NEW COLUMN! Iconic Williamsburg

By Y. S. Gold

"Iconic Williamsburg" is a new weekly feature on W365 which takes us to the personalities, the shul's, the landmarks, the rabbonim, and everyday people who resided in Williamsburg of yore.

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Williamsburg, The quintessential shtetl in America

Within these little few square miles—bordered (roughly) by the East River, Flushing Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue, and Bushwick Avenue respectively—the Yidden of New York have for 170 years (!) set down their worn valises, straightened their slumped shoulders, raised their eyes… and set about making a life here.  

It is a legendary place about which volumes could be filled, and we will do our humble best to transmit the stories of the personalities and landmarks of this unique enclave. 

Williamsburg’s First Jewish Resident 

Mostly rural until 1802, Williamsburg began to grow in population until in 1852 it was so large that it was chartered as a city of its own. This of course didn’t happen, and in 1855 it was annexed as a part of Brooklyn. The first Jewish residents were German Jews (who represented the first wave of Jewish immigrants to America). With the sub sequent arrival of poorer immigrants, they would branch out to the areas surrounding Williamsburg, such as the Prospect Park area, and elsewhere. 

The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia documents: “The first Jewish inhabitant of Williamsburg was Adolph Baker who came in 1837, and a few more Jews straggled across the East River in the early 1840’s. It is a matter of tradition that the more pious of these men attended synagogue in Manhattan, rowing across the river on Friday afternoon and returning after having spent Sabbath with their brethren.” It goes on document the slow development, decade after decade, of more and more shuls. 

New Hebrew Quarter

The New York Tribune in April of 1904 chronicles the early Jewish settlement in Williamsburg thusly, suggesting that the existing residents were less than delighted with their new neighbors: “New Hebrew quarter across new bridge. Old-time “Dutchtown” in Williamsburg part of Brooklyn undergoing a transformation. In crossing the new Williamsburg Bridge one can hardly help noticing the pronounced Oriental cast of features of many of the pedestrians. A remark to this effect made to one of the German workmen employed on the bridge the other day brought out this response: ‘Yes: this is a Jew bridge, built for them with American money—and the Americans don’t know it.’ This spot used to be called “Dutchtown,” from the number of Germans dwelling in it. The new bridge is changing all that. Already “Dutchtown” has been facetiously dubbed ‘New-Jerusalem.’