Pre-colonial The Canarsee
Indians were the first inhabitants of what is now western Brooklyn. They were an autonomous band of the
Delaware (Leni Lenape) Indians. They established their villages close to the water including the higher ground near the
Wallabout Bay that they called Rinnegokonck.
18th century Commissioners of Forfeiture took hold of the land from
Joris Jansen Rapalje and sold the area of Gold Street to
Comfort and
Joshua Sands in 1784. The Sandses were planning to develop the land as a summer place for New Yorkers. They built a lot of blocks for a community that was called "Olympia" in 1787. In the late eighteenth century, John Jackson bought 100 acres around of the waterfront area near the
Wallabout Bay from Remsen estate and built there his own
shipyard. He also built houses for the shipyard workers.
19th century In the first years of the nineteenth century, Jackson sold to the United States government for the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, and then built additional housing for Navy Yard personnel. Jackson named the area in honor of the Battle of Vinegar Hill, the last battle of an Irish-English conflict, The Sands family, who had amassed a fortune as merchants and speculators, laid out their land, located west of Jackson's property, into blocks and lots for a community to be called "Olympia” as early as 1787. In the 1800s and 1810s, the area started developing faster. On one occasion, in 1869, the Army destroyed stills that were capable of churning out 250 barrels of alcohol each day—a volume worth $5,000 in unpaid taxes (). The battles between the government and the neighborhood became known as the "Whisky Wars" and left the residents of Vinegar Hill suspicious of outsiders. "The extent of the moonshine traffic was never fully known to outsiders. The whole neighborhood was a unit in defense of the
stills. While from scores of cellars the smoke of illegal and surreptitious manufacture ascended, access was not easy and proof of guilt was difficult to obtain. The peasantry of the
Wickford (sic) Mountains were never firmer in their sympathy with the makers of "potheen" than were these denizens of ancient "Irishtown." The wary intruder who passed that way had good reason to avoid suspicion of being a spy. The least intimation that he was inquisitively included would bring a rabble at his heels and insure him a cracked crown if not more grievous injuries."—
New York Times, March 18, 1894 a former apartment turned 41-seat restaurant, the first eatery to open on the block since a diner closed in the 1970s. In 2018, Cafe Gitane opened at 70 Hudson Avenue, a rustic spot with a turntable and about 10 tables. ==Demographics ==