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1889 Map of Brooklyn

Name: 1889 Topographic Map of Brooklyn
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1889
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1889

About this map

Evergreen Cemetery and Cypress Hills stand at the border of Kings and Queens counties, marking a significant landscape of memorial grounds during a period of rapid urbanization. The western edge of this survey shows the dense grid of Brooklyn advancing toward Flatbush and Gravesend, while the Navy Yard on Wallabout Bay anchors the industrial waterfront of the East River. An extensive rail network, including the Long Island Railroad and various beach-bound lines like the Manhattan Beach Railroad, radiates from the city centers toward emerging suburbs and coastal resorts.

The southern portion of the map is dominated by the intricate wetlands of Jamaica Bay, a labyrinth of tidal marshes including Rulers Bar Hassock and Big Egg Marsh. Small maritime outposts like Canarsie Landing and Sheepshead Bay provide a window into the waterfront life of the late nineteenth century, before the massive dredging and land-reclamation projects of the following decades transformed this shoreline into its modern configuration.