Existing comment:
1883
The City of Brooklyn
Brooklyn, first settled by the Dutch in the 1630s, was incorporated as a city in 1834. During the nineteenth century it gradually absorbed the nearby towns of Williamsburgh, Bushwick, New Lots, Flatbush, Gravesend, New Utrecht and Flatlands, and grew to encompass nearly 80 square miles. When construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began in the late 1860s, Brooklyn was a bustling city of nearly half a million residents. It boasted a flourishing maritime industry, many cultural institutions, Prospect Park and its own newspaper, the "Brooklyn Eagle," whose best known editor was Walt Whitman. In 1898, against the wishes of the many proud Brooklynites who wanted the city to remain independent, Brooklyn became a borough of Greater New York. |