Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally the section from Flatbush Ave. to Garfield St. (the “name streets”) are considered the North Slope, 1st St. through 9th Street is considered the “Center Slope” and 10th St. through the Prospect Expressway is the “South Slope.”[2][3][4] The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Seventh Avenue and Fifth Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east-west side streets are populated by many historic brownstones.

Park Slope features historic buildings, top-rated restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as proximity to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Central Library (as well as the Park Slope branch) of the Brooklyn Public Library system.[5]
The neighborhood had a population of about 62,200 as of the 2000 census,[6] resulting in a population density of approximately 68,000/square mile, or approximately 26,000/square kilometer.
Park Slope is considered one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods. In 2010, it was ranked number 1 in New York by New York Magazine citing its quality public schools, dining, nightlife, shopping, access to public transit, green space, quality housing, safety, and creative capital, among other aspects.[7]

It was named one of the “Greatest Neighborhoods in America” by the American Planning Association in 2007, “for its architectural and historical features and its diverse mix of residents and businesses, all of which are supported and preserved by its active and involved citizenry.” [8]

In December 2006, Natural Home magazine named Park Slope one of America’s ten best neighborhoods based on criteria including parks, green spaces and neighborhood gathering spaces; farmer’s markets and community gardens; public transportation and locally-owned businesses; and environmental and social policy.[9] Park Slope is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6.

History

Early history

The area that today comprises the neighborhood of Park Slope was first inhabited by the Native Americans of the Lenape people. The Dutch colonized the area by the 17th century and farmed the region for more than 200 years. During the American Revolutionary War on August 27, 1776, the Park Slope area served as the backdrop for the beginning of the Battle of Long Island, also called the Battle of Brooklyn. The American Soldiers were set up on 14th street. In this battle, over 10,000 British Redcoats and Hessians routed outnumbered American forces at Battle Pass. What appeared as a major defeat for the Continentals was actually the first of many of Washington’s tactical retreats. The historic site of Battle Pass is now preserved in Prospect Park, and on Fifth Avenue there is a reconstruction of the stone farmhouse where a countercharge covered the American retreat.

19th-century development

In 1814, ferry service from the nearby Brooklyn Terminal linked the South Brooklyn region to Manhattan. By the 1850s, a local lawyer and railroad developer named Edwin Clarke Litchfield (1815–1885) purchased large tracts of what was then farmland. Through the American Civil War era, he sold off much of his land to residential developers. During the 1860s, the City of Brooklyn purchased his estate and adjoining property to complete the West Drive and the southern portion of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park.[10]

Park Slope’s bucolic period ended soon after. By the late 1870s, with horse-drawn rail cars running to the park and the ferry, bringing many rich New Yorkers in the process, urban sprawl dramatically changed the neighborhood into a streetcar suburb. Many of the large Victorian mansions on Prospect Park West, known as the Gold Coast, were built in the 1880s and 1890s to take advantage of the beautiful park views. Today, many of these buildings are preserved within the 24-block Park Slope Historic District, one of New York’s largest landmarked neighborhoods. By 1883, with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, Park Slope continued to boom and subsequent brick and brownstone structures pushed the neighborhood’s borders farther. The 1890 census showed Park Slope to be the richest community in the United States.

In 1892, President Grover Cleveland presided over the unveiling of The Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza, a notable Park Slope landmark. The Park Slope Armory was completed in 1893.

The Old Stone House is a 1930 reconstruction of the Vechte-Cortelyou House which was destroyed in 1897. It is located on Third Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, beside the former Gowanus Creek.

Baseball history

Baseball has played a prominent role in the history of the Park Slope area. From 1879-1889, the Brooklyn Atlantics (later to become the Dodgers) played at Washington Park on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. When the park was destroyed by a fire, the team moved to their part-time home in Ridgewood, Queens and then to a park in East New York. In 1898, the “New” Washington Park was built between Third and Fourth Avenues and between First and Third Streets near the Gowanus Canal. The team, by this point known as the Dodgers, played to an ever-growing fan base at this location. By the end of the 1912 season, it was clear that the team had outgrown the field, and the neighborhood. Team owner Charles Ebbets moved the team to his Ebbets Field stadium in Flatbush for the beginning of the 1913 season.[11] The team went on to have historic crosstown rivalries with both the New York Giants and New York Yankees.

Crash of United Flight 826

Main article: 1960 New York air disaster

On December 16, 1960, two airliners collided above Staten Island, killing 135 people in what was the worst U.S. aviation disaster to date. One of the airplanes, a Douglas DC-8 operating as United Airlines Flight 826, was able to stay airborne for a few miles before crashing near the corner of Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue,[12] destroying several buildings. Almost everyone on board was instantly killed, except for one 11-year-old boy who survived the night before succumbing to his injuries.

Blight, Renewal and Gentrification

Through the 1950s, Park Slope saw its decline as a result of suburban sprawl and declining local industries. Many of the wealthy and middle-class families fled for the suburban life and Park Slope became a rougher, more working class neighborhood. It was mostly Italian and Irish in the 1950s and 1960s, though this changed in the 1960s and 1970s as the black and Latino population of the Slope increased and many of the Italian and Irish population began to relocate.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, hippies and artists began to buy and renovate brownstones, often converting them from rooming house into single and two-family homes, as Park Slope native and long-time New York journalist Pete Hammill recalled in a 2008 article [1] for New York magazine.[13] Preservationists helped secure landmark status for many of the neighborhood’s blocks of historic row houses, brownstone, and Queen Anne, Renaissance Revival, and Romanesque mansions. After the 1973 creation of the landmark district, primarily above 7th Avenue, gentrification began to take off. Throughout the 1970s the blocks above 7th Avenue (closer to the Park) and increasingly below 7th Ave, as well, saw an influx of young professional couples and lesbians.[citation needed] This trend accelerated during the 1980s and 1990s as working class families were generally replaced by upper middle-class people being priced out of Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights. The Park Slope Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[14]

Since the mid-1990s younger, childless professionals who in previous decades would most likely have lived in Manhattan have been moving to the neighborhood in ever-increasing numbers. Gentrification has also overflowed even into the surrounding areas, such as Prospect Heights to the north and Windsor Terrace to the southeast. The influx of these new upper middle class residents have made Park Slope one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Brooklyn.[15]

A 2001 report by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board found that from 1990 to 1999, rents in Park Slope increased by 3.5-4.4% per year, depending on what kind of building the apartment was in.[16] The explosion of property values inspired real estate agents to be increasingly generous about the borders of Park Slope, not unlike the rebranding that expanded Fort Greene into Bedford-Stuyvesant; South Slope, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Gowanus, Greenwood Heights, and Boerum Hill all became to some extent part of greater Park Slope.
The negative impact, however, of gentrification is the displacement of the population that settled here in the 1980s. As the more affluent began to move into Park Slope, the rising rents made it difficult for low-income residents to stay. Thanks to rent stabilization and the “cachet” of specific addresses, it is not uncommon to find those same early immigrants who moved into the neighborhood living adjacent to later renters paying two to three times higher rent.

The commercial impacts of the renewal can also be seen along the popular Fifth Avenue stretch, where numerous banks and bars have replaced old neighborhood staples such as the Salvation Army and once popular dollar stores. Similarly, on Seventh Avenue, many small family-owned bookstores and coffee shops saw a reduction in clientele when Barnes & Noble and Starbucks appeared in the neighborhood. While renewal and the ensuing rush of brand name stores normally signal a driving down of prices, in some industries such as food services, prices have gone up.

Transportation

The neighborhood is well served by the New York City Subway. Several lines have stops in Park Slope. The IND Culver Line (F G trains) run along 9th Street, a main shopping street, stopping at Fourth Avenue, Seventh Avenue and 15th Street – Prospect Park/Prospect Park West. The IRT Eastern Parkway Line (2 3 4 5 trains) runs under Flatbush Avenue with an express stop at Atlantic Avenue, and local stops at Bergen Street and Grand Army Plaza. The BMT Fourth Avenue Line (D N R trains) makes stops at Prospect Avenue, Ninth Street, Union Street and Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street. The BMT Brighton Line (B Q trains) also passes through the neighborhood under Flatbush Avenue making stops at Atlantic Avenue and Seventh Avenue. All three stations at Atlantic Avenue are connected with passageways to allow free transfers between the numerous subway services there.

Community institutions

• Park Slope Food Co-op on Union Street has approximately 15,000 members from Park Slope and other neighborhoods. Only members may shop there and membership requires a work commitment of 2 3/4 hours every four weeks.
• Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides emergency medical services to community members regardless of ability to pay.
• The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, part of the Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music, is a community music school, offering music classes, ensembles and choral opportunities, and individual instrumental and vocal lessons to students from 18 months old to adults. It was founded in 1897.

Religious institutions

Park Slope is home to a wide variety of religious institutions, or houses of worship, including many churches and synagogues. Most are historic buildings, and date back many decades. Park Slope is home to the largest Reform Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn, Beth Elohim, which is also the longest running congregation.

There is a significant Jewish population in Park Slope, allowing for a number of synagogues along the religious spectrum. In addition, there are a few congregations that meet less regularly, and have house of worship of their own. In addition to a number of synagogues, there is an Eruv, sponsored by Congregation B’nai Jacob,

Boerum Hill Cobble Hill Columbia Street Waterfront District Gowanus Park Slope Red Hook Sunset Park Windsor Terrace