Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn

History

South Brooklyn was one of the sites of the sprawling Battle of Brooklyn (Battle of Long Island) in August 1776, a pivotal battle in the American Revolutionary War to famous residents of Green-Wood Cemetery. In the 19th through middle 20th centuries the economy was dominated by the working Brooklyn waterfront. During the mid-20th century, what is now Greenwood Heights was also called Bush Terminal. The name applied to what is now the Industry City complex west of Third Avenue and the Gowanus Expressway. After the area was designated a "poverty area" in 1966, the area from 36th Street to the Prospect Expressway was incorporated into Sunset Park. As early as the late 1980s, the area was called Greenwood Heights. As the gentrification of South Brooklyn accelerated in the 2000s, the area was increasingly rebranded as Greenwood Heights, or alternatively as South Slope.

Recent new real estate development, curbed with the rezoning of the area in November 2005, has brought an influx of luxury condominium apartments into a residential area that was mainly made up of 1- and 2-family homes. Post-rezoning, while new development sites have occurred, there has been a new trend of home renovations, many of them "gut renovations" but others taking neglected c. 1900 wood-frame houses and restoring them to their historical look.

Architecture

Greenwood Heights' architectural mix of wood frame, vinyl sided and brick homes gives the area an eclectic look and feel, different from its neighbors Park Slope to the north and Sunset Park to the south.

Education

The neighborhood is home to several schools. P.S. 172 and P.S. 295 serve elementary school students; M.S. 88 middle schoolers; and the Hellenic Classical Charter School pre-K to 8th grade. In 1995, Al-Noor School, a private school teaching Arabic and Islamic culture was established between 20th and 21st streets on 4th Avenue.

Transportation

The neighborhood is served by the 36th Street, 25th Street, and Prospect Avenue stations on the New York City Subway's BMT Fourth Avenue Line, served by the . The buses also serve the neighborhood.

References

References

1. "NYC Planning {{!}} Community Profiles". New York City Department of City Planning.
2. Goodloe, Kate. (May 17, 2007). "South of Park Slope, a Neighborhood Awakens". [[New York Sun]].
3. Bureau, U.S. Census. "U.S. Census website".
4. (June 18, 2019). "Sunset Park South Historic District". [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]].
5. Foderaro, Lisa W.. (March 29, 1987). "POSTINGS: TOWN HOUSES; Capitalizing On a Name".
6. Cohen, Joyce. (February 4, 2001). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Sunset Park, Brooklyn; Historic Character and Foreign Accents".
7. [[New York City Planning Commission]]: [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/060054.pdf Commission Report] {{Webarchive. link. (October 9, 2006 (October 19, 2005))
8. . ["Hellenic Classical Charter School Homepage"](https://www.hccs-nys.org/).
9. Bahrampour, Tara. (November 11, 2001). "Where Islam Meets 'Brave New World'". The New York Times.
10. {{cite NYC bus map. B