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Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential
neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
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 Avenue; on the southwest by
Paerdegat Basin Paerdegat Basin is a channel that connects to Jamaica Bay between the neighborhoods of Bergen Beach and Canarsie in southeast Brooklyn, New York, United States. It connects to Jamaica Bay to the south, and the north end of the basin is adjacent to ...
; and on the south by
Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...
. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of East Flatbush to the west, Flatlands and
Bergen Beach Bergen Beach is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay in the southeastern portion of the borough, and is bordered by Mill Basin and the neighborhood of the sam ...
to the southwest,
Starrett City Starrett City (formally known as the Spring Creek Towers) is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York, in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fresh Creek t ...
to the east, East New York to the northeast, and Brownsville to the north. The area near Canarsie was originally settled by the Canarse Native Americans. The community's name is adapted from a
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
word meaning "fenced area". After European settlement, Canarsie was initially a fishing community, but became a popular summer resort in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the late 1930s and early 1940, the resorts had been destroyed, and Canarsie was developed as a largely Italian American and Jewish suburb. In the 1970s, racial tensions developed around an argument over the zoning of the area's schools, and in the aftermath, Canarsie became a mainly black neighborhood with a high West Indian population in the late 1990s. Canarsie is part of Brooklyn Community District 18 and its primary ZIP Code is 11236. It is patrolled by the 69th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Fire services are provided by the New York City Fire Department's Engine Co. 257/Ladder Co. 170/Battalion 58. Politically it is represented by the
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
's 42nd and 46th Districts.


Etymology

"Canarsie" is an adaptation to English phonology of a word in the
Lenape language The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages ( del, Lënapei èlixsuwakàn), are Munsee language, Munsee and Unami language, Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian languages, Eastern Algonquian subgroup of ...
for "fenced land" or "fort".
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
would often refer to the indigenous people living in an area by the local place-name, though it is unclear whether the "Canarsie" name originally referred to their entire ancestral land, or whether it merely referred to a single "fenced village". References may be found in contemporary documents to " Canarsie Indians" (alternatively "Canarsee"). Their name has also been transcribed as "Connarie See" (a name for Jamaica Bay), "Conorasset", "Canarisse", "Canaryssen", "Canause", "Canarisea", and "Kanarsingh". The village itself was referred to as "Keskachauge" or "Kestateuw", alternatively transcribed as "Castateuw". After European settlement, the area became variously known as "Flatlands Neck", "Vischers Hook", and "Great Neck". "By way of Canarsie" became a mid-twentieth century
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
figure of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...
meaning "to come to one's destination by a roundabout way or from a distant point." The expression has dropped from modern common parlance. Canarsie was described as "the butt of vaudeville jokes" in the 1939
WPA Guide The American Guide Series includes books and pamphlets published from 1937 to 1941 under the auspices of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), a Depression-era program that was part of the larger Works Progress Administration in the United States. ...
to New York City. A '' New York Times'' article in 1955 characterized Canarsie as a former "lame vaudeville gag". By the 2010s, "The Flossy" was also being used as a local nickname for Canarsie.


Geography

Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and either East 108 Street or Williams Avenue; on the north by either Linden Boulevard or the Bay Ridge Branch; on the west by Ralph Avenue; on the southwest by
Paerdegat Basin Paerdegat Basin is a channel that connects to Jamaica Bay between the neighborhoods of Bergen Beach and Canarsie in southeast Brooklyn, New York, United States. It connects to Jamaica Bay to the south, and the north end of the basin is adjacent to ...
; and on the southeast by
Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as t ...
and
Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...
. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of East Flatbush on the northwest, Flatlands on the west,
Bergen Beach Bergen Beach is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay in the southeastern portion of the borough, and is bordered by Mill Basin and the neighborhood of the sam ...
on the southwest, Brownsville on the north, and
Spring Creek A spring creek is a type of free flowing river whose name derives from its origin: an underground spring or set of springs which produces sufficient water to consistently feed a unique river. The water flowing in a spring creek may additionally be ...
on the northeast. Prior to European settlement, Canarsie featured the only large swath of
uplands Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...
along the Jamaica Bay coast within the town of Flatlands. The islands in the bay, such as Bergen, Mill, and
Barren Barren primarily refers to a state of barrenness (infertility) Barren may also refer to: Places * Barren, Missouri *Barren County, Kentucky * Barren Island (Andaman Islands) *Barren Island, Brooklyn *Barren River Lake Other uses * ''Barren Count ...
islands, mostly featured marshy land with small pieces of uplands. In the 19th century, a few ports along the coast were built for limited industrial use. The coast was more significantly modified in the early 20th century, when more than of shoreline was filled in with a bulkhead.


History


Early history

The coastal lands around Jamaica Bay, including present-day Canarsie, were originally settled by the Canarsie Indians. The present-day neighborhood of Canarsie was one of the Canarsie tribe's main villages. They probably lived near the intersection of present-day Seaview and Remsen Avenues. Cornfields grew from the shore to as far inland as Avenue J, and were centered around East 92nd Street. The Canarsie Indians grew cornfields on three flats within the area. As late as the 1930s, "immense shell heaps" could be found at the site. These shells might have served as planting fields. In 1624, the Dutch Republic incorporated much of the current New York City area into the colony of New Netherland. In 1636, as the Dutch was expanding outward from present-day Manhattan, Dutch settlers founded the town of Achtervelt (later Amersfoort, then Flatlands) and purchased around Jamaica Bay. Amersfoort was centered around the present-day intersection of Flatbush Avenue and
Flatlands Avenue Flatlands Avenue is a major street in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It runs approximately east-west, from Avenue N and East 35th Street in Flatlands in the west to Forbell Street, east of Fountain Avenue in East New York, near the Brookl ...
. Canarsie Indian leaders such as Penhawitz had signed three land agreements with Dutch settlers between 1636 and 1667, handing ownership of much of their historic land to the Dutch. Many of the tribe's members started moving away, and Dutch settlers rented the cornfields that had formerly belonged to the Indians. Much of the remaining land was located in the present-day neighborhood of Canarsie. The first European settler in the area was
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff Pieter Claesen Wyckoff (ca. 1620 – June 30, 1694) was a prominent figure in Dutch and later English colonial Kings County, Long Island, New York. Most persons surnamed Wyckoff in North America, including many variations in spelling, can be tra ...
, a former indentured servant who built a house in Flatlands circa 1652. Wyckoff's house still stands along Clarendon Road, and it is believed to be the oldest structure in New York State. In 1660, present-day Canarsie Point was given the name Vischers Hook ("fishers' hook"). The name referred to Hoorn, a Dutch fisherman who had built a house at that location. At the time, a group of islands extended into Jamaica Bay south of Canarsie, up to and including Barren Island. The Indians still managed the land at Canarsie until the English took over New Amsterdam. In 1665, Canarsie Indians signed a land agreement that gave total ownership of almost all their land to the Dutch. By the time the land agreement was signed, only three Native American families remained in the area. In 1670,
Daniel Denton Daniel Denton (c. 1626 – 1703) was an early American colonist. Denton led an expedition into the interior of northern New Jersey. He was one of the purchasers of what is known as the Elizabethtown Tract in 1664, in the area of (and surrounding) ...
, a co-founder of the nearby town of Jamaica, wrote: "It is to be admired how strangely they have decreast by the Hand of God ..for since my time, when there were six towns, they are reduced to two small villages." Through 1684, the Dutch and the Native Americans had signed twenty-two deeds regarding the sale of different plots of land in Flatlands. By the beginning of the 18th century, the only Canarsie Indians living in the New York City area were a few small groups in the town of Canarsie, as well as at Gerritsen Beach and
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
. At this time, their ancestral land in Canarsie had been fragmented and sold off to different settlers. Some plots were subsequently merged to create large plantation-style farms. An observer noted in 1832 that "the Canarsie Indians are at this time totally extinct; not a single member of that ill-fated race is in existence". However, a few members still remained, albeit via mixed lineage. Joel Skidmore, the last member of the tribe through his mother's side, was a tax collector from the town of Flatlands who lived in Canarsie until he died in 1907. The towns of Flatbush and Flatlands laid competing claims to the western shore of Fresh Creek, within present-day Canarsie. A 1685 confirmation of Flatlands' boundaries did not recognize this small patch of land; instead, this land was classified as part of
New Lots 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 ...
, then a subdivision of Flatbush. This dispute continued into the 19th century, as seen by maps from 1797 and 1873. Through this time, Canarsie remained sparsely populated. In an 1852 map, Jeremiah Schenck and James Schenck were listed as the only two landowners at Canarsie Point. They each owned of land. The only road in the area was what would later be Rockaway Parkway. The only way to Canarsie was by taking a train to Jamaica and transferring to a stagecoach, where passengers would endure a "long and uncomfortable ride" through the marshy woodlands that the road winded through.


Seaside resort

The Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad, which opened on October 21, 1865, offered train service from the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
at the East New York station to a pier at Canarsie Landing, very close to the current junction of Rockaway Parkway and the
Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as t ...
. The railroad built a pier extending into Jamaica Bay, which was used for lumber deliveries and was later enlarged. Less than a year later, in summer 1866, the railroad started operating a ferry to
Rockaway Beach Rockaway Beach may refer to: * "Rockaway Beach" (song), by the Ramones * Rockaway Beach, California * Rockaway Beach, Missouri * Rockaway Beach, Oregon * Rockaway Beach, Wisconsin * Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City ** Rockaway Beach and Boa ...
, marking the start of the area's transformation into a summer beach resort. That year, there were ten daily round trips along the Canarsie railroad, but only three on the Rockaway ferry, so vacationers traveling to the Rockaways via the railroad and ferry would often stay on Canarsie Landing for a few hours. Railroad service was increased in 1867, with trains running every hour on weekdays and every half hour on Sundays; the railroad handled 122,567 passengers that year. Five hotels soon opened on the Canarsie shore, starting with Bay View House in July 1867. In addition, restaurants and saloons began operating along Canarsie Landing. An 1867 account from a '' Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' correspondent stated that there were two railroads: the Canarsie steam dummy, which ran only to East New York, and the Nostrand Avenue Line, which connected with other streetcar lines that ran across Brooklyn. The correspondent wrote that "it has ample hotel accommodations for boarders or casual visitors, and all it needs is a good roadway along the waterside for promenade and drive." The next year, an article from the ''Eagle'' noted that although Canarsie still had a reputation for being a fisherman's village, it "will be largely patronized as soon as people get the means of going there". German, Dutch, Scottish, and Irish settlers started moving to Canarsie in large numbers during the 1870s. Ferry service remained infrequent because any increase to ferry service would require new vessels, and in order to do that, Jamaica Bay would need to be dredged at a very high cost. At the time, the bay was a few inches deep during low tide, and a narrow, channel stretched across the bay. The Canarsie Line employed
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
s, which were able to make a round trip in two hours and navigate the bay at low tide. During its early history, the route used steamers with a capacity of 250 passengers; later boats had larger capacity. In 1878, there were two proposals to create a more frequent transportation service between Canarsie and the Rockaways, but neither was implemented. One proposal entailed extending a railroad trestle into Jamaica Bay to shorten the ferry trip, while the other involved constructing a
narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
that ran to Broad Channel, Queens. By that year, a rectangular peninsula extended into the bay. In 1880, the
New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica B ...
constructed a trestle across the bay and started operating service across it. White's Iron Steamboats, which sailed from Manhattan directly to the Rockaways, started operating two years later. Despite the existence of two competitors, the Canarsie railroad saw a healthy continued patronage because many passengers wanted to go to Canarsie itself. The success of the Canarsie railroad and the variety of activities available at Canarsie Point both contributed to that area's prosperity. In the late 1860s, a boat-rental company opened in Canarsie, and by 1880, there were ten such companies, with each company owning 50 boats on average. Rentals ranged from $5 to $7 on weekdays, and from $7 to $10 on weekends. An 1882 newspaper article observed that after traveling to Canarsie "through a tract of country that looked like one vast lawn of green velvet", visitors could hire yachts or rowboats, or just breathe the fresh air. In 1883, a large double-decker barge for theatrical and musical performances, called the "Floating Pavilion", was permanently anchored off the Canarsie shore. The depth of the bay was only deep at this point, making it suitable for bathing. A stage extended into the water for the performers, while bathhouses were placed on the barge's lower tier. The steamer ''Edith Peck'' regularly traveled between the shore and the barge. Summer
bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
s were also built along the bay shore, especially east of Canarsie Landing in an area called Sand Bay. Since the land was submerged during low tide, many of these houses were built on stilts. Electric lighting was installed in 1892 in a bid to attract visitors at night as well. Canarsie also grew into a fishing hub by the late 19th century. In 1850, there were 75 fishermen in Flatlands, compared to 191 other individuals who worked in agriculture. By 1880, there were 200 fishermen in Flatlands, of which around 90% lived in Canarsie. In an 1865 account, '' The New York Times'' described the fishing village as a self-sufficient community that was "a place of much resort for fishing, and one of the best near to the city". Boat-building also became popular: the number of boat-builders in Canarsie grew from one in 1868 to eight in 1887. Much of the boats built in Canarsie were small rowboats, but some of them were large
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
s. A 1900 magazine article described the Canarsie bay shore as "a level expanse of marshy meadowland indented with shallow inlets and dotted with boathouses, fishing huts, and boat builders' cabins perched high and dry on wooden piles." Visitors could rent a rowboat and catch fish at Ruffle Bar or other locations within Jamaica Bay. If these visitors had enough money, they could rent a large sloop and head to the open ocean to fish.


Fishing and amusement heyday

By the start of the 20th century, Canarsie was a bustling amusement district. Of the 50 buildings along the Canarsie bay shore, eighteen were hotels. Three ferry systems operated routes to Bergen Island, Barren Island, Rockaway Beach, and other destinations in Jamaica Bay. A fourth would start operations in 1915, but shuttered in 1918 after several unprofitable seasons. The Canarsie Line faced a steep drop in patronage in 1895, when frequent trolley service started operating to
Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
. The line, which had operated a fleet of at least 10 vessels throughout its existence, stopped operating in 1905. The
Canarsie Railroad The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is served by the ...
, a subsidiary of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, acquired the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach line north of Rockaway Parkway on May 31, 1906. The BRT then announced that it would build an elevated railroad to Canarsie. This spurred speculation of rapid real estate development in Canarsie. Residents started constructing water and sewer pipes, as well as paving roads, in anticipation of this new development. The route south of Rockaway Parkway became an electric trolley shuttle route. The Golden City Amusement Park opened in May 1907 at what is now Seaview Avenue, near Canarsie Pier. The owners hoped that the five-cent fare of the Canarsie Railroad would draw riders who would otherwise pay 10 cents to go to the Coney Island amusement area. Golden City cost $1 million to build and included a miniature railroad, a dance hall, a roller skating rink, and a
roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
. There was also a wooden shorefront promenade and a 2,500-seat theater with 7,000 electric lights. The buildings were adorned with silver and gold. Part of Golden City's appeal was that it was easily accessible from Manhattan via the elevated. In August of that year, the Golden City Construction was leased to the Canarsie Amusement Company, who planned to make the park one of the world's largest. In 1909, the park was severely damaged by a fire, which also destroyed two hotels. The park was completely rebuilt for the next season. Murphy's Carousel was created in 1912 by the Stein and Goldstein Artistic Carousell Company of Brooklyn and installed in Golden City Park. A writer for '' The New York Times'' later noted that "the horses were carved in Coney Island style, which eschewed the look of docile ponies and prancing fillies and produced much more muscular, ferocious creatures with bared teeth and heads often lifted in motion." After the end of World War I, the
New York City Department of Docks The Commissioner of Docks of New York City was the head of the Department of Docks created by the New York State Legislature's 1870 revision of the New York City Charter, which returned numerous powers to the city government that had previously been ...
started renting piers along the Canarsie shore. These piers were transformed into summer vacation houses, boardwalks, industrial buildings, railroads, and piers, among other purposes. Some piers were used by boat yards, clubs, and builders, while other piers were rented for an expansion of Golden City Park.


Decline of fishing and amusement

By the 20th century, the fishing industry started to decline, since pollution had contaminated the oysters that occupied the bay. The shellfish in the bay began showing signs of chemical contamination in 1904, when an outbreak of typhoid fever was linked to a catch of shellfish in Inwood, New York, another town on the Jamaica Bay shore. In 1912, a typhoid outbreak in upstate
Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange County ...
, was attributed to a banquet where Jamaica Bay oysters were served. In 1915, Canarsie itself was affected when 27 residents contracted typhoid from that year's shellfish catch. Another 100 cases of
gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea and gastro, is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of energy, and dehydra ...
were traced to that year's shellfish catch. By 1917, an estimated of sewage per day was being discharged into the bay. The whole industry was shuttered in 1921 because too much of the shellfish population had been infected. The shoreline was further altered in 1926 through the construction of Canarsie Pier, a dock with a base. The pier was built as part of the greater improvement project for Jamaica Bay, wherein channels were being dredged in an effort to turn the bay into a large seaport. This was tied to improvement projects at Mill and Barren islands. This brought new industrial tenants along the Jamaica Bay shore, including an asphalt company and a construction company. The first industrial export from Canarsie Pier, a 500-ton shipment of scrap metal, departed in 1933. Planners also wanted to create a spur of the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
's Bay Ridge Branch south to Flatlands, with two branches to Canarsie and Mill Basin. In January 1931, the New York City Board of Estimate approved a plan to build railroads on both sides of Paerdegat Basin, connecting the LIRR to Canarsie Pier on the east and to Floyd Bennett Field on the west. Ultimately,
Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
, the New York City Parks Commissioner at the time, disapproved of the project. He moved to transform the bay into a city park instead. The Canarsie Railroad was converted to the Canarsie subway line in 1928, providing direct access to Manhattan. After the subway line opened, officials began calling for a new ferry service between Canarsie and Rockaway Beach. The subway line was also supposed to help improve access to the proposed seaport, although the seaport was ultimately not built. The area remained a relatively remote outpost through the 1920s. Southern Italian immigrants, along with Jews, soon settled in the area. Golden City was severely damaged by another fire in January 1934, which destroyed fifteen buildings and caused $60,000 worth of damage. This time, the amusement park's operators decided not to rebuild, and the area spent its last days as a boat dock. In 1938, the city moved to acquire Golden City's land, as well as improve sewage facilities within Canarsie. The hope was that the new
Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as t ...
would attract drivers to Golden City from all over the metropolitan area. This did not happen, mainly because Robert Moses wanted to build the parkway through the amusement park. Golden City was demolished in 1939 to make way for the Belt Parkway. In the spring of 1940, when the Belt Parkway was built through the area, the carousel was moved to
Baldwin Baldwin is a Germanic name, composed of the elements ''bald'' "bold" and ''win'' "friend". People * Baldwin (name) Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, Qu ...
, on the border abutting
Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Places United States *Freeport, California *Freeport, Florida *Freeport, Illinois *Freeport, Indiana *Freeport, Iowa *Freeport, Kansas *Freeport, Maine, a New England town **Freeport (CDP), Maine, the ...
, on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. The Works Progress Administration, in conjunction with the city's Departments of
Parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
and Docks, built a recreation building on Canarsie Pier in 1941. Ferry service at Canarsie Pier also withered away after the opening of the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in 1937, which connected Brooklyn to the Rockaways directly. In 1939, the WPA Guide to New York City mentioned that Canarsie was a "sparsely settled community located on dispiriting flatlands". The Guide further described the burned-down amusement park, the ramshackle shacks, and Canarsie's "weedy lots and small truck farms cultivated by Italians". The book stated that riders on the Canarsie Pier trolley could see "great stenches of dump and marsh" interspersed between the "unkempt gardens of run-down houses" that the trolley's route adjoined. Until 1939, dozens of disused trolley cars from around the city were dumped into a , lake in Canarsie. The Canarsie Pier trolley route was discontinued in 1942 and was replaced by the B42 streetcar (later bus) route, despite residents' protests. The right-of-way of the old Canarsie Pier trolley was abandoned. In 1940, plans for a 14,000-seat arena in Canarsie were filed. This arena was apparently not built for several decades, because in 1974, many Canarsie residents announced their opposition to a proposed 15,000-seat arena in Brooklyn. One of the proposed sites of the arena was in Canarsie. In 1941, the city announced that a new sewage plant would be built in Canarsie in order to reduce the amount of raw sewage going in Jamaica Bay.


Residential development

Canarsie only saw large residential development after World War II. Much of the area's residential buildings were built from this post-war era up until the 1970s. Marshland in the area was filled in. Due to the large shortage of housing in New York City after the war, the city announced the construction of more than a thousand Quonset huts for veterans along the Jamaica Bay shore. The first huts were delivered in February 1946, and they were ready for occupancy by June of that year. Starting in the 1950s, a series of suburban waterfront communities were being rapidly developed in Southeast Brooklyn, including in present-day Bergen Beach, Canarsie, and Mill Basin. Most of the new residents were whites who were moving out of neighborhoods such as East New York and Brownsville, which were gaining more black residents. In August 1951, work started on the
Breukelen Houses Breukelen Houses ( ), also known as Breukelen or Brookline Projects, is a large Public housing in the United States and Canada, housing complex maintained in Canarsie, Brooklyn, by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Its main office is ...
, a 1,600-unit New York City Housing Authority development between East 103rd and East 105th Streets. The development was completed in October 1952. The
Bayview Houses The Bay View Houses is a housing project of the New York City Housing Authority in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It has twenty-three, 8-story buildings with 1,609 apartments. The 34.02-acre complex is bordered by Seaview Avenue, East 10 ...
, another NYCHA development, started construction in 1954 and opened in 1955. The latter NYCHA development included a shopping center. Houses were also constructed by private developers, but due to zoning laws, these residences were limited to three stories high. Vacant lots remained, but they were being very quickly developed at the time. Some lots along the Paerdegat Basin shore remained undeveloped through the 1960s. One plot, in particular, was supposed to become a public housing development for lower- and middle-class families. However, the plot was privately owned, and residents of nearby houses wanted to see a private developer build two-story middle-class detached houses at that location. This plot ultimately became a middle-income housing development with units for 6,000 families, built by the city under the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program. In conjunction with this development, the federal and city governments each awarded hundreds of thousands of money toward improving parks and beaches in Canarsie. ''The New York Times'' predicted that Canarsie could become "the next Jones Beach", a seaside resort of kinds. It was expected that there would be 5,000 more school-aged children living in Canarsie, so public and parochial schools were expanded as well. From 1950 to 1955, Canarsie's population grew from 3,500 to 4,500. By 1963, a new 69th Precinct building for the New York City Police Department had to be constructed to accommodate the growing population. Many young families moved to Canarsie, and
Canarsie High School Canarsie High School, which opened in 1964, is a defunct public high school in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie in New York City. Closed in 2011, the building currently operates as Canarsie Educational Campus, housing several smaller high sch ...
was built to handle the newcomers. Canarsie High School opened in 1964. The city proposed the construction of Flatlands Industrial Park, an industrial park, in Canarsie in 1959. The city took over the project after a previous attempt by a private developer had been canceled in 1958 due to a lack of tenants. The industrial park was to be located on a plot between East 99th and 108th Streets between Farragut Road and the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
. Permission to clear the land was granted in 1962. East Brooklyn residents wished to see an educational complex on the site instead, on the grounds that not building an educational complex would prolong the school segregation prevalent in Eastern Brooklyn. 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 ...
approved the plan anyway in 1965. The city added of land to the proposed industrial area by deleting plans for the side streets that were supposed to run through the area. These delays held up construction for nine years: in March 1966, an aide to Mayor John Lindsay reported that "not one spadeful of dirt" had been excavated on the site. Construction on the project started in summer 1966, and when the Flatlands Industrial Park opened in 1969, it became the city's first publicly-sponsored industrial complex. Other development in Canarsie around this time included the middle-income
Starrett City Starrett City (formally known as the Spring Creek Towers) is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York, in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fresh Creek t ...
complex east of Fresh Creek. The complex is located east of Fresh Creek between Belt Parkway and Vandalia Avenue. In 1962, the California-based Thompson–Starrett Co. bought of land, upon which they proposed to construct apartment buildings. However, this did not occur due to a lack of funds, and the land was sold to a consortium of investors. The project's new developers were a joint venture by the Starrett Corporation and the
National Kinney Corporation National Kinney Corporation was a parking, property management services, and real estate development company based in New York City. It was established on August 7, 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets due to a f ...
, who renamed the project "Starrett City". In 1967, the
United Housing Foundation {{unreferenced, date=September 2019 The United Housing Foundation (UHF) was a real estate investment trust in New York that constructed numerous cooperative housing projects, including Rochdale Village in Queens and Co-op City in the Bronx. Purpo ...
(UHF) announced a plan to construct a housing development with similarities to Co-op City in the Bronx. The UHF left the project in 1972, by which time part of Starrett City had already been built. Starrett City was dedicated in October 1974, and the first residents started moving in by the end of the year. At the time of opening, it had 5,881 units in 46 eleven- to twenty-story buildings.


Racial tensions and growing black population

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, parents of white students protested against the New York City Department of Education's efforts to desegregate its District 18, which comprised schools in Canarsie and East Flatbush, by "
busing Race-integration busing in the United States (also known simply as busing, Integrated busing or by its critics as forced busing) was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in ...
" minority pupils into Canarsie schools. Many of the minority students were pupils from majority-black Brownsville, which bordered Canarsie to the north but was in a different school district. The racial tensions began in 1964, when the NYCDOE zoned some Brownsville students to Canarsie High School. In 1969, a fight between a white student and a black student at Canarsie High School caused the school to be closed down for three days. South Shore High School opened in 1970, albeit in a physically incomplete state: many rooms did not have furniture, plumbing, or public announcement systems until the middle of the school year. Major conflicts between white and black students occurred in September 1970 and April 1971. By the end of its first year, the principal was stepping down, and a coalition called "Friends of South Shore" had formed to protest the lack of resources or opportunities available at that school. The 1972–1973 school year was a tumultuous one for Canarsie. On September 12, 1972, the first day of the school year, District 18 officials refused to enroll approximately 90 students from Brownsville into IS 285, a school in East Flatbush. This change came after IS 285 had been enrolling Brownsville students for several years. Brownsville parents had already been hesitant to enroll their students into schools in Canarsie due to large opposition there. By the start of October, these students had still not been able to start school. On October 14, the NYCDOE came up with a solution regarding approximately 40 of these students: send eleven to IS 285, and enroll the rest within IS 211 in Canarsie. (The number of Brownsville students enrolled in IS 211 was variously given as either 29 or 31. That number later rose to 32.) In response, on October 17, hundreds of white parents from Canarsie showed up to protest outside IS 211 and IS 267. They announced their intention to keep protesting unless the black students were reassigned to another school. Because the parents' protests blocked these schools' entrances, the schools were closed for the rest of that day. These protests went on for three days until the NYCDOE threatened a writ of court action against these parents. The NYCDOE unsuccessfully attempted to broker a compromise between parents in Brownsville and Canarsie. On October 24, 1972, NYCDOE Chairman
Harvey B. Scribner Harvey Bertram Scribner (July 7, 1914 – December 23, 2002) was an American educator and administrator who oversaw the voluntary integration of the Teaneck Public Schools in the mid-1960s. He also headed the Vermont Department of Education. ...
withdrew enrollment for the Brownsville students who were going to IS 211. The Brownsville parents brought their students to IS 211 the next day and started protesting outside the school. On October 26, the NYCDOE reversed Scribner's order, re-enrolling the black students from Brownsville. The same day, a police guard escorted 28 Brownsville students to their first day of classes at IS 211, amid a crowd of over 1,000 protesters. Of 10,000 students enrolled in Canarsie public schools, only 850 had gone to school on October 26. Due to low attendance, six Canarsie schools were closed for that day. By November 1, the fifth day of the boycott, the number of protesters had subsided, but the boycott was still ongoing. The boycott was broken on November 10, twelve days after it started. As part of the terms to end the boycott, a new zoning plan for the area was ordered. The new plan, released on December 6, was also controversial because it involved rezoning many black students. A second new plan was then ordered. Many Canarsie parents, who complained that it was taking too long to come up with a new zoning plan, initiated a second boycott on March 1, 1973. This boycott spread to a school in Mill Basin, but a similar one in
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 ...
was unsuccessful. The boycott ended on April 1, after parents agreed almost unanimously to prohibit any more Brownsville students from enrolling in Canarsie schools. Students who were already enrolled were allowed to stay until they graduated. In total, white students boycotted their schools for seven weeks of the 1972–1973 school year. In 1978, a NYCDOE integration plan was tentatively approved by the state. Black students from Brownsville could enroll in Canarsie schools as long as they did not make up a majority of the student population there. Of the 80,000 Canarsie residents in 1972, about 2.5% were black. Canarsie's black residents were mostly concentrated in the NYCHA developments, which were integrated with the detached houses in the rest of the neighborhood. The conflict was compared to the Little Rock Nine controversy in 1957, where presidential intervention had been required in order to integrate nine black students into a majority-white school. One writer described the Canarsie school conflict as a time when white residents felt that "things began to go awry". The conflict marked the beginning of white Canarsie residents' shift from liberalism to conservatism. By 1978, Canarsie was characterized as "a conservative, middle-class Jewish and Italian section of Brooklyn". The elected leadership of District 18 became ethnically disproportionate to the student body: by 1983, most of the District 18 board members were white, even though 75% of the district's students were black. This disproportionate representation continued through 1994, when the mostly-white members of District 18 opposed a plan to split off several schools into a nearby district in order to increase the proportion of black votes in both districts. That plan was subsequently canceled. In 1989, construction commenced on the Seaview Estates
condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
s. The project was characterized as Canarsie's first large new residential development in decades. The development opened in 2003. In the 1980s, the white residents of Canarsie started moving away, and black residents started moving in. From 1980 to 1990, the proportion of Canarsie's population who was white dropped from 90% to 75%. Much of Canarsie's white population left for the suburbs of Staten Island, Queens,
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, and New Jersey, part of a national phenomenon referred to as " white flight". This culminated in a spate of racial conflicts in 1991, where 14 racial-bias incidents were recorded within a month and a half. These incidents were committed by both blacks against whites, and by whites against blacks. The black population of Canarsie rose from 10% in 1990 to 60% in 2000, with most of the new residents being Caribbean and West Indian immigrants. By 2010, the neighborhood was 78% black, and between 47% and 60% of the total residents were immigrants from the Caribbean. The late-2000s
subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...
affected the 11236 zip code, which includes Canarsie and Flatlands, more than any other neighborhood in the city. The area had 1,930 subprime mortgages, the most of any city neighborhood; of these, twelve percent were facing
foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...
proceedings. During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the basements of many homes in Canarsie were flooded. By June 2013, more than 10% of the residential buildings within Canarsie's zip code, 11236, were being foreclosed upon. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency started redrawing flood-risk maps in New York City to account for climate change. The original flood map in 1983 labeled 26 buildings under the FEMA "flood zone", but the new flood map proposed increasing that total to 5,000 buildings. Many area homeowners opposed the maps because they could not afford flood insurance if they were rezoned under the FEMA flood zone.


Community

Canarsie is characterized as a working- to middle-class neighborhood. Canarsie's residences consist mainly of one- and two-family homes. Most houses are detached, unlike elsewhere in Brooklyn where townhouses are more common. The houses between East 105th and East 108th Streets typically have backyards, while large houses dating to the 1910s and 1920s can be found north of Flatlands Avenue. Eastern Canarsie tends to have more dense concentrations of housing than western Canarsie, while the center of the neighborhood has very dense development. There are two large public housing developments, the Breuckelen Houses and the Bayview Houses, both operated by the New York City Housing Authority. Canarsie also contains a
gated community A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...
, the Seaview Estates condominium complex, which has five buildings as well as its own tennis court and swimming pool. Brooklyn Community District 18, which encompasses Canarsie and Flatlands, has a poverty rate of 10%, lower than the city's 20% overall poverty rate, and a homeownership rate of 60%, higher than the city's 30% overall homeownership rate.


Places of interest

There are two shopping centers in Canarsie. One of them is
Canarsie Plaza 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 Aven ...
, located on Avenue D. Opened in 2011, the mall contains of retail space. The
Brooklyn Terminal Market 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, behin ...
is located adjacent to Canarsie Plaza, and sells horticultural items such as plants, trees, and fruits. The Canarsie Cemetery is located at Remsen Avenue and Avenue K. It was owned by the Remsen family until 1888, when they sold it to the town of Flatlands. In 1898, the cemetery became part of New York City, who became the new owner of the cemetery. Over the next century, 6,400 corpses were interred at the Canarsie Cemetery, including Civil War and Spanish–American War veterans. The city announced its intention to sell Canarsie Cemetery in 1982, but for more than 25 years, its efforts to sell were unsuccessful. Cypress Hills, the operator of another cemetery straddling Brooklyn and Queens, purchased Canarsie Cemetery in 2010. By that time, there had been 8,000 interments, with space for 6,000 more corpses.


Demographics

Based on data from the
2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, the population of Canarsie was 83,693, a decrease of 1,365 (1.6%) from the 85,058 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 Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 81.0% (67,816) African American, 5.9% (4,928)
non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
, 0.2% (192) Native American, 2.6% (2,198)
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.0% (8) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (332) from other races, and 1.5% (1,278) from two or more races. Hispanic or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race were 8.3% (6,941) of the population. The entirety of Community District 18, which comprises Canarsie and Flatlands, had 165,543 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.0 years. This is slightly higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 25% are between the ages of 0–17, 29% between 25 and 44, and 24% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 13% respectively. As of 2019, the median household income in Community District 18 was $80,471. In 2018, an estimated 21% of Canarsie and Flatlands residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) 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 50% in Canarsie and Flatlands, lower than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Canarsie and Flatlands are considered to be higher-income relative to the rest of the city. During the 1990s, much of Canarsie's white population left for the suburbs as part of a national phenomenon referred to as " white flight". In the early 21st century, Canarsie's population is mostly black due to significant West Indian immigration in the area. East Brooklyn Community High School now serves the transfer student population. The 2020 census data from
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 ...
shows now even much fewer remaining White residents of less than 5000, there were less than 5000 Asian residents, there were between 5,000 to 9,999 Hispanic residents, and Black residents were numbered at 40,000+ being the overwhelming vast majority of the neighborhood population.


Police and crime

Canarsie is primarily served by the NYPD's 69th Precinct, located at 9720 Foster Avenue, although the small area west of the Bay Ridge Branch tracks falls under the 67th Precinct, located at 2820 Snyder Avenue. In 2019, the 69th Precinct reported 2
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
s, 25 rapes, 91 robberies, 146 felony assaults, 63 burglaries, 286 grand larcenies, and 72 grand larcenies auto. Crime in these categories fell by 84.9% in the precinct between 1990 and 2019, and by 60.9% since 2001. Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 69th Precinct had a rate of 456 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the boroughwide average of 571 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000. , Community District 18 has a non-fatal assault hospitalization rate of 46 per 100,000 people, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 49 per 100,000. Its incarceration rate is 380 per 100,000 people, compared to the boroughwide rate of 460 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 425 per 100,000. In 2019, the highest concentrations of felony assaults in Canarsie were near the intersection of 93rd Street and Avenue L, where there were 6, and on Farragut Road between 105th and 108th streets, where there were also 6. The highest concentrations of robberies were near the intersection of 103rd Street and Glenwood Road, where there were 4, and at the nearby intersection of 105th Street and Glenwood Road, where there were also 4.


Fire safety

Canarsie is served by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 257/Ladder Co. 170/Battalion 58, located at 1361 Rockaway Parkway.


Health

Preterm births are more common in Canarsie and Flatlands than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers are less common. In Canarsie and Flatlands, there were 89 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 11.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Canarsie and Flatlands has a relatively low population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through Medicaid. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 21%, which is higher than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of
fine particulate matter Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Canarsie and Flatlands is , lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages. Fifteen percent of Canarsie and Flatlands residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Canarsie and Flatlands, 30% of residents are obese, 14% are diabetic, and 37% have
high blood pressure Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 21% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Eighty-one percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 77% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," slightly less than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Canarsie and Flatlands, there are 9 bodegas.


Post offices and ZIP Codes

Canarsie and Flatlands are covered by ZIP Codes 11234, 11236, and 11239. The United States Post Office's Canarsie Station is located at 10201 Flatlands Avenue.


Recreation


Canarsie Pier

Canarsie Pier, a fishing spot and recreation area on
Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...
, is located in the southern part of the neighborhood at the end of Rockaway Parkway. The pier is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit, operated by the National Park Service. The city renovated the pier in 1971, and the NPS spent $5 million to renovate the pier again in 1992. The pier contains a restaurant and a visitor center.


Canarsie Park

Canarsie Park, operated by New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks), is located in two pieces south of Seaview Avenue: one west of East 93rd Street, and another east of East 102nd Street. In 1895 and 1896, the city acquired the plot of land bound by East 88th and East 93rd Streets between Seaview and Skidmore Avenues. At the time, the land contained the
Jans Martense Schenck house The Jan Martense Schenck house was built by Jan Martense Schenck (1631 in Amersfoort, Utrecht, NetherlandsAugust 27, 1687), a settler of New Netherland, within what is now the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn, New York City. Believed to be one of N ...
. The park was expanded in 1934 after the city purchased land from the Department of Docks, and a playground was built at Seaview Avenue and East 93rd Street in 1936. Canarsie Park grew again in 1939 and 1948 using parcels from the New York City Board of Estimate. A fourth expansion occurred in 1954 when some land next to Fresh Creek Basin was purchased. The Seaview Avenue playground was renovated in the mid-1990s. Canarsie Park was renovated in the 2000s. During the renovation, a skatepark, a
cricket field A cricket field is a large grass field on which the game of cricket is played. Although generally oval in shape, there is a wide variety within this: some are almost perfect circles, some elongated ovals and some entirely irregular shapes with l ...
, and a
nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, techno ...
were added. This renovation, and the upkeep of other parks in Canarsie, was attributed to an infusion of $13 million in funds from City Councilman
Lewis A. Fidler Lewis A. "Lew" Fidler (May 27, 1956 – May 5, 2019) was a New York City Councilman. In January 2002, he began his first term representing the 46th district in New York City, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, ...
, who represented Community Board 18 at the time. There are also facilities for baseball, soccer, basketball, and tennis, as well as a dog run.


Other parks

The neighborhood has several other parks operated by NYC Parks. Bayview Playground is located at Seaview Avenue and East 100th Street, within the Bayview Houses and next to PS 270. The original plot for the playground was acquired in 1955, and NYCHA gave additional land in 1962. Bayview Playground contains basketball and handball courts, as well as a play area and fitness area. Bildersee Playground is located on Flatlands Avenue between East 81st and East 82nd Streets. Its namesake,
Isaac Bildersee Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
, was an assistant public school superintendent for Brooklyn during the 1940s. The city purchased the land in 1960 so it could construct IS 68, the Isaac Bildersee School, along with an accompanying playground. Bildersee Playground opened along with the school in 1965. It contains basketball and handball courts, as well as a play area. Curtis Playground is located on Foster Avenue between East 81st and East 82nd Streets. It contains basketball courts as well as fitness and play areas. Sledge Playground is located on East 95th Street between Holmes Lane and Avenue L. The park originally opened in 1934 on land that was acquired by the city in 1924. In 1984, it was renamed after Cecil Frank Sledge, an NYPD officer for the 69th Precinct who was killed in the line of duty in 1980. Sledge Playground was renovated in 1997–1998. 100% Playground is located on Glenwood Road between East 100th and East 101st Streets. It contains handball courts, a playground, and spray showers. In 1978, the city proposed an additional park between East 102nd and East 108th Streets along Jamaica Bay, but residents opposed the new park because they wanted the funds to pay for existing parks' upkeep.


Transportation

The BMT Canarsie Line, on which 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 ...
's runs, terminates at Canarsie–Rockaway Parkway near the northern end of the neighborhood. There is also a subway station at East 105th Street between Foster Avenue and Farragut Road. The subway system's only level crossing was located at East 105th Street until it was closed by 1973 as part of the Flatlands Industrial Park project. The MTA Regional Bus Operations' , and BM2 routes also run through Canarsie. The B42 route along Rockaway Parkway is a direct descendant of the former trolley route that ran to Canarsie Pier. There is a free direct transfer between the B42 and the subway at Rockaway Parkway. The principal roadways through Canarsie are Remsen Avenue, Rockaway Parkway, and
Flatlands Avenue Flatlands Avenue is a major street in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It runs approximately east-west, from Avenue N and East 35th Street in Flatlands in the west to Forbell Street, east of Fountain Avenue in East New York, near the Brookl ...
. The
Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as t ...
, a
limited-access A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...
parkway, serves Canarsie via an exit at Canarsie Pier.


Education

Canarsie and Flatlands generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents to the rest of the city . Though 40% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 13% have less than a high school education and 48% 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 Canarsie and Flatlands students excelling in math rose from 40 percent in 2000 to 57 percent in 2011, though reading achievement decreased from 48% to 46% during the same time period. Canarsie and Flatlands's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is slightly lower than the rest of New York City. In Canarsie and Flatlands, 17% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students. Additionally, 80% of high school students in Canarsie and Flatlands graduate on time, equal to the citywide average of 75% of students.


Schools

Public elementary schools in Canarsie include PS 114, PS 115, PS 272, PS 276, IS 68, and IS 211. These schools are all operated by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). Canarsie also contains buildings formerly occupied by the South Shore High School and
Canarsie High School Canarsie High School, which opened in 1964, is a defunct public high school in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie in New York City. Closed in 2011, the building currently operates as Canarsie Educational Campus, housing several smaller high sch ...
, which now serve as educational campuses. In late fall 2006, 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 ca ...
announced that five troubled high schools would close by 2010, including South Shore and Canarsie High Schools. According to a NYCDOE spokesperson, the closings were attributed to "dismal graduation rates, consistent low test scores, a poor history of educating, low performing students, and lackluster demand." Canarsie and Flatlands generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . A 2018 study found that 38% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, but 14% have less than a high school education and 49% are high school graduates with some college education. By contrast, 38% of Brooklynites and 41% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Canarsie and Flatlands students excelling in math has increased from 40 percent in 2000 to 57.4 percent in 2011, but within the same time period, reading proficiency dropped from 48% to 45.6%.


Libraries

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 Canarsie. The Canarsie branch is located at 1580 Rockaway Parkway near Avenue J. It opened in 1909 with a small circulating connection and became a BPL branch in 1932. Since then, it has relocated twice to accommodate high patronage. The Jamaica Bay branch is located at 9727 Seaview Avenue between Rockaway Parkway and East 98th Street, and it opened in 1973. In addition, the Paerdegat branch is located just west of Canarsie, at 850 East 59th Street near Paerdegat Avenue South.


Media

''The Canarsie Courier'', published every Thursday, is the oldest weekly publication in Brooklyn and is still in publication. It was founded by Walter S. Patrick on April 22, 1921. The ''Courier'' was then purchased by brothers Bob and Joe Samitz in 1959. After the death of Joe Samitz, Mary Samitz became co-publisher of the paper with her husband Bob and then became the sole publisher after Bob's death in 1998. The Samitz family then sold the paper to Donna Marra and Sandra Greco. Marra became the sole publisher in 2010.


Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Canarsie include: * Danielle Brisebois (born 1969), former child actress (''Archie Bunker's Place'') and musician (
New Radicals New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
) * John Brockington (born 1948), running back who played in the NFL for the
Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
and Kansas City Chiefs * Peter Criss (born 1945), rock musician with Kiss * Warren Cuccurullo (born 1956), rock musician, went to Canarsie High School * Patrick Clark (1955–1998), chef * Michael De Luca (born 1965), film producer * The Fat Boys, rap group * William Forsythe (born 1955), actor *
World B. Free World B. Free (born Lloyd Bernard Free; December 9, 1953) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1988. Free was known as the "Prince of Mid-Air", "Brownsville Bom ...
(born 1953 as Lloyd Free), former professional basketball player * Randy Graff (born 1955), Tony Award-winning actress * Alisha Itkin (born 1968), 1980s dance music singer * Pop Smoke (1999-2020), drill rapper. *
Flipp Dinero Christopher Saint Victor (born November 16, 1995), better known by his stage name Flipp Dinero, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his 2018 single "Leave Me Alone", which is certified 4× platinum by the RIAA, ...
(born 1995), American rapper * Steven Keats (1945–1994), actor *
Mark Morales Mark Anthony Morales (February 19, 1968 – February 18, 2021), better known by the stage name Prince Markie Dee, was an American rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and radio personality. Morales was a member of the Fat Boys, a pioneering hi ...
, rap artist, member of the Fat Boys * Dan Morogiello (born 1955), professional baseball player *
Necro Necro may refer to: * necro-, the Greek prefix meaning death * Necromancy, a type of magic * Necrophilia, the sexual attraction to corpses * Necropolis, a large ancient cemetery * Necro (Street Fighter), a character from the ''Street Fighter III'' ...
(born 1976), rapper and producer * Diane Noomin (born 1947), underground cartoonist * Al Roker (born 1954), broadcaster. *
Wayne Rosenthal Wayne Scott Rosenthal (born February 19, 1965) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and pitching coach. Early life Rosenthal, who is Jewish, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended South Shore High School, where he played for the b ...
(born 1965), former professional baseball player and coach * John Salley (born 1964), four-time
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
champion. *
Lance Schulters Lance A. Schulters (born May 27, 1975) is an American football coach and a former American football Safety (American football position), safety. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He played college ...
(born 1975), professional football player * Howard Schultz (born 1953), chairman of
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
Coffee Company * Annabella Sciorra (born 1960), actress * Evan Seinfeld (born 1967), lead singer of Biohazard and actor *
Richard Sheirer Richard James Sheirer (October 12, 1946 – January 19, 2012) was a public servant and New York City official. Sheirer served as the Director of the New York City Office of Emergency Management (O.E.M.) from February 2000 to March 2002. Life She ...
(1946–2012), former director of the New York City Office of Emergency Management *
Joel Sherman Joel Sherman (born 1962), nicknamed "GI Joel", is a top American Scrabble expert and former world champion. He is chronicled in Stefan Fatsis's book ''Word Freak'', in Eric Chaikin's film ''Word Wars'', and in Scott Petersen's film ''Scrabylon ...
, sportswriter * Curtis Sliwa (born 1954), founder of the
Guardian Angels A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
. * Stuart Sternberg (born 1959), owner of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays. *
Lou Vairo Louis Joseph Vairo (born February 25, 1945) is an American retired ice hockey coach and administrator. He served as head coach of the United States men's junior team at five IIHF World U20 Championships, and the United States men's team at fou ...
(born 1945), coach of 1984 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. * Leon Williams (born 1983), professional football player who played linebacker in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs.Garcia, Julian
"Williams Picks Miami"
, ''
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 ...
'', January 27, 2001. Accessed December 27, 2017. "It might be a few years before Leon Williams gets to play in a Super Bowl. But if he does make it there someday, he'll have one other thing in common with three key players in tomorrow's big game. Williams – a 6–3, 230-pound All-City linebacker from Canarsie – gave a verbal commitment this week to the University of Miami, the same school where Giants linebackers Micheal Barrow and Jessie Armstead played, as well as Baltimore's Ray Lewis, the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year."


References


External links

* {{authority control Former towns in New York City Neighborhoods in Brooklyn Populated coastal places in New York (state)