Knickerbocker Ave

As the days were getting shorter, it made sense to keep close to school while I had the light. Tackling Bushwick makes sense, particularly if it gets me closer to the A train, which is quick to get me downtown.

From school, I headed south on Bushwick until I got to Seigel Street. I didn't have to go this far, but I figured that I had streets left to walk, I could go out of my way a little bit.

Knickerbocker Ave starts just before Johnson Ave, cutting out of Morgan Ave. Once you cross Flushing Ave, Morgan turns into Wilson Ave, which runs parallel to Knickerbocker.

If anyone can identify the subject in this mural, I'd love to know. He's wearing a Yankee cap, and it says "Love Always Chase Chance". And, of course, "Grace the Dance Floor". I don't know what the fancy script says, or what the significance of the dates are.

Crossing over Flushing Ave, I took another photo of the Bushwick side.

A few blocks down, I passed Maria Hernandez Park, which has been recommended to me a number of times. Originally named Bushwick Park, in 1989 the City Council renamed this park for Maria Hernandez, a community leader who gave her life in the fight to rid her block of drug dealers.

After this, I crossed Myrtle Ave, which amused me because I passed a couple of my students a block before it. I guessed they lived in the area. Oddly, I think they were following me for a few blocks. Either that, or they were on their way home and made a stop near Myrtle for whatever it is that teenagers stop for. But they were still a few blocks behind me when I stopped to take the next few photos.

PS 116 is the Elizabeth L. Farrell School. It was so big and bright, and I thought, they don't make them like this any more, do they?

Elizabeth Farrell was the founder of the first “ungraded” class in U.S. public schools, the developer of the basic principles and concepts under which special education still operates, one of the founders of the Council for Exceptional Children, and its first president.

Ironically, the school is Pre-K through grade 5.

Across the street from the school is a ball field. On the fence of the field is a memorial for victims of Hurricane Maria, which struck the Carribean in 2017. One sign says "Add a message of Love, Solidarity, or Remembrance for the Victims of Hurricane Maria". As you can see, a lot of messages have been left.

At Palmetto Street, we have Saint Paul Lutheran Church. The present church building for The German Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul’s Church, Unaltered Augsburg Confession, was completed and dedicated in 1897, nine years after the land was purchased. The congregation was composed almost entirely of immigrants from Germany, and services were conducted in German. The German liturgy only ended in 1974.

This is something that might've shocked me as a kid. For all the nationalities in my neighborhood (lower Park Slope, now called "Gowanus" on purpose), I didn't know of anyone German. There was no "Little Germany" or "Germantown" neighborhood in Brooklyn or New York City that I was aware of. I'd learn reasons for this many years later (and also the fact that it wasn't entirely true) but it had nothing to do with WWII, which I'd suspected back then because everything was about WWII back then (at least to our parents ... or to the eyes of children of such parents). But that's a story for another day.

Walking on, I passed some "street art" on a stone wall of Barry 'Sly' Morrow Field, which borders Bushwick Playground. Morrow was the founder of the Bushwick Football League and someone who saw sports as a way to alleviate urban blight and help people.

After this came to another church on Hancock Street, Saint Martin of Tours, a Roman Catholic church founded in 1906. St. Martin of Tours (c. 316–397) was a Roman soldier who became a monk, missionary, and the third Bishop of Tours, renowned for his humility, charity (famously sharing his cloak with a beggar), and role in spreading Christianity in 4th-century Gaul. He's a highly popular saint, known for establishing early monasteries, fighting paganism, and being a conscientious objector who served as a bishop reluctantly but effectively, becoming a patron saint of many, including soldiers and France.

The final picture is of Irving Square Park. Irving Square Park can be described as Bushwick's town square. At least, the Parks Dept thinks so!

And that's it for this trip. Come back soon.

All of the above photos and videos, unless otherwise stated, were taken by Christopher J. Burke and are subject to copyright.

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