1873-1896

Vanderveer's Mill - Located on the Vanderveer Farm east of Flatbush Avenue near present-day East 25^th Street, the mill served as a refuge for African Americans in the area during the 1863 New York Draft riots. They feared the fighting and hostility toward African Americans in Manhattan would reach Kings County, a fear that fortunately did not come to pass. The mill, built between 1801 and 1804, burned down on March 4, 1879.

Source: Brooklyn Historical Society. (BRIAN MERLIS Collection/oldNYCphotos.com)

Flatlands, Kings County, L.I., in the Atlas of Long Island, New York. From Recent and Actual Surveys and Records Under the Superintendence of F. W. Beers. Beers, Comstock & Cline, 1873. This was the first published atlas of Long Island.

Site of the Brooklyn College campus when it was farmland.

Legend, Robinson’s Atlas of Kings County New York. Compiled from Official Records Private Plans & Actual Surveys under the Direction of E. Robinson, Publisher. 1890

Robinson’s Atlas of Kings County New York. Compiled from Official Records Private Plans & Actual Surveys under the Direction of E. Robinson, Publisher. 1890.

This 1896 photo of the Vanderveer Park sales office shows Flatbush Avenue in the foreground, East 29^th Street on the left, Nostrand Avenue on the right, and Avenue G running horizontally across the middle of the image. (BRIAN MERLIS Collection/oldNYCphotos.com)

Plan for the Vanderveer Park housing development by Germania Real Estate & Improvement Co., 1893. Courtesy Lee Rosenzweig.

This 1896 photo shows the Vanderveer Park sales office from Flatbush Avenue, looking north toward the junction of Nostrand Avenue. There is a small street sign on the corner just south of the office, and it reads Woodbine Place. The name was soon changed to Germania Place by the real estate company selling lots and homes in Vanderveer Park, and it became Hillel Place in the 1950’s. The building with the cupola, behind the trolley on Flatbush Avenue, still sits on the northwest corner of Flatbush Avenue and Glenwood Road, albeit minus the cupola, which was recently removed. (BRIAN MERLIS Collection/oldNYCphotos.com)