We may be home to your favorite Brooklyn orthodontist, Dr. Khanna, but Fresh Orthodontics is interested in more than just smiles. We also consider ourselves to be history buffs particularly when it comes to our own neighborhood, Park Slope. You don’t need a DeLorean to take a trip back in time. We’ve dug around and uncovered some awesome old photos of Park Slope.
Enjoy your visual history lesson:
So this one is technically an illustration and not a photo but it’s interesting to see what the Vechte-Cortelyou House, also known as the Old Stone House, originally looked like. Here’s a view of the structure in 1699. Located on 3rd Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, what stands now is a reconstruction. The original Old Stone House was destroyed in 1897 but not after playing an important role in the 1776 Battle of Long Island in the Revolutionary War. Later it was even the clubhouse of the Brooklyn Superbas (later known as the Dodgers).
Taken in 1904, this shot shows people milling around snow-covered trees. Let’s hope we can avoid a storm like that in 2016!
Here’s postcard of Litchfield Villa dated 1926. It was built in 1854 and designed by famed architect Alexander Jackson Davis for real estate developer, railroad man and canal builder Edwin Litchfield who played a large role in Park Slope history. Eventually the building became home to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
In what became known as the “Park Slope Plane Crash” on December 16, 1960, United Flight 826 collided with Trans World Airlines Flight 266 above New York. The United Plane landed directly in Park Slope. The incident left 134 people dead, including six killed on the ground, and wreckage and debris littered the streets of the neighborhood.
This is a view of the RKO Prospect Theater at 327 9th Street in 1966. If you zoom in on the marquee you can make out the show playing: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Elizabeth Taylor. The building is now C-Town Supermarkets.
A view of 5th Avenue and Union Street in 1948. Looks quite a bit different these days.
This is how the 5th Avenue El, known as the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad, looked in 1909 at 5th Ave and 10th street. Brooklyn used to have four elevated lines and this one opened in 1889. But alas, it is no more.
Residents hang their laundry out to dry in 1946. Somehow I think the neighbors would have something to say if we tried rigging a slew of laundry lines up today.
These fellows are listening to the Dodgers vs. Giants game on the radio in 1946. The guy with the pipe looks particularly pleased. I’m guessing his team is winning.
Not much has changed with the look of Grand Army Plaza as shown here in 1946. Sidewalks were added in 2008 to make it slightly more accessible to pedestrians and now we also have the always fun Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket.
This is a view of Fort Greene Place and Atlantic Avenue in May, 1978. This was the former meatpacking district but is now home to Barclays Center.
The Triangle Sporting Goods building at 182 Flatbush Avenue occupied this odd shaped building from 1916 to 2012. It was one of the oldest establishments in the area.
