Fulton Ferry Historic District

Before it was extended with landfill in the mid-nineteenth century, this district was the waterfront site of the first ferry between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Dutch Governor Willem Kieft gave boater Cornelis Dircksen the first commercial ferry grant, though waterfront owners were still allowed to make crossings in their own boats. In 1704, the “Road to the Ferry” was built, providing transportation to the port for farmers as far away as eastern Long Island. During the Revolutionary War, the site was used to evacuate 9,000 of George Washington's troops overnight, after the defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn. In 1814, a steam-propelled ferry was introduced by Robert Fulton, and the street was renamed in his honor. Together with Brooklyn Heights, the area became known as “America's First Suburb” as residents could commute to Manhattan in less than 12 minutes.

The first structures built in the district were seventeenth-and eighteenth- century ferry buildings and taverns; these no longer survive. Remaining nineteenth-century buildings include Federal-style houses, as well as well-preserved commercial buildings in Italianate, Greek Revival, and Romanesque Revival styles. The chief exponent of the latter was Frank Freeman, one of Brooklyn's most eminent early architects, whose Eagle Warehouse is at 28 Cadman Plaza West. His building is the only one in the district to have been designed by a prominent architect. In the twentieth century, Fulton Street was renamed Cadman Plaza after the popular Brooklyn preacher S. Parkes Cadman, although it is still called Fulton Street where it ends at the river.

With the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, the ferry went into decline, finally closing in 1917. During the construction of the Bridge, streets in the district were widened to accommodate expected increases in traffic; however, the district remained relatively quiet. As a backwater removed from the main channels of later development, the district has retained its nineteenth-century character. In the late 1960s, it attracted a number of preservation-minded investors who renovated many of the exteriors. In 2006, water taxi service to the area brought revitalization to local shops and restaurants;ferry service continues today. ©2014