Historic Neighborhoods of Brooklyn-Weeksville

Weeksville covered an area bounded by present-day Fulton Street on the north, East New York Avenue on the south, Ralph Avenue on the east and Troy Avenue to the west in Central Brooklyn, NY. Eleven years after slavery ended in New York State in 1838, a freeman African-American James Weeks brought a plot of land. The land was purchased from another freeman African-American Henry C. Thompson.

Weeksville rapidly became a self sufficient Black community. It was a safe sanctuary for Blacks from the south running from slavery, and free Blacks from the north trying to escape the deadly Civil War draft riots in lower Manhattan. There was a lot of bias, loathing and brutality of Manhattan Blacks. By 1850 Weeksville was the second largest known independent Black community in pre- Civil War America. Slavery was outlawed in 1827. It was recognized as a suburban community on the fringes of Brooklyn.

Weeksville was the only Black district whose inhabitants were idiosyncratic for their metropolitan rather than rustic occupations.  Weeksville was the only Black area that fused into a neighborhood of a most important American city after the Civil War. 19th century Weeksville had a soaring rate of African- American property owners. The area had more job prospect than many other northern cities.  Weeksville had its own schools, churches, an orphanage, an old age home, a variety of Black-owned businesses and one of the country’s first Black newspapers, Freedman’s Torchlight by the 1860s. Approximately 500 families headed by reverends, physicians, teachers, tradesmen and other independent inhabitants lived in the seven blocks of Weeksville by the 1900s. It was an example of African-American entrepreneurial triumph, political freedom and intellectual inventiveness. The people involved themselves in every major national endeavor in opposition to slavery and for equal rights for freed people of color, including the Black convention movement, voting rights movements, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, opposition to the Draft Riots in New York City, Freedman’s schools and African nationalism.

The community existed through the 1930s to the mid-1950s. Weeksville was almost forgotten, with lots of its buildings and institutions replaced by new roads and buildings. Four simple 19th-century wooden houses were restored to their original appearance in 1983. The houses located on a lot on Bergen Street between Buffalo and Rochester Avenues became known as the Hunterfly Road Houses.  The road called Old Hunterfly Road.  It once was a trade path used by Indians. By 1970, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Hunterfly Road Houses a landmark. One of the churches of the area is the Bethel Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church at 90 Schenectady Ave Brooklyn, NY, 11213. The Historic Berean Baptist Church was built on the land purchased on”the hill" (2 blocks from present location) known then as Carrsville later now known as Weeksville. The church was incorporated in 1850. The church was the meeting place for the Abolitionists movement, and prompted frequent meetings of mixed racial groups. The churches location on a hill made it difficult for several members. A decision was made to separate the congregation and a new church was built at Herkimer Street near Troy Avenue. Berean Baptist Church is located at 1635-49 Dr. Hylton L. James Boulevard (Bergen Street)  Brooklyn, New York 11213.

Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn, NY was built in 1866 as a home for children of impoverished freemen coming from the south. The designation was later extended to Black orphans and poor children in 1868. Its location was at Pacific Street near Ralph Avenue.  A 1910 Kings County (Brooklyn) census lists the address as 1550 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Orphanage held approximately 45 children at any given time. Hundreds of children were housed at the institution over the years. The institution was maintained by the "National Freedman's Bureau”, and African-American workers. The Orphanage was destroyed by fire in 1911.

There’s the WEEKSVILLE HERITAGE CENTER which has documents and preserves the history of the free and intentional 19th century African American community of Weeksville.  For more information on tours and programs contact: info@weeksvillesociety.org