Early settlement The coastal lands around Jamaica Bay, including present-day Bergen Beach, were originally settled by the
Canarsie Indians. At the time, the Native Americans referred to Bergen Island as "Winnipague" or "Winnippague". The Canarsie Indians also called the island "Wimbaco", a name meaning "fine water place". There were collectively three planting fields on Bergen Island and in
Canarsie. or
Dutch settler of
New Netherland. He lived in the Bergen House, but this is not supported by documentation. Another rumor, that the American spy
Nathan Hale was executed near or on Bergen Island, is also refuted by other evidence.
Amusement park In the late 1880s,
vaudeville theater manager
Percy G. Williams partnered with
Thomas Adams, the chewing gum magnate, to buy of marshland on Bergen Island. The island was sold to the Germania Real Estate and Improvement Company in 1892. It quickly laid out streets between Avenues T and Z, east of present-day East 70th Street. The coast of Bergen Island, and the park itself, came to be known as "Bergen Beach". The casino put on vaudeville, musical comedies and stock company productions. The Trocadero Theatre was also located on the Bergen Beach boardwalk. In March 1902, the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company offered to buy the Bergen Beach resort, but could not meet Williams's price. Separately, the frequency of trolley service was reduced since the Flatbush Avenue tracks had been damaged by a storm that winter. In April of that month, Williams announced that the resort would not open unless the BRT repaired the trolley tracks to Bergen Beach. Later the trolley service improved, since Bergen Beach was a good source of fares. In the summer of 1903 the casino staged
The Girl in Black, a popular musical-and-comedy show that ran for the whole season. The Percy Williams Amusement Park opened the next year at the Bergen Beach resort. A roller skating rink at the park opened in 1907, with a band playing in the afternoons. That year, surveyors were sent to map the settlements around Jamaica Bay as part of a project to dredge the bay for potential use. They reported that at the time, the only occupied settlements along Jamaica Bay were located at Canarsie and Bergen Beach. Piers for ferry service were constructed along Bergen Beach at Avenues V and X. Two ferry routes to Canarsie ran between 1905 and 1921, and for a short time, there was also a ferry to Rockaway Beach. also decreased the appeal of Bergen Beach.
Redevelopment After the failure of the amusement park, Bergen Beach was redeveloped. At the time, they planned to develop Bergen Beach's 3,200 lots as a residential area with an entertainment district. There would have been a beach and an amusement park similar to Williams and Adams's park. However, this plan never materialized, and by 1926, Although fourteen single-family houses were built in the 1940s, much of the neighborhood retained a rural character through the 1960s. The neighborhood had some of the most expensive houses in Brooklyn by 1972. Bergen Beach only became popular as a suburban neighborhood toward the end of the 20th century. In the 2010s, a
combined sewer overflow (CSO) facility for Paerdegat Basin was built in Bergen Beach. It was completed in August 2011.
Georgetowne A part of the neighborhood called Georgetowne, located to the north of Bergen Beach proper, was undeveloped until the 1960s, when a community of 400 two-story semi-attached colonials called Georgetowne Greens was proposed. Many of the homes would have been built on the landfilled section of the area. Around the same time, Mayor
John Lindsay sought to build a 904-unit middle-class housing development called Harbour Village in the same area. Harbour Village would be a
Mitchell-Lama development built using
modular construction. The uncertainty of whether it would be approved brought new construction on Georgetowne Greens to a halt. However, it ultimately rejected the proposal in September 1972 after public outcry by the mostly white, mostly well-off residents of nearby Bergen Beach and Mill Basin. By that point, interest in Georgetowne Greens had waned, and the project was terminated. The first houses built for the development still remain. The area was ultimately developed as the neighborhood of Georgetown, ==Community==