FLATBUSH
Geographic Setting
Bounded by Rogers Avenue to the east; a southern line running along Flatbush Avenue from Farragut Road to Foster Avenue, then east along Foster Avenue to Ocean Avenue; a western edge running up Ocean Avenue from Foster to Dorchester Road, continuing northwest along Dorchester Road to the Q rail line, then north along Buckingham Road to Parade Place; and a northern boundary traced along Parkside Avenue and Clarkson Avenue, the neighborhood of Flatbush occupies the historic core of central Brooklyn. It is both a geographic and cultural fulcrum—where the borough’s Dutch colonial origins, Victorian elegance, and modern multicultural vibrancy converge.
Flatbush lies just south of Prospect Park, framed by tree-lined boulevards, early 20th-century apartment houses, and pockets of freestanding homes that recall its suburban beginnings. The district’s major arteries—Flatbush Avenue, Church Avenue, and Coney Island Avenue—define a neighborhood that remains dense, diverse, and enduringly vital. Along its quieter interior streets—Marlborough Road, Westminster Road, Kenmore Terrace, and Argyle Road—Victorian and Edwardian homes, many more than a century old, stand beside 1920s apartment buildings of brick and limestone, creating a mosaic of urban and suburban textures unique to New York City.
Etymology and Origins
The name Flatbush derives from the Dutch Vlacke Bos, meaning “flat woods” or “wooded plain.” Founded in 1651 by settlers from the Dutch colony of New Netherland, it was one of the original “Six Towns” of Kings County, known as Midwout (Midwood) in the colonial era. The area’s fertile fields, lying between the wooded ridge of Prospect Park and the marshy shores of Jamaica Bay, made it an agricultural hub for over two centuries.
The old Flatbush Village clustered around what is now the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Church Avenue, anchored by the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church (1654), one of the oldest continuous congregations in the United States. Its adjoining cemetery—where Dutch, British, and early American settlers are buried—remains a living monument to the neighborhood’s 17th- and 18th-century roots.
The Neighborhood
18th–19th Century: Village to Victorian Suburb
Through the 18th century, Flatbush remained a prosperous agrarian community, populated by Dutch, English, and enslaved African laborers who worked the surrounding farms. During the American Revolution, the Battle of Long Island swept across its fields in 1776; the village later rebuilt and flourished under the new republic.
The Flatbush Turnpike (now Flatbush Avenue), chartered in 1809, transformed the village into a key route between Brooklyn and the south shore of Long Island. By the mid-19th century, the arrival of horse-drawn trolleys and the development of nearby Prospect Park (1867–1873) began to draw urban professionals seeking suburban refuge. Grand homes rose along Ocean Avenue and Albemarle Road, while developers such as Dean Alvord and Thomas Benton Ackerson laid out planned enclaves like Prospect Park South and Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace, advertising them as “the suburban ideal within city reach.”
By 1894, Flatbush’s population had grown enough to be annexed by the City of Brooklyn, and in 1898, it entered Greater New York. The area’s transformation from village to streetcar suburb was complete, its quiet lanes giving way to avenues alive with commerce, churches, and schools.
Early–Mid 20th Century: The Golden Age of Flatbush
The early 20th century was Flatbush’s period of grandeur and consolidation. The construction of the BMT Brighton Line (Q train) and Flatbush Avenue subway (2 and 5 lines) integrated it firmly into the city’s transit grid. Developers replaced older estates with rows of prewar apartment houses, catering to upwardly mobile families seeking modern conveniences in a refined setting.
Landmarks such as the Kings Theatre (1929)—an opulent Loew’s movie palace on Flatbush Avenue—and the Sears Roebuck building (1932) signaled the district’s prosperity. Educational institutions flourished: Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn College (opened 1930), and PS 139 became pillars of civic life.
Flatbush was then a mosaic of Jewish, Italian, and Irish families. Synagogues, kosher butchers, and delis flourished along Church Avenue; Catholic parishes like St. Jerome’s and Holy Cross anchored the spiritual life of others. The streetscape, rich with Art Deco apartment façades and corner shops, reflected a neighborhood both self-contained and cosmopolitan—a “city within a city.”
Late 20th Century: Change, Challenge, and Cultural Transformation
From the 1960s through the 1980s, Flatbush—like much of Brooklyn—underwent profound demographic shifts. White flight and urban disinvestment accompanied the rise of new migration streams from the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. Immigrants from Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Haiti, and Guyana transformed Flatbush into the cultural capital of Brooklyn’s West Indian community.
While some areas struggled with economic decline and housing neglect during the city’s fiscal crisis, Flatbush’s deep housing stock and strong civic fabric prevented collapse. Homeownership remained high, block associations were active, and local churches and small businesses adapted to serve the new community. By the 1980s, Flatbush had emerged as the symbolic and geographic heart of Caribbean Brooklyn.
Church Avenue and Flatbush Avenue became bustling commercial strips filled with patty shops, record stores, roti vendors, and travel agencies. The sounds of reggae, calypso, and soca filled the air; every September, the West Indian American Day Parade—based nearby on Eastern Parkway—spilled its energy through the streets of Flatbush. Civic institutions such as the Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC, founded 1975) championed local preservation, small business support, and housing renewal.
21st Century: Revitalization and Reckoning
In the 21st century, Flatbush stands as one of Brooklyn’s most dynamic yet contested neighborhoods. Its grand housing stock, proximity to Prospect Park, and rich cultural identity have attracted renewed interest from new residents and investors. Rising rents and redevelopment along Flatbush Avenue, Parkside Avenue, and Ocean Avenue have introduced tensions between longtime Caribbean homeowners and new professional arrivals.
Yet the district’s sense of self endures. Flatbush remains an anchor of Caribbean culture, home to iconic establishments like Peppa’s Jerk Chicken, Golden Krust, and Allan’s Bakery. Historic districts such as Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, and Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace preserve the grandeur of the early suburban experiment, while landmarks like the restored Kings Theatre (reopened 2015) and the Flatbush Caton Market—dedicated to Caribbean entrepreneurship—celebrate its living traditions.
Public spaces like Parade Ground, Church Avenue Plaza, and the Flatbush Junction remain community crossroads where multiple worlds overlap: students from Brooklyn College, older West Indian residents, and younger creative professionals share the same sidewalks.
Spirit and Legacy
Flatbush’s legacy is one of continuity through transformation. It is Brooklyn’s great middle ground—neither purely urban nor suburban, neither frozen in nostalgia nor lost to reinvention. Its identity rests in the balance between history and adaptation, embodied in the enduring silhouette of Erasmus Hall’s Gothic towers, the rhythms of Caribbean drums, and the quiet pride of homeowners tending century-old porches.
New York City
Use this custom Google map to explore where every neighborhood in all five boroughs of New York City is located.
The Five Boroughs
One of New York City’s unique qualities is its organization in to 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. These boroughs are part pragmatic administrative districts, and part vestiges of the region’s past. Each borough is an entire county in New York State - in fact, Brooklyn is, officially, Kings County, while Staten Island is, officially Richmond County. But that’s not the whole story …
Initially, New York City was located on the southern tip of Manhattan (now the Financial District) that was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Across the East River, another city was rising: Brooklyn. In time, the city planners realized that unification between the rapidly rising cities would create commercial and industrial opportunities - through streamlined administration of the region.
So powerful was the pull of unification between New York and Brooklyn that three more counties were pulled into the unification: The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. And on January 1, 1898, the City of New York unified two cities and three counties into one Greater City of New York - containing the five boroughs we know today.
But because each borough developed differently and distinctly until unification, their neighborhoods likewise uniquely developed. Today, there are nearly 390 neighborhoods, each with their own histories, cultures, cuisines, and personalities - and each with residents who are fiercely proud of their corner of The Big Apple.
