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1956 Map of Brooklyn

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Brooklyn
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1958
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1958

About this map

The dense urban grid of Brooklyn and western Queens is captured in detail during the mid-1950s, a period of massive post-war infrastructure. The map illustrates the complex transit network crossing the East River, from the classic Brooklyn Bridge to the subterranean Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal RR. Massive industrial and institutional footprints dominate the waterfront, notably the U S Naval Reservation New York Shipyard at Wallabout Bay.

Neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Flatbush are depicted as fully developed residential blocks punctuated by dozens of parish schools and hospitals. Large green spaces such as Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery provide the only significant relief from the pavement. To the east, the sprawling Calvary Cemetery and The Evergreens Cemetery mark the borderlands between the two boroughs, while the newly established United Nations Headquarters stands on the Manhattan shore.