Late Winter Snow on Old Washington Street, Brooklyn

Photo: MK Metz, McBrooklyn

Friday's late-season snow brought an old-timey feel to Rose Walk, looking south towards Brooklyn Borough Hall.

It hit us that this walkway, running in front of the Court buildings, used to be part of Washington Street (renamed Cadman Plaza East for a small section next to Cadman Plaza Park). North of Cadman Plaza East, in DUMBO, the street is still called Washington Street.

Washington Street used to intersect with Fulton Street near where Borough Hall is now.


Here's a segment of the 1847 Hooker map showing the path of the original Washington Street (outlined in yellow), courtesy of the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Fulton Street is the curving street shown in red at the bottom, changing to blue at the top. The blue part is called Old Fulton Street today. The red part is called Cadman Plaza West today. (For some reason Hicks Street is also highlighted in red.)

The intersection of Washington and Fulton (where Borough Hall is now) is shown at the bottom of the map. DUMBO is shown at the top of the map.

It would be a lot easier if they changed the name Cadman Plaza East back to Washington Street, and called Rose Walk Washington Walk instead. Why should one street have three names?

They should also change Cadman Plaza West back to Fulton Street. That's it's historical name. Why should one street (interrupted by Borough Hall) have three different names -- Fulton, Cadman Plaza West, and Old Fulton?

(You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m)

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