A place where stories were never meant to end

by DRM

By the begin­ning of the 20th Cen­tury, Brooklyn’s die was cast. A thriv­ing sub-metropolis, annexed to one of the great­est cities in the world, its nexus grav­i­tat­ing inex­orably to the three grand bridges that con­nect it to Manhattan.

Brook­lyn was a stag­ing point. Ships car­ried goods into its pro­tected har­bors. Pro­duce came in each day from the farms out on Long Island. Immi­grants spilled into its neigh­bor­hoods, Jews in Brook­lyn, Irish in the Heights, Ital­ians in Park Slope.

Grand sto­ries started in Brook­lyn but were never meant to end there. The hus­tle and bus­tle was meant to power pas­sage through the throngs into some other place.

The map is from 1921. The photo from around 1910.