DURING summer 2026, I walked the length of a number of roads around town. Caton Avenue in Brooklyn was one. I have been familiar with Caton Avenue from way back because the B16 bus, which originated on 86th Street in Bay Ridge, used Caton Avenue to get to its terminal in the 1960s at Ocean and Woodruff Avenues. One parent or another, gauging my burgeoning interest in NYC infrastructure, used to accompany me on bus rides to Prospect Park, Coney Island, or even Flatbush, so the B16 was a frequent route. In later years the MTA realized they may as well take the route past Prospect Park itself, so they ran the bus up Ocean Avenue to Flatbush to connect with the Prospect Park Q train station (which it also does at Parkside Avenue). Sometimes, back then, if the weather was good, we’d walk around to Prospect Park but also to Flatbush and Caton, where there was a huge candy store. My dentist made a lot of $$$ from me, filling cavities. But both my parents were wearing dentures by their 50s as well! (I have worn a partial for maybe a decade now.)
Even back then, as a kid, I thought Caton, pronounced CAY-ton, was an unusual name for a street. In fact it’s NYC’s only road of any kind named Caton, except for nearby Caton Place. From my perusal of USA street maps that began in 1971, I am aware there’s a fairly lengthy Caton Avenue in Baltimore, as well. If you look at a map, Caton Avenue is part of a strange little pocket of streets south of Prospect Park and west of Ocean Avenue: Caton, Crooke, Woodruff, that have nothing to do with Flatbush to the east or Windsor terrace to the west. As with many local street names, they have the names of landholding families from long ago.
In this case Caton Avenue honors Susan Martense Caton, whose father Joris Martense’s family is honored with a Flatbush Street further south. Her daughter Margaret Caton, married Philip Crooke. Meanwhile, Republican Party leader Timothy Woodruff (1858-1913) (see his portrait here) served as Kings County Parks Commissioner, and as lieutenant governor under Teddy Roosevelt. According to some reports, his foppishness worked against him when seeking higher office. (Info: “Brooklyn By Name,” Benardo and Weiss)
Pictured is Caton Avenue and Stratford Road, which stands in for East 11th Street. Developers of properties south of Prospect Park gave streets British place names to impart a sense of sophistication.
I’ll eventually get around to a whole page on Caton and a bit of Linden Boulevard, which it turns into further east.
Check out the ForgottenBook (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013). I also have a chapter in the anthology “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg” (Reaktion, 2007). As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
10/19/26