Brownsville is a residential neighborhood in eastern
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a 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 in the State of New York, ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph A ...
to the south; and East Flatbush to the west.
The area that comprises Brownsville has 58,300 residents as of the 2010 United States Census, with an estimated population of 128,369 residents in 2019. Founded in its current incarnation in 1858, Brownsville was initially a settlement composed of Jewish factory workers. The neighborhood underwent a major demographic change in the 1950s that saw an influx of African-American residents. Since the late 20th century, Brownsville has consistently held one of the highest poverty and crime rates of any neighborhood in New York City.
Brownsville is part of Brooklyn Community District 16, and its primary ZIP Code is 11212. It is patrolled by the 73rd Precinct of the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest i ...
. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 42nd and 41st Districts.
History
Early development
The area that would become Brownsville was first used by the Dutch for farming, as well as manufacturing stone slabs and other things used to construct buildings. In 1823–1824, the Dutch founded the New Lots Reformed Church in nearby New Lots because the corresponding church in Flatbush was too far away. The church, which has its own cemetery that was built in 1841, ''See also:'' was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
in 1983.
In 1858, William Suydam parceled the land into 262 lots, providing simple two- to four-room accommodations for workers who were living there. However, Suydam vastly underestimated how undesirable the area was, and ran out of funding in 1861. After failing to pay his mortgages, the land was auctioned off in 1866 to Charles S. Brown of Esopus, New York. Believing the area to be useful for development, Brown subdivided the area and began calling it "Brownsville", advertising the area's wide open spaces to Jews who lived in
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
. There were 250 houses in "Brown's Village" by 1883, most of them occupied by factory workers who commuted to Manhattan. The first houses in the area were built by Charles R. Miller.
Through the 1880s, the area was a marshy floodplain that was used as a dumping ground. Fumes from the glue factories along Jamaica Bay would usually blow upwind into Brownsville. This place was inconveniently far enough from Manhattan that the affluent refused to move to Brownsville, but the land was cheap enough that tenements could be built for the poor there.
Jewish neighborhood
Brownsville was predominantly Jewish from the 1880s until the 1950s. In 1887, businessman Elias Kaplan showed the first Jewish residents around Brownsville, painting the area as favorable compared to the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally ...
, which he described as a place where one could not get away from the holds of labor unions. Kaplan built a factory and accommodations for his workers, then placed a synagogue, named Ohev Sholom, in his own factory. Other manufacturers that created low-tech products like food, furniture, and metals followed suit throughout the next decade, settling their factories in Brownsville. This led to much more housing being built there. The area bounded by present-day Dumont, Rockaway, and Liberty Avenues, and Junius Street, quickly became densely populated, with "factories, workshops, and stores" located next to housing. The farm of a local farmer, John J. Vanderveer, was cut up into lots and given to Jewish settlers after he sold it in 1892. Within three years of the first lot being distributed, there were 10,000 Jews living in Brownsville. By 1904, the lots comprising the former Vanderveer farm was entirely owned by Jews, who were spread out across .
An estimated 25,000 people lived in Brownsville by 1900, most of whom lived in two-story wooden frame accommodations built for two families each. Many of these buildings were grossly overcrowded, with up to eight families living in some of these two-family houses. They were utilitarian, and according to one '' New York Herald'' article, "grossly unattractive". Many of these houses lacked amenities like running water, and their wood construction made these houses susceptible to fires. New brick-and-stone houses erected in the early 1900s were built with indoor plumbing and less prone to fire. The quality of life was further decreased by the fact that there was scant infrastructure to be found in the area, and as a result, the unpaved roads were used as open sewers. Compounding the problem, land prices were high in Brownsville (with lots available for $50 in 1907, then sold for $3,000 two years later), so in order to make their land purchases worthwhile, developers were frequently inspired to build as many apartments on a single lot as they possibly could. Within twenty years of the factories' development, the area acquired a reputation as a vicious slum and breeding ground for crime. By 1904, 22 of the 25 housing units in Brownsville were tenement housing; three years later, only one of these 25 housing units was not a tenement. It became as dense as the very densely packed Lower East Side, according to one account. This also led to dangerous conditions; a 1935 collapse of a tenement stairway killed two people and injured 43 others. This overcrowding was despite the availability of empty space in the fringes of Brownsville. There were also no playgrounds in the area, and the only park in the vicinity was Betsy Head Park.
In the early 20th century, the vast majority of Brownsville residents were born outside the United States; in 1910, 66% of the population were first-generation immigrants, and 80% of these immigrants were from Russia. By 1920, over 80,000 of the area's 100,000 inhabitants were
Russian Jews
The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...
, and Brownsville had been nicknamed "Little
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
". In the 1930s it was considered the most densely populated district in all of Brooklyn. Brownsville was also considered to have the highest density of Jews of any place in the United States through the 1950s. The population remained heavily Jewish until the middle of the century, and the neighborhood boasted some seventy Orthodox synagogues. Many of these synagogues still exist in Brownsville, albeit as churches.
Brownsville was also a place for radical political causes during this time. In 1916,
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth contr ...
set up the first birth control clinic in America on Amboy Street. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the neighborhood elected Socialist and American Labor Party candidates to the state assembly. Two Socialist candidates for mayor in 1929 and 1932 both received roughly a quarter of Brownsville residents' mayoral votes. Socialist attitudes prevailed among Brownsville residents until
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The area's Jewish population participated heavily in civil rights movements, rallying against such things as poll taxes,
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...
, and segregation in schools.
The area was fairly economically successful in its heyday. In 1942, there were 372 stores, including 8 banks and 43 stores selling menswear, along a stretch of Pitkin Avenue, which employed a combined 1,000 people and generated an estimated $90 million annually (equal to about $ today if adjusted for inflation). The median income of $2,493 in 1933 (about $ today) was twice that of a family living in the Lower East Side, who earned a median of $1,390 (about $ today) but lower than that of a middle-class family in outer Brooklyn ($4,320, inflation-adjusted to $) or
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
($3,750, inflation-adjusted to $). The Fortunoff's furniture chain had its roots on Livonia Avenue, its flagship store overshadowed by the tracks of New York City Subway'sNew Lots Line from 1922 to 1964, eventually expanding elsewhere in the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...
. At one point in the 1943 published book, ''New York City Market Analysis'', it had described Brownsville as having a variety of small industry unlike Lower East Side. The book also mentioned the Jewish populations were a mix of Russian, Austrian, and Polish immigrants and were 80% of the foreign born population in the neighborhood.
In the 1930s, Brownsville achieved notoriety as the birthplace of Murder, Inc., who contracted to kill between 400 and 1,000 people through the 1940s. The organizations' criminal businesses also extended to nearby neighborhoods of
Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...
and East New York. The members mainly consisted of Jewish and Italian Americans as these neighborhoods during that time were mainly populated by Jewish and Italian enclaves. A film about the organization, Murder Inc., was produced and released in 1960.
Late 20th century decline and demographic change
African Americans had begun moving into Brooklyn in large numbers in the early 20th century. The adjacent Bedford-Stuyvesant was the first large African American community of Brooklyn. In the 1930s, Brownsville began to receive growing numbers of African Americans. Most of the new residents were poor and socially disadvantaged, especially the new African-American residents, who were mostly migrants from the Jim Crow-era South where they were racially discriminated against. In 1940, black residents made up 6% of Brownsville's population. The 1943 book ''New York City Market Analysis'' indicated the small but growing African American population was concentrated in the central portion of the neighborhood while most of the neighborhood was still populated by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Although integration did take place in the neighborhood, there were racial tensions as well. By 1950, there were double the number of blacks, most of whom occupied the neighborhood's most undesirable housing. At the same time, new immigration quotas had reduced the number of Russian Jews who were able to immigrate to the United States.
Spurred on by urban planner Robert Moses, the city replaced some of Brownsville's old tenements with public housing blocks. Although the neighborhood was racially segregated, there were more attempts at improved quality of life, public mixing, and solidarity between black and Jewish neighbors than could be found in most other neighborhoods. However, due to socioeconomic barriers imposed by the disparities between the two populations, most of these improvements never came. Compounding the matter, the newly arrived African-American residents were mainly industrial workers who had moved to Brownsville just as the area's factories were going out of business, so the black residents were more economically disadvantaged than the Jews who had historically lived in Brownsville. Finally, although both blacks and Jews living in Brownsville had been subject to ethnic discrimination, the situation for blacks was worse, as they were banned from some public places where Jews were allowed, and the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest i ...
(NYPD) generally behaved more harshly toward blacks than toward Jews.
The breaking point for the area's Jewish population came about in the 1950s, when the New York City Housing Authority decided to build more new public housing developments in blighted portions of Brownsville. The Jewish population quickly moved out, even though the new NYCHA developments were actually in better condition than the old wooden tenements. Citing increased crime and their desire for social mobility, Jews left Brownsville en masse, with many black and Latino residents moving in, especially into the area's housing developments. For instance, in the Van Dyke Houses, the black population in 1956 was 57% and the white population that year was 43%, with a little over one percent of residents receiving welfare benefits. Seven years later, 72% of the residents were black, 15% Puerto Rican, and the development had the highest rate of per-capita arrests of any housing development citywide.
Through the 1960s, its population became largely African American, and Brownsville's unemployment rate was 17 percent, twice the city's as a whole. The newly majority-black Brownsville neighborhood had few community institutions or economic opportunities. It lacked a middle class, and its residents did not own the businesses they relied upon. In his book ''Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto'', W.E. Pritchett described the neighborhood as a "ghetto" whose quality of life was declining by the year. The NYCHA housing encouraged the creation of an African-American and Latino population that was poorer than the Jewish population it replaced. In 1965, sociologist and then-future U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a report about black poverty entitled '' The Negro Family: The Case For National Action'', in which he cited the fact that the 24% of the nation's black communities were single-mother families, an attribute closely tied to poverty in these communities. At that time, Brownsville and East New York's single-mother rate was almost twice the national rate, at 45%. Backlash against the report, mainly on accusations of
victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as ...
, caused leaders to overlook Moynihan's proposals to improve poor black communities' quality of life, and the single-mother rate in Brownsville grew.
In 1966, black and Latino residents created the Brownsville Community Council in an effort to reverse the poverty and crime increases. The BCC secured welfare funding for 3,000 people, secure housing tenancies for 4,000 people, and voting rights for hundreds of new registrants. It closed down a block of Herzl Street for use as a play area, and it created the biweekly ''Brownsville Counselor'' newspaper to inform residents about government programs and job opportunities. However, in spite of the BCC's efforts, crime went up, with a threefold increase in reported homicides from ten in 1960 to over thirty in 1966; a doubling of arrests from 1,883 in 1956 to over 3,901 in 1966; and claims that there could actually have been more than six times as much crime than was reported. Multiple robberies of businesses were reported every day, with robbers simply lifting or bending the roll-down metal gates that protected many storefronts. City officials urged people to not use public transportation to travel to Brownsville.
Brownsville began experiencing large-scale rioting and social disorder around this time. These problems manifested themselves in September 1967. A riot occurred following the death of an 11-year-old African American boy named Richard Ross, who was killed by an African-American NYPD detective, John Rattley, at the corner of St. Johns Place and Ralph Avenue. Rattley believed Ross had mugged a 73-year-old Jewish man. The riot was led in part by Brooklyn militant Sonny Carson, who allegedly spread rumors that Rattley was white; it was quelled after Brooklyn North Borough Commander
Lloyd Sealy Lloyd George Sealy (January 4, 1917 – January 4, 1985) was the NYPD's first African-American officer to graduate from the FBI National Academy and the first African-American officer in the NYPD to make rank as the commander of a police station in ...
deployed a squad of 150 police officers. Officer Rattley was not indicted by the grand jury.Cannato, Vincent "The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and his struggle to save New York" Better Books, 2001; Then, in 1968, Brownsville was the setting of a protracted and highly contentious teachers' strike. The Board of Education had experimented with giving the people of the neighborhood control over the school. The new school administration fired several teachers in violation of union contract rules. The teachers were all white and mostly Jewish, and the resulting strike badly divided the whole city. The resulting strike dragged on for half a year, becoming known as one of John Lindsay's "Ten Plagues". It also served to segregate the remaining Jewish community from the larger black and Latino community.
By 1970, the 130,000-resident population of Brownsville was 77% black and 19% Puerto Rican. Despite the activities of black civil rights organizations such as the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
and Urban League whose Brooklyn chapters were based in nearby Bedford-Stuyvesant, they were, overall, less concerned with the issues of the lower-income blacks who had moved into Brownsville, thus further isolating Brownsville's population. These changes corresponded to overall increases in segregation and inequality in New York City, as well as to the replacement of blue-collar with white-collar jobs. The area gained a reputation for violence and poverty that was similar to the South Bronx's, a reputation that persisted through the 21st century.
Meanwhile, rioting and disorder continued. In June 1970, two men set fire to garbage bags to protest the New York City Department of Sanitation's reduction of trash collection pickups in Brownsville from six times to twice per week. In the riots that followed this arson, one man was killed and multiple others were injured. In May 1971, the mostly black residents of Brownsville objected to reductions in
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...
, welfare funds, and drug prevention programs in a peaceful protest that soon turned violent. In the ensuing riot, protesters conflicted with police, with windows being broken, children stealing rides aboard buses, housewives tipping over banana stands, and the
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services ...
fighting over 100 fires in a single night. By then, people were afraid to go out at night, yet the 400 or so white families in south Brownsville were primarily concerned about housing remaining affordable. The streets had empty storefronts, with one block of Pitkin Avenue having over two-thirds of its 16 storefronts lying vacant. In 1970, Mayor John Lindsay referred to the area, which had been the city's poorest for several years, as "Bombsville" because of its high concentration of empty lots and burned-out buildings.
Improvement and current status
After a wave of arson throughout the 1970s ravaged the low-income communities of New York City, many of the residential structures in Brownsville were left seriously damaged or destroyed, and Brownsville became synonymous for urban decay in many aspects. Even at the beginning of this arson wave, 29% of residents were impoverished, a number that would increase in later years. The city began to rehabilitate many formerly abandoned tenement-style apartment buildings and designate them low-income housing beginning in the late 1970s. Marcus Garvey Village, whose townhouse-style three-story apartment buildings had front doors and gardens, was an example of such low-income development that did not lower crime and poverty, as was intended; instead, the houses became the home base of a local gang, and poverty went up to 40%. However, the East Brooklyn Congregations' Nehemiah Housing, which also constructed buildings in East New York and Spring Creek, served to help residents find affordable housing with a good quality of life.
The neighborhood's crime rate decreased somewhat by the 1980s. Many subsidized multi-unit townhouses and newly constructed apartment buildings were built on vacant lots across the expanse of the neighborhood, and from 2000 to 2003, applications for construction of residential buildings in Brownsville increased sevenfold. By 2015, many community organizations had been formed to improve the quality of life in parts of Brownsville. Changes included temporary markets being erected there as well as commercial developments in residential areas.
However, these improvements are limited to certain sections of Brownsville. In 2013, 39% of residents fell below the poverty line, compared to 43% in 2000, but the poverty rate of Brownsville is still relatively high, being twice the city's overall rate as well as 13% higher than that of nearby
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...
. Brownsville families reported a median income of $15,978 as of 2008, below the United States Census poverty threshold. There is a high rate of poverty in the neighborhood's northeastern section, which is inhabited disproportionately by African-Americans and Latinos. The overall average income in Brownsville is lower than that of the rest of Brooklyn and the rest of New York City.
The reasons for Brownsville's lack of wholesale gentrification are numerous. One reporter for the magazine '' The Nation'' observed that the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
neighborhood of Pico-Union, which had a poverty rate similar to Brownsville's in 2000, had become a ''Businessweek'' "next hot neighborhood" by 2007. Brownsville had not seen a similar revitalization because, unlike Pico-Union, it had not been surrounded by gentrified neighborhoods; did not have desirable housing; and was not a historic district or an area of other significance. In addition, Brownsville is unlike similar neighborhoods in New York City that had since gentrified. The South Bronx's coastline gave way to attractions like Barretto Point Park; Bedford-Stuyvesant offered brownstone townhouses comparable to those in affluent Park Slope, Fort Greene, and Prospect Heights; and Bushwick and Greenpoint became popular places for young professional workers once
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:
Places
*Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia
*Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City
*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California
*Williams ...
had become highly sought due to its waterfront location and proximity to
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
. By contrast, Brownsville is surrounded by other high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods like East New York, Ocean Hill, and East Flatbush. Its high concentration of public housing developments has traditionally prevented gentrification in this area. Brownsville is still majority African-American and Latino, with exactly two Jewish-owned businesses in Brownsville in 2012.
A columnist for ''The New York Times'', writing for the paper's "Big City" section on 2012, stated that the many improvements to the city's overall quality of life, enacted by then-mayor
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...
since 2002, "might have happened in Lithuania for all the effect they have had (or could have) on the lives of people in Brownsville." On the other hand, the area's lack of gentrification might have kept most of residents' money within the local Brownsville economy. The area's largest employer is supposedly the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
, and the lack of mobility for many residents encourages them to buy from local stores instead. Kay Hymowitz wrote in her 2017 book, ''The New Brooklyn: What It Takes to Bring a City Back'', that Brownsville was "the permanent ghetto" and that despite the gentrification in other Brooklyn neighborhoods, Brownsville contained a "concentrated, multigenerational black poverty" that caused its development to "remain static".
Geography and land use
The total land area is , and the ZIP Code for the neighborhood is 11212. Although there are no official borders, Brownsville is generally bounded by East New York Avenue to the north on the
Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph A ...
; and Van Sinderen Avenue to the east, next to East New York. It is part of
Brooklyn Community Board 16
Brooklyn Community Board 16 is a New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville and Ocean Hill.
As of 2008, there were a total of 28,298 housing units in Brownsville. Brownsville is dominated by public housing developments of various types, mostly in a small area bounded by Powell Street and Rockaway, Livonia, and Sutter Avenues that is composed of multiple inward-facing developments located on six superblocks. The neighborhood contains the most densely concentrated area of public housing in the United States. NYCHA owns more housing units in Brownsville than in any other neighborhood, with about one-third of the housing stock (around 10,000 units) in its 18 Brownsville developments, comprising over 100 buildings within . In 2013, it was estimated that the housing developments alone contained nearly 21,000 people. Many of these buildings were built in the mid-20th-century and are deteriorating .
#104–114 Tapscott Street; one 4-story building.
#Brownsville Houses; 27 buildings, 6- and 7 stories tall.
#Glenmore Plaza; four buildings, 10, 18 and 24 stories tall.
#Howard Avenue; five buildings, 3 stories tall.
#Howard Avenue-Park Place; eight buildings, 3 stories tall.
#Howard Houses; ten buildings, 7- and 13 stories tall.
#Hughes Apartments; three 22-story buildings.
#Marcus Garvey (Group A); three buildings, 6 and 14 stories tall.
#Ralph Avenue Rehab; five 4-story buildings.
#Reverend Randolph Brown; two 6-story buildings.
# Seth Low Houses; four buildings, 17 and 18 stories tall.
#Sutter Avenue-Union Street; three rehabilitated tenement buildings, 4 and 6 stories tall.
#Tapscott Street Rehab; eight 4-story rehabilitated tenement buildings.
#Tilden Houses; eight 16-story buildings.
#Van Dyke I; 22 buildings, 3 and 14 stories tall.
#Van Dyke II; one 14-story building.
#Woodson Houses; two buildings, 10 and 25 stories tall.
In addition, below Pitkin Avenue, there is also a significant concentration of semi-detached multi-unit
row houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
similar to those found in East New York and Soundview surrounding the public housing developments. Many have been torn down and replaced by vacant lots or newly constructed subsidized attached multi-unit rowhouses with gardens, driveways, and finished basements. Most of these houses were built in East New York,
Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...
, and Brownsville under the Nehemiah development program. Of the Nehemiah developments, most of them were built on the western half of the neighborhood. Other newly built or restored housing includes 3,871 housing units for low-income residents, as well as Noble Drew Ali Plaza, a 385-unit apartment building that was notorious for drug dealing before the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) helped New York Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn buy and redevelop the building.
The Livonia Avenue Initiative, a multi-phase project situated along Livonia Avenue, is intended to create 791 apartments or houses for low-income residents. The initiative includes Livonia Commons, a proposed mixed-use project on the north side of Livonia Avenue. Livonia Commons'
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...
buildings will contain 270 apartments for lower-income citizens and of commercial space at ground level. The initiative's of community space will host a senior center and two concentrations of school classrooms, operated by two different groups. There would also be a gym, a swimming pool, a darkroom, and some
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...
s. The entire Livonia Commons project would add of mixed-use space in multiple buildings. , there were 242 apartments being built, in addition to 468 affordable-housing units that had already been built in the East New York/Brownsville area.
Closer to the border with Ocean Hill, there are many
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
and
brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material.
Type ...
townhouses in addition to tenements. In Brownsville, about 71% of rental housing is poorly maintained, more than the citywide rate of 56% and the boroughwide rate of 59%.
Empty lots
Many of Brownsville's empty lots are now community gardens, which are also widespread in nearby East New York and are maintained by multiple community groups; the gardens are often planted with vegetables that could provide food for residents. The gardens were originally supposed to be temporary, filling lots that would have otherwise gone unused. After a failed sale of several abandoned lots in the 1990s that would have involved destroying some of these gardens around the city, some city residents founded the New York City Community Garden Coalition to protect these gardens.
From 2013 to 2015, NYCHA sold developers 54 lots in Brownsville, totaling . Some of these lots contained parks or parking lots. In December 2014 the HPD issued requests for qualifications to determine which developers could build new affordable housing on one of 91 empty HPD-owned lots in Brownsville. After controversy arose over the fact that some of these lots were actually garden sites, the HPD rescinded approval to build on 34 garden sites in Brownsville, while nine other garden sites in the area were approved for redevelopment.
Points of interest
The Loews Pitkin, an opulent , 2,827-seat movie theater built in 1929, was among 22 theaters in the area; the rest of the theaters had either been demolished or converted into stores. The Loews Pitkin, named after theater entrepreneur Marcus Loew, had fallen in disuse by the 1970s before being revitalized in the late 2000s. The theater's decaying interior was used as a church and a furniture store before Poko Partners bought the space in 2008 and redeveloped the theater into a charter school and retail space for $43 million. The theater was renovated in response to residents' requests for more retail space, and as part of the theater's refurbishment, the charter school would open in 2012 along with of retail space.
The NYPD's 65th Precinct (originally the 73rd Precinct), built in 1901, covered most of the area until its closure in the mid-1980s. The old 65th Precinct building at 1546 East New York Avenue was then sold to a family with the last name of Chen. In 2004, the Chens sold the building to Family Services Network of New York, a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
funded by the state government. Family Services borrowed $1.1 million, but failed to pay the mortgage. Despite Family Services' grandiose $3.8 million plan to rehabilitate the 65th Precinct building into a community center, it sits derelict , with graffiti on the walls, garbage in the interior, and jail cells still intact.
One block of Livonia Avenue from Barbey Street to Schenck Avenue is designated as "African Burial Ground Square", commemorating an African burial ground at the site that was discovered in 2010. The site contains remains similar to those found in the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan, as well as those discovered under the former
126th Street Depot
MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 29 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, with the exception of one located in nearby Yonkers in Westc ...
in
East Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...
. As part of the designation, the Schenck Playground, behind the New Lots branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, would be rethemed with African cultural motifs and designs.
Hyman Spitz Florists, one of the businesses that dates back to Brownsville's initial settlement, was founded in 1898. It persisted at the same address, 1685 Pitkin Avenue, until 2004. Hyman Spitz Florists had helped provide flowers for such occasions as Donald and Ivana Trump's wedding.
Demographics
Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Brownsville was 58,300, a decrease of 799 (1.4%) from the 59,099 counted in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010 , Population Division –
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 15, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 76.1% (44,364)
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, 0.8% (471)
White
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 20.6% (11,983) of the population.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010 , Population Division – New York City Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016. 29.9% of the population were
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
graduates and 8.4% had a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
or higher.
The entirety of Community Board 16, which comprises Brownsville, had 84,525 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 75.1 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 28% are between the ages of 0–17, 27% between 25 and 44, and 23% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 11% and 12% respectively.
As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 16 was $30,207. In 2018, an estimated 28% of Brownsville residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in seven residents (14%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Brownsville, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Brownsville is considered to be low-income relative to the rest of the city and not
gentrifying
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the econ ...
.New York City Department of City Planning showed that in the 2020 census data, there were 40,000+ Black residents and 10,000 to 19,999 Hispanic residents. Each the White and Asian populations were less than 5000 residents.
Police and crime
The NYPD's 73rd Precinct is located at 1470 East New York Avenue. NYCHA property in the area is patrolled separately by Police Service Area #2 (P.S.A. 2).
Brownsville has consistently been considered the murder capital of New York City, with the 73rd Precinct ranking 69th safest out of 69 city precincts for per-capita crime in 2009. That year, there were 3 murders per 10,000 residents (higher than in any other neighborhood in the city), making for 28 overall murders in Brownsville; in overall crime, the 73rd Precinct was the 66th safest out of 69 neighborhoods. In the fifteen years between 1990 and 2005, reports of murder in Brownsville–Ocean Hill dropped 63 percent (to 22 murders in 2005); robberies 79 percent (to 597 in 2005); and felony assaults decreased 51 percent (to 562 in 2005). Crime rates in Brownsville had declined in the same manner that they had elsewhere in the city, but the declines were not as dramatic as in other areas of the city, with 72 people shot and 15 killed in Brownsville in 2013. With an incarceration rate of 1,698 per 100,000 residents, Brownsville's incarceration rate is three times the city's as a whole and higher than every other neighborhood's incarceration rate. At a non-fatal assault rate of 175 per 100,000 people, Brownsville also sees the most violent crimes per capita out of any neighborhood in the city. By contrast, Morrisania, a
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
neighborhood that once had a crime rate as high as Brownsville's, saw its crime rate decline by 25 percent between 1998 and 2011, while Brownsville's crime rate stayed roughly even during the same time period.
The social problems associated with
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse < ...
, from crime to
drug addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
, have plagued the area for decades. Despite the decline of crime compared to its peak during the crack and heroin epidemics, violent crime continues to be a serious problem in the community, especially gang-related
gun violence
Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, an ...
. Empty lots and unused storefronts are common in Brownsville due to high rates of crime, mostly in the area's public housing developments. A reporter for ''The New York Times'' observed that some of the area's playgrounds were inadequately maintained with broken lights and unlocked gates, and that shootings were common in these public housing developments. Brownsville was so dangerous that one UPS driver, robbed at gunpoint, needed an armed security guard to accompany him while delivering packages to houses in the neighborhood. In an effort to reduce crime, the NYPD started a stop-and-frisk program in the early 2000s; this was controversial especially in Brownsville, with 93% of residents in one eight-block area reportedly being stopped and frisked (compared to a 7% rate citywide). However, serious crime per resident is decreasing, and from 2000 to 2011, the rate dropped from 45.0 to 35.3 serious crimes per 1,000 residents.
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services ...
(FDNY)'s Engine Company 231/Ladder Company 120 is located in Brownsville. Engine Company 283/Division 15's quarters are also located in Brownsville.
A , $32 million FDNY facility was completed at 1815 Sterling Place in 2019. Designed by Chicago-based
architectural firm
In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countr ...
Studio Gang, the new facility is both an FDNY training center and the firehouse for Rescue Company 2. Ground broke on the project in July 2016. The new firehouse, announced in December 2015, replaced Rescue 2's old location, a small building at 1472 Bergen Street in Crown Heights, which was built in the 1920s and had been occupied by Rescue 2 since 1985.
Parks, open spaces, and recreation
Parks
Just east of the Crown Heights–Utica Avenue subway station, on the border with Crown Heights, there is a park called Lincoln Terrace (also known as Arthur S. Somers Park), which slopes gently down toward the southern Brooklyn coastline. The New Lots Line transitions from a tunnel to an elevated structure within this park. The of land for Lincoln Terrace was purchased by the city in 1895–1897. In order to deter aircraft from flying through the area during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, parts of the park had turrets installed in "serviceable but inconspicuous locations" in 1918. Through 1935, additional land was added to the park (including land purchased from the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
in 1928, which had built its New Lots Line in 1920). Streets were closed to make room for the extra parkland. The park was originally named after
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, but in 1932, the western section of the park (west of Rockaway Parkway) was renamed after activist Arthur S. Somers, an area resident who had died that year. Around that time, the park and its playgrounds were refurbished.Betsy Head Park is located in a lot on the north side of Livonia Avenue bounded by Strauss Street and Thomas S. Boyland Street. Opened in 1915, it is named after Betsy Head, a rich Briton, who died in 1907. In 1936, a new Olympic-size swimming pool, one of 11 across the city, was added as part of a Works Progress Administration project. In 2008, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated the Betsy Head Play Center as the first individual city landmark in Brownsville.
At Livonia Avenue and Powell Street, Livonia Park is named after
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
, in the Baltic region in what is now Latvia and Estonia. Livonia Avenue itself is so named for the same reason. According to the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolo ...
, the park honors Livonia and its native people, the Livonians. The Livonians were never fully independent, instead being alternatively led by the
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
, Sweden, and the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
. The Kingdom of Livonia was a nominal state of Russia from 1570 to 1578 during the
Livonian War
The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pre ...
, but did not actually gain independence. Eventually, the Livonians were assimilated into the larger Latvian population, keeping parts of their
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
and a few other cultural vestiges. The Russian Empire became communist as part of the October Revolution in 1917, and Latvia and Estonia gained independence soon after, only to become part of communist Russia again until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The park itself was designated on August 15, 1969, as part of NYCHA's development of the Tilden Houses. There are trees, benches, gaming spaces, a drinking fountain, and many grassy plots within the park. The red-and-white bricks in Livonia Park feature the colors of the Latvian flag.
Recreation
Brownsville also has its own recreation facility with indoor swimming pools, outdoor athletic fields, and a playground. The Brownsville Recreation Center at the corner of Linden Boulevard, Mother Gaston Boulevard, and Christopher Avenue. Like all other indoor pools in the city, the Brownsville Recreation Center requires a NYC Parks pool membership. It was opened in 1953 as the Brownsville Boys' Club, a "one-room clubhouse" affiliated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Over the next two years, the club raised $1.5 million in funds, and the city opened a brand-new recreation facility. Improvements were made to the center in the late 1990s and 2000s, including $265,000 of general repairs in 1996; $400,000 of heat and air conditioning refurbishments in 1998; and a $1.5 million renovation in 2008 that entailed installing a new playground, improving amenities such as benches and lighting, and replacing the athletic field with artificial turf.
The "Soul in the Hole" is a famous basketball court in Brownsville. The Hole is known for street basketball, and the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Ta ...
'' characterizes it as having the "toughest" streetball competition in Brooklyn. It is located in the Brownsville Houses along Rockaway Avenue between Riverdale and Livonia Avenues. Famous players who played there included Fly Williams.
Other open spaces
The traffic triangle bounded by Pitkin and East New York Avenues and Legion Street was originally named Vanderveer Park after Peter L. Vandeveer, the former owner of the land constituting that triangle. Vanderveer donated the land in 1896, and in 1911, it was renamed Zion Park in recognition of the Jewish community. The Zion Park War Memorial, a monumental wall based on a design by sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey and architect Henry Beaumont Herts, was installed in the triangle and dedicated in 1925. During the 1970s, the monument was heavily vandalized, but it was restored and cleaned up by the 1990s. This monument features a
star of David
The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles.
A derivation of the '' seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorat ...
. The bas relief sculptures are mounted on a limestone stele and side pylons.
The Wyckoff Triangle, bounded by New Lots, Riverdale, and Van Siclen Avenues, is named after local property owner Hendrick Wyckoff, who ceded the land used for the traffic triangle. During the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...
, Wyckoff was a spy for the colonists rebelling against the British. Through the 1920s, Wyckoff's family maintained the park, which is now privately maintained because it is too small to be a NYC Parks public space.
Politics and government
Brownsville is a heavily
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
area; in the
2012 presidential campaign
This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*3–4 January: E ...
, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
"won what was very close to a unanimous vote" in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is part of New York's 9th congressional district, represented by Democrat Yvette Clarke . It is also part of the 20th State Senate district, represented by Democrat
Zellnor Myrie
Zellnor Myrie (born 1986) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served in the New York State Senate since 2019, representing the 20th state senate district, which includes parts of Brooklyn.
Early life and educati ...
, and the 55th
State Assembly
State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government.
Channel Islands
States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...
district, represented by Democrat
Latrice Walker
Latrice Monique Walker is the Assembly member for the 55th District of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democrat. The district includes portions of Brownsville in Brooklyn.
Life and career
Walker was born and raised in Brownsville, Brookl ...
. Brownsville is located in New York's 41st
City Council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
2016 Republican primary
Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were se ...
.
Health care
Brownsville suffers from major health disparities in comparison to the rest of New York City. In 2006, Brownsville had the highest infant mortality rate in New York City (12.5 per 1,000 births), twice the overall city rate (5.9 per 1,000 births). ,
preterm birth
Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is betwee ...
s and births to teenage mothers were also more common in Brownsville than in other places citywide. In Brownsville, there were 127 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 31.2 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 20.2 per 1,000 citywide). In 2015, Brownsville had the lowest average life span (74.1 years) of any New York City neighborhood; the average life span in 2018 was 75.1 years, significantly lower than the city's median life span. A New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene community health profile the next year found that in Brownsville, the average life expectancy is more than ten years shorter than in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...
. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 12%, which is equal to the citywide rate.
Air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...
in Brownsville is , higher than the citywide and boroughwide averages. Seventeen percent of Brownsville residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Brownsville, 41% of residents are obese, 13% are diabetic, and 33% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, higher than the citywide average of 20%.
Eighty percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 79% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", slightly more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Brownsville, there are 15 bodegas.Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center is located in the neighborhood. The hospital has suffered from violence; in 2014, the federal
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...
Brownsville has significantly high dropout rates in its schools. Brownsville also has one of the highest concentrations of "persistently violent" schools of any area in New York State, with five such schools in Brownsville and East New York on the 2015–2016 list of most dangerous schools. Students must pass through metal detectors and swipe ID cards to enter the buildings. This arose from two school shootings in East New York in 1991–1992 that, combined, resulted in the deaths of three students and the injury of one teacher. Other problems in local schools include low test scores, with 95% of students scoring below grade level on state tests.
Brownsville generally has a lower ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . While 21% of residents have a college education or higher, 27% have less than a high school education and 52% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Brownsville students excelling in reading and math has been increasing, with reading achievement rising from 26 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in 2011, and math achievement rising from 20 percent to 38 percent within the same time period.
Brownsville has the second-highest rate of student
homelessness
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
in Brooklyn. It also has the highest rate of elementary school student absenteeism in New York City, with 39 percent of Brownsville elementary school students missing twenty or more days per school year. Additionally, 65% of high school students in Brownsville graduate on time, less than the citywide average of 75%. As a result, Brownsville's average educational attainment rates were low compared to the rest of the city, with few students continuing to college.
Schools
Public schools are operated by the
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is ...
. Due to the area's high population density, there are 39 public and charter schools serving elementary and middle school students in Brownsville. Numbered public primary schools include P.S. 150 Christopher; P.S. 156 Waverly; P.S. 165 Ida Posner; P.S. 184 Newport; P.S. 189 Lincoln Terrace; P.S. 219 Kennedy-King; P.S. 284 Lew Wallace; P.S. 298; P.S. 327 Dr Rose B English; P.S. 332 Charles H Houston School; I.S. 392; P.S. 396 Special Education School; P.S. 398 Walter Weaver; P.S. 41 Francis White; P.S. 770 New American Academy; and P.S/I.S. 323 Elementary School.
There are three high schools in Brownsville; two are housed in the same building at 226 Bristol Street. Teachers Preparatory opened in September 2001, while Frederick Douglass Academy VII opened in September 2004. Teachers Preparatory School serves 6th through 12th graders with 99% minority enrollment, receiving a grade of "A" on both its middle school and high school report cards for 2008. FDA VII serves 9th through 12th grades with 99% minority enrollment. The third high school is Brownsville Academy, which is a Diploma Plus transfer school serving 10th through 12th grades with a 100% minority enrollment. It received a "Well Developed" score for 2008–2009. It also received a grade of B on its 2007–2008 report card. Brownsville Academy, a relatively small school with 205 students as of 2016–2017, is located at 1150 East New York Avenue, close to the Crown Heights border.
Libraries
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has two branches in Brownsville. The Brownsville branch is located on 61 Glenmore Avenue, near Watkins Street. It opened in 1905 and used a second-floor space of another building. The current branch opened in 1908.
The Stone Avenue branch is located at 581 Mother Gaston Boulevard. When it opened in 1914 as the Brownsville Children's Library, it was among the world's first children's libraries, as well as one of the last Carnegie libraries in Brooklyn. The branch was renovated in 2014.
Transportation
Public transportation
The area is well-served by public transport. The New York City Subway serves Brownsville on the IRT New Lots Line () and
BMT Canarsie Line
The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division (New York City Subway), B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie, Brooklyn, ...
Atlantic Avenue Atlantic Avenue may refer to:
Highways
* Atlantic Avenue (Boston) in Massachusetts
* Atlantic Avenue (New York City) in Brooklyn and Queens, New York
* Florida State Road 806 in Palm Beach County, locally known as Atlantic Avenue
* Atlantic Avenue ...
to New Lots Avenue are located along the neighborhood's borders with East Flatbush and East New York, respectively. Due to the lines being created by two different, competing subway companies (the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. ...
, respectively), a free transit connection does not exist between the two lines, which provide the area's only subway service. A pedestrian bridge from the Livonia Avenue station on the Canarsie Line spans west across the Long Island Rail Road'sBay Ridge Branch to Junius Street, where an entrance to that street's station along the New Lots Line is less than a block away. There are proposals to convert the overpass into a free-transfer passage between the two stations, due to increasing ridership and plans for additional housing in the area. Money is allocated in the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in t ...
's 2015–2019 Capital Program to build this transfer. The stations would also need to be upgraded to become compliant with mobility accessibility guidelines under the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 196 ...
.
MTA Regional Bus Operations
MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
operates bus lines in the area. The B15 bus crosses Brownsville horizontally, for the most part using New Lots Avenue; the B14 bus uses Pitkin and Sutter Avenues through its route in the area where Brownsville overlaps with East New York. North–south bus lines include the B7 on Saratoga Avenue and the B60 on Rockaway Avenue. The B8, B35, and B47 have segments along the outer borders of Brownsville, and the B8 and B35 both terminate along Hegeman Avenue in the neighborhood's southwestern portion.
In 2011, 72% of residents used public transportation, up from 66% in 2000. More than 85% of residents live within of the subway.
Streets
The street grid aligns with the general East New York street grid, which contains streets that generally run north–south, though ten streets from the slightly diagonal street grid of
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph A ...
extend into Brownsville. The easternmost of these streets, East 98th Street, serves as the ending point for many main thoroughfares in central Brooklyn, including Church Avenue, Kings Highway, and Sutter Avenues.
As a result of its Jewish heritage, there are several streets named after Jewish community figures in the western portion of Brownsville. In 1913, nine years after writer Theodor Herzl died, residents successfully petitioned to rename Ames Street to Herzl Street, marking one of the few streets outside Israel that are named Herzl Street. One block away, the incorrectly spelled Strauss Street was named after two former Macy's co-owners, brothers Nathan and Isidor Straus, the latter of whom died when his wife
Ida
Ida or IDA may refer to:
Astronomy
*Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter
*243 Ida, an asteroid
* International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station
Computing
* Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a tech ...
gave up a seat on a lifeboat off the sinking RMS ''Titanic''.
One of Brownsville's main thoroughfares, Pitkin Avenue, is named after businessman John R. Pitkin of Connecticut. Pitkin developed East New York starting in 1835.
Hopkinson Street, originally named after
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of ...
signer
Francis Hopkinson
Francis Hopkinson (October 2,Hopkinson was born on September 21, 1737, according to the then-used Julian calendar (old style). In 1752, however, Great Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar (new style) which moved Hopkinson's ...
, was renamed in honor of State Assemblyman
Thomas S. Boyland
Thomas S. Boyland (August 13, 1942 – February 7, 1982) was an American politician from New York.
Life
Boyland was born on August 13, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Theodore Boyland and Ora Boyland. He graduated B.A. in mathematics fro ...
, who served the neighborhood from 1977 until his death in 1982. Incidentally, many places in Brownsville, including two schools and a housing development, are named after Boyland and two of his family members (his brother William F. Boyland Sr. and his nephew
William Boyland Jr.
William Frank Boyland Jr. is an American convicted felon and former politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, Boyland represented District 55 (Brooklyn) in the New York State Assembly and was first elected in a 2003 special election. H ...
), who also went into politics and represented Brownsville in various levels of local government.
Stone Avenue was renamed after Rosetta Gaston (1895–1981), founder of the Brownsville Heritage House on the avenue, as Mother Gaston Boulevard. Mother Gaston, as she was called, operated the Heritage House inside the Stone Avenue Library, a Jacobean Revival-style library built in 1914 by William Tubby.
In popular culture
The 1934 novel '' Call It Sleep'', by Henry Roth, is about the Schearl family, who moves from Brownsville back to the Lower East Side. The main character, young David Schearl, must endure the "terror of poverty" on the Lower East Side. Brownsville, by contrast, is described in the book as a vast improvement over the Lower East Side. In addition, Alfred Kazin wrote about 1920s-era Brownsville in his memoir ''A Walker in the City''.
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
mayor of New York City
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...
Melech Epstein
Melech Epstein ( yi, מלך עפשטײן, 1889–1979) was an American journalist and historian. His two most famous books, ''Jewish labor in U.S.A.'' and ''The Jew and communism'' are considered standard works.
Early life
Epstein was born i ...
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Italian-American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide crimi ...
* Red Holzman (1920–1998), NBA Hall of Fame player and coach
* Moe (1897–1975),
Curly
Curly is a surname, given name, nickname or stage name. It may refer to:
First name, nickname or stage name
* Crazy Horse (1840–1877), Oglala Sioux war chief nicknamed "Curly"
* Curly (scout), nickname of Ashishishe (c. 1856–1923), Crow In ...
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Lucky Luciano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the deve ...
(1902–1983), noted underworld figure
* Steve Lawrence (born 1935), singer
*
Thomas A. LaVeist Thomas A. LaVeist is dean and Weatherhead Presidential Chair at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was previously chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Geo ...
(born 1961), Dean of Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
* Leonard Marsh (1933–2013), co-founder of Snapple
* Zero Mostel (1915–1977), actor
*
M.O.P.
M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip hop duo composed of East Coast rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame. The song " Ante Up", was released on their ''Warriorz'' album in 2000. The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premi ...
Abraham Osheroff
Abraham Osheroff (October 24, 1915 – April 6, 2008)Martin, Douglas ''The New York Times'', April 11, 2008. Accessed October 31, 2022. "Abraham Osheroff was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in October 1915.""Abraham Osheroff: Invet ...
(1915–2008), political activist
* Joseph Papp (1921–1991), theatrical producer/director
* Bruce Pasternack (1947–2021), business author
*
Norman Podhoretz
Norman Podhoretz (; born January 16, 1930) is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as " paleo- neoconservative".
Killah Priest
Walter Reed (born August 16, 1970), better known by his stage name Killah Priest, is an American rapper, member of Sunz of Man and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, Brooklyn. He is known for his int ...
Representativz
Representativz are an American hip hop duo formed in 1994 by rappers Supreme The Eloheem and Lidu Rock. The group gained fame through their affiliation with the Boot Camp Clik, with Lidu Rock being the little brother of Heltah Skeltah's Rock, whi ...
, hip hop duo
* Robert Rosen (1934–1998), American theoretical biologist
*
RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrat ...
, minister
* Allie Sherman (1923–2015), National Football League player and head coach
*
Amote Sias
Amote Sias is an American activist and educator based in Brooklyn. She is a founding principal of Brooklyn Collegiate in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Career
Sias was active in Brooklyn politics throughout the 1970s and 1980s with a focus on social ju ...
Sparky D
Doreen C. Broadnax, known professionally as Sparky D, or spelled Sparky Dee (born June 2, 1965) is an American hip–hop musician and rapper. Broadnax is noted as one of the first female battle rappers, first gaining attention through the Roxann ...
(1965), MC & rapper
* Joe Tacopina (born 1966), criminal defense attorney
*
Sid Tannenbaum
Sidney Harold Tanenbaum (October 8, 1925 – September 4, 1986) was an American professional basketball player. He was twice a consensus first-team All-American (in 1946 and 1947) and twice a Haggerty Award winner (1946 and 1947). He went on to ...
Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. T ...
Otis Wilson
Otis Ray Wilson (born September 15, 1957) is an American former professional football player who was an outside linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Raiders. He won a Super Bowl as a membe ...
(born 1957), former
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
linebacker
*
Terry Winters
Terry Winters (born 1949, Brooklyn, NY) is an American painter, draughtsman, and printmaker whose nuanced approach to the process of painting has addressed evolving concepts of spatiality and expanded the concerns of abstract art. His attention ...
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'', February 14, 1949. Accessed July 29, 2016. "Zaslofsky was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and at 6 got a basketball from his father."
* Howard Zinn (1922–2010), historian