Brooklyn, NY

Welcome to Brooklyn

Brooklyn, the City’s most populous borough, has a development history that began with the founding of villages by the Dutch in the 17th century. It is home to a range of residential, commercial, and industrial neighborhoods, ranging from the vernacular rowhouses of Boerum Hill to the skyscrapers of downtown Brooklyn.

The borough is the namesake of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883 and was engineered by John Roebling. The Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time it was built and served as the first physical link between the cities of Brooklyn and New York.

The borough is the site of the Coney Island Boardwalk, a 2.7 mile seaside promenade municipally owned and accessible to all, that democratized and redefined recreation in the United States. In the early 20th century, Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of 21 public libraries in the borough, with 18 still extant and maintained by the Brooklyn Public Library – the nation’s fifth-largest library system.

Brooklyn contains some of the greatest examples of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s work, including Prospect Park, Carroll Park, Fort Greene Park and Von King Park. It is also home to the City’s first historic district, Brooklyn Heights, designated in 1965 for its elegant 19th-century residential architecture and character.