Flatlands, Brooklyn



Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.

One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island (given the right to local rule by Peter Stuyvesant in 1661), the neighborhood was originally known as 'Nieuw Amersfoort', after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to "Flatlands" after the British captured the area (future Kings County) from the Dutch in 1664. The area may have been settled by French Walloons as early as 1623 and by native Lenape Native Americans long before.

Flatlands was originally a farming community where tobacco, corn, squash, and beans were grown and oysters and clams were harvested from Jamaica Bay.

The neighborhood borders are roughly Flatlands Avenue to the north, Avenue U to the south, Ralph Avenue to the east and Flatbush Avenue to the west. (Some sources say Avenue H, Avenue T, Ralph Avenue and Nostrand Avenue -- again, N/S/E/W.)

Flatlands is one of the few Brooklyn neighborhoods not served by many subway lines; those that do serve it are the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line at "The Junction" of Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues and the BMT Brighton Line  (reached by city buses). Local city bus lines serve the neighborhood, and for a premium fare the BM1 express bus goes to and from Manhattan via Veterans Avenue, Ralph Avenue, Avenue K and streets outside Flatlands.

According to the 2000 census, the combined population of Flatlands and Canarsie is 194,653 (total Brooklyn residents: about 2,465,286).

There are several historical structures in Flatlands, including the Hendrick I. Lott House (East 36th Street between Fillmore Ave and Avenue S, built around 1720), which was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Flatlands Reformed Church on Kings Highway east of Flatbush Avenue.

Flatlands is also home to the Gemini Lounge, which Roy DeMeo of the Gambino Mafia Family frequented during the late 1970s - early 1980s. However, today the Gemini is a church.

The Town of Flatlands was the largest annexation by the City of Brooklyn, annexed in 1896 as Brooklyn's 32nd Ward and completing Brooklyn's expansion to become coterminous with Kings County.

Notable residents
Chris Mullin, former NBA basketball player, was born and raised in Flatlands.