路OLD BAY RIDGE
BROOKLYN,
NEW YORK
OLD BAY RIDGE History, Tradition, Recollection Compiled for
THE LADIES AID SOCIETY UNION
CHURCH
OF BAY RIDGE
(PRESBYTERIAN)
for use with
A Pageant of Costume
1934 ~
Committee:
Mrs. Frederick E. Pool, Mrs. Cornelius Smith, Laura L. Bennett
Acknowledgment
of indebtedness
is made
to the
"ADDRESS ON THE ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT" by the Honorable at the Celebration of the
TEUNIS
of the Two
Reformed
Church
October
G.
BERGEN
Hundredth of New
Anniversary Utrecht
18, 1877
and the "REMINISCENCES OF OLD NEW UTRECHT" by MRS. BLEECKER BANGS
OLD BAY RIDGE
When Henry Hudson, the Dutch Explorer, sailed up the bay in 1609 the first persons to greet him were the Nyack Indians. Forty-eight years later came the first white settlers. The early cultivation of the land dates back to the Dutch who settled in 1657. Buying the land from the Indians they established the Town of New Utrecht. This was the land bounded on the north by Flatbush and Brooklyn, on the east by the Town of Gravesend, on the south, by Gravesend Bay, and on the west by the Narrows. The Dutch had little trouble with the Indians, though they built a block house for protection against sudden attacks. The location of a "Long House" of the Indians just within the entrance of Fort Hamilton, has been attested by the D.A.R. with the erection of a marker. New Utrecht Village was divided into twenty plots of fifty acres each. When Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherlands, visited the settlement in February 1660, the inhabitants raised the flag of Orange, on a high pole, where it floated from the center of the settlement. At 84th Street and 18th Avenue, stands the New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church, organized over 250 years ago in October, 1677, and at that time standing at 84th Street and 16th Avenue; it was the religious and civic center of the Dutch Colony. These people were deeply religious and all controversies were placed before the cons.istory for arbitration. It was a court of justice as well as a religious center. Between the home and the church these people had their being. In 1827 the original building was torn down and the same stones used to rebuild the ivy covered church which still stands at 84th Street and 18th Avenue. This church is the mother church of the Bay Ridge Reformed Dutch Church at 80th Street and Ridge Boulevard, which is now a part of Union Church. The plot on which this latter church was built was the gift of Mr. Jaques Van Brunt, this land being a part of the Van Brunt Farm. These early Dutch Settlers made their own furniture, spun their own wool and linen and raised their own food. Once a year the traveling shoemaker came and made and mended shoes for the entire family, remaining a week or more and then moving on to the next farm. Between times the shoes were mended at home. There were a few things they could not do, and making shoes was one of these, but for the most part they were sufficient unto themselves. Such luxuries as store furniture or china were occasionally brought home from the city and towns by the men on one of the occasions when they took produce to the markets. It was a rare treat indeed to have factory woven doth and this was purchased by the bolt so that each member of the family, from the tiny tot to the grandmother, might have a store dress. Each was fashioned at home after the mode of the day, suited to the age and dignity of the wearer, but as to variety of color or material there was none.
Dutch was the language spoken in these homes, and used at one service in church each Sunday until 1824, when the settling of other nationalities brought the necessity of the use of English. The Dutch were great lovers of music and carried it into their homes and hearts. Most of it consisted of folk songs of everyday things around their homes and farms. There was a lullaby about cows in the corn and pigs in the- clover, with the child tossed high at the last word, which was used from Fort Orange down to the Narrows. Jacques Cortelyou was the real founder and leader of the Dutch colony, and Gov. Stuyvesant recognizing his leadership, sent workmen to rebuild his house, which was destroyed by fire in 1675. The old home was of logs, the new house was of stone and stood beyond where Fort Hamilton now stands. The old Cropsey home stood on the shore near this site, and what is now Cropsey Avenue, crossed the rear of the Cropsey Farm. What we know as Dyker Beach today was originally the site of the old Dutch Dykes, built on the edge of what was then acres of meadows, now Dyker Park. The present Dyker Heights derived its name from the same source. Jacques Cortelyou was French and the Jacques spelled with. a C. This name was adopted ,by the Dutch but the C.was dropped, and the name as we have it today is Jaques. So we have the French influence as well as the Dutch in the early life of this community. Other French names that persist are De Groff, De N yse and Duryee. The house of Cortelyou brings us sad reminders. A fair young daughter fell in love with a young Hessian officer and secretly married him. The girl's family was deeply angry and separated the lovers, whereupon the young man rushed from the house to the nearby bluff overlooking the Narrows, and there shot himself, and the young bride died of a broken heart.
Fort Hamilton played an active part in the early history of this community. At the time of the Revolution fortifications were erected at the N arrows to protect us from the British, but the British fleets of some 400 ships entering the harbor soon had control. This was the landing place of the British on Long Island in 1776. A stone marker at Fort Hamilton and Shore Road commemorates this spot. A story is told of an old darky slave, who, when the British landed, was forced to ride some soldiers up the hill in his dump cart. This he reluctantly did, but upon reaching his master's farmhouse he dumped them into the road as he quickly drove into the barnyard. This farmhouse was the Stanton place which is still standing at 98th and Shore Road. This point of landing was chosen by the British because of the easy access to N ew Jersey and inland points by way of the De N yse ferry which ran from Fort Hamilton to Staten Island. The old Bennett homestead, standing at 95th St. and Shore Road, still bears the mark of a cannon ball from the battleship Asia, which came down the chimney where it remains to this day. This house seemed fated, for some 130 years later an explosion at Fort Hamilton, during the World War, sent a piece of shrapnel through the room where this chimney stands. In a small graveyard at Mac Kay place, beside Mr. Moses Lott's house, are 'buried two heroes of the Revolutionary War, Simon Cortelyou and Harmanus Barkaloo. This little grave plot is protected by an ancient will
and cannot be disturbed by the march of progress. The D. A. R. sponsors its preservation and The American Legion and the Boy Scouts care for it. During the Revolution the New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church was used as an arsenal and in 1776 Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull was taken from a prison ship in the bay and cared for there until just 'before he died, when he was removed to the De Sille home adjoining. 1\'1r. Van Pelt's house, at 81st St. and 18th Ave. was confiscated and used by the British. This hou e is now owned by the city and is one of the few early Dutch houses intact. Following the war and the Declaration of Independence the first Liberty Pole was erected at New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church amid much rejoicing. The colonists joined hands and danced around the pole in great glee.
Fort Hamilton was established as a United States Army Post in 1831. In 1843 Captain Robert E. Lee was stationed here, and six years later Major Stonewall Jackson came. These two future generals were ardent churchmen in St. John's Episcopal Church, which stands opposite Fort Hamilton gate. Here Major Stonewall Jackson was baptized in 1849 at the age of thirty, and here Captain Robert E. Lee became a vestryman. The residents of' that day saw much of these dashing young officers, who were active in the social life of the community, little dreaming what heroes they were to become. St. John's Episcopal Church, one of the earliest Episcopal churches in Kings County, was organized on Sept. 29th, 1834, in the Denyse house, then Major Whiting's headquarters. The church was built in 1835 on land given by the heirs of the Denyse Farm. The congregation will soon celebrate the completion of a hundred years of service. Nine years earlier, in 1825 the Fort Hamilton Dutch Reformed Sabbath-School was organized by John Carpenter, M.D. This was the first Sunday-School in the town of New Utrecht, and was known at first as "the Narrows Sabbath-School," probably because it met in the Narrows' School-house, on the Shore near 88th Street. The next year, the home School of the New Utrecht Church was formed, and the two Schools joined with those of New York in a rally at the Battery. The banner with the date 1826, carried by J. Remsen Bennett as a boy, on this occasion, is still in good condition. About 1844, a chapel for the use of the Fort Hamilton School was built by the New Utrecht Church on Fourth Avenue, near 98th Street, in which its services continued to be held for more than half a century. It was in this building that the organization of the Bay Ridge Reformed (Dutch) Church took place in 1896-the Fort Hamilton Sunday-School becoming the nucleus of the new organization. Later, on the completion of the Church building at Ridge Boulevard and 80th Street, the School was transferred to that building as a unit. It is notable that one family, J. Remsen Bennett and his sons, Adolphus and William R. Bennett, had a combined length of service as Superintendent for more than fifty years-the last both in Fort Hamilton and Bay Ridge. I t was around this period, following the establishment of the Army Post, that the old Hamilton House at 4th Ave. and Shore Road flourished as a popular social center for the four hundred of N ew York City. Between the Hamilton House at Fort Hamilton and the old Astor House on Vesey St.,
society moved. Fort Hamilton became a popular week-end resort and many were the fashionable turn-outs travelling through this locality. Driving through shaded country roads past well cultivated farms the liveried footmen and coachmen, prancing teams and fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen were a picturesque sight, quite as smart as the latest stream-lined cars of today. In 1856 during the seige of Yellow Fever, Fort Hamilton was the center of much activity; the military doctors and officers making a valiant fight against this disease. It was the general belief that the Yellow Fever was brought into this community through the handling of mattresses thrown overboard by a ship anchored nearby. The fever claimed many in spite of courageous efforts. A monument to two heroic doctors who were victims in their efforts to save others, was erected in the New Utrecht Cemetery at 16th Avenue and 84th Street, which is the graveyard of the New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church. Entire families packed up and fled to outlying points until the plague was spent. Mrs. J. Remsen Bennett packed her washing, wet from the line, and hurried with her family to Bloomfield, New Jersey. Fort Hamilton Army Post played its part in the Civil War period, as well as during the Spanish American War, when the 44th Regiment was stationed there and the women of Bay Ridge gave their time and service in caring for the sick. Fort Hamilton Park at this period was the terminus of the stage coaoh line. There 'grew about this section a hit and miss settlement of stores and houses. The old colonial house standing opposite Fort Hamilton gate was the home of Mr. Church, owner of the stage line, who had a general store nearby, where he sold everything from a load of hay to a package of needles. 'This old house still stands and is one of the few early 19th Century landmarks. The stage line ran from Fulton Street ferry by way of Flatbush, Flatlands and Kings Highway to Fort Hamilton, where it connected with the De Nyse ferry to Staten Island. This ferry was operated until 1806. A second ferry over the Kill Van KuIl, operated by a horse driven treadmill, connected with the through road to Philadelphia and points south. This was the mail as well as passenger service from this locality.
About 1850, a group of city men, artists and men whose businesses and professions were related to the Arts and Crafts, were attracted to this locality as a place of residence and bought land along Ovington Avenue, laying out the street and naming it for one of their number-the founder of "Ovington's" of Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, and of a similar store then and for many years in Brooklyn. These houses were built on both sides of Ovington Avenue, between Third and Fifth Avenues, with deep plots and gardens. The Ov.ington house stood at the corner of Fourth Avenue, where the Methodist Church now stands. This was the first approach to village life in this section. Otto Heinigke, son of one of this group was a stained glass designer and manufacturer. The windows in the Bay Ridge Dutch Reformed Church were his work. The Ridge Blvd. windows in Union Church, with the exception of the Van Brunt memorial from the Tiffany Studios, are the original Heinigke windows. Mr. Schlegel, another of this group, was a lithographer, and his son later bought "Dellwood" at 73rd Street and Ridge
Blvd. This estate was called "Dellwood" because of a wooded dell north of where the Ridge Club now stands. The house dating back as one of the early landmarks and homesteads was torn down to make way for Flagg Court. Mr. Schlegel developed one of the finest orchid collections in the United States, which has only recently been removed from the greenhouses at 73rd Street and Colonial Road. All this time, that part of the Town of New Utrecht lying along the Narrows, had been known as "Yellow Hook". On the evening of December 16th, 1853, a meeting of residents was held in the District School house to choose a name, and on the suggestion of Mr. James Weir, the name "Bay Ridge" was formally adopted, and became the name for both School and Post-Office. The Section included was generally understood to extend from the Brooklyn City Line, then at 60th Street, on the North, to 86th Street on the South, and from the Shore of the Bay to "Franklin Avenue"-the earlier name for "Fort Hamilton Parkway". Mr. James Weir was the head of the original florist firm of Weir's. Others present at this meeting were: Henry C. Murphy, Benjamin C. Townsend, Joseph A. Perry, William C. Langley, Jaques Van Brunt, J. Remsen Bennett, Winant W. Bennett, Isaac Bergen, Dr. Stone and Teunis G. Bergen, who presided. It was in this same year of 1853 that Christ Church (Protestant Episcopal) was organized. The original location of this church was on 68th Street at the corner of Third Avenue-the church building on the corner, with the smaller Sunday School building back of it, facing on the avenue, and the Rectory adjoining, standing well back from the road behind some very tall trees. When the building of the trolley incline to the elevated railroad close to the church walls, made this location unsuitable and Christ Church moved in 1909 to its present beautiful buildings on Ridge Boulevard, the old frame church building was bought by the young congregation of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, then three years old, and moved to the corner of Fourth Avenue and 75th Street. Here, without its tapering steeple, but clothed handsomely in stone and stucco, it still serves the community in whose life it has held so rich a part. Grace Methodist Episcopal Church is also an old institution, organized in 1830; it once occupied a building on Stewart Avenue-perhaps near the present 6th Avenue and 76th Street, and the present stone building is the second structure on its present site on Fourth Avenue at Ovington. In 1854 there occurred a momentous and far-reaching event which had its inception in Bay Ridge. At 90th Street and Shore Road, about where the Dudley Smith house now stands, stood the Chandler White house, a beautiful home of Revolutionary type, built in 1775. In this house, the papers which made possible the laying of the first Atlantic Cable were signed. The meeting was called here in order that Mr. White, who was ill, might be present. The first message over the cable was from Queen Victoria on August 16th, 1858.
During the Civil War, those men of the community who were not in active service belonged to the Kings County Troop and served in quelling the riots in New York. Mr. David C. Bennett, who at the time of the Civil War was renting and farming the Chandler White Acres, and lived
in a house back from the shore, had a number of runaway Southern Negroes in his service. A settlement of Irish people had formed between Third and Fifth Avenues, and 88th and 96th Streets, and some of them resented the invaders as workers in the field, and threatened the negroes. Mr. Bennett was obliged ro secret them in a covered market wagon and drive into Manhattan where he shipped them to Canada. It is interesting to note, that a few slaves worked on these farms, from time to time, though slave owning was not generally practised. There had been a voluntary end to traffic in slaves by 1828. These Irish settlers came before the Civil War and some of the houses of their village stilI remain. They worked in the fields in family groups tending hot beds and gathering vegetables. The women wore numerous petticoats and the topmost skirt was gathered up and pinned back in order to move about more freely as the dresses were exceedingly long-a picturesque sight in these numerous skirts and tiny plaid shawls, sunbonnets and gingham aprons. In the summer evenings those living within hearing distance could hear the call of the geese, the noise of the children and the general clatter made by the settlement. On Saturday afternoons in summer they would line up at the farmhouses to receive their weekly pay, in gay .colorful line. Many were the controversies that arose at this time. The record of each day's time having been set down during the week would frequently be at variance with their ideas of what was due. These heated arguments were thrilling episodes in the lives of the younger generation who witnessed the Saturday pay-off.
On the Shore Road lived a number of land owners and farmers. This was the original location of many of the DU4ch settlers. The homestead of William R. Bennett stood at the north corner of 79th Street, the farm running back to Third Avenue. N ow a group of stucco houses is crowded into the space once occupied by this home and that of Mr. Bennett's brother, adjoining. There are probably more people now housed in what was once the Bennett yards than made up the entire population of New Utrecht. The large square house of their father, Mr. ]. Remsen Bennett, occupied the next plot of ground on the south corner of 77th Street. Across 77th Street to the north, is the old home of Van Brunt Bergen, which still stands, but in this front yard a modern brick house has been constructed within the past two years. The old Bergen home next door set far back from the busy Shore Drive stands sentinel over a lovely lawn and looks out on the bay unobstructed. On the south side of 79th Street at Shore Road, extending beyond 80th Street and also running back to Third Avenue, was the Jaques Van Brunt Farm. The house stood in the center of the 79th Street lot at the top of a steep hill. The original house was destroyed, but the old dining room and kitchen were moved to the grounds of the new home at 80th Street and Shore Road, to serve as a garage. The low ceilings, tiny panes of glass, and a bit of old time wall paper are in marked contrast to the modern automobile now housed there. The weather cock on the topmost gable is not the least abashed by the changes he looks out upon. The next house south, then standing on the extreme point, was that of Daniel Van Brunt, later owned by his son Rulef J. Van Brunt. The point
of land on which the Dewey Flag Pole stands, erected in honor of Admiral Dewey in 1899, belonged to this farm and is the most westerly point on Long Island. The contour of this point as it originally laid, so resembled an owl's head from the harbor approach that it became a point of navigation in this port and was known to seafarers as Owl's Head. It so appears on navigation charts today, although the original outline has been lost. A huge hickory tree stood for years on the outmost point and was a beacon for in,coming ships. The vacant lot at 83rd Street and Shore Road was the site of the Isaac Bergen home. N ext to the youth was another Van Brunt farm with two houses-Judge Charles Van Brunt's, the homestead, later owned by the Crescent Athletic Club, and the newer house of his brother, J. Holmes Van Brunt, which still stands. The Gelston house at Third Avenue and Shore Road commanded a marvelous view of Sandy Hook. Each of these Shore Road farms had a lane running back to Third Avenue, which was the main highway, and each farm had its own dock, from which produce was loaded on boats and barges and taken directly to the N ew York markets. From the berry yield in early times the farms came more and more to be huge fields of vegetables. Going down Shore Road with its rows of apartment houses and modern homes, it is hard to realize that from Bay Ridge Avenue to Fort Hamilton, not so long ago, it was a narrow country road following the shore and lined with old trees of many varieties. The shore line was much nearer in than now, as the land between seawall and Shore Road has been filled in. Here and there was a sandy beach and those fortunate enough to have such a water front had ideal bathing. Many homes had summer houses and bath houses below the road. The homestead of the David C. Bennett Farm, standing on the southeast corner of 79th Street and Fourth Avenue, was built in 1839 and destroyed only in 1926 to make way for the "Embassy" apartment house, now occupying the entire block on Fourth Avenue, between 79th and 80th Streets, which was the former lawn and garden of this home. Many descendants of the Dutch pioneers remember the thrill of going to the ivy covered New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church, and the drive along the country road, over the ridge of Dyker Heights and down to where, about 13th Avenue to 15th Avenue, there was a picturesque swamp filled with wild roses, cat-tails and cheerful bird notes. Every childish heart thrilled to the varied scenes. Passing well cultivated plots, carriages shining, trappings freshly polished and everyone spick and span in Sunday best,-going to church was an adventure. The Van Brunt Lane, winding its way from Shore Road, passing the David C. Bennett and De Nyse Farms to this Church was the main thoroughfare; passing the various farms it took on the name of each farmer as it passed his acreage, so it became the lane of many names. Into this road each conveyance had to turn at some point on the way. This Sunday journey became a veritable horse show, each farmer's pride in his own turnout putting horse flesh and equipment to the test. The men gathered in the churchyard to talk horses, watching critically the approach of the next rig. Another group of old residences were those on the Ridge for which Bay Ridge was named. At 75th Street and Ridge Boulevard, stood the Townsend home with its twelve beech trees two hundred years old, known as the twelve apostles. Here were wonderful rose gardens where three hundred roses
might be gathered in one day. This house was famed for its wide center hall through which a double team might have driven. Known as the "William Thomas place" for a number of years, this lovely old landmark was wrecked seven years ago, having earlier been cut in half when 75th Street was opened. It stood on the brow of the hill half way between Ridge Boulevard and Colonial Road. Across connecting lawns, to the south, the original old Thomas home, similar in size, stood not far from the top of the present 76th Street stairs. Across Ridge Boulevard from these grounds between 75th and 77th Streets was Mr. Samuel Thomas's place. The house stood on a high knoll near 75th Street, facing Third Avenue, though some distance back on the edge of a fine grove of hard-wood trees-chestnut, hickory, beech and oak, with dog-wood of course, as in all Long Island woods; this grove was known tD youthful nut gatherers as "Thomas's Woods". The house and even its knoll are gone, as well as the woods, but an occasional tall oak on the lower edges still reminds the old resident of former beauties. North of the old Dellwood place was the Perry place extending from 69th to 72nd Street, and from Ridge Boulevard to Colonial Road, except for the corner at Bay Ridge Avenue, and Ridge Boulevard, where the Winslow house and grounds stood. The Perry place, known for its beautifully kept lawn, was an attractive landmark for many years and even after the family ceased to live there the grounds were a thing of beauty. The Bliss Estate at Colonial Road and 67th Street, was originally the home of the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, Minister to Holland, who was a scholarly and cultivated gentleman and a brilliant entertainer. This estate had its driveway entrance on Third Avenue. On either gate post an owl's head stood guard. This was called Owl's Head because of a nest of owls found on the grounds. The Bullock house stood at what is today Ridge Boulevard and 83rd Street. The homestead was in the center of an estate including both sides of 83rd Street and extending to 85th Street, and from Third Avenue almost to Colonial Road. This plot was developed by Mr. William L. Dowling, who occupied the house for some years, before it was torn down. The lovely homes there now, still have some of the original shade trees in their yards. This Bullock estate was a bower of beautiful planting, with a formal rosegarden on the terrace in front of the house, overlooking the Bay, and famed for a great arch, covered with wisteria and other vines. Here, in these beautiful surroundings, on summer Sunday afternoons, Mrs. Dowling gathered her own and the neighbors' children in the summer-house, for an informal Sunday-School-bringing home, to these residents in a new development, their lack of a neighborhood church and Sunday-School. I t was from this small beginning, that plans were made leading to the formation of the Bay Ridge Presbyterian Church. The wooded lands of the farmers and the driveways of the homes to the Ridge dwellings all opened on Third Avenue with gateways of various designs. It was in 1848 that the old road from Gowanus to Yellow Hook was straightened and widened from 60th Street, the city line, to Van Brunt's Lane (about 79th Street) and named Third Avenue. It was probably then that the elm trees which arched over it so many years were planted. This has always been the street for transportation-horse cars following the stage coaches, and the "dummies"-steam engines in square cabs, with one or two trailing cars-following the horse cars about 1878, and trolleys following the dummies on May 23rd, 1892.
The willow trees which decorated Fourth Avenue until uprooted by the digging of the Subway, were planted by Mr. Rulef Van Brunt, probably after the opening and grading of this avenue in 1869. In 1874 there occurred in Germantown, Pa. the famous Charlie Ross kidnapping, and in a strange way the final due was traced to Bay Ridge. A few months after the kidnapping a catboat landed at the foot of 83rd Street, two men roamed Bay Ridge attempting robberies. One night Judge Charles Van Brunt, who owned the old homestead which is now the abandoned Crescent Club, had his home entered. His brother, Holmes Van Brunt, who lived next door south, and his son, hearing the intruders, shot at and killed the two men in self defense. One man lived a short time and confessed that the pair were Mosher and Douglas, who had kidnapped Charlie Ross. Douglas said he knew the child was alive and that Mosher knew where he was, but Mosher had been instantly killed, and Douglas died before telling any more. The rowboat used by these men to come ashore, was stowed away under the porch of the Rulef Van Brunt home, which was the next door south to the present Jacques Van Brunt home. When this house was torn down to build the house which now stands on the high terrace, the remnants of this boat were found stored under the porch. Previously the boat had been tied up for years at the Bergen dock at 83rd Street and Shore Road and used by neighboring children. An outstanding event of 1886 was the presentation of the Statue of Liberty by France, and the placing of it in N ew York Harbor. The people of Bay Ridge were told they could see to read by the light of Liberty's torch and many were the residents who sat them down with the newspaper in hand prepared to read by this light, but the lady bore aloft a candle light which shown but dimly at this distance. The illumination of today is brilliant by contrast. Perhaps you or some of you have gone or have children who now go to School 102 on Ridge Boulevard and 72nd Street. Where it now stands once stood a red frame school house built in Queen Anne style of the 80's and set quite far back from the avenue-Bay Ridge District School No.2. This red school replaced a little yellow school house which stood at 73rd Street and Third Avenue. This land was given by Jaques Van Brunt, Sr. and here many of the older generation now living attended school. Along the 71st Street side of the present school house ran Lover's Lane, on either side of which grew beautiful shade trees. These trees were said to represent every kind of tree in North Ameri.ca, so varied were the species. This had been the driveway to the Dellwood Estate. North of where the Ridge Club now stands was a delightful dell where young America ate box lunches and picked wild flowers. On July 1st, 1894, this community was annexed to the City of Brooklyn, thus losing its identity as an individual settlement. On January 1, 1898, three and one-half years later, Brooklyn became a borough of Greater New York. More vital in the thought of those concerned than the change to city government, was the organization in 1896 oj, two churches-the Bay Ridge
Presbyterian Church and the Bay Ridge Reformed (Dutch) Church, within a block of each other, on Ridge Boulevard, at 81st Street, and 80th Street respectively. With different antecedents and traditions, but with similar organizations and purposes, these churches found an increasing community of interest through their more than twenty years of independent history. On the evening of December 16th, 1918 in a joint meeting, the two congregations were merged to form the Union Church of Bay Ridge, Presbyterian. The building of the Reformed Church at 80th Street and Ridge Boulevard became the house of worship of the combined congregations, while the buildings of the Presbyterian Church at 81st Street were used for Sunday School and Parish House.
In 1909 Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton played a small part in the festivities that took place, when the 300th Anniversary of the landing of Hendrich Hudson was celebrated, and the lOath Anniversary of Robert Fulton's first steamboat. This was the Hudson Fulton Celebration. Replicas of the Half Moon and the Claremont sailed all the way up the bay passed Bay Ridge, and hundreds of sightseers crowded the shores.路 Such a demonstration today would mean an airplane escort, but the sky was untravelled except for an occasional seagull. And this was a bare twenty-five years ago.
The Crescent Club came to Bay Ridge in 1890, buying the old home of Judge Charles Van Brunt, and building their club house on the site of the old homestead. All the undeveloped land in the section was leased for a golf course, the links extending from the plot between 77th and 79th Streets, Ridge Boulevard, and Colonial Road on the north, to that between 86th and 88th Streets, Colonial Road and the Shore in the other direction. The heart of the course, was the beautiful hill on Van Brunt land, between 79th and 82nd Streets, from Colonial Road, running up and out to the Shore beside Mr. Rulef Van Brunt's home. This green hillside with its occasional clump of trees and the picturesque roofs of barns at the top, made a wonderful background for the playing fields of the Club, when the center of interest shifted from the earlier golf and the water sports of rowing and sailing, to baseball, lacrosse and tennis. For years the championship games of the lacrosse team brought crowds of people to Bay Ridge every Saturday afternoon through the spring, with the climax on Decoration Day. Before the automobile was in general use, many people drove out from town in carriages with beautiful horses. Looking across the lacrosse field to the hill mentioned above, it was not an uncommon sight to see a tally-ha with four horses round the curve of the old Shore Road, coaching horn gaily sounding. Among the expert tennis players who were regularly seen on the grass courts at Bay Ridge-Whitman, Larned, the Wright Brothers, etc., was Dwight Davis, the donor of the Davis cup, who played in doubies with Holcombe Ward. Here was played the first Davis Cup match, with the Doherty Brothers of England in 1902. A great grandstand had been built for the occasion, but tradition tells, that when 13,500 people arrived, the club management was thrown into a small panic. President Roosevelt was present, with the beginnings of his famous "tennis cabinet", keenly interested
in the play. Many later tournaments were staged here, the Kings County Ass'n, and college tournaments being regular features for years, so that all Bay Ridge became tennis .fans. Another president, William Howard Taft, was also a visitor in 1912, when he carne to Brooklyn to review the Anniversary Parade of the Sunday Schools, and the Bay Ridge division paraded on the Crescent Club grounds.
Through all the ages great upheavals in human endeavor marked the progress of civili;ation. Time was reckoned before and after great events. T'o this generation it is the World War. The people in Bay Ridge served in this crisis as valiantly as in every other. The lovely old homesteads became canteens and hostess houses and those on the water front were especially advantageously located and were without exception graciously given up for service. Along the shore from 69th to 86th Street, between the Drive and the breakwater, were rows upon rows of gray barracks. Much of the cement foundation still remains. The Bennett house at the foot of 79th Street was used for a Canteen. The Jaques Van Brunt home at 80th Street and Shore Road was used as a hostess house. Here were given many gay parties to relieve the tension and here the wives and sweethearts and sisters of the men congregated. vVith its wide veranda and spacious rooms it was an ideal home. The Chandler White house which was standing at that time, the Church residence across from the Fort entrance, and the Van Brunt Bergen house at 74th Street and Shore Road were all called into service for convalescent soldiers or hostess houses.
During our participationin the W orld War all building operations were suspended, and though the Subway was opened in 1916, it was not until the 1920's that Bay Ridge really felt the results of this new transportation. Then whole streets of small new houses sprang up in a few months' time, and the great apartment house blocks, while growing more slowly, seemed miraculous to the observer-first on Fourth Avenue-later on the Shore Road and Ridge Boulevard. Bay Ridge was suddenly inundated with a whole new cosmopolitan population. Schools, churches, parish houses were built in an effort to provide for these new residents It was not without effort, that the existing churches expanded suddenly from small groups where everyone knew everyone else, to large city congregations in which more than a hundred strangers might be added to the membership on Easter Sunday. To accommodate its increasing numbers, Union Church, in 1925 enlarged its church building to provide an auditorium three times the size of the original unit, and in 1931, on the site of the Bay Ridge Presbyterian Church, erected a modern building for education and parish activities.
I t is a matter of great pride to those who live here, to believe that in all the changes from a Dutch colony to a cosmopolitan city, Bay Ridge is still a home and church-loving community, and that, although the sounds and sights of the country have passed, the old spirit of friendliness and neighborly cooperation remains. -
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