Brooklyn Heights: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of America’s First Suburb

Settled in the 1600s, Brooklyn Heights is one of New York s most historic neighborhoods. Its strategic location overlooking the harbor proved instrumental during the Revolutionary War s Battle of Brooklyn. In the 1830s, steam ferries transformed it into America s first suburb, where abolitionism flourished and one of the largest Civil War Sanitary Fairs was held. Throughout the nineteenth century, wealthy philanthropists and entrepreneurs built high-styled Gothic Revival and Italianate homes and founded many landmark Brooklyn institutions. Though the neighborhood declined with the new century, it became a target of Robert Moses s urban renewal projects in the 1930s. Its designation as the city s first historic district saved Brooklyn Heights, and it has since blossomed into one of the city s most desirable neighborhoods.