Fulton Ferry is a neighborhood located in the borough of Brooklyn, New York. It is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2. The area is known as the shadow of Brooklyn’s most famous landmark, the Brooklyn Bridge. The Fulton Ferry District is roughly bounded by the East River and Washington, Water Front, and Doughty Streets.
The district grew into Brooklyn’s earliest and most affluent industrial neighborhood. It is among the oldest district in New York City. The areas went into a refuse with the coming of the bridge but of late the buildings are being renovated to be used as highly required after loft spaces. In fact, the world headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower Building stands here.
There are also several other buildings of interest which tell the story of the growth of this part of Brooklyn. The future Brooklyn Bridge Park will be operated by an agency of the City of New York that will extend the recreational waterfront area on the East River north and south of the Fulton Ferry State Park.
As of 2010 census, there were 1,042 people residing in the area. The median income for a household in the village is $153,716.
The settlement was formed around the ferry landing in 1642 when Cornelis Dircksen’s regular rowboat began crossings in a number of boat lines operated from both sides of the river, until finally all were merged under the ownership of the New York and Brooklyn Ferry Company in 1839. Robert Fulton developed his steam ferry service between Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1814 that were made in row boats, flat scows with sprit sails, piraguas, and boats propelled by horses walking on treadmills and till stopped running in 1924. It has now resumed as a New York Water Taxi. The area was originally called “the Ferry,” later “Old Ferry” (when a new ferry was recognized at the foot of Main Street in 1796), blossomed into a lovely residential neighborhood. The building of the Brooklyn Bridge destroyed its beauty and the neighborhood became a slum.
Talleyrand once lived in a Fulton Street farmhouse opposite Hicks Street, and Tom Paine in a house at the corner of Sands and Fulton Streets. The street has now a sort of Brooklyn Bowery, with flophouses, small shops, rancid restaurants, haunted by vagabonds and derelicts. Aside from it, the neighborhood has also several buildings with a couple of barges-cum-restaurants, notably the River Café are sparkling at lunch time and at night with Manhattan visitors.
Locals are more likely to frequent Pete’s Downtown, the delicious Italian eatery with a spectacular view, or the brick-oven Patsy’s Pizza for some of the best pizza in New York. The legendary Grimaldi’s with its old fashioned décor is perfect for a relaxed, lazy Sunday evening or a special date. The Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park is the most famous water park in town located along the East River in Brooklyn between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. It provides visitors the perfect place to view the skyline of Lower Manhattan, picnic, stroll, and experience the heat of the sun.
