The Business Hub That Never Was: How East New York Got Its Name

Montauk Avenue and Linden Boulevard, date unknown. Photo via NYPL

by

Brownstoner takes on Brooklyn history in Nabe Names, a series of briefs on the origins and surprising stories of neighborhood nomenclature.

East New York’s low-lying blocks of row houses and semi-detached homes give it a more spacious, residential quality than some of Brooklyn’s more built-up neighborhoods. The area includes the sprawling housing development of Spring Creek Towers (formally Starrett City) and an overgrown, below-grade section called The Hole.

Swaths of the nabe have a back-to-nature feel thanks to a large amount of overgrowth, while other sections are more densely residential and have visibly strong communities.

East New York Brooklyn Neighborhood

Photo by Edrei Rodriguez

Once part of the larger New Lots district — Flatbush’s easternmost section and today the final stop on the 3 train — East New York was named by Albany-born scientist and agriculturist John Pitkin.

Pitkin purchased land in the area from New Lots’ original farming families, founding East New York in 1825 with a vision to grow it into an eastern hub, far more metropolitan than the residential makeup it has retained.

east new york brooklyn neighborhood

Glenmore Avenue and Warwick Street in East New York, 1940. Photo by Percy Loomis Sperr via NYPL

East New York is currently the subject of a controversial rezoning proposal by the de Blasio administration to create more affordable housing at the cost of higher and denser buildings.

Perhaps Pitkin’s dream will be realized yet.

Related Stories
City Council Votes 45 to 1 to Approve De Blasio’s Major East New York Rezoning Plan
Win for Preservationists: LPC Saves Crown Heights Bank, Considers East New York Dairy
Tile Expert Shares Little-Known Story of Historic East New York Dairy Murals

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Brooklyn in Your Inbox

* indicates required
 
Subscribe

What's Happening