Steeple View in the Late 1800s

This was the view from the steeple of the Flatbush Reformed Church as it was at some point between 1872 and 1887, looking east with Church Avenue running down the center. The Brooklyn Museum has a terrific collection of photos on Flickr that they uploaded last year, but it’s still fun to click through if you haven’t, and you can still help pinpoint photos on a map–several photos remain unidentified. This one, though it says it’s Church at Ocean, is clearly from Church and Flatbush–you can see the shadow of the church’s steeple, as Flatbush Gardener notes.

Sure would love to see how it compares to the view now. If you’ve ever seen a more recent version of this photo (or if you’ve been up to the steeple yourself), let us know.

Whether or not you can place any of the photos in the Museum’s collection, it’s still pretty amazing to look through, and you’ll find a few in our area in the ones that have already been mapped.