Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Park Slope and Green-Wood Cemetery to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and New York Harbor to the west. The neighborhood is named for a public park of the same name that covers between Fifth and Seventh Avenues from 41st to 44th Street. The area north of 36th Street is alternatively known as Greenwood Heights, while the section north of 20th Street is also called South Slope.

The area was initially occupied by the Canarsee band of Munsee-speaking Lenape until the first European settlement occurred in 1636. Through the late 19th century, Sunset Park was sparsely developed and was considered part of Bay Ridge or South Brooklyn. The arrival of elevated railways and the subway led to Sunset Park's development, with middle-class row houses and industrial buildings being erected in the 1890s through the 1920s. After the decline of the industrial hubs in the 1940s and 1950s, the name "Sunset Park" was given to the region north of 65th Street as part of an urban renewal initiative. Immigrant groups started moving to the neighborhood in the late 20th century due to its relative affordability. By the 21st century, the neighborhood's population is primarily composed of Scandinavian, Irish, Italian, Hispanics and Chinese immigrants along with swaths of predominantly white young urban professionals.

Sunset Park is part of Brooklyn Community District 7. It is patrolled by the 72nd Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Fire services are provided by the New York City Fire Department's Engine Company 201 and Engine Company 228/Ladder Company 114. Politically, Sunset Park is represented by the New York City Council's 38th and 39th Districts.

History

Early settlement Though modern-day Brooklyn is coextensive with Kings County, this was not always the case. South Brooklyn, an area in central Kings County extending to the former Brooklyn city line near Green-Wood Cemetery's southern border, was originally settled by the Canarsee, one of several indigenous Lenape peoples who farmed and hunted on the land. The Canarsee had several routes that crossed Brooklyn, including a path from Fulton Ferry along the East River that extended southward to Gowanus Creek, South Brooklyn (present-day Sunset Park), and Bay Ridge. The Canarsee traded with other indigenous peoples, and by the early 17th century, also with Dutch and English settlers.

The first European settlement occurred in 1636 when Willem Adriaenszen Bennett and Jacques Bentyn purchased between 28th and 60th Streets, in what is now Sunset Park. However, after the land was purchased in the 1640s by Dutch settlers who laid out their farms along the waterfront, the Canarsee were soon displaced, and had left Brooklyn by the 18th century. The area comprising modern Sunset Park was divided between two Dutch towns: Brooklyn to the northwest and New Utrecht to the southeast, divided by a boundary that ran diagonally from Seventh Avenue/60th Street to Ninth Avenue/37th Street. The Dutch created long, narrow farms in the area. When New Netherland was conveyed to the English in 1664, the latter improved the waterfront pathway in the town of Brooklyn as part of a Gowanus (Coast) Road, which ran southwest to an east–west trail called Martense's Lane, then southward to the boundary with New Utrecht. These roads would be used during the American Revolutionary War in the Battle of Long Island.

During the American Revolution, the area was mostly owned by the descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, an early immigrant from Norway. They owned two homesteads, the DeHart-Bergen House close to 37th Street and the Johannes Bergen House around 55th Street; the former was used by the British during the Revolution. In addition, the Bergens owned several slaves, as indicated in the 1800 United States census, where 19 slaves and 8 free non-whites were recorded living at the two Bergen houses. After New York abolished slavery in 1827, there were 55 African Americans living in the area. Similar to Dutch farms, the farms in modern Sunset Park occupied long, narrow plots.

19th century

Early growth and transit hub Brooklyn became urbanized in the 19th century, with many people choosing to live in Brooklyn and commute to Manhattan, and residential development started spreading outward from Brooklyn Heights. Present-day Sunset Park, several miles away from Brooklyn Heights, was still primarily agricultural in the 1830s and remained that way until the middle of the 19th century. Among the few houses in the region was the Kent Castle, a Gothic Revival villa on present-day 59th Street.

After Brooklyn was incorporated as a city in 1834, the Commissioners' Plan of 1839 was devised, a street plan that extended to South Brooklyn. What would become Sunset Park was incorporated into the Eighth Ward of the city of Brooklyn, which at the time was the city's least populous ward. Sunset Park did not have its own name until the 20th century; rather, the neighborhoods in southern Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Bath Beach, were collectively referred to as a single area. The first major development in the region was Green-Wood Cemetery, which opened in 1840 near the boundary of South Brooklyn and Bay Ridge, and quickly became popular as a tourist attraction. By 1870, the first frame row houses were constructed in the Eighth Ward, ultimately replacing the detached wooden houses in the area.

Transit to South Brooklyn started with the 1846 establishment of a ferry service to the cemetery. The Brooklyn City Railroad, founded in 1853, started offering stagecoach service from Fulton Ferry to destinations such as Bay Ridge. Afterward, several excursion railroads were built from South Brooklyn to the resort areas of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. These included the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road; the New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad; and the New York and Sea Beach Railroad. A ferry pier and railroad terminal, popular as a transfer point for those traveling to Coney Island, was built in the 1870s. The 39th Street Ferry started traveling to the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan in 1887, followed two years later by the opening of the Fifth Avenue elevated train line in the neighborhood. Following the establishment of the ferry, the Eighth Ward finally became a desirable place to live.

Increasing residential development

After the establishment of transport to the Eighth Ward, the region began to quickly develop as a residential neighborhood, with the first speculatively-developed houses being built in the mid-1880s. In 1888, landowners delivered "a petition for local improvements" to be effected upon some 7,500 lots located from Third to Ninth Avenues between 39th and 65th Streets, which were estimated to be worth about $1 million (). The landowners requested that sewers be installed, and that the streets be paved and opened. The bill was passed the next year with minor changes. By August 1890, the Brooklyn commissioners were opening several streets in South Brooklyn. This was followed by the provision of funding for water mains in October 1890, and a similar act for gas mains in 1892. South Brooklyn's development was also helped by the conversion of the Third Avenue stagecoach line to a steam-powered route. The conversion occurred in spite of several opponents, who argued that steam engines would spook horses.

Most of the initial housing stock was centered around Fourth and Fifth Avenues. Further development was hindered by the area's steep and irregular topography, which resulted in some lots being higher than the streets they were located on. This could be seen in the proposed southward expansion of the Fifth Avenue elevated, which faced elevation changes of up to 90 feet if it was to continue southward along the same elevation. This would be remedied by rerouting the elevated to Third Avenue south of 38th Street. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote in 1893 that one could "find lands that are now vacant covered with dwellings and factories, broken and uneven and uninviting paths transformed into broad avenues lined with stores and people in them. Buildings are going up with great rapidity—not singly or rarely so, but by blocks." The extension of the Fifth Avenue elevated opened to a 65th Street terminal on Third Avenue (with connections to Bay Ridge streetcar lines) on October 1, 1893.

Development in South Brooklyn continued even though the Panic of 1893 had resulted in the stoppage of nearly all developments in the rest of Brooklyn. Due to the large number of residential developments being built in South Brooklyn, in 1893 the Brooklyn city government banned the erection of wood-framed structures between Fourth and Fifth Avenues south of 39th Street. By 1895, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted, "Probably no ward in the city has been built up as rapidly as the Eighth Ward." Two-story on basement row houses were the most common building class to be erected in modern-day Sunset Park in the 1900s and 1910s due to their wide appeal, with the majority of these being two-family homes. On the avenues, row houses were built with commercial space on the ground floor, and the residential units were located above. The Eagle said in 1901 that two-family houses were "particularly attractive to people who desire comparatively small apartments, but who object to living in flats, and they appeal to this class on account of their being more quiet, and possibly, more exclusive." A notable exception to this was the group of single-family homes in central Sunset Park, though these were also easy to build.

Major projects

The growth of the Eighth Ward was helped by the development of Sunset Park, a public park initially bounded by Fifth and Seventh Avenues between 41st and 43rd Streets. The city of Brooklyn acquired the land in 1891 as part of its plan to build several parks citywide. The park would be expanded southward to 44th Street in 1904. The park was so named because its elevated location provided views of the sunset to the west. Though development of the park was precluded by its irregular topography, nevertheless it became a popular gathering place for Bay Ridge and South Brooklyn residents. Residential construction boomed in the late 19th and early 20th century amid real estate speculation initiated by the construction of the park and the Fifth Avenue elevated line. By 1909, there was significant development in the area surrounding the park, and the immediate surrounding area became known as "Sunset Park" as well.

Growth of the neighborhood also came with the development of the South Brooklyn waterfront. At the time, it was sparsely developed; there had only been one warehouse on the waterfront in 1890. The land contained an oil refinery belonging to the Bush & Denslow company of Rufus T. Bush. Standard Oil bought this refinery in the 1880s and dismantled it, but after Rufus T. Bush's death in 1890, his son Irving T. Bush bought the land back.Copley, F. B. (Oct. 1913). "Interesting People: Irving T. Bush." The American Magazine, 76 (4), p. 57-59 Irving Bush built six warehouses on the site between 1895 and 1897, but soon observed their inefficiency, and instead devised plans for Bush Terminal, a combined shipping/warehousing complex between 32nd and 51st Streets. Construction began in 1902, and was completed in stages between 1911 and 1926. It was dubbed "Bush's Folly" at the time of its construction, as people had a hard time believing it could compete with the port of Manhattan.

Early 20th century

Subway construction