History At Home: This Day In The Brooklyn Daily Eagle

As we wander about our modern neighborhood, caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to ignore the long and vibrant history of our community. Let’s remedy that. Every weekend, we’ll take a step back, with the help of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives, and explore what was happening around South Slope over a century ago.

On this day in 1897, James Dolan, a resident of 5th Avenue at 16th Street, somehow fell as he was getting out of a trolley car and was run over by it. Before an ambulance could arrive to help, he passed away. Ultimately, the motorman and the conductor of the trolley, who also both live in the area, were charged with homicide.

And on April 20, 1901, an annual tug of war — plus a wrestling bout and contest — took place at the Fourteenth Regiment Armory, now known as the Park Slope Armory, a building that had been completed just eight years earlier.

Have an interesting bit of South Slope history to share? Send it to editor@bklyner.com, and we’ll publish it in our weekly History at Home segment.