New Utrecht () was a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in western

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach,

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...

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 ...

, Borough Park,

Dyker Heights Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7 ...

and

Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which ...

neighborhoods of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. New Utrecht was established in 1652 by

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

settlers in the

colony of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

, the last of the original six towns to be founded in Kings County. New Utrecht ceased to exist in 1894 when it was annexed by the City of Brooklyn, and became part of the

City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the Merger (politics), consolidation of the New York City, City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Island, which took effect on January 1, 1898. New York had already annexed the Bronx ...

when Brooklyn joined as a

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

in 1898.

History

Dutch settlement

In 1643,

Anthony Janszoon van Salee Anthony Janszoon van Salee (1607–1676) was an original settler of and prominent landholder, merchant, and creditor in New Netherland, a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United S ...

, a half-

, half- Moroccan son of a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

, and a resident of New Amsterdam, obtained from the Director General of

a patent on a tract of land of more than 200 acres on western

. It ran along the shore of the Bay opposite Staten Island. Most of the land was undeveloped until 1652, when Cornelius van Werckhoven took it over. A surveyor, Werckhoven was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands, and became a principal investor in the Dutch West India Company."New Utrecht", New Netherland Institute
/ref> Upon Van Werckhoven's death in 1655, Jacques Cortelyou, guardian for Werckhoven's children, received permission to sell lots of the land to create a town. Twenty lots were laid out. Cortelyou named the settlement ''Nieuw Utrecht'' after Werckhoven's hometown. Nicasius de Sille, an attorney from Arnhem, Gelderland, was one of the first to purchase a lot. He built a house using locally available stone, topped with red roof tiles imported from the Netherlands. He moved to New Utrecht from his former residence in New Amsterdam, at the lower part of the island near the current intersection of Broad Street (Manhattan), Broad Street and Exchange Place (Manhattan), Exchange Place. De Sille served as an advisor to Governor Peter Stuyvesant, Petrus Stuyvesant and as a "schout fiscal", a combination of sheriff and district attorney. In 1660, de Sille completed a "List of the Inhabitants of New Amsterdam", at the behest of Stuyvesant. The names and addresses on the list correspond to the houses drawn on the Castello Plan. Once a defensive palisade wall was erected around the town of New Utrecht on western Long Island, more residents settled there. In 1657, New Utrecht was granted status as a village, and in 1661 Governor Peter Stuyvesant provided New Utrecht its own charter. New Netherland was taken over by the English in 1664, who changed its name to the Province of New York. The Bensons were among the original Dutch settlers in New Utrecht. Other early families in the town include di Sille, Van Pelt, Cropsey, and Nostrand. Cropsey Avenue and Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn are named for the latter two founding families. What is called the Van Pelt Manor House was built in stages. The first section, of stone, was built by Jan Van Cleef (Cleve) around 1675 and later sold to Nicholas de Meyer, who sold it to Teunis Van Pelt. An agreement with de Meyer allowed Van Cleef to live in the dwelling from 1691 until his death c. 1699. Around 1686, the house was enlarged and a second floor was added. Van Pelt's land was never established in deed nor granted the status of "Manor".

New Utrecht Cemetery and Reformed Church

Initially, the residents in New Utrecht went to Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush for Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed religious services. But they created New Utrecht Cemetery in 1654. In 1677, they chartered New Utrecht Reformed Church to provide for a local congregation. They built their first church in 1700. The second (and current) church was built in the 1830s, using bricks from the first church. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, as has the cemetery. In 1856, yellow fever spread from Staten Island to the inhabitants of

and

in western Long Island. The New Utrecht Cemetery contains a monument, erected in 1910, to honor Dr. James E. DuBois and his assistant Dr. John L. Crane, who died fighting the outbreak. The church received landmark status in 1966; the parish house and the cemetery received landmark status in 1998. Both the church and the cemetery are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

New Utrecht in Kings County

In 1683, when the English established Kings County within the Province of New York, New Utrecht was one of its six original towns. It came to encompass the villages of New Utrecht, Bath Beach, Brooklyn, Bath, Fort Hamilton and Bay Ridge. Town records were kept in the Dutch language until 1763. That year the British defeated France in the Seven Years' War and took over its territory in North America east of the Mississippi River. They asserted their power in New York as well, requiring records to be in English.

Revolutionary War

During the American Revolution, the British made New Utrecht their base of operations for the Battle of Long Island. The old Cortelyou mansion served as William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, General Howe's headquarters after he landed on Long Island in August 1776. The British brought the mortally wounded American General Nathaniel Woodhull to the Nicasius di Sille house for treatment."Historic New Utrecht", Friends of Historic New Utrecht
The house was demolished in 1850.) The bluff on which

was built in the 1820s was occupied at this time by the houses of Denyse Denyse, Abraham Bennett, and Simon Cortelyou. In the bombardment from the British ships, on August 26, 1776, the Bennett and Denyse dwellings were struck by their shots. From 1776 to the end of the British occupation, sympathizers with the Patriot cause traveled by fishing boats at night across The Narrows to meet with compatriots in Staten Island and New Jersey. During the War of 1812, the US Army began construction of a fort on Hendrick's Reef, an island offshore the southern tip of what is now Bay Ridge. Originally named Fort Lafayette, Fort Diamond, it was renamed as Fort Lafayette in 1825 to honor the Marquis de La Fayette, a hero of the American Revolution. Construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge required the destruction of this fort in 1960. The Brooklyn-side bridge pillars now occupy the fort's former foundation site. A literary club called the "Winter Society" founded the Free Library of the Town of New Utrecht in 1894. New Utrecht was annexed by the City of Brooklyn on July 1, 1894. It became part of the consolidated City of Greater New York, City of New York on January 1, 1898.

After city unification

The area that encompassed the town center of New Utrecht is located in what is now Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Eighty-fourth Street between Sixteenth and Eighteenth avenues approximates the main thoroughfare of the town. The rest of the town's lands are today the neighborhoods of Borough Park, which has a large Hasidic Jewish population, and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Bay Ridge. In the 18th century, Bay Ridge was known as Yellow Hook."Yellow Hook" at the northern corner of The Narrows appears on a map in J.F.W. Des Barres, ''The Atlantic Neptune'', 1779. The name was changed after several outbreaks of yellow fever that struck the New York area in the 19th century.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1652 establishments in the Dutch Empire Former towns in New York City Neighborhoods in Brooklyn Establishments in New Netherland Populated places established in 1652 1652 establishments in North America