Ditmas House and the American Flag
The farmhouse (and now SUBO) sat on the edge of what was known in Revolutionary times as Ascot Heath – a racetrack, which occupied part of the Joost Van Nuyse farm. Legend says that Lord Cornwallis marched along Amersfort Place as he led troops against George Washington in the Battle of Long Island in August 1776.
George Van Nuyse, grandson of Joost, inherited part the farm where the racetrack sat, and in 1827 married Margaret Ditmars and built a Dutch-style house at 150 Amersfort Place. George and Margaret’s daughter Cornelia married John Holmes Van Brunt (a family name found on the maps in this exhibit), and her children Albert Van Brunt and Margaret Van Brunt Ditmas (wife of Andrew Ditmas) inherited the farm and house. When Albert sold the farm in 1901, Margaret and Andrew Ditmas kept the house. Their daughter Jennie (Mrs. Joseph Harrison), inherited and later sold it to the city of New York in 1923.
Prior to the acquisition of the land by the College from the Wood-Harmon Development Corporation, the Ditmas house was used as a clubhouse by the Flatbush Golf Club. Once purchased by the College, it was considered for use as a faculty club and museum but there was no money for renovations (WPA funding was sought but not received). The house had a volunteer caretaker (Richard G. Armstrong) who watched the property in return for rent-free living quarters. The caretaker was evicted in July 1947 when the College needed the space for Veterans Advisement Unit. The original lease signed by Armstrong stated that he would move out with 30 days written notice from Brooklyn College. He resisted, and so was evicted.
By 1960 the College had determined that Ditmas House was not worth preserving for its historical value due to changes that had been made, and the existence of similar type houses in the area. The structure was demolished in April 1961, and was replaced with the student center, SUBO.
From 1827 to 1961, the Ditmas house stood on the land where SUBO now sits. This photo is of a painting by Professor Robert Barrett of the Brooklyn College Art Department. The painting itself can be found on the fifth floor of SUBO, opposite the entrance to the State Lounge.
FLAG CONTROVERSY
Between 1936-38, a number of concerned and upset citizens, including the Kings County American Legion post, contacted Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the College to express their displeasure with the lack of an American flag flying on the new campus. Critical stories ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the New York Times, which quoted the Legion’s Americanism committee chairman, who said, “Half a dozen little things show that the college has a spirit of ‘to hell with America.’ “
Both President Boylan and later acting President Cosenza noted that the campus was incomplete and plans were in place for displaying the American flag. In the meantime, Boylan noted, there was a flag flying on the grounds of the Ditmas house, and it had done so for over a year. In a May 1938 letter to the Brooklyn chapter of the Women of ’76, Acting President Cosenza wrote, “At the present time an American flag flies from a flag pole over the main entrance of the Library Building. This flag-pole has been erected only as a temporary measure and will be replaced later by a permanent flag-pole. … At no time since the Spring of 1936 – over one year before we occupied the buildings – have we failed to have an American Flag on the college grounds.”
