The Flatbush neighborhood began as the colonial Dutch village of Midwout (literally “Middle Woods”) in around 1652, though there were farms present as early as the 1630s. Five other towns were founded under Dutch rule in modern Kings County: Breukelen (later Brooklyn), Bushwick, Amersfoort (currently Flatlands), New Utrecht, and Gravesend. Gravesend was the only one of these Dutch colony towns that was inhabited by English-speakers. Midwout was originally a set of hapazardly-placed farms, and it was deemed indefensible with its ramshackle layout. In response to this problem, the village was rebuilt in 1665 to make it easier to defend, with land being set aside for a schoolhouse, a church, a courthouse, and a tavern. The very center of Midwout was located at the modern-day intersection of Church Avenue and Flatbush Avenue. When New Amsterdam was taken over by the English, the six towns were united under the name “Flatbush.” It is believed the name is an English translation of the Dutch words Vlaake Ros, another name for Midwout. Predictably, the Revolutionary War eventually came to Flatbush. The residents initially tried to remain neutral, but were forced into the Battle of Long Island, eventually becoming part of the United States.
In 1787, what would become the breathtaking Erasmus High School began as the private Erasmus Hall Academy, “the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Board of Regents” (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission). Erasmus would evolve with the neighborhood, undergoing several renovations and eventually becoming the public Erasmus High School in an attempt to maintain an adequate number of enrollees (Santoro).
Slavery was common in much of the United States throughout its history, and Flatbush was no exception, especially in its early days. In 1790 alone, there were only 12 free blacks in the town. The rest of the population consisted of about 300 slaves and 500 whites. That means that over a third of the population of Flatbush was enslaved in that year alone! Several of the area’s wealthy families owned slaves, including the Leffertses and the Vanderbilts. Of course, as time went on the slaveholding roots of these families became the subject of criticism, and their descendants attempted to defend their actions. Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, in particular, wrote an entire book attempting to characterize Flatbush slavery as much gentler than the Southern style of slavery, taking a paternalistic view of slavery. Historical sources do not back up Gertrude’s claims (Brooklyn Historical Society).
Flatbush began to really come into its own in the 19th century, when it was connected with other districts of the city via new stage lines. In 1830, the first stage line in the town was opened up. Throughout the mid-1800s, Flatbush began to become more modern, with multiple horse-drawn public transit lines opening up throughout the town and connecting it to the city of Brooklyn. The 1860s and 1870s saw the rise of a public gas and water supply within Flatbush. By 1873, some were considering annexing Flatbush to Brooklyn, but the residents of Flatbush firmly refused the proposition. Flatbush was eventually annexed by Brooklyn despite this in 1894, and became part of New York City when Brooklyn was made a borough of NYC in 1898. In the late 1800s, real estate developers began to erect suburban-style homes in the neighborhood, and construction of Ditmas Park began in 1902.
