We picked up an awesome new book this week by Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss (check out photos on their blog), called Brooklyn By Name that provides the historical background behind most of the place names in the borough. We’re sure it’s going to be an invaluable reference for us going forward. Today, we thought we’d give you all a tast by taking a look at an intersection not far from Brownstoner HQ. And we quote…

Cambridge Place: The name comes from London’s Cambridge Terrace, one of the exclusive terraces lining Regency Park. Cambridge Place was originally Ryerson Place for the early Dutch Ryerszen family and later Trotter Street for Jonathan Trotter, Brooklyn’s second mayor from 1835 to 1836.

Gates Avenue: Born in England, Horatio Gates (1727-1806) served with George Washington in the French and Indian War as a member of the British Army. He later moved to Virginia with his family, where he became active in revolutionary politics. By 1777 Gates was supreme commander in the north and orchestrated the pivotal American victory at Saratoga, which helped bring France into the war. His success was such that some contend that his followers tried to replace Washington with him. Yet miserable failure at South Carolina’s Battle of Camden in 1780 led to his own replacement by Nathanael Greene [of nearby Greene Avenue].

Excerpted from Brooklyn By Name, NYU Press, 2006.