Brooklyn College

Aerial view of the campus, with Campus Road in the foreground, Ingersoll Hall to the left, and Boylan Hall to the right.

Initially serving as the Brooklyn campus for Hunter and City Colleges, in 1930 Brooklyn College became New York City’s first public coeducational institution. Located in downtown Brooklyn near Borough Hall for its early years, the College soon outgrew its space. The search for an appropriate campus location included consideration of sites near Prospect Park (Mt. Prospect Reservoir) and the Bliss Estate (Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge today), but the Wood-Harmon property in Flatbush was chosen. The original price of $5.5 million (over $78 million in 2018 dollars) was considered too high by the Board of Estimate, and all planning halted in 1932 when a financial crisis struck the city. Although the property owners kept lowering their price, it was not until 1934 and the inauguration of Fiorello La Guardia as Mayor of New York City that planning for a Brooklyn College campus resumed. In December 1934, the Board of Estimate approved the purchase of the Wood-Harmon property for $1.625 million.

For more information on the search for a suitable site for the new campus, see:

https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/sample-page/brooklyn-college-during-the-1930s/the-search-for-a-campus/

This aerial view shows the land currently occupied by Brooklyn College, in its days as the home to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (the two operations merged in 1919) during their visits to Brooklyn. The land was also occasionally used as a golf course by the Flatbush Golf Club.

October 2, 1935 - Students heading to the groundbreaking ceremony for what was known as the Midwood Campus, to distinguish it from the downtown Brooklyn campus of the college.

An aerial view of the campus under construction.

Aerial view of the athletic field, with Roosevelt and Ingersoll Halls in the upper right portion of the image.

New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at the groundbreaking ceremony on October 2, 1935. The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $5 million for construction, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) supplied the workers, who completed the buildings and landscaping in two years.

For more information on the groundbreaking ceremony, see:

https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/sample-page/brooklyn-college-during-the-1930s/the-search-for-a-campus/groundbreaking-ceremony/

President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the Brooklyn College campus to lay the cornerstone for Roosevelt Hall, the first gymnasium on campus and the final piece of the original building plan by architect Randolph Evans.

For more information on the cornerstone ceremony, see:

https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/sample-page/brooklyn-college-during-the-1930s/the-search-for-a-campus/the-cornerstone-ceremony/