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110-588: Fred Morgan Kirby was born in Brownsville, New York in 1861. At fifteen, as a clerk at Moore & Smith in Watertown, New York , Kirby’s employers introduced him to 5 and 10-cent selling. Stores around the United States began selling slow-moving merchandise at low prices. Moore & Smith tried the innovative idea by setting up temporary displays of cheap goods to clear shelves. Kirby paid attention to

220-883: A Businessweek "next hot neighborhood" by 2007. Brownsville had not seen a similar revitalization because, unlike Pico-Union, it had not been surrounded by gentrified neighborhoods; did not have desirable housing; and was not a historic district or an area of other significance. In addition, Brownsville is unlike similar neighborhoods in New York City that had since gentrified. The South Bronx's coastline gave way to attractions like Barretto Point Park ; Bedford-Stuyvesant offered brownstone townhouses comparable to those in affluent Park Slope , Fort Greene , and Prospect Heights ; and Bushwick and Greenpoint became popular places for young professional workers once Williamsburg had become highly sought due to its waterfront location and proximity to Manhattan . By contrast, Brownsville

330-533: A synagogue , named Ohev Sholom, in his own factory. Other manufacturers that created low-tech products like food, furniture, and metals followed suit throughout the next decade, settling their factories in Brownsville. This led to much more housing being built there. The area bounded by present-day Dumont, Rockaway, and Liberty Avenues, and Junius Street, quickly became densely populated, with "factories, workshops, and stores" located next to housing. The farm of

440-401: A 1935 collapse of a tenement stairway killed two people and injured 43 others. This overcrowding was despite the availability of empty space in the fringes of Brownsville. There were also no playgrounds in the area, and the only park in the vicinity was Betsy Head Park . In the early 20th century, the vast majority of Brownsville residents were born outside the United States; in 1910, 66% of

550-579: A Barnes & Noble. Kirby Park (The only land west of the Susquehanna River that is owned by the city) is Kirby’s namesake after his donation. Also, the F. M. Kirby Center bears Kirby’s name in his honor. Furthermore, the F.M. Kirby Math and Science Center at The Lawrenceville School bears his name. Brownsville, New York Brownsville is a residential neighborhood in eastern Brooklyn in New York City . The neighborhood

660-559: A brand new third floor introduced in Sprague Hall, the construction of Klassner Field for field hockey and lacrosse games, the construction of the O. Charles Lull Tennis Center and a brand new first floor of the Lower School. In 2013 the school completed the renovation of Nesbitt Memorial Stadium to include two turf fields supporting football, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, and softball, new locker rooms and field house,

770-401: A charter school and retail space for $ 43 million. The theater was renovated in response to residents' requests for more retail space, and as part of the theater's refurbishment, the charter school would open in 2012 along with 60,000 square feet (5,600 m ) of retail space. The NYPD's 65th Precinct (originally the 73rd Precinct), built in 1901, covered most of the area until its closure in

880-537: A donation so civil rights could be taught. Kirby also sent a $ 100,000 endowment to Lafayette College . In addition, he donated $ 900,000 to Swarthmore College to build a laboratory and create a lasting endowment. Kirby died in Wilkes-Barre on October 16, 1940. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania has many buildings that bear F. M. Kirby’s name. Wilkes University has a building named Kirby Hall. F.M. Kirby and Co. signs and markings are still displayed at his first store, now

990-889: A local farmer, John J. Vanderveer, was cut up into lots and given to Jewish settlers after he sold it in 1892. Within three years of the first lot being distributed, there were 10,000 Jews living in Brownsville. By 1904, the lots comprising the former Vanderveer farm were entirely owned by Jews, who were spread out across 4 square miles (10 km ). An estimated 25,000 people lived in Brownsville by 1900, most of whom lived in two-story wooden frame accommodations built for two families each. Many of these buildings were grossly overcrowded, with up to eight families living in some of these two-family houses. They were utilitarian, and according to one New York Herald article, "grossly unattractive". Many of these houses lacked amenities like running water, and their wood construction made these houses susceptible to fires. New brick-and-stone houses erected in

1100-408: A new company. On September 1, 1884, Woolworth & Kirby opened on East Market Street in Wilkes-Barre. The store was a small, dirty room with no shelves or counters. Kirby painted the walls and made shelves and counters himself. He set out his products on his shelving and marked each item five or ten cents. Customers who came into Woolworth & Kirby laughed at the makeshift counters. Others claimed

1210-490: A prekindergarten-3 program and renaming its nursery school grade as prekindergarten-4. Stettler retired in 1990, succeeded by Dr. H. Jeremy Packard. Under Packard, the school's tenth president, the school continued to expand, including academics, arts, the extracurricular program, athletics, and technology as the age of the Internet dawned. These expansions also included further renovations on its Upper School campus, such as

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1320-543: A renovated, modernized new wing in 1999. At the Lower School, similar changes were made, including constructing a new wing for fourth and fifth-grade students and a new glass foyer. Wyoming Seminary closed both of its schools temporarily in response to the COVID-19 pandemic , with a phased reopening beginning with the 2020-2021 school year. Following several interim presidents, former president of Brighton Academy Martin Mooney

1430-554: A reputation for violence and poverty that was similar to the South Bronx 's, a reputation that persisted through the 21st century. Meanwhile, rioting and disorder continued. In June 1970, two men set fire to garbage bags to protest the New York City Department of Sanitation's reduction of trash collection pickups in Brownsville from six times to twice per week. In the riots that followed this arson, one man

1540-561: A second store in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The store’s success led to a third. Kirby began opening a new store every four months and operated as F. M. Kirby & Co. Then, Kirby expanded his company to include stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana. By 1911, Kirby owned 96 stores with a capital of about $ 5,000,000. In 1912, F. M. Kirby & Co. merged with

1650-427: A senior center and two concentrations of school classrooms, operated by two different groups. There would also be a gym , a swimming pool , a darkroom , and some studios . The entire Livonia Commons project would add 71,700 square feet (6,660 m ) of mixed-use space in multiple buildings. As of 2016 , there were 242 apartments being built, in addition to 468 affordable-housing units that had already been built in

1760-450: A single lot as they possibly could. Within twenty years of the factories' development, the area acquired a reputation as a vicious slum and breeding ground for crime. By 1904, 22 of the 25 housing units in Brownsville were tenement housing; three years later, only one of these 25 housing units was not a tenement. It became as dense as the very densely packed Lower East Side, according to one account. This also led to dangerous conditions;

1870-541: A small building at 1472 Bergen Street in Crown Heights, which was built in the 1920s and had been occupied by Rescue 2 since 1985. Just east of the Crown Heights–Utica Avenue subway station, on the border with Crown Heights , there is a park called Lincoln Terrace (also known as Arthur S. Somers Park), which slopes gently down toward the southern Brooklyn coastline. The New Lots Line transitions from

1980-445: A squad of 150 police officers. Officer Rattley was not indicted by the grand jury. Then, in 1968, Brownsville was the setting of a protracted and highly contentious teachers' strike . The Board of Education had experimented with giving the people of the neighborhood control over the school. The new school administration fired several teachers in violation of union contract rules. The teachers were all white and mostly Jewish, and

2090-656: A toddler learning center. Since 1979, the Upper School's 19th-century buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Since 2006, portions of the Upper School campus have undergone a large-scale renovation, with the housing facilities of Swetland, Darte, and Fleck Halls renovated on the outside, the Kirby Library (on the second floor of the Stettler Center) renovated,

2200-403: A tunnel to an elevated structure within this park. The 21 acres (8.5 ha) of land for Lincoln Terrace was purchased by the city in 1895–1897. In order to deter aircraft from flying through the area during World War I , parts of the park had turrets installed in "serviceable but inconspicuous locations" in 1918. Through 1935, additional land was added to the park (including land purchased from

2310-597: Is 1.163 square miles (3.01 km ), and the ZIP Code for the neighborhood is 11212. Although there are no official borders, Brownsville is generally bounded by East New York Avenue to the north on the Ocean Hill border; East 98th Street/Ralph Avenue to the west, bordering East Flatbush and Crown Heights ; the freight rail Bay Ridge Branch of the Long Island Rail Road and Linden Boulevard to

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2420-721: Is 11212. It is patrolled by the 73rd Precinct of the New York City Police Department . Politically it is represented by the New York City Council 's 42nd and 41st Districts. The area that would become Brownsville was first used by the Dutch for farming, as well as manufacturing stone slabs and other things used to construct buildings. In 1823–1824, the Dutch founded the New Lots Reformed Church in nearby New Lots because

2530-491: Is also a significant concentration of semi-detached multi-unit row houses similar to those found in East New York and Soundview surrounding the public housing developments. Many have been torn down and replaced by vacant lots or newly constructed subsidized attached multi-unit rowhouses with gardens, driveways, and finished basements. Most of these houses were built in East New York, Ocean Hill , and Brownsville under

2640-443: Is composed of multiple inward-facing developments located on six superblocks . The neighborhood contains the most densely concentrated area of public housing in the United States. NYCHA owns more housing units in Brownsville than in any other neighborhood, with about one-third of the housing stock (around 10,000 units) in its 18 Brownsville developments, comprising over 100 buildings within 1 square mile (2.6 km ). In 2013, it

2750-448: Is generally bordered by Crown Heights to the northwest; Bedford–Stuyvesant and Cypress Hills to the north; East New York to the east; Canarsie to the south; and East Flatbush to the west. The 1.163-square-mile (3.01 km ) area that comprises Brownsville has 58,300 residents as of the 2010 United States Census , with an estimated population of 128,369 residents in 2019. Founded in its current incarnation in 1858, Brownsville

2860-500: Is inhabited disproportionately by African-Americans and Latinos. The overall average income in Brownsville is lower than that of the rest of Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. The reasons for Brownsville's lack of wholesale gentrification are numerous. One reporter for the magazine The Nation observed that the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pico-Union , which had a poverty rate similar to Brownsville's in 2000, had become

2970-570: Is located in Kingston . It is near the Susquehanna River and the city of Wilkes-Barre . Locally and in some publications, it is sometimes referred to as "Sem." As a boarding school , only Upper School students may board on campus. Slightly more than one-third of the Upper School student body resides on campus. Methodist Church leaders founded Wyoming Seminary in 1844 at the instigation of Rev. George Peck . The school's first president

3080-600: Is located in Brownsville. Engine Company 283/Division 15's quarters are also located in Brownsville. A 21,000-square-foot (2,000 m ), $ 32 million FDNY facility was completed at 1815 Sterling Place in 2019. Designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Studio Gang , the new facility is both an FDNY training center and the firehouse for Rescue Company 2. Ground broke on the project in July 2016. The new firehouse, announced in December 2015, replaced Rescue 2's old location,

3190-510: Is located in a lot on the north side of Livonia Avenue bounded by Strauss Street and Thomas S. Boyland Street. Opened in 1915, it is named after Betsy Head, a rich Briton, who died in 1907. In 1936, a new Olympic-size swimming pool , one of 11 across the city, was added as part of a Works Progress Administration project. In 2008, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated

3300-739: Is on Sprague Avenue; the central building that hosts most classes and administrative offices there is named Sprague Hall, which features a bust of Sprague; and since 1993, a yearly scholarship for seniors that offers free boarding for eight selected student-leaders is called the Levi Sprague Fellowship. In 1892, the Wyoming Seminary football team participated in the world's first nighttime football game , playing against Mansfield University (then Mansfield State Normal School). The game ended at halftime due to insufficient lighting, with neither team scoring. The school grew in

3410-1009: Is split between a Lower School and Upper School campus. The Upper School campus has many buildings that accommodate day students and boarders. Sprague Hall, on the corner of Market and N. Sprague Streets, is the main academic building. Nesbitt Hall, a science center, and the Back Campus act as the primary social center of the campus. The "SNOOK," or Sem Nook, is also located here. The Pettebone-Dickson Student Center, located on N. Maple Avenue, includes sports and administrative facilities. Wyoming Seminary has many housing facilities for boarders. Upper-level boys reside in Carpenter Hall, while upper-level girls are in Swetland, Fleck, and Darte Halls. Most first-year and PGs also live in these buildings. The Buckingham Performing Arts Center, established in 1975, holds many classrooms and an auditorium. New to

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3520-576: Is supposedly the United States Postal Service , and the lack of mobility for many residents encourages them to buy from local stores instead. Kay Hymowitz wrote in her 2017 book, The New Brooklyn: What It Takes to Bring a City Back , that Brownsville was "the permanent ghetto" and that despite the gentrification in other Brooklyn neighborhoods, Brownsville contained a "concentrated, multigenerational black poverty" that caused its development to "remain static". The total land area

3630-404: Is surrounded by other high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods like East New York, Ocean Hill, and East Flatbush . Its high concentration of public housing developments has traditionally prevented gentrification in this area. Brownsville is still majority African-American and Latino, with exactly two Jewish-owned businesses in Brownsville in 2012. A columnist for The New York Times , writing for

3740-777: The African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan, as well as those discovered under the former 126th Street Depot in East Harlem . As part of the designation, the Schenck Playground, behind the New Lots branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, would be rethemed with African cultural motifs and designs. Hyman Spitz Florists, one of the businesses that dates back to Brownsville's initial settlement,

3850-539: The Interborough Rapid Transit Company in 1928, which had built its New Lots Line in 1920). Streets were closed to make room for the extra parkland. The park was originally named after Abraham Lincoln , but in 1932, the western section of the park (west of Rockaway Parkway) was renamed after activist Arthur S. Somers, an area resident who had died that year. Around that time, the park and its playgrounds were refurbished. Betsy Head Park

3960-492: The NAACP and Urban League whose Brooklyn chapters were based in nearby Bedford-Stuyvesant , they were, overall, less concerned with the issues of the lower-income blacks who had moved into Brownsville, thus further isolating Brownsville's population. These changes corresponded to overall increases in segregation and inequality in New York City, as well as to the replacement of blue-collar with white-collar jobs. The area gained

4070-550: The New York City Fire Department fighting over 100 fires in a single night. By then, people were afraid to go out at night, yet the 400 or so white families in south Brownsville were primarily concerned about housing remaining affordable. The streets had empty storefronts, with one block of Pitkin Avenue having over two-thirds of its 16 storefronts lying vacant. In 1970, Mayor John Lindsay referred to

4180-526: The New York metropolitan area . At one point in the 1943 published book, New York City Market Analysis , it had described Brownsville as having a variety of small industry unlike Lower East Side. The book also mentioned the Jewish populations were a mix of Russian, Austrian, and Polish immigrants and were 80% of the foreign born population in the neighborhood. In the 1930s, Brownsville achieved notoriety as

4290-528: The corresponding church in Flatbush was too far away. The church, which has its own cemetery that was built in 1841, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In 1858, William Suydam parceled the land into 262 lots, providing simple two- to four-room accommodations for workers who were living there. However, Suydam vastly underestimated how undesirable the area was, and ran out of funding in 1861. After failing to pay his mortgages,

4400-488: The "competitive" to "most competitive" range. 98% of those who graduate from Sem successfully graduate college. 0% of students' families earn financial aid. 32% of Lower School teachers hold master's degrees compared to 51% at the Upper School. 13% of Upper School teachers hold doctorates, while 2% of Lower School teachers hold doctorates. The average size for an Upper School course is 14 students. At WSUS, there are 39 classes offered in math and science and 76 classes offered in

4510-511: The 1,200-acre (490 ha) expanse of the neighborhood, and from 2000 to 2003, applications for construction of residential buildings in Brownsville increased sevenfold. By 2015, many community organizations had been formed to improve the quality of life in parts of Brownsville. Changes included temporary markets being erected there as well as commercial developments in residential areas. However, these improvements are limited to certain sections of Brownsville. In 2013, 39% of residents fell below

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4620-510: The 1920s and 1930s, the neighborhood elected Socialist and American Labor Party candidates to the state assembly. Two Socialist candidates for mayor in 1929 and 1932 both received roughly a quarter of Brownsville residents' mayoral votes. Socialist attitudes prevailed among Brownsville residents until World War II . The area's Jewish population participated heavily in civil rights movements , rallying against such things as poll taxes , Jim Crow laws , and segregation in schools . The area

4730-477: The 1960s, its population became largely African American, and Brownsville's unemployment rate was 17 percent, twice the city's as a whole. The newly majority-black Brownsville neighborhood had few community institutions or economic opportunities. It lacked a middle class, and its residents did not own the businesses they relied upon. In his book Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of

4840-533: The 2006 construction of Klassner Field, named for athletics director Karen Klassner, for field hockey and lacrosse games. Sem also bought a former bank adjacent to its Upper School campus to become the Great Hall, used today by the wrestling team as its practice facility. Regarding buildings already on the Upper School campus, Sem's Sprague Hall, which includes all administrative offices and three floors of classrooms in all subjects except science, expanded to include

4950-472: The 2020 census data, there were 40,000+ Black residents and 10,000 to 19,999 Hispanic residents. Each the White and Asian populations were less than 5000 residents. The NYPD 's 73rd Precinct is located at 1470 East New York Avenue. NYCHA property in the area is patrolled separately by Police Service Area #2 (P.S.A. 2). Brownsville has consistently been considered the murder capital of New York City, with

5060-413: The 65th Precinct building into a community center, it sits derelict as of 2012 , with graffiti on the walls, garbage in the interior, and jail cells still intact. One block of Livonia Avenue from Barbey Street to Schenck Avenue is designated as "African Burial Ground Square", commemorating an African burial ground at the site that was discovered in 2010. The site contains remains similar to those found in

5170-661: The 73rd Precinct ranking 69th safest out of 69 city precincts for per-capita crime in 2009. That year, there were 3 murders per 10,000 residents (higher than in any other neighborhood in the city), making for 28 overall murders in Brownsville; in overall crime, the 73rd Precinct was the 66th safest out of 69 neighborhoods. In the 15 years between 1990 and 2005, reports of murder in Brownsville–Ocean Hill dropped 63 percent (to 22 murders in 2005); robberies 79 percent (to 597 in 2005); and felony assaults decreased 51 percent (to 562 in 2005). Crime rates in Brownsville had declined in

5280-617: The Betsy Head Play Center as the first individual city landmark in Brownsville. Wyoming Seminary Wyoming Seminary , founded in 1844, is a Methodist college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania . The "Lower School," which consists of preschool 8th-grade students, is located in Forty Fort . The "Upper School," comprising 9th-grade to postgraduate students ,

5390-673: The Commonwealth. The Kirby family’s crest bears the phrase facta non verba, meaning “deeds not words.” Kirby created the Angeline Elizabeth Kirby Memorial Health Center to make life better and more enjoyable for everyone. When Wilkes-Barre bought land for what would become Kirby Park, F. M. Kirby contributed $ 87,000 for the development and maintenance of the recreational space. Kirby donated large sums of money to high schools and colleges to provide better education. Wyoming Seminary received

5500-539: The East New York/Brownsville area. Closer to the border with Ocean Hill, there are many limestone and brownstone townhouses in addition to tenements. In Brownsville, about 71% of rental housing is poorly maintained, more than the citywide rate of 56% and the boroughwide rate of 59%. Many of Brownsville's empty lots are now community gardens , which are also widespread in nearby East New York and are maintained by multiple community groups;

5610-505: The Ghetto , W.E. Pritchett described the neighborhood as a "ghetto" whose quality of life was declining by the year. The NYCHA housing encouraged the creation of an African-American and Latino population that was poorer than the Jewish population it replaced. In 1965, sociologist and then-future U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a report about black poverty entitled The Negro Family: The Case For National Action , in which he cited

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5720-545: The HPD issued requests for qualifications to determine which developers could build new affordable housing on one of 91 empty HPD-owned lots in Brownsville. After controversy arose over the fact that some of these lots were actually garden sites, the HPD rescinded approval to build on 34 garden sites in Brownsville, while nine other garden sites in the area were approved for redevelopment. The Loews Pitkin, an opulent 85-foot-high (26 m), 2,827-seat movie theater built in 1929,

5830-503: The Jim Crow-era South where they were racially discriminated against. In 1940, black residents made up 6% of Brownsville's population. The 1943 book New York City Market Analysis indicated the small but growing African American population was concentrated in the central portion of the neighborhood while most of the neighborhood was still populated by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Although integration did take place in

5940-529: The Nehemiah development program. Of the Nehemiah developments, most of them were built on the western half of the neighborhood. Other newly built or restored housing includes 3,871 housing units for low-income residents, as well as Noble Drew Ali Plaza, a 385-unit apartment building that was notorious for drug dealing before the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) helped New York Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn buy and redevelop

6050-491: The United States through the 1950s. The population remained heavily Jewish until the middle of the century, and the neighborhood boasted some seventy Orthodox synagogues. Many of these synagogues still exist in Brownsville, albeit as churches. Brownsville was also a place for radical political causes during this time. In 1916, Margaret Sanger set up the first birth control clinic in America on Amboy Street. Throughout

6160-503: The ages of 0–17, 27% between 25 and 44, and 23% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 11% and 12% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 16 was $ 30,207. In 2018, an estimated 28% of Brownsville residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in seven residents (14%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in

6270-420: The area for decades. Despite the decline of crime compared to its peak during the crack and heroin epidemics, violent crime continues to be a serious problem in the community, especially gang -related gun violence . Empty lots and unused storefronts are common in Brownsville due to high rates of crime, mostly in the area's public housing developments. A reporter for The New York Times observed that some of

6380-399: The area were built by Charles R. Miller. Through the 1880s, the area was a marshy floodplain that was used as a dumping ground. Fumes from the glue factories along Jamaica Bay would usually blow upwind into Brownsville. This place was inconveniently far enough from Manhattan that the affluent refused to move to Brownsville, but the land was cheap enough that tenements could be built for

6490-577: The area's Jewish population came about in the 1950s, when the New York City Housing Authority decided to build more new public housing developments in blighted portions of Brownsville. The Jewish population quickly moved out, even though the new NYCHA developments were actually in better condition than the old wooden tenements. Citing increased crime and their desire for social mobility, Jews left Brownsville en masse, with many black and Latino residents moving in, especially into

6600-564: The area's factories were going out of business, so the black residents were more economically disadvantaged than the Jews who had historically lived in Brownsville. Finally, although both blacks and Jews living in Brownsville had been subject to ethnic discrimination, the situation for blacks was worse, as they were banned from some public places where Jews were allowed, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) generally behaved more harshly toward blacks than toward Jews. The breaking point for

6710-476: The area's housing developments. For instance, in the Van Dyke Houses, the black population in 1956 was 57% and the white population that year was 43%, with a little over one percent of residents receiving welfare benefits. Seven years later, 72% of the residents were black, 15% Puerto Rican, and the development had the highest rate of per-capita arrests of any housing development citywide. Through

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6820-466: The area's playgrounds were inadequately maintained with broken lights and unlocked gates, and that shootings were common in these public housing developments. Brownsville was so dangerous that one UPS driver, robbed at gunpoint, needed an armed security guard to accompany him while delivering packages to houses in the neighborhood. In an effort to reduce crime, the NYPD started a stop-and-frisk program in

6930-422: The area, which had been the city's poorest for several years, as "Bombsville" because of its high concentration of empty lots and burned-out buildings. After a wave of arson throughout the 1970s ravaged the low-income communities of New York City, many of the residential structures in Brownsville were left seriously damaged or destroyed, and Brownsville became synonymous for urban decay in many aspects. Even at

7040-465: The beginning of this arson wave, 29% of residents were impoverished, a number that would increase in later years. The city began to rehabilitate many formerly abandoned tenement-style apartment buildings and designate them low-income housing beginning in the late 1970s. Marcus Garvey Village, whose townhouse-style three-story apartment buildings had front doors and gardens, was an example of such low-income development that did not lower crime and poverty, as

7150-421: The birthplace of Murder, Inc. , who contracted to kill between 400 and 1,000 people through the 1940s. The organizations' criminal businesses also extended to nearby neighborhoods of Ocean Hill and East New York . The members mainly consisted of Jewish and Italian Americans as these neighborhoods during that time were mainly populated by Jewish and Italian enclaves. A film about the organization, Murder Inc. ,

7260-460: The biweekly Brownsville Counselor newspaper to inform residents about government programs and job opportunities. However, in spite of the BCC's efforts, crime went up, with a threefold increase in reported homicides from ten in 1960 to over thirty in 1966; a doubling of arrests from 1,883 in 1956 to over 3,901 in 1966; and claims that there could actually have been more than six times as much crime than

7370-535: The building. The Livonia Avenue Initiative, a multi-phase project situated along Livonia Avenue, is intended to create 791 apartments or houses for low-income residents. The initiative includes Livonia Commons, a proposed mixed-use project on the north side of Livonia Avenue. Livonia Commons' postmodern buildings will contain 270 apartments for lower-income citizens and 11,000 square feet (1,000 m ) of commercial space at ground level. The initiative's 21,000 square feet (2,000 m ) of community space will host

7480-547: The business idea, formulating how he could create a similar business. The design of the 5 and 10-cent business model would follow Kirby’s stores from inception to end. No item was more than 10 cents. Shoppers purchased products in large quantities, enabling Kirby to sell goods below their manufactured prices. After working for eight years, Kirby had saved up $ 500. With an additional $ 100 from his father, Kirby moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1884 with Charles Sumner Woolworth , his future business partner, to invest his money in

7590-530: The campus in 2014 is the Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. The Stettler Learning and Resource Center houses admissions and the Kirby Library. The Great Hall is located on Wyoming Avenue and separate from campus, mainly used for sports and wrestling facilities. A walkway connects the building to the rest of the campus. The Lower School is mainly in one building, aside from back campus fields and

7700-488: The company for a year or more. Kirby’s employees also did not fear losing their jobs if illness struck. Kirby would help pay a sick employee’s medical bills and provide sick pay. Additionally, Christmas bonuses were given in proportion to workers’ years of service. The longer an employee was with the business, the more money they would receive. Kirby even provided time off with pay during the holidays. In 1885, Fred Kirby bought out Charles Sumner Woolworth. In 1888, Kirby opened

7810-442: The death of an 11-year-old African American boy named Richard Ross, who was killed by an African-American NYPD detective, John Rattley, at the corner of St. Johns Place and Ralph Avenue. Rattley believed Ross had mugged a 73-year-old Jewish man. The riot was led in part by Brooklyn militant Sonny Carson , who allegedly spread rumors that Rattley was white; it was quelled after Brooklyn North Borough Commander Lloyd Sealy deployed

7920-513: The early 1900s were built with indoor plumbing and less prone to fire. The quality of life was further decreased by the fact that there was scant infrastructure to be found in the area, and as a result, the unpaved roads were used as open sewers. Compounding the problem, land prices were high in Brownsville (with lots available for $ 50 in 1907, then sold for $ 3,000 two years later), so in order to make their land purchases worthwhile, developers were frequently inspired to build as many apartments on

8030-449: The early 2000s; this was controversial especially in Brownsville, with 93% of residents in one eight-block area reportedly being stopped and frisked (compared to a 7% rate citywide). However, serious crime per resident is decreasing, and from 2000 to 2011, the rate dropped from 45.0 to 35.3 serious crimes per 1,000 residents. The firehouse for the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Company 231/Ladder Company 120/Battalion 44

8140-688: The early 20th century. From 1917 to 1919, the school used parts of the campus to train American soldiers during World War I. By the early 1950s, Sem expanded to include what is today considered the "lower school", composed of nursery through eighth-grade students. In 1951, Sem merged with the Wilkes-Barre Day School to become the region's only independent school to offer a complete program ranging from nursery through secondary school. In 1998, Sem's Lower School, located three miles from Kingston in nearby Forty Fort, expanded its program by adding

8250-431: The fact that the 24% of the nation's black communities were single-mother families, an attribute closely tied to poverty in these communities. At that time, Brownsville and East New York's single-mother rate was almost twice the national rate, at 45%. Backlash against the report, mainly on accusations of victim blaming , caused leaders to overlook Moynihan's proposals to improve poor black communities' quality of life, and

8360-712: The gardens are often planted with vegetables that could provide food for residents. The gardens were originally supposed to be temporary, filling lots that would have otherwise gone unused. After a failed sale of several abandoned lots in the 1990s that would have involved destroying some of these gardens around the city, some city residents founded the New York City Community Garden Coalition to protect these gardens. From 2013 to 2015, NYCHA sold developers 54 lots in Brownsville, totaling 441,000 square feet (41,000 m ). Some of these lots contained parks or parking lots. In December 2014

8470-456: The humanities. The Upper School offers, in total, over 160 courses, including 25 Advanced Placement classes, more than most public or private schools in the United States. WSUS hosts more than 80 international students every year from over 20 countries and students from 15 different states. Nearly 300 students at the Upper School become involved in the performing arts at Sem, and 86% of students participate in at least one sport. Wyoming Seminary

8580-481: The land was auctioned off in 1866 to Charles S. Brown of Esopus, New York . Believing the area to be useful for development, Brown subdivided the area and began calling it "Brownsville", advertising the area's wide open spaces to Jews who lived in Lower Manhattan . There were 250 houses in "Brown's Village" by 1883, most of them occupied by factory workers who commuted to Manhattan. The first houses in

8690-495: The larger F. W. Woolworth that owned 300 stores, to create F. W. Woolworth Co. The resulting F. W. Woolworth Co. had a capital of over $ 65,000,000. While prices rose on almost all other products in other stores, the “variety and value of merchandise offered by the Woolworth stores [were] constantly increasing.” A Republican, Kirby was a presidential elector in 1920 . F. M. Kirby was a philanthropist, spending money to enhance

8800-505: The merchandise was not good quality because of the low prices. Neighboring merchants claimed the two men wouldn’t stay in business long. Kirby spent the early part of 1885 borrowing money from his neighbors to pay shipping charges. The situation discouraged Kirby, but he was not defeated. Kirby once said in a newspaper interview that after encountering a disabled man on the street, Kirby decided to forget his misfortune. Thus, Fred Morgan Kirby resolved to reach out to his customers and own one of

8910-459: The mid-1980s. The old 65th Precinct building at 1546 East New York Avenue was then sold to a family with the last name of Chen. In 2004, the Chens sold the building to Family Services Network of New York, a nonprofit organization funded by the state government. Family Services borrowed $ 1.1 million, but failed to pay the mortgage . Despite Family Services' grandiose $ 3.8 million plan to rehabilitate

9020-417: The most violent crimes per capita out of any neighborhood in the city. By contrast, Morrisania , a Bronx neighborhood that once had a crime rate as high as Brownsville's, saw its crime rate decline by 25 percent between 1998 and 2011, while Brownsville's crime rate stayed roughly even during the same time period. The social problems associated with poverty , from crime to drug addiction , have plagued

9130-411: The neighborhood had a population density of 77.7 inhabitants per acre (49,700/sq mi; 19,200/km ). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 76.1% (44,364) African American , 0.8% (471) White , 0.3% (165) Native American , 0.7% (416) Asian , 0.0% (18) Pacific Islander , 0.3% (180) from other races , and 1.2% (703) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.6% (11,983) of

9240-482: The neighborhood was racially segregated, there were more attempts at improved quality of life, public mixing, and solidarity between black and Jewish neighbors than could be found in most other neighborhoods. However, due to socioeconomic barriers imposed by the disparities between the two populations, most of these improvements never came. Compounding the matter, the newly arrived African-American residents were mainly industrial workers who had moved to Brownsville just as

9350-444: The neighborhood, there were racial tensions as well. By 1950, there were double the number of blacks, most of whom occupied the neighborhood's most undesirable housing. At the same time, new immigration quotas had reduced the number of Russian Jews who were able to immigrate to the United States. Spurred on by urban planner Robert Moses , the city replaced some of Brownsville's old tenements with public housing blocks. Although

9460-530: The nicest stores in Wilkes-Barre. Kirby knew that if wanted his customers to purchase his products, they needed to trust him. He engaged with his clientele and demonstrated the value of his products. Kirby slowly won over his customers with his sincere attitude and “quiet sense of humor.” He transformed into a businessman with whom people were delighted to speak. Customers who once entered the store to mock Kirby began to buy his products. Newspaper articles state that customers saw that his products were good value for

9570-507: The paper's "Big City" section on 2012, stated that the many improvements to the city's overall quality of life, enacted by then-mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2002, "might have happened in Lithuania for all the effect they have had (or could have) on the lives of people in Brownsville." On the other hand, the area's lack of gentrification might have kept most of residents' money within the local Brownsville economy. The area's largest employer

9680-472: The poor there. Brownsville was predominantly Jewish from the 1880s until the 1950s. In 1887, businessman Elias Kaplan showed the first Jewish residents around Brownsville, painting the area as favorable compared to the Lower East Side , which he described as a place where one could not get away from the holds of labor unions . Kaplan built a factory and accommodations for his workers, then placed

9790-407: The population were first-generation immigrants , and 80% of these immigrants were from Russia . By 1920, over 80,000 of the area's 100,000 inhabitants were Russian Jews , and Brownsville had been nicknamed "Little Jerusalem ". In the 1930s it was considered the most densely populated district in all of Brooklyn. Brownsville was also considered to have the highest density of Jews of any place in

9900-468: The population. 29.9% of the population were high school graduates and 8.4% had a bachelor's degree or higher. The entirety of Community Board 16, which comprises Brownsville, had 84,525 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 75.1 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 28% are between

10010-483: The poverty line, compared to 43% in 2000, but the poverty rate of Brownsville is still relatively high, being twice the city's overall rate as well as 13% higher than that of nearby Newark, New Jersey . Brownsville families reported a median income of $ 15,978 as of 2008, below the United States Census poverty threshold . There is a high rate of poverty in the neighborhood's northeastern section, which

10120-414: The quality and returned to Woolworth & Kirby to see his new stock. Customers began to actively shop at Woolworth & Kirby. At the end of 1886, Kirby and Woolworth divided their first profit. F. M. Kirby employed about 2,000 people. Kirby trained employees to bring out “qualities in them that were important factors in the company’s business.” He shared the business’ profit with employees who were with

10230-428: The rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Brownsville, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Brownsville is considered to be low-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying . New York City Department of City Planning showed that in

10340-425: The resulting strike badly divided the whole city. The resulting strike dragged on for half a year, becoming known as one of John Lindsay 's "Ten Plagues". It also served to segregate the remaining Jewish community from the larger black and Latino community. By 1970, the 130,000-resident population of Brownsville was 77% black and 19% Puerto Rican. Despite the activities of black civil rights organizations such as

10450-454: The same manner that they had elsewhere in the city, but the declines were not as dramatic as in other areas of the city, with 72 people shot and 15 killed in Brownsville in 2013. With an incarceration rate of 1,698 per 100,000 residents, Brownsville's incarceration rate is three times the city's as a whole and higher than every other neighborhood's incarceration rate. At a non-fatal assault rate of 175 per 100,000 people, Brownsville also sees

10560-517: The school remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church , it welcomes students from all religious backgrounds. Much of Wyoming Seminary's rise from a rural academy to a prominent college preparatory school took place during the tenure of Levi Sprague. A graduate, Sprague was its president for five decades from the 1880s to the 1930s and was associated with the school for most of his life, dying in office. The Upper School campus

10670-490: The single-mother rate in Brownsville grew. In 1966, black and Latino residents created the Brownsville Community Council in an effort to reverse the poverty and crime increases. The BCC secured welfare funding for 3,000 people, secure housing tenancies for 4,000 people, and voting rights for hundreds of new registrants. It closed down a block of Herzl Street for use as a play area, and it created

10780-439: The south, adjacent to the neighborhood of Canarsie ; and Van Sinderen Avenue to the east, next to East New York . It is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 , which also includes Ocean Hill. As of 2008, there were a total of 28,298 housing units in Brownsville. Brownsville is dominated by public housing developments of various types, mostly in a small area bounded by Powell Street and Rockaway, Livonia, and Sutter Avenues that

10890-409: Was Rueben Nelson, and in its first year, 138 students enrolled — 69 boys and 69 girls from Pennsylvania and New York. At the time, Kingston was a rural village, and the school raised livestock, grew its own produce, and built a smokehouse to preserve meat for the winter. As the town industrialized , the school grew, adding a dedicated business school and establishing a college preparatory program. While

11000-413: Was among 22 theaters in the area; the rest of the theaters had either been demolished or converted into stores. The Loews Pitkin, named after theater entrepreneur Marcus Loew , had fallen in disuse by the 1970s before being revitalized in the late 2000s. The theater's decaying interior was used as a church and a furniture store before Poko Partners bought the space in 2008 and redeveloped the theater into

11110-451: Was announced as Wyoming Seminary's 15th president and 13th permanent president in 2023. Wyoming Seminary's current president is Martin Mooney, who assumed his duties in May 2023. The current Board Chair is William E. Sordoni. The Dean of the Upper School is Rachel Bartron. The school has named several members to its board of trustees. 15% of Upper School graduates are accepted to colleges in

11220-749: Was estimated that the housing developments alone contained nearly 21,000 people. Many of these buildings were built in the mid-20th-century and are deteriorating as of 2015 . Some of these NYCHA developments are in the process of being converted into RAD PACT Section 8 Developments , where, as part of a public-private partnership with NYCHA, private developers would take over the developments and provide funding for capital improvements. These conversions include Howard Avenue Houses, Seth Low Houses , Sutter Avenue-Union Houses, Tapscott Street Rehab Houses, Ralph Avenue Houses, 104-14 Tapscott Street Houses, and Lenox Road-Rockaway Parkway Houses. Public housing developments include: In addition, below Pitkin Avenue, there

11330-399: Was fairly economically successful in its heyday. In 1942, there were 372 stores, including 8 banks and 43 stores selling menswear, along a 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of Pitkin Avenue, which employed a combined 1,000 people and generated an estimated $ 90 million annually (equal to about $ 1,678,000,000 today if adjusted for inflation). The median income of $ 2,493 in 1933 (about $ 58,678 today)

11440-404: Was founded in 1898. It persisted at the same address, 1685 Pitkin Avenue, until 2004. Hyman Spitz Florists had helped provide flowers for such occasions as Donald and Ivana Trump's wedding. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Brownsville was 58,300, a decrease of 799 (1.4%) from the 59,099 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 750.44 acres (303.69 ha),

11550-408: Was initially a settlement composed of Jewish factory workers. The neighborhood underwent a major demographic change in the 1950s that saw an influx of African-American residents. Since the late 20th century, Brownsville has consistently held one of the highest poverty and crime rates of any neighborhood in New York City. Brownsville is part of Brooklyn Community District 16 , and its primary ZIP Code

11660-571: Was intended; instead, the houses became the home base of a local gang, and poverty went up to 40%. However, the East Brooklyn Congregations ' Nehemiah Housing, which also constructed buildings in East New York and Spring Creek , served to help residents find affordable housing with a good quality of life. The neighborhood's crime rate decreased somewhat by the 1980s. Many subsidized multi-unit townhouses and newly constructed apartment buildings were built on vacant lots across

11770-454: Was killed and multiple others were injured. In May 1971, the mostly black residents of Brownsville objected to reductions in Medicaid , welfare funds, and drug prevention programs in a peaceful protest that soon turned violent. In the ensuing riot, protesters conflicted with police, with windows being broken, children stealing rides aboard buses, housewives tipping over banana stands, and

11880-446: Was produced and released in 1960. African Americans had begun moving into Brooklyn in large numbers in the early 20th century. The adjacent Bedford-Stuyvesant was the first large African American community of Brooklyn. In the 1930s, Brownsville began to receive growing numbers of African Americans. Most of the new residents were poor and socially disadvantaged, especially the new African-American residents, who were mostly migrants from

11990-488: Was reported. Multiple robberies of businesses were reported every day, with robbers simply lifting or bending the roll-down metal gates that protected many storefronts. City officials urged people to not use public transportation to travel to Brownsville. Brownsville began experiencing large-scale rioting and social disorder around this time. These problems manifested themselves in September 1967. A riot occurred following

12100-599: Was twice that of a family living in the Lower East Side, who earned a median of $ 1,390 (about $ 32,717 today) but lower than that of a middle-class family in outer Brooklyn ($ 4,320, inflation-adjusted to $ 101,681) or the Bronx ($ 3,750, inflation-adjusted to $ 88,265). The Fortunoff's furniture chain had its roots on Livonia Avenue, its flagship store overshadowed by the tracks of New York City Subway's New Lots Line from 1922 to 1964, eventually expanding elsewhere in

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