NOT too many of Kings County’s or any other boroughs’ town halls remain. The history of Kings County’s towns is complicated… but the $2 history is: The county’s original towns were Brooklyn (today’s downtown and stretching east and south as far as Bedford-Stuyvesant and Sunset Park), Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht (New Lots was carved out of the eastern end of the town of Flatbush in 1852), and after a series of secessions and reorganizations, Brooklyn, by then a city, managed to annex all other towns and cities in Kings County in 1896 — only to consolidate with Greater NYC in 1898. Thus, Brooklyn became synonymous with Kings County.
Probably the largest of Kings County’s town halls still standing is the Flatbush Town Hall on Snyder Avenue, but the much smaller New Lots town hall can be found at #109-111 Bradford Street between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue in East New York. When opened in December 1873, the building included office space, rooms for public assembly and a fire department, and a police headquarters and jail cells were later added.
Its tenure as a town hall was short-lived as the city of Brooklyn annexed New Lots in 1886. It served as a police precinct for a decade and then became the Bradford Hospital, serving in that capacity until 1934. After that it was divided into residences. Other than the addition of a front wall and fence and a white paint job, it doesn’t look much different than it did in 1940 and I’m glad this relic of Brooklyn’s towns has been retained. Unfortunately the Landmarks Preservation Commission has not designated it.
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10/21/24
9 comments
Wow!
For more examples of former municipal seats within NYC:
Newtown Town Hall
Jamaica Town Hall
Towns of Gravesend and New Utrecht
Town of Morrisania
Village of New Brighton
Village of Edgewater
There is also Flushing Town Hall, on Northern Boulevard
Flushing Town Hall
Sergey,
Where is the Bob Tilitz Local Library Room located?
Rather odd that it was built mid block on a quiet side street.
It’s possible in 1873 it was the only building there, and the area was built up around it.
You should have told those living there that they are part of history in living in what was once the town hall of that area.
There are commenters here who have lived in buildings featured in Forgotten NY. I talked about living in one a while ago (https://forgotten-ny.com/2013/01/willow-terrace-hoboken). Perhaps a resident in that town hall reads this site. It’s popular enough. Don’t be shy, tell us what it’s like.
Wonder if the people living there know of its history?