Bay Ridge

(Photo: Matt, for imjustwalkin.com)

When the Brooklyn industrialist Eliphalet W. Bliss died in 1903, he stipulated in his will that his estate, called Owl’s Head, should become a city park, open for the enjoyment of all. Owl’s Head, aka the Bliss Estate, was a large property nestled on the promontory overlooking the Narrows, in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge. Before Bliss, the estate had belonged to a former mayor of Brooklyn, a man named Henry C. Murphy, who was indeed one of the great movers and shakers of mid-19th century Brooklyn. In the first chapter of our story, we learned that Murphy had been the legislator who wrote the bill authorizing the Brooklyn Bridge. That bill was signed here in his home at Owl’s Head. Our second chapter told the tale of E.W. Bliss, whose huge munitions and metal stamping plants in Bush Terminal could be seen from his front porch, a highly successful man who built an observation tower on the property so he could see for miles around, watching the sea traffic in the great bay below. Nearby streets still reference the estate’s past owners, Bliss Terrace for E.W., and Senator Street, for Henry Murphy. (more…)

(Original design for Owl’s Head Stables, by Parfitt Brothers, as published in a German architectural magazine. Illustration: periodpapers.com)

High above what is now the Narrows of New York Bay, the movement of a vast glacier moving towards the sea millions of years ago created a hill overlooking the great bay, one that afforded a view of great beauty. The Canarsee people appreciated this view, as did the Dutch who came after them. The land and the view was also quite desirable for Henry C. Murphy, one of Brooklyn’s most admired men, a scholar, attorney, State Senator, Mayor of Brooklyn, founder of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the Brooklyn Historical Society, Congressman and philanthropist. A very busy man. A man of this importance needs a place to get away from the hustle and bustle, and Mr. Murphy did so by buying this most desirable of plots, and building a large country villa on it, one that afforded him an unparalleled view of the bay, and the surrounding area. This was the place where Murphy signed the authorization to build the Brooklyn Bridge, and other important legislation. Right here, in Bay Ridge, where another great bridge would one day cross this same bay, many years later. Part one of our story tells Murphy’s tale. When he died in 1882, the house passed on to another powerful man who made a great impact on New York, and the world. His name was Eliphalet W. Bliss. (more…)

(Henry C. Murphy villa, overlooking the Narrows, Bay Ridge. Photo taken in 1915, reflects changes made after Murphy’s ownership. Photo: nycgovparks.)

The shoreline of New York Bay, specifically the Narrows, in Bay Ridge, near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, is one of Brooklyn’s most naturally beautiful places. Even today, with the highways, the buildings, and the bridge itself, it’s still easy to imagine what Canarsee Indians, then the Dutch, must have thought when seeing it. The bay is a truly beautiful sight.

Bay Ridge is part of New Utrecht, one of the six original towns that make up Kings County. It was settled in 1657 by the Dutch, and for most of its history, until the mid-19th century, was a quiet agrarian community, with farms, country villas, and the small villages of Yellow Hook and nearby Fort Hamilton. Yellow Hook was named for the yellow clay that leeched out of the ground, in all of the area farms, but in 1853, a yellow fever epidemic caused the town fathers to look for another name. Bay Ridge was chosen, named for the terminal moraine that overlooks the bay. It was on this moraine that our story takes form. (more…)