Broadway is an avenue in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

that extends from the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...

in the neighborhood of Williamsburg in a southeasterly direction to

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

for a length of . It was named for the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The East New York terminus is a complicated intersection with East New York Avenue, Fulton Street,

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Broadway and Fulton Street, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's E ...

, and Alabama Avenue. The

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

() of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

runs on elevated tracks over Broadway from the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ...

to East New York on its way to Queens. Broadway forms the boundary between the neighborhoods of

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

, which lies above Broadway to the northeast, and Bedford–Stuyvesant, which is to the southwest.

History

When Williamsburg was an independent city, the length of Broadway from the East River to South 6th St was known as South 7th St. From that point to Division Ave, it took over the path of South 6th St. Both of these segments opened in the 1830s. From that intersection to its terminus in East New York it was named Division Ave,Bernardo, L. & Weiss, J. (2006). ''Brooklyn by name''. New York: NYU Press which was laid on the municipal boundaries separating the

city of Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

from the town of Bushwick (and village of Williamsburg, which was then part of the town). At each of the roadbed changes in Williamsburg, Broadway bends a little more to the south until it runs straight southeast to East New York. The Broadway Ferry provided service (from the early 19th century) from the foot of Broadway to several points in Manhattan and by the mid-1860s was carrying over 200,000 passengers per day. The ferry terminal was linked first to streetcars and then elevated rapid transit in 1889.Cudahy, B.J.(1990). ''Over and back: The history of ferryboats in New York harbor''. New York: Fordham University Press With these connections, the central commercial area of Williamsburg began to migrate to Broadway from Grand Street. This was further spurred by the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge although the section of Broadway from the new bridge plaza to the ferry landing river declined since it was now effectively bypassed.''New York Times'', Traffic Changes in Williamsburg, June 25, 1911 Prominent extant buildings in Williamsburg located on Broadway include the Williamsburgh Savings Bank (at #175, built in 1875), Nassau Trust Company (at #134-136, built in 1888),

Kings County Savings Bank Kings County Savings Bank is a former bank building at 135 Broadway in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. It is an example of French Second Empire-style architecture. Construction of the building began in 1860, to de ...

(#135, built in 1868),

Peter Luger Steak House Peter Luger Steak House is a steakhouse located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York City, with a second location in Great Neck, New York, on Long Island. It was named to the James Beard Foundation's list of "America's Classics" i ...

(at 178, built in 1876), and several cast iron buildings such as the Sparrow Shoe Factory (#195, across Driggs Avenue from Williamsburgh Savings, built in 1882).White, N. & Willensky, E. (2000). ''AIA Guide to New York City (4th Ed.)''. New York: Three Rivers Press During the

New York City blackout of 1977 The New York City blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected most of New York City on July 13–14, 1977. The only unaffected neighborhoods in the city were in southern Queens (including neighborhoods of the Rockaways), which w ...

, Broadway was the epicenter and worst hit of the looting, rioting, and violence that hit the city. Thirty-five blocks of Broadway from Williamsburg to Bedford-Stuyvesant were destroyed, 134 stores looted, 45 of them set ablaze. The riots accelerated

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

from the area, as many of the destroyed properties were never rebuilt and remained empty lots well until the 1980s. Broadway remained a high-crime, destitute area until

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

in the 2000s which has initiated a resurgence of new businesses, construction of luxury condominiums, and a return of

chain stores A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

to the area. In 2019, the

New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

released a Bushwick rezoning plan, which would allow for high-density development on Broadway and Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenues.

Transportation

The

() runs above Broadway between Marcy Avenue and Broadway Junction stations, with the diverging at

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Route description Queens Myrtle Avenue has been a major thoroughfare since the early ...

to join the

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original Brooklyn elevated railroads. The rem ...

. The B46 runs on Broadway between Malcolm X Boulevard and Williamsburg Bridge Plaza, the Q24 runs south of Lafayette Avenue. The B20, B47 and B60 serve the street for shorter segments. The Broadway station at Union Avenue is served by the .

References

{{Brooklyn Streets Streets in Brooklyn Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bushwick, Brooklyn