Neighborhood names are always changing. The area known today as Crown Heights—developed about a century ago on either side of Brooklyn’s grand Eastern Parkway—was once the site of a small outpost of shanties and piggeries known as Crow Hill.
It’s main landmark: the imposing Brooklyn Penitentiary, sometimes called the Crow Hill Penitentiary, which stood on Carroll Street between Nostrand and Rogers Avenues from 1846 until 1906.
The Crow Hill moniker remains something of a mystery. An 1877 Brooklyn Eagle article states, “The name Crow Hill was derived from the fact that in the trees which are scattered over this ridge, crows, who preyed on the neighboring farmers, found a retreat.”
Other sources say the penitentiary inmates were also referred to as crows. Then there’s a third explanation:
“Most historians agree that the name Crow Hill was coined in derogatory reference to the black community of Carrville and Weeksville, whose residents were sometimes known as “crows,” writes Henry Goldschmidt, author of 2006’s Race and Religion Among the Chosen People of Crown Heights.
Tags: Brooklyn in the 19th century, Brooklyn neighborhoods, Brooklyn Penitentiary, Crow Hill, Crow Hill Penitentiary, Crown Heights history, Eastern Parkway
Ephemeral New York 
October 9, 2010 at 5:27 pm |
The name is still in use.
http://www.crowhillcommunity.org/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/crow-hill-bistro-brooklyn
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/11/crow_hill_reach.php
Although it appears that the Crow Hill bistro is no longer open.
http://nostrandpark.com/2010/09/03/is-crow-hill-bistro-closed-for-good/
October 9, 2010 at 6:34 pm |
Thanks for the links. I think it’s a recently revived name though. Nice to see these old neighborhood names back in circulation.
February 23, 2012 at 1:31 pm |
“Most historians agree” is nonsense; sources?
Indeed, I daresay not a single accomplished historian has seriously researched the etymology of Crow Hill, which almost certainly does NOT have implied or explicit racial connotations.
ANY evidence to the contrary is welcome.
Not that racism was unknown in 19th century Brooklyn; to the contrary, it was commonplace but this is hardly an example of it, though it satisfies some people to think so and they need not continue the difficult work of REAL history.
February 23, 2012 at 3:21 pm |
Take it up with the author of the book I cited in my post. That’s his quote, not mine.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_iZX71ejZgC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=henry+goldschmidt+race+and+religion+crow+hill&source=bl&ots=_GrznbV3Xn&sig=-Vz6i7QK5YhiFfWO2IqvQogliI4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RllGT-rTD4mH4gTrmqXDDg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
November 22, 2012 at 3:11 am |
My father was born in crow hill, and growing up as a boy, he remembered indians living in the area in the early 1900,s.He lived on Prospect Place between Buffalo and Ralph Avenues.I was born there,and lived there until i was 21 years of age.My wife and I both graduated from Thomas Jefferson High school.
Bob Thomas
January 10, 2024 at 6:08 pm |
The area you describe was actually Weeksville. Crow Hill was actually due West, from Kingston to Franklin, from Atlantic to Empire.
I grew up in what was Weeksville. I lived on Lincoln Place between Rochester and Buffalo. I went to PS 191, between Buffalo and Ralph.
April 14, 2014 at 4:04 pm |
Just did some research on the “Crow Hill” neighborhood name and made a map based on the Brooklyn Eagle article: http://planyourcity.net/2014/04/03/strolls-upon-old-lines-crow-hill-and-some-of-its-suggestions/
July 25, 2017 at 11:49 pm |
[…] Heights concerns the use of the name “Crow Hill,” a 19th-century term for the area that may have been a derogatory reference to the neighborhood’s black population. There’s a Crow Hill […]
January 26, 2021 at 8:56 pm |
not safe area , during de basio its like back to the d dinkins days very unsafe