Bergen Beach, Brooklyn

Carousel of the former Bergen Beach Amusement Park in 1905.

Bergen Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.[1] Bergen Beach is served by the B3, B41, BM1 MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes.

History

Originally settled by the Canarsee Indians, the neighborhood is named for Hans Hansen Bergen, an early Norwegian[2] or Dutch[3] settler of New Netherland. What is now Bergen Beach was an island in Jamaica Bay off the coast of Canarsie that was connected to the mainland in the early 1900s using landfill to fill in marshland.[4]

Georgetowne

Part of the neighborhood, called Georgetowne, was undeveloped until the 1960s, when a community of 400 two-story colonials called Georgetowne Greens was proposed.[5] Around the same time, Mayor John Lindsay sought to build a 904-unit middle-class project called Harbour Village in the same area. Harbour Village would be a Mitchell-Lama development; the uncertainty of whether it would be approved brought new construction on Georgetowne Greens to a halt.

The New York City Board of Estimate approved Harbour Village by an 18–0 vote on March 25, 1971, but ultimately rejected the proposal after public outcry by the mostly white, mostly well-off residents of nearby Bergen Beach and Mill Basin.[6] By that point, interest in Georgetowne Greens had waned, and the project was terminated. The first houses built for the development still remain.[7] Today, Georgetowne, which is considered a subsection of Bergen Beach, is bounded by Ralph Avenue to the west, Veterans Avenue to the south, either Avenue T or Avenue U to the southeast, and Paerdegat Basin to the northeast.

The area is also the site of a new combined sewer overflow (CSO) facility for Paerdegat Basin. The CSO facility was completed in August 2011.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Brooklyn Community Boards, New York City. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  2. ↑ Guide to the Teunis G. Bergen and Bergen family collection ARC.006, Brooklyn Historical Society. Accessed May 9, 2017. "The Bergen family that settled and proliferated throughout New York and New Jersey beginning in the 17th century is descended from the common ancestor, Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of Bergen, Norway."
  3. ↑ Shelby, Joyce. "THE FAMILY TIDES OF BERGEN BEACH A peaceful place for generations", New York Daily News, April 20, 2003. Accessed May 9, 2017. "The Canarsee Indians were the first recorded settlers of the area; the Dutch were the second. They made Bergen Beach part of the town of Flatlands. The present-day community stands on property once owned by the family of a Dutch settler, Hans Hansen."
  4. ↑ Waite, Thomas L. "POSTINGS; On Bedrock in Bergen Beach: Bucking That Sinking Feeling", The New York Times, October 23, 1988. Accessed May 9, 2017. "At the same time, Bergen Beach is sinking back into the Jamaica Bay marshland from which it rose as landfill. Everything that is not on piles driven down to bedrock - everything except the houses - is breaking, buckling and leaving cliffs."
  5. ↑ "Week three: Georgetown". The Weekly Nabe.
  6. ↑ "Harbour Village revisited". The Weekly Nabe.
  7. ↑ "A tranquil slice of suburbia". The Weekly Nabe.
  8. ↑ "Paerdegat Basin CSO Facility". The City of New York. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
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Coordinates: 40°37′13″N 73°54′24″W / 40.62028°N 73.90667°W / 40.62028; -73.90667

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