Sport of Kings -- Brooklyn History
8-10 8th Avenue. Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark

Thoroughbred horse racing has long been called the Sport of Kings. The kings of Brooklyn, the Dwyer brothers, Philip and Michael, were giants in the important venue of Coney Island racing.

At the turn of the century, Coney Island had some of the most important race tracks in the US, and some of the premiere races, such as the Preakness, were second only to the granddaddy of racing, the Kentucky Derby.

The Dwyer’s ruled Coney Island. As covered in part one of this story, Phil and Mike Dwyer were Brooklyn meat packer millionaires who got into racing, and owned one of the largest and most successful stables of winners in the history of racing in the United States.

But after the races, where did they hang their hats? For a good ten years, it was on a stretch of Eighth Avenue in Park Slope called, appropriately, Sportsman’s Row.

The Row was the block of Eighth Avenue between St. Johns Place and Lincoln Place, directly across the street from the Montauk Club.

In 1891, architect James Mumford, a Brooklyn architect, designed two adjoining Romanesque Revival five story brownstones for Philip Dywer at the beginning of the block, at numbers 8 and 10 Eighth Avenue.

These mansard roofed houses explode with gables, bays, dormers with decorative finials, colonnaded loggias, lots of windows, and original below grade entrances.

They are easily the largest and most impressive houses on this block. They were also the last houses to be built on the block.

Sport of Kings -- Brooklyn History
20-26 8th Avenue. Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark

The earliest houses were on the other end of the block, the row starting at Lincoln Place. 20-26 Eighth Avenue was built in 1883 by architect/builder William Flanagan, one of the Slope’s earliest developers.

They are beautiful Neo-Grec four story houses. Next to them are numbers 12-18, built by developer/owner William Gubbins, designed by J.J. Gilligan. These were Romanesque Revival brownstones built in 1890. Gubbins, another of Park Slopes earliest developers, lived in number 16.

The Dwyer’s started it, moving into their new homes. In 1892 Philip moved into his new home, the corner house at number 8.

Michael moved into number 26, interestingly, in one of the older houses, not next door to his brother. The Dywer’s had made their money in racing by owning and breeding some of the finest horses of their day.

But the best horse can’t reach the championship without a great rider. The Dywer’s had a great rider in James Jim McLaughlin.

Born in 1876, Jimmy McLaughlin was a homeless orphan in his early teens when he was taken in by trainers and taught to ride.

He rode his first Kentucky Derby on a Dwyer horse in 1880, and won the Derby the next year on the Dwyer’s champion, Hindoo.

He won the Preakness in 1885, and would go on to win the Belmont in 1883 and 1884, and finished third in 1885.

Riding Dwyer horses, he would go on to win the Belmont again in 1886, ’87, and ’88. His six wins would be tied by the famous jockey Eddie Acaro, who won his 6th Belmont in 1955.

He won the Travers Stakes and the Coney Island Derby four times each. Jim McLaughlin would go on to win more races than any other American jockey in the US consecutively through 1887. He retired from riding in 1892.

Like many athletes today who come up from nothing and nowhere, Jimmy McLaughlin was a rich celebrity and had many wannabees and admirers who wanted to hang around him.

It is not surprising that he too, would want to be near his friends and patrons, the Dwyers, who were also self-made millionaires.

The circumstances are not recorded, but James McLaughlin would also buy a house on this same 8th Ave block, number 24, next door to Mike Dwyer. Sportsman’s Row was born.

Sport of Kings -- Brooklyn History
30 8th Avenue, second from right. Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark

The last sportsman to inhabit the row was another famous jockey, Edward Snapper Garrison, who moved into number 30 Eighth Avenue in 1889.

Jimmy McLaughlin had actually moved off the row earlier that year, after a messy extra-marital affair, scandal and even messier divorce, in which his wife gained possession of his house.

Sport of Kings -- Brooklyn History
Photo via eBay

Jim McLaughlin had actually introduced Snapper to the Dwyer’s many years before, when the diminutive 65 lb jockey had been a teenager.

In his seventeen year racing career, Garrison would go on to win over 700 races, including the Coney Island Derby in 1888, and the Belmont in 1891.

Sport of Kings -- Brooklyn History
Photo via Wikipedia

He was known for hanging back during most of the race, and then finishing at top speed to a spectacular win. This move became known as a Garrison for many years.

He retired in 1897 and then moved to 8th Avenue from his home at 91 Sixth Avenue and Prospect Place.

The Dwyer Brothers, Jimmy McLaughlin and Snapper Garrison: Sportsman’s Row. It lasted only long enough to coin the name.

The biggest headlines for the Sportsman’s Row had nothing to do with the sportsmen, and everything to do with perceptions of sportsmanship, ownership and property rights. The end of the tale next week.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. beautiful houses, I had not known about the horse racing connection and Eighth Avenue. where do you find this stuff? thank you for sharing it with us.
    that stretch of eighth avenue is among the finest surviving nineteenth century residential streets in the country.