East Flatbush is a neighborhood located in the borough of Brooklyn, New York. It is part of Brooklyn Community Board 17 and bounded by East New York Avenue, Kings Highway and Norstrand Avenue. In the summer of 2006, the City of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in East Flatbush as Bob Marley Boulevard. East Flatbush has lovely tree lined blocks of one and two family homes and everyone can shop in the busy commercial districts along Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues. However there are some scruffy sections with blocks of miserable brick apartment buildings along Farragut Avenue. A mall with more upscale stores is under development.
As of 2010 census, there were 134,122 people residing in the area. The median income for a household in the village is $45,544. The latitude of East Flatbush is 40.65361. The longitude is -73.93083. It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is 30 feet.
The community is originally known as Rugby which is considered one of the most ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse areas in New York City. In 1652, East Flatbush was among of the six original towns of Brooklyn, and was situated in the center of the region called Midwout (middle woods). Its name derives from the Dutch word vlackebos (wooded plain). The area remained mostly farmland till the 1880s when the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad made it more accessible. A local grocer named Henry A. Meyer was the first to start large-scale construction in East Flatbush. His company laid a grid across sixty-five acres of potato farming land and constructed rows of Queen Anne cottages. Well planned communities developed and by 1910 the neighborhood had become a stylish suburb. Large apartment buildings were erected along Ocean Avenue as far south as Kings Highway after the opening of the Brighton Beach subway line in 1920. East Flatbush’s growth continued through the depression of the 1930’s. Many of these new buildings were occupied by residents who came from Williamsburg, Brownsville, and the Lower East Side.
Notable current and former people living in East Flatbush include Busta Rhymes (rapper), Jackie Robinson (baseball player), and Ramona Moore (murdered college student). While there are some affluent residents present, the area is mostly populated by working-class Brooklynites. Similar to other inner city Brooklyn neighborhoods, East Flatbush is predominately populated by African Americans & Latinos and a considerable amount of Whites and Asians. Within the confines, there are the Holy Cross Cemetery Church on Brooklyn Avenue and Tilden Avenue. The area is also the home of the former General George W. Wingate High School and Gov. Samuel J. Tilden High School. Kings County Hospital located on Clarkson Avenue from New York to Albany Avenues is a collection of buildings influenced by differing styles of architecture such as Colonial, Spanish, Georgian, Gothic, and Romanesque.
