From the Brooklyn Aerie for Dec. 11, 2012

December 11, 2012 David Ansel Weiss Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Did you know that Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights was not an official New York City street until the 1930s, when it was discovered to have been privately owned for the previous two centuries by the Pierrepont family?

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There have been three USS Brooklyn warships. The last one, a light cruiser, after being decommissioned in the 1950s, was given to the government of Chile as part of a trade agreement.

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Although many people questioned whether Steve Brodie really jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, Brodie refused to repeat the act. ” I did onest,” he said. “That’s enough.”

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Henry Ward Beecher had a special method for quieting his nerves. He always carried in his pocket a number of uncut jewels, and when he felt uneasy he reached in and stroked the jewels as a means of comfort.

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A the turn of the last century when Coney Island had three big amusement parks— Steeplechase Park, Dreamland and Luna Park — their lights at night were so bright that supposedly they could be seen on the ocean as much as 30 miles away.

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Although Theodore Roosevelt is not buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, three members of his immediate family are, i.e., his father, his mother, and his first wife.

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Brooklyn’s elite Crescent Athletic Club started out with a group of Yale alumni who played football in Prospect Park at the end of the 19th century.

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It is estimated that one-tenth of all the electric power used in New York City ends up being used by the subway system.

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The reason that Loews Kings Theatre in Flatbush was called a “Wonder” theater was not because of its lavish furnishings and special features — it had seats with hearing aids for the hard-of-hearing, a basketball court in the basement for the ushers to play on, and a ladies’ lunchroom — but because it was one of five Loews theaters in the metropolitan area to have a Wurlitzer “Wonder” organ.

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There are dozens of brand name consumer products we use today that had their beginnings in Brooklyn. Among them are Bon Ami Powder, Corning Glass, Higgins India Ink, Chiclets, Vaseline, Royal Baking Powder and Ex-Lax, to name a few.