I really cannot help you out much about the Jefferson St. stream. If a body of water once existed, it probably flowed into Newtown Creek, which initially flowed well beyond its current boundaries.

One place to access old pictures of Bushwick – and the rest of Brooklyn for that matter – is the following web page:

http://www.brooklynpix.com

There are two full pages on Bushwick in this collection – and a lot more.

Finally, I can provide you with the following information about Jefferson St. It was mapped and named in the early 19th century, when Bushwick was not yet a part of the City of Brooklyn. This is why it did not, at that time, conflict with Jefferson Ave., which, at the time of its creation – by the City of Brooklyn – did not extend beyond Broadway, which marked the Brooklyn/Bushwick boundary. Until the early twentieth century, that portion of what is now Jefferson Ave. that extended beyond Broarway was initially named John St. and then Vigelius St. before being absorbed into Jefferson Ave. While this worked on one level, it created the silly confusion of two Jefferson “streets” in one community that continues to frustrate many of the uninitiated to this day.

Hope this is helpful.

I grew up on Jefferson Street between Knickerbocker and Irving in the 1950′s and 60′s. When it comes to bushwick I heard you guys really know your stuff. Maybe you can solve this one. Forty years ago a priest from St Leonard’s told me that when construction started on the church in 1872 there was a stream flowing down the hill on Jefferson Street from Wilson Ave to Knickerbocker Ave. Could this be true? Also, where can I find 19th century photos of bushwick and where can I learn the complete history of Jefferson Street?

Thank for your help
Tony R.

zip codes are only about 50 years old.

Brooklyn Pete, I just read your previous comment re the shifting borders of Bushwick and Ridgewood. (Sorry for the delay in getting back.) The reasons for this were purely racial. As soon as Bushwick was determined to be the “minority” community, the good people of Ridgewood did everything they could to separate themselves from it. The popularly agreed upon boundary moved from as far south as Wilsom Ave, to the county border during the 60′s and 70′s. The final straw was the proposal – strongly supported by Congressional candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1978 (it go her elected!) – to separate the portions of two Bushwick postal zones – 11237 and 11227 – from Queens. In this way, Bushwick “officially” became Brooklyn and Ridgewood Queens.

Finally, Molly, I loved your article and feel really guilty for having been a party in taking the tread away from your piece. Hope to hear from you on other things very soon! Keep up the good work.

Also wtf: the WaMu @ Graham(iirc) and Grand being “Bushwick financial center” and the one at Graham by the Flushing M is “Williamsburg”.

“SoBu” is a joke on this site, it’s not a term to bring yuppies in. But it’s a gigantic neighborhood, and it is helpful to distinguish between North and South Bushwick when describing one’s neighborhood.