Image Credit: NYPL.

This 1939 photo , taken at the corner of St. Edwards Street and Auburn Place, captures so much Fort Greene history.  Seen on the left is a three-story building that houses an Italian bakery on the ground floor.  This building, along with hundreds of others, were demolished around 1940 to clear way for the new Fort Greene Houses.  The housing development, built by the City, was the largest of its kind at the time it was planned, spanning close to 40 acres and housing 13,000 residents.

A few buildings were spared from the wrecking ball however, including the two seen in these photograph: P.S. 67 and the Walt Whitman Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

This photo captures P.S. 67 just prior to the addition of its south wing, which still stands today.  The school today is named after Charles A. Dorsey, a former principal who served the school for more than 30 years and oversaw its integration into Brooklyn’s desegregated public school system in the 1890s.  Prior to desegregation, the school only served Black students and was named Colored School No. 1, as it was the first public school for Brooklyn’s Black children when it opened in 1827.

The Walt Whitman library opened in 1908 and was funded by a grant from Andrew Carnegie, whose philanthropy built hundreds of “Carnegie” libraries across the country.  Originally, the library opened as the City Park Branch but later changed it’s name to Walt Whitman in 1943, to honor the local poet’s 125th birthday.  The library is still open today and offers a wide range of services to the community.

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