Dereszewski stops at Grand Street and Bushwick Avenue to talk about the the mansions that were built along Grand Street in the 1830s. — Photos by Diego Cupolo.

The afternoon sun was bright and a light breeze stretched clouds thin over the blue sky, as local historian John Dereszewski waited for his tour group to assemble on the corner of Metropolitan and Graham Avenues. He gave his notes a quick glance while curious visitors, young and old, emerged from the subway eager to start the latest installment of the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment‘s walking tours.

	Bushwick Avenue used to be “The Boulevard.” Click to see more.

The tour, “Bushwick in Williamburg; Williamsburg in Bushwick” traced the development of the borderline neighborhoods along Bushwick Avenue, covering everything from farming communities in the 1600s to present day illegally-converted loft spaces in Morgantown. Having served as board manager for Community District 4 in the late 1970s, Dereszewski is known as a gold mine for local historical information and has a more personal connection with the neighborhood than your average tour guide.

“The area around the East Williamsburg and Bushwick border is like a sedimentary rock,” Dereszewski said. “There are many layers made up from different materials and they have all come together to create the community we see today. It started with the Dutch, then German and Italian immigrants, and now we have a large Hispanic population and each group left their own distinct marks and architecture in the neighborhood.”

The busy corner of Metropolitan and Bushwick Avenues was the first stop on the tour. It was here that the original Dutch settlement called “Boswijck” (meaning “little town in the woods”) was founded in 1660. Dereszewski gave us an overview of the village’s early days.

Bushwick’s population did not exceed 1000 until just before 1800 and Williamsburg was also developing slowly as a suburb of Manhattan — but everything changed upon the completion of the Erie Canal in 1820. Williamsburg’s population exploded as the commercial and industrial community expanded in the area, creating new jobs, developing more land and, eventually, closing the gap between the two neighborhoods while Bushwick’s population remained stagnant.

Once Bushwick and Williamsburg joined Brooklyn as the Eastern District, Williamsburg continued to grow, forcing Bushwick’s original settlers to gravitate south of Flushing Avenue into present day Bushwick. In making this journey, Dereszewski said the settlers traveled down Bushwick Avenue turning a twisting country road into a major thoroughfare.

After the primer, we walked south on Bushwick Avenue, occasionally deviating to parallel streets and making stops in historically significant areas. Equipped with a head-set microphone and fanny pack speaker system, Dereszewski led the group deeper into Bushwick, staying calm when the occasional pedestrian yelled at the tour group and mischievous adolescents threw pebbles at us from the roofs of the Williamsburg Houses.

He simply ignored distractions and we kept on learning.

The Williamsburg Houses were the first major housing projects in the nation and the setting for much of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” The complex was built in 1936 in response to heavy overcrowding in the area and its design still receives praise for its Modernist design.

Dereszewski then took us to Jennings Hall, a former nurse’s residence of St. Catherine’s Hospital which is currently being used for senior housing on the corner of Powers Street and Bushwick Avenue. The building stands on the site of former Brooklyn Mayor Martin Kalbfleisch’s mansion, a wealthy chemical factory owner who would eventually serve in US Congress from 1863-1865.

Other points of interest were the Hittleman’s Brewery on Bushwick Place, known for its “Goldenrod Ale” and a good representation of the typical family-owned operation in the area. The brewery is also right next the site of the Bushwick LIRR Branch station that was demolished in 2003. The station provided passenger service until the 1920s when it was converted to freight operations to service the area’s industrial complexes.

As the tour wound down, we walked along Bogart Street to learn about the expanding arts community around the Morgan Avenue L stop and thriving business establishments in a once desolate industrial area.

“Back in the seventies I would tell people to avoid this stop even in the day time,” Dereszewski said.

By 3:30 p.m., a thick covering of clouds blocked out the sun and the wind signaled rain was on its way. In his closing statements, Dereszewski pondered the future impacts of the arts community, wondering how Bushwick would keep evolving.

He left the tour group with a simple question: “What’s next for Bushwick?”