Colonial period In the 16th century, western
Long Island was inhabited by the
Canarsee people, who called it Sewanhacka. The Canarsee and related
Lenape tribes lived semi-nomadic lives, moving seasonally to follow food sources. Their crisscrossing trails through the area formed some of the early roads for the modern region. One of their primary settlements was located roughly at the current intersection of
Flatbush Avenue and
Kings Highway, named Keskachane or "council fire".
Henry Hudson is reported to have landed on the island in 1609. Hudson was an Englishman working for the Dutch East India Company, and the Dutch established trading posts and settlements in their new colony of
Nieuw Nederland thereafter, buying up land from the Canarsee (who did not share the Dutch's view of property rights, viewing the sales not as final but essentially leases.) One of the Dutch settlements was Midwout (alternatively
Midwoud or
Medwoud,) Dutch for "middle wood". Midwout was established inland, in a forested area bounded by hills to the north and flat open spaces to the south, which had been managed by the natives for cultivation and game purposes. The geography was created by the ancient glacier that once covered the area, leaving behind as it retreated the hills of the
terminal moraine and a large outwash plain beyond. Midwout was settled between 1630 and 1636, and received a patent of township by 1652. In the following years it would also be known as Vlachte Bos or Flackebos ("wooded plain"), and the various names and spellings of the town were used interchangeably for nearly a century. A church was built in 1654, replaced by another structure in 1698. The early settlement was enclosed by a palisade wall for protection. By 1658, it was the location of the courts and seat of Justice for the county. There were records of schoolmasters in the town from 1659. The north end of Midwout was called Steenraap, the main business center the Dorp, and the south end Rustenburgh or resting-place. Among the early colonists in Midwout who would rise to prominence was Leffert Pietersen Van Haughwout. Van Haughwout's family, later known as the Lefferts, would build a homestead in the 1680s in the north of town, now part of
Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Other Dutch families would ultimately lend their names to the streets of the modern city. The Dutch character of Flatbush remained despite the English takeover; Dutch landowners continued to exert political control, and Dutch remained the dominant language until the latter part of the 18th century. Marriage outside of Dutch social circles was discouraged, which helped retain Dutch culture and kept the inhabitants "clannish", in the words of one historian. Early Dutch settlement of the area had focused on farming, which proved lucrative as nearby
New York City grew. The need for labor spurred the importation of African slaves, making New York one of the largest slaveholding regions in the northern English colonies. Dutch slavery was less rigid and repressive than that of the
Southern Colonies, but as the English assumed control of the region, harsher legal codes came into effect. The slave population swelled through the 18th century. In 1738, 29% of Flatbush's recorded population of 539 were slaves, jumping to 41% by 1790. The enslaved labor pool was also supplemented by
indentured servants from the British Isles or Germany. During the
American Revolution (1775–1783), Flatbush demonstrated conflicting loyalties to either the loyalist or patriot causes. Patriot troops burned houses and farmland early in war to deny the British the resources. Landowners in Brooklyn were concerned that a full conflict between the Colonies and the British would result in loss of their critical source of slave labor. Parts of the
Battle of Long Island took place in Flatbush; the patriots checked the British advance north at what is now known as
Battle Pass, until they were surprised by a flanking attack. The town of Flatbush was occupied by the British for seven years, with British troops and American prisoners of war billeted in area homes. Some Flatbush residents maintained their loyalist sympathies: the King's Arms, for example, appeared in the town's inn for a half-century after the conclusion of the conflict. For several decades after the Revolution, New York merchants and farmers continued to engage in the slave trade. The Gradual Emancipation Law of 1799 emancipated people of African descent born after July 4, 1799. Men and women escaping enslavement often went to Manhattan, where they could live within the community of free blacks. Slavery was fully abolished in 1827, though many former slaves continued to work as sharecroppers under their former owners.
19th century and Prospect Park. Into the 19th century, Flatbush remained a slow-growing farming community. It remained isolated from the growing Brooklyn by open country.
Prospect Park was developed from land partially in Flatbush, though it was wholly claimed by Brooklyn. The
Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway, established 1878, connected Flatbush to the pleasure spots at
Coney Island and the Atlantic Coast to the south, and downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan to the north. Towards the end of the century, the land was worth more if used for real estate than farming, and large landowners began selling off plots. These formed Lefferts Manor, containing possibly the neighborhood's earliest
row houses. Much of the development focused on the areas immediately south and east of Prospect Park, with the farther-flung areas remaining mostly rural and dotted with wood-framed houses. Amid the construction of houses and the infrastructure to support them, Flatbush's population tripled in the decades before 1900. In the face of increasing urbanization, some community leaders wished for Flatbush and the outlying Kings County towns to retain their rural character. Resident and amateur historian Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, writing in 1881, correctly predicted a coming merger with Brooklyn, and lamented that the Dutch character of the town was gone. The only remaining signs of its presence to her were "the reminiscences and traditions, while the old family names mark the localities still, as the projecting peaks mark the submerged rock." In 1894, Flatbush was successfully annexed into Brooklyn. A reception hosting Brooklyn mayor
Charles A. Schieren was held at the Midwood Club House, where Schieren called the former town "the prettiest and most fascinating suburban village of Kings County." Brooklyn itself was merged into New York City in 1898, a move opposed by many in Brooklyn and passed by just 277 votes.
20th century In the early 20th century, Flatbush changed even more rapidly as further transit improvements spurred additional development. with another developing at the intersection of Flatbush, Avenue H, and Nostrand Avenue, known as the Junction. Flatbush nurtured a socioeconomically diverse population of
Irish Americans,
Italian Americans and
American Jews; according to anthropologist Ansley Hamid, occupants ranged from "merchants [and] professionals" to "skilled [and] manual laborers." By 1930, one-third of Flatbush's residents were Jewish. which helped build
Brooklyn College in 1935. During
World War II the "soldier from Flatbush" became a symbol of the All-American soldier. After the war, Flatbush saw demographic shifts along with the rest of the city. Owners and renters from the interwar years aged, and their children moved out of the neighborhood; from 1950 to 1960 children under six in Flatbush dropped 14 percent, while the number of seniors over 65 rose 42 percent. In the 1960s, poorer African Americans and Puerto Ricans began moving into the corridor along
Nostrand Avenue, where the subway offered access to job opportunities, while middle-class African Americans bought up row houses to the west.
Blockbusting encouraged white residents to sell and leave the neighborhood, and properties fell into disrepair while crime increased. The population of the neighborhood shifted from 89% white in 1970 to 30% white in a decade. The white and Jewish residents were replaced by Hispanic, Asian, and black ones, and the commercial properties shifted to reflect the change. A number of stores on Flatbush and Church Avenues fell victim to looting during the
1977 blackout. Tenants rights organizations and neighborhood associations formed to fight back against the neighborhood's decay. The Flatbush Development Corporation, one of a number of
community development corporations that formed in poorer areas of the country starting in the late 1960s, sought to revitalize the community. The FDC investigated bad landlords and agitated for loans to developers willing to refurbish old buildings. Other groups worked to protect threatened buildings and neighborhoods as
historic landmarks. In the 1980s, families and young couples priced out of areas like
Park Slope and looking for cheaper real estate moved into the homes in the historic areas. Owners in the
Prospect Park South neighborhood hired private security to patrol the neighborhood. Residents lobbied commercial business to return to the area. Local merchants, the city, and the Flatbush Development Corporation worked to revitalize the neighborhood's commercial core. The Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District was founded in 1990, and by 1996 included 195 merchants on the stretch of road between Parkside Avenue and Cortelyou Road.
21st century banner at
Beverly Road Station in Flatbush In the 2000s, Flatbush began to shed its poor reputation, and residents came to the area for its cheaper prices, attractive housing stock, and retail. The demographics of the neighborhood continued to shift; new Jewish residents from Syria arrived alongside Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Russians, and Chinese. The Muslim community was hit hard in the aftermath of the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; an estimated 20,000 residents left voluntarily or otherwise after immigration crackdowns. Recognizing the changed makeup of the eastern part of the neighborhood, the city designated two areas "
Little Caribbean" and "
Little Haiti" in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Little Haiti is bounded by Church and Brooklyn Avenues to the west, East 16th Street to the north, Avenue H and Parkside Avenue to the south, and East 16th Street to the east. The
Times featured the neighborhood in 2016 as one of four in the city where real estate was expected to take off, as buyers looked for more affordable options. Flatbush was disparately impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic compared to higher-income parts of the city. As housing prices have increased, the neighborhood's predominantly black population has begun to shrink. The neighborhood continues to face issues as a lower-income neighborhood compared to the city, with a 2016
WNYC reporting finding the neighborhood was disproportionately the target of
Vision Zero traffic safety enforcement compared to whiter neighborhoods like
Williamsburg and
Greenpoint. A 2023
Gothamist analysis of 311 data revealed the neighborhood was one of the largest problem areas in the city for illegal waste dumping. Little remains of the original Flatbush village and its surroundings. The 18th-century
Lefferts family house, which resided in Flatbush, was moved in 1918 from its original location to Prospect Park along Flatbush Avenue. Other historic houses nearby include the
Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead, built 1766, and the
Wyckoff House, built on Twiller's Flats. A marker in Prospect Park marks the site of Battle Pass. The
Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church remains at the historic center of Flatbush at Church and Flatbush Avenues. ==Geographic boundaries==