This is my first geocache hide. If you want some history about Strong Place then keep reading. If you want to sign it then make sure to bring a pen.
Strong Place was the earliest settled street in the southern part of what is now Cobble Hill. It had eight residents in 1840, and its placement guided city planners in arranging the parallel and intersecting streets around it. Corporation Council notices in the Brooklyn Eagle in 1842 show that it was paved, and scheduled to have gas streetlights installed by the end of 1843. This one block, residential street is named for Selah Strong, Esq., a lawyer and politician with a pedigreed lineage. He was a descendent of the Brewster family on his mother’s side, the leaders of the Mayflower Pilgrims. He was also a descendent of Lion Gardiner, an English settler and soldier who was one of the founders of the first English settlement in New York State. Born in Brookhaven, in 1792, He graduated from Yale College in 1811, was admitted to the bar in 1814, and practiced in New York City. He served in the military during the War of 1812, later, he served in Congress, became a judge, and eventually a judge in the New York State Supreme Court. He died in 1872.
The nearby harbor, and easy access to the Fulton Ferry made Cobble Hill a perfect suburb, and Selah Strong was not the only wealthy man to have his suburban retreat here. His estate had been part of the older Cornell farm and mill, established in the mid 1700’s. His land stretched to Baltic Street, a block away from present day Strong Place, and his home was in the middle of the block that now bears his name. A Brooklyn city map from 1874 shows the border of his old estate, with the present day street grid overlaid on it. By the time the block was being developed, Mr. Strong had long moved on, to Long Island, leaving only his name to the street, and no buildings from that time period exist today.
By the 1840’s a New York broker named Charles Kelsey had acquired land on both sides of the block, building the largest house for himself. By the end of the decade, he had actually lived in three of his houses, moving as he sold homes, and built more. He also built speculative homes on other Cobble Hill blocks. Houses were built on this block until the end of the 19th century, ranging in style from the Greek Revival of the 1830’s, through the Neo-Grec style houses of the early 1880’s, to the Romanesque and Queen Anne styles of the 1890’s. The apartment buildings are from the turn of the century, when the need for middle-class multiple unit dwellings were changing the face of all of the streetscapes of Brooklyn.
Works Cited
Nonko, E. (2012, March 12). Part One: A History of the Strong Place Properties. Retrieved from Brownstoner: https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/part-one-a-history-of-the-strong-place-properties/