Mapping Nearly Four Centuries of Flatbush History
The Brooklyn Historical Society is showcasing about a dozen maps and many more documents chronicling Flatbush’s “transformation from an agricultural frontier to a diverse urban center.”
Focusing on the influential Lefferts family beginning in the 17th century, the maps are part of the larger exhibition called The Lefferts Papers which looks at nearly four centuries worth of important primary and secondary sources about the history of Brooklyn at large.
As landowners, financiers, politicians, historians, and real estate developers, members of the Lefferts family played integral roles in Brooklyn’s multifaceted history. But the Leffertses also perpetuated many of the injustices and inequalities that mark American history. One of Kings County’s biggest slaveholding families, the Leffertses derived much of their wealth from the labor of enslaved people and, after statewide emancipation in 1827, of tenants that tilled their land. Only by tracing the stories of the Lefferts family alongside those of lesser-known Brooklynites can we understand the complex and enduring legacy of one of Brooklyn’s first families.
The Q at Parkside notes the shifts in just where Flatbush has been on maps and in minds over the centuries.
It is hard to find a map of Flatbush before then that focuses on the area that we now associate with the name – the ever embiggening nabe known to newcomers as “Ditmas Park” In other words, for oil intents and porpoises, PLG WAS Flatbush, home to the original gentry of the town (note that there were Vanderbilts living near what is now the Q/B line).
If you’re interested in more historical maps, we recently listed the most beautiful Brooklyn maps out there.