Of the Brooklyn of
that time (1830–40) hardly anything remains, except the lines of the old
streets. The population was then between ten and twelve thousand. P'or a mile Fulton
street was lined with magnificent elm trees. The character of the place was
thoroughly rural. As a sample of comparative values, it may be mention'd that
twenty-five acres in what is now the most costly part of the city, bounded by
Flatbush and Fulton avenues, were then bought by Mr. Parmentier, a French emigre, for $4000. Who remembers the old places as they were?
Who remembers the old citizens of that time?
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Among the former were Smith &
Wood's, Coe Downing's, and other public houses at the ferry, the old Ferry itself,
Love lane, the Heights as then, the Wallabout with the wooden bridge, and the road
out beyond Fulton street to the old toll-gate. Among the latter were the majestic
and genial General Jeremiah Johnson, with others, Gabriel Furman, Rev. E. M.
Johnson? Alden Spooner, Mr. Pierrepont, Mr. Joralemon, Samuel Willoughby, Jonathan
Trotter, George Hall, Cyrus P. Smith, N. B. Morse, John Dikeman, Adrian Hegeman,
William Udall, and old Mr. Duflon, with his military garden.