Mapleton is a neighborhood in southern
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 ...
,
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 ...
, bounded by 16th Avenue on the west, Dahill Road on the east, 57th Street on the north, and 65th Street on the south. It borders
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
and
Borough Park to the west, and
Midwood
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, a ...
to the east.
The area was originally developed in the 1910s, and was sometimes called "Mapleton Park". Today, Mapleton is an ethnically diverse, mostly residential area with low-density housing.
History
The site of Mapleton was originally part of the town of
New Utrecht
New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York (state), New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Brooklyn, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton n ...
in the 17th and 18th centuries. The area, as did the rest of Brooklyn, became part of New York City in 1898.
Mapleton was developed in the early 1910s in conjunction with the construction of the
Sea Beach subway line, which replaced a former surface-level railroad. Many of the homes were built on plots subdivided from former farmland.
By 1914, there were dozens of single-family homes being constructed around the nearby subway stations. The eastern part of Mapleton was developed by the Alco Building Company, who built low-density housing in that area, and was known as Mapleton Park. With the opening of the Sea Beach Line in June 1915, Mapleton gained direct subway access to Manhattan, and developers were able to sell $1 million worth of real estate. By December of the same year, it was estimated that the three Sea Beach Line stations in Mapleton accommodated a combined 4,000 passengers daily.
In 1927, Congregation Tiffareth Israel decided to construct a
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
and
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
at 64th Street and 20th Avenue. The foundation of the synagogue and school had been completed in 1924. A new building for the Mapleton branch of the
Brooklyn Public Library
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two othe ...
was constructed starting in 1953, and it opened in 1955.
Description
According to a ''New York Times'' profile of the neighborhood, Mapleton is bounded by 16th Avenue on the west, Dahill Road on the east, 47th Street on the north, and 65th Street on the south. It is mostly residential and contains mainly single-family homes. The portion of Mapleton south of 60th Street is often combined with
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
, while the portion north of 60th Street is often considered part of
Borough Park. The neighborhood is ethnically diverse and contains a large Italian, Jewish, and Asian population.
Transportation
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 ...
has several stations in the neighborhood. The BMT Sea Beach Line () runs in a trench between 63rd and 64th Streets, on Mapleton's southwest edge, with stations at
18th Avenue,
20th Avenue, and
Bay Parkway. The
IND Culver Line
The IND Culver Line (formerly BMT Culver Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, extending from Downtown Brooklyn south to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. The local tracks of the Culv ...
() runs along
McDonald Avenue
McDonald Avenue is a north-south street in Brooklyn, New York City. The avenue runs about between the intersection of 86th Street and Shell Road in Gravesend, Brooklyn, Gravesend, north to 20th Street and 10th Avenue in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, ...
, near Mapleton's eastern edge, and stops at the
Bay Parkway,
Avenue N, and
Avenue P stations.
The buses also stop within the neighborhood. The B6 runs along Bay Parkway and the B8 runs along 18th Avenue, while the B9 runs along 60th Street.
Education
The Mapleton School (PS 48) is located at 18th Avenue and 60th Street and serves kindergarten through fifth grade. Mapleton also contains the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, located at 20th Avenue and 59th Street.
The
Brooklyn Public Library
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two othe ...
(BPL) has two branches in Mapleton. The Ryder branch is located at 5902 23rd Avenue, between 59th and 60th Streets. Opened in April 1970 and designed by Arthur Witthoefft, the Ryder branch has one of the BPL's busiest circulating collections. The Mapleton branch is located at 1702 60th Street, near 17th Avenue. Founded in the 1930s, the Mapleton branch moved to its present building in 1955.
Points of interest
Mapleton contains
Washington Cemetery Washington Cemetery may refer to:
*Washington Cemetery (Brooklyn)
*Washington Cemetery (Washington Court House, Ohio)
{{Disambiguation ...
, the largest inhabited Jewish cemetery in New York. Many Orthodox Jews are buried there, as are many prominent people. The cemetery is located on Bay Parkway and stretches from 59th Street to East 3rd Street.
Mapleton contains the Gravesend Park, located on 18th Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. The park was created in 1917 and was named after the nearby neighborhood of
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
.
It contains two baseball fields, two basketball courts, fitness equipment, four handball courts, and four playgrounds.
Gravesend Park was renovated in 2016 for $7.25 million.
Properties in the neighborhood that were too small to develop, such as
Dahill Triangle
Dan "Danny" Dahill (September 28, 1919 – April 15, 2013) was an American lawyer and legislator.
Born in Glen Jean, West Virginia, Dahill served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He graduated from the University of Notre ...
, have also been designated as parks.
The neighborhood also contained a park named Mapleton Park (also known as Mapleton Oval) at 62nd Street and 20th Avenue, which was completed in 1916. The field lasted through at least 1920
and was the home of the Mapleton Park Nine baseball team.
The oval may have been named after an old neighborhood name for the area. Today, the legacy of the name Mapleton Park exists in a local synagogue, the Young Israel of Mapleton Park, near
65th Street and
Bay Parkway (22nd Avenue).
Maple Lanes, a 48-lane
bowling alley
A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...
, was formerly located at 16th Avenue and 60th Street. It opened in 1960
and was sold in 2012 to a developer, who planned to demolish the bowling alley to construct condominiums and a synagogue.
At the time of its closing, Maple Lanes was one of the few remaining bowling alleys in Brooklyn.
References
External links
Mapleton SchoolPS 48
{{Brooklyn
Neighborhoods in Brooklyn
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Borough Park, Brooklyn