Armbruster – 1912

Armbruster 1912-Google Books

Notes on Armbruster, Eugene L. The Eastern District of Brooklyn. Brooklyn: Privately Published, 1912. Link

Page 7: Preface, Intro:
– Named Boswijck by Governor Stuyvesant (pg 15)

Page 18: Original Plantations:
– First settlers of Bushwick were mostly Scandinavians before West Indian Company purchased land from Indians in 1638 (pg 18)
– List of settlers and plantations (pg 19-20)
– “Bos” = collection of small things closely packed together + “Wijck” = retreat, refuge, guard, defend from danger = Boswijck (pg 22)
– Boswijck became a town in 1661 (pg 25)
– Until 1690, Boswijck was included in the district “Five Dutch Towns” with Midwout, Amersfoort, New Utrecht, and Breukelen (later Brooklyn) (pg 26)

Pages 27-31: Bushwick Village
– Town of Bushwick recognized March 7, 1788 (pg 27)
– List of original settlements, buildings, streets, etc. (most don’t appear to exist anymore) (pg 27-31)
– Williamsburgh cut off from Bushwick and incorporated into distinct township in 1840 (pg 37)
– Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Bushwick consolidated into City of Brooklyn January 1, 1855 (pg 38)

Pages 45-51: Bushwick Section
– List of early homes and genealogy (again, most structures don’t appear to exist anymore) (pg 45-49)
– First recorded house erected was the Suydam House by Van Nuyse c. 1700 (pg 46)
– At that time, the New Bushwick Lotts divided among several freeholders (pg 46)
– Leffert Lefferts (1701-1754) became identified with Bushwick area (pg 47)
– List of roads and farms (pg 49-50)
– South Bushwick Reformed Church, AKA White Church – larger edifice built 1853; wings added 1883 (pg 51)
– Bushwick High School erected c. 1912 on former site of Union Cemetery (pg 51)

Pages 67-79: Old Reformed Bushwick Church
– Early 1900s, row of tenements erected on rear part of Church and graveyard’s triangular plot (pg 67)
– Church, Old Woodpoint Road, and some frame houses on opposite side are all that remained (in 1912) of old Bushwick Village, laid out in 1660 (pg 67)
– Original Church edifice from early 1700s, probably 1720 (pg 67)
– Gallery erected 1795; Chapel dedicated 1829 (pg 72)
– Original bell from Holland saved and reinstalled when Church was demolished in 1827 and reconstructed in 1829 (pg 73)
– 1909 Brooklyn Times article for the preservation of the Church (pg 76-79)

Pages 79-85: List of the origins of church organizations and buildings
Pages 85-88: List of burial grounds
Pages 88-92: List of Bushwick schools
– The Bushwick School established in 1662 was known as PS 23 in 1912 (pg 88)

Pages 102-107: Roads and Transportation
– Lists of docks, bridges, roads, horse-car lines, railroads, etc. (pg 102-107)
– Bushwick residents traveled to Manhattan via Old Woodpoint Road to the town dock at Woodpoint (pg 102)
– New Bushwick Lane lead to New Lotts of Bushwick; after 1704 became Old Bushwick Road, now known as Bushwick Avenue (pg 103)
– Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Bushwick, and New Lotts Railroad, which traveled from Williamsburg to New Lotts, organized June 29, 1853 (pg 105)
– Bushwick Railroad Company established the Bushwick Avenue Line (horse-car line) from Grand Street Ferry to Ridgewood Depot in 1867 (pg 106)

Page 107: List of police forces
Page 109: List of fire departments
Page 112: List of picnic grounds
Page 113: List of hotels
Page 114: List of press publications
Page 115: List of banks
Page 117: List of statistics, including historic properties, populations, etc.
Page 119: List of wards
Page 120: Maps
Page 123: Municipal government descriptions
– Town of Bushwick incorporated in 1788 (pg 124)

Pages 129-205: Appendices, including obsolete street names; lists of populations, taxes, properties, etc.; historic documents; bibliography; etc.