1776 Revolutionary War Battle
Is Recalled as Festivities Abound
By Matthew Goldberg
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
YE OLDE BROOKLYN — The hearth outside the Old Stone House was burning with sweet ember on this, the third day of December 2008, as Borough President Marty Markowitz and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky dedicated the new Washington Park, formerly J.J. Byrne Park.
A large and festive crowd assembled around the bend from the old house by the new skate park on this brisk and sunny afternoon, as Revolutionary-era music piped from the loudspeakers.
Adrian Benepe, commissioner of the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, who called himself an “interloper for the 21st century,” began the proceedings. Benepe introduced students from P.S. 321 who recited the Pledge of Allegiance while he, Markowitz and most of the adults in attendance tried their best to remember the words.
Barnet Schecter, local historian and author of The Battle of New York, was first to speak, touching on the oft-overlooked historical significance of the site.
“Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Brooklyn, took place here.” This was the very first battle in U.S. history, as the British sent out “their largest expeditionary force ever … to fight this largest city in America” — Brooklyn. This battle saw “the fighting spirit of America … an army that [the British] were never able to crush.”
Washington and his compatriots “threw themselves against the enemy here,” gathering at the Old Stone House before tactfully retreating across Gowanus Creek (Gowanus Canal’s former moniker) to their strongholds in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene.
They Lost the Battle,
But Won the War
It was here that the American revolutionaries effectively lost the battle, but would go on to win the war. He said he hopes the rededication of this park will “revive New York’s proud Revolutionary War heritage.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the first phrase of the park’s renovations, while also breaking ground on the second phase, a project implemented by Boymelgreen Developers.
The reconstruction includes a new skate park, two new basketball courts, six handball courts, a new dog run, new fencing, gates, pavement and landscaping. The project was aided by $2 million in “non-taxpayer-funding,” in addition to other civic contributions, said Benepe.
Joseph McCarthy, former chairman of the board of the Old Stone House, said this project gained momentum just after 9/11, in 2002. It started simply with a proposal for how to revitalize the park over the years, “and when the funds were [finally] available, the plans fell into place.”
In addition to the aforementioned amenities, McCarthy said, the new plans are to expand the front of the house’s “presence in the park.” They plan to open the park’s entrance at the corners, thereby making the house’s façade more viewable. And this, combined with new landscaping, will provide for “a much more multi-purpose park.”
Maggie Webber, education director at the Old Stone House, was dressed in period costume as “Frau Vechte,” playing up her role as maiden of the house, who had come out above ground after “hiding in the basement from the [British] troops” to take part in the dedication ceremonies, she said.
The Vechte farmhouse, from which the Old Stone House was later reconstructed, was built in 1699. The house was purchased by the Cortelyou family in 1797, later passing through Edwin Litchfield’s hands, before becoming the first incarnation of Washington Park in 1883. And it was here that some of Brooklyn’s first professional baseball took place.
As reported on the blog, Brooklyn Before Now, this first Washington Park was home to “Charles H. Byrne’s professional baseball team, known alternately as the Atlantics, the Brooklyn Grays, the Bridegrooms, and ultimately, the [Trolley] Dodgers, after they were bought by Charles Ebbets.” Ebbets had bought the team in 1898, and moved his Dodgers to Ebbets Field in Flatbush in 1913.
Markowitz, who today was introduced as the “Abraham Lincoln of Brooklyn,” expressed the camaraderie he felt for J.J. Byrne, for whom, after the baseball and until this week, the park was named. He conceded that borough presidents “don’t get much respect these days.” And Byrne, he felt, would understand the renaming of what was his park in honor of George Washington as “appropriate.”
Byrne, who “rocked and rolled,” through the years of his borough presidency from 1926 until his death in 1930, according to Markowitz, will still keep his name once the third phase of construction, the J.J. Byrne Playground, is completed.
The event was organized chiefly by Kim Maier, executive director of the Old Stone House; and Marty Maher, chief of staff to the borough commissioner of the Parks Dept, who was dressed in period garb as “Colonel Marty.”
Maier said that while everyone has “talked a lot about the big history” of the site, all of the civic efforts begun by Ebbets and Byrne should hardly be overlooked. The 1970s and ’80s were also a period of renewed interest in looking back and revitalizing parks and public spaces across the city.
Julius Spiegel, borough commissioner of Brooklyn for the Parks Dept., who played the role of George Washington, irreverently referred to his “newfound respect for our forefathers” by expressing “how painful it his to wear these boots.” And Nathanael Greene, Gen. Washington’s right-hand man, was portrayed by Kevin Jeffrey, deputy commissioner of public programs for the Parks Dept.
The program began with the speeches, before shifting over to the skateboard ramp where, with all of the dignitaries holding up the dedication flag at either side, Brooklyn teenager Justin Wilson, of Boy Scout Troop 237 in Windsor Terrace, burst through the flag on his skateboard to uproarious applause.
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© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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