay Ridge.[190] In the second episode of Season One, she declared, "I'm from Bay Ridge. We have manners."