Historic Tidbits

Lots to learn about the Spanish Civil War.

Who knew Mary Todd was such a shopaholic!

- What’s Left of New York’s Dutch Past from BBC Travel.

Memorable Greenpoint, on Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

The city of New York filled in Minetta Creek and built over it, but signs of the river remain today. When building Jimi Hendrix’s studio, Electric Lady Land, workers had to pause construction due to excess water seeping in and put in additional sump pumps. As recently as this year, people claim you can hear the rushing of the creek from the studio’s basement.

Hooker's map of the village of Brooklyn 1820, built over map by Young & Currie, and others. Brooklyn Public Library collection.

- Gotham

- Gotham, by Edwin G Burrows and Mike Wallace

- Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, on James Watson Webb who was despised for taking a loan from the controversial Bank of the United States and turning his paper into a supporter of the bank.

“Originally marshland that was used by the Lenape tribe to land their canoes, Dutch settlers of the mid-1600s swiftly took advantage of the area’s gradual coastal incline for loading and unloading of transport vessels. At the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776, the British landing and advance upon General George Washington’s fleeing Continental Army was impeded by a series of hastily erected earthen barricades on the site.  In 1814 the Corlear neighborhood, as it was briefly called, underwent renovations as part of a relief project for thousands of Irish immigrants.  The site’s hills were leveled for use in landfill along the waterfront, making possible the busy docks that soon encouraged industrial and residential growth in the area.“