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1891 Map of Brooklyn

Name: 1891 Topographic Map of Brooklyn
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1891
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1891

About this map

The dense urban grid of Long Island City and East New York transitions into a complex landscape of marshes and rail corridors in this late nineteenth-century survey. Extensive rail networks, including the Long Island Railroad and the New York and Rockaway Beach Railway, connect established towns like Jamaica and Flatbush to the burgeoning coastal reaches of Rockaway Beach. This era reveals a shoreline defined by intricate tidal features such as Jo Co's Marsh and Ruffle Bar, before extensive modern landfilling altered the footprint of Jamaica Bay.

Genealogists and local historians can locate large community landmarks like Evergreen Cemetery and Greenwood Cemetery, or trace the industrial waterfront near the Navy Yard on the East River. The map captures distinct neighborhoods and junctions, from Ridgewood to Ozone Park, during a period of rapid expansion when villages like Canarsie were still separated from the urban core by open land and the Aqueduct.