1843 Herbert Manuscript Plat Map of Williamsburg / Bushwick, Brooklyn

Williamsburg at the Outer Edge of the Expanding City.

This is a unique 1843 Isaac H. Herbert original manuscript survey plat map of a portion of today's Brooklyn, New York, on the border of Williamsburg and Bushwick. It presents the area as it was beginning to transition from farmland to an urban environment, with a fixed street grid and closely packed lots for housing and commercial space.

A Closer Look

The map is oriented with south at the top, with a street grid easily recognizable, although several street names have changed since this map's creation. South Sixth Street is today's Broadway (not to be confused with the Broadways of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens), while the Newtown Turnpike at the top is now Flushing Avenue. Ewen Street is now Manhattan Avenue, and Graham Avenue is today's Avenue of Puerto Rico. The remaining streets retain the names they have here. This area is now in the vicinity of the Woodhull Medical Center, the Bushwick Houses (an NYCHA housing complex), and the Flushing Avenue stop on the J and M train services of the New York City Subway (BMT Jamaica Line).

In addition to street names, individual lots are plotted out and numbered, with their size recorded. The lots fit within a diagonally aligned rectangle, presumably the boundaries of the original lot belonging to Charles De Bevoise (1772 - 1847), as mentioned in the title, a member of the wealthy and long-established De Bevoise family of Brooklyn. (Dutch in origin despite their French-sounding surname).

Historical Context

Around the time this map was produced, this area was on the cusp of suburban development spreading over from Williamsburg proper, which had been incorporated in 1827, as a village within the Town of Bushwick, separating from Bushwick entirely in 1840. The growth of Williamsburg (Williamsburgh) went hand in hand with the expansion of ferry services to Manhattan, which primarily attracted industry (shipyards, distilleries, and the like) away from crowded Lower Manhattan but also allowed real estate speculators to market the new town as a commuter community. Williamsburg proved especially popular with German and Irish immigrants and soon grew as a second center of population in Kings County alongside the City of Brooklyn to the south. Bushwick, on the other hand, remained primarily rural for a time but soon began to attract the same sort of industries that had set up in Williamsburg. The area seen here was thus on the outer edge of sprawl coming from the riverside area of Williamsburg. An 1845 survey map of Williamsburg by Isaac Vieth (a scan of which is available on Wikimedia Commons) reveals that, in the intervening two years (or less), the unplotted portions of the land shown here had been subdivided into lots.

Publication History and Census

This manuscript map was prepared by surveyor Isaac Hand Herbert in June 1843. It is the only known example of this map, and only one of two known examples of works produced by Herbert, the other being an 1844 'Survey of property belonging to George S. Getston in Staten Island, N.Y.' belonging to the Library of Congress (OCLC 1512665893).

Cartographer

Isaac Hand Herbert (April 12, 1812 - March 8, 1846) was a surveyor active in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, in the mid-19th century. Little is known of his life and training, and only one of his maps is cataloged in institutional collections, but he appears to have specialized in property surveys for the quickly developing areas of Brooklyn and Staten Island in the 1840s. Newspaper records show in addition to being a City Surveyor for the City of Brooklyn, Herbert was a leading member of the 'Native American Democratic Association,' a nativist political group that presaged the 'Know-Nothing' American Party, in Brooklyn. His son, Isaac H. Herbert, Jr. (1846 - 1918), followed somewhat in his father's footsteps, becoming a real estate developer in Brooklyn in the late 19th century.   Further Details...

Condition

Average. Original manuscript. Some cracking to paper. Appealing edge wear. Laid down on original linen.