Day 2: Brooklyn

    Day two of my new experiences in New York took place in Brooklyn. Brooklyn, which is located on the far west side of Long Island, couldn’t be more different than that to which it is attached. Not only is the diversity in populations much greater, but the land that this enormous population lives on is just as contrasting from the flat lands seen on Long Island turf. Brooklyn’s geography is shown interestingly through the names of the towns. Examples such as Brooklyn Heights (high grounds), Bay Ridge (rocky ridges), and Flatbush (flat lands). The History of Brooklyn shows how quickly a city can go from being populated by Indian Tribes, to the most populated borough in New York. Once the Dutch bought Brooklyn land from the Canarsie Indians, it was only a matter of time before they started using ferries to move westward out to Manhattan. A mere seventy years later the Brooklyn Bridge was made and the new influx of people was unfathomable. The city’s population was expanding at exponential rates due to the now more accessible land. Years later Brooklyn started becoming filled with immigrants, now making the land just as ethnically diverse as it was geographically. Sadly, after World War II Brooklyn started in an economic downward spiral. This caused many people to lose their jobs and neighborhoods to become un-kempt and dangerous. Thankfully in more recent years Brooklyn has become settled by more wealthy families, trying to catch a break from the overbearing costs of living in Manhattan (Blue Guide, 461-463).

            The first stop on the day was to Coney Island. I was so excited to go to Coney Island being that I always hear about it but had only been there once before when I was very little. All I had remembered was going on the cyclone with my father, and it being very rickety, and of course getting Nathans. This time I actually was able to walk the boardwalk, see the people, the food stands, the beach, and sadly only the outside of the carnival. I honestly never even knew that there was a beach there! After first walking straight down to the street where the original Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog stand was and having a lunch to last me through the rest of my walking for the day, I was able to observe the people who live in the area. I have to say there were a few strange people, but overall it was a very enjoyable environment.  I could easily see how this was just a crowded and exciting place to hang out. Coney Island was really entertainment for the lower middle class, a hang out that wasn’t expensive yet allowed for anyone and everyone to get together for good times (Blue Guide,491-492)

Coney Island was named after an animal that was very prevalent before any hot dogs or roller coasters were even thought of, the rabbit! It was only around the 1900’s that Coney Island started being occupied by numerous amusement parks such as Steeplechase, followed by Luna Park, and then Dreamland which burned down not even ten years later. After the big boom of people filling up the boardwalk in the 20’s and 30’s, the excitement started to move towards the newer attractions that came along with the more popular use of cars, such as traveling farther distances to reach new areas of recreation. Present day Coney Island has a History Project devoted to the many different aspects of the Island that made it unique. It even has a section dedicated to Charles Feltman, whose genius idea of putting a hot dog in a bun came about simply because he wanted to save a buck and not have to give out any silverware. Coney Island definitely gave me a good feel of what Brooklyn is all about (Blue Guide, 491-492).

Our next stop was to Brooklyn Heights to visit the Transit Museum. Not being one to pick up on directions quickly, had been following the crowd to our next destination, and assumed we were getting on yet another subway to get there. Once down the stairs from the street it finally clicked that we were already there! The Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights was once a subway in use to the public. Since it had been shut down, it is now used as the only museum showcasing public transportation in the country. This was an amazing exhibit that had many old photos that were enlarged to show all the men working on these subway railings. I found it amazing when the tour guide was explaining the different ways that men had to go about creating the subways. That they either had to use dynamite to make openings underground, or they would do something called “cut and cover” where they would cut up the roads and when they were done building the railings underneath they would rebuild the roads to sit on top of them. I had never given it much thought to how subways were first created and how much time and sweat these men put into building it. People simply take it for granted that we have this amazing type of transportation available to us and instead complain that they’re not all air conditioned, or the carts are crowded. Once we made it downstairs we were able to see the old trains that were used. There were so many different styles and we were even allowed to walk onto them and get a real 360 degree look at them from the inside.  The first official subway started running in 1904 in Manhattan and was 9.1 miles long. Within eleven years the subway reached The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. In 1932 the Board of Transportation created the Independent Rapid Transit Railroad which then bought out both IRT and BMT and was then the only owner of New York City subways. Interestingly before metro cards and even coins were used in the subway system people had to actually buy a ticket to use the subway! It was only in the 1920’s that the turnstile was invented and people began using coins to pay for a ride on the subway.

Next we went to the Brooklyn Historical Society. This was a gorgeous building that has history not only on display in exhibits inside, but built into the architecture on the outside of the building as well. Surrounding the outside of the building are busts of many different influential people, the interesting piece of this is that the people shown don’t have anything to do with Brooklyn’s history. People such as Beethoven, Mozart, Columbus, and Michelangelo are shown around the building to represent art, literature, and scholarship. Meredith Bergmann decided to change this. She decided to make a bust of Sally Maria Diggs who was an enslaved woman that a man named Henry Ward Beecher helped free by holding auctions to purchase her freedom. Sally known as “pinky” Meredith rightly felt had more history with Brooklyn then any of the people surrounding the building. Now Pinky’s bust hangs right through the main entrance of the historical museum.

Lastly on our voyage we walked over the famous Brooklyn Bridge. After the Civil War it was starting to be seen that a bridge was becoming more and more necessary to accommodate for the new influx of people and products. John A. Roebling was the man assigned to be the engineer and he was the first person to use wire rope for industrial use. This allowed him to be able to make suspension bridges and he used this idea for his plans on the Brooklyn Bridge. Sadly Roebling died after getting tetanus, leaving his plans in the hands of his son Washington. Once the bridge started being built caissons were used to be able to work beneath sea level. Washington suffered from “caisson disease” which occurs after going deep underground. Nitrogen bubbles accumulate in the body when the body’s pressure drops. The nitrogen bubbles cause many unsettling symptoms which eventually led to Washington’s death. Emily, Washington’s wife, thankfully was able to oversee the bridge until it was opened to public (Blue Guide, 464-466).

The Brooklyn Bridge was beautiful and I loved how people are able to walk and bike across it. It definitely makes Brooklyn unique in yet another way. Brooklyn had much more to offer then I had ever known, and it’s amazing to learn about the history of so many different areas. I can’t wait to see what kind of history I’ll get to learn about next week when we finally reach Manhattan!