Village of Williamsburgh Note - Brooklyn, New York 1850

Historic note issued by theVillage of Williamsburgh dated 1850. This historic document was printed by L. Darbee Printing Company and has an ornate border around it with a green seal attached to its face. This item has the signatures of the President, ? Coffin and Clerk, Geo. E. Baker and counter signed by the Finance Committee, John L. ?. This item is over 157 years old.

Dated April 12, 1850 it reads "To the Treasurer of the Village of Williamsburgh, Five years after date or sooner if the money is in the Treasury for the purpose pay to the order of James Laverty Administrator the sum of Two Hundred & eighty nine 51/100 Dollars, out of any funds in the Village belonging to the Village on a/c of adjusted claims in payment of money refunded for Declarations" signed by the President of the Village (last name seems to be Coffin) attested by Geo. E. Baker and counter signed by the Cham Finance Committee.

The is written with various endorsements and interest payments over the years through 1854.

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint, Bed-Stuy, and Bushwick. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board.

Williamsburg is home to many ethnic groups, a thriving art community, and, increasingly, commuters to Manhattan.

The Williamsburg Bridge connects the Brooklyn neighborhood to Manhattan

Independent Williamsburgh

In 1638, the Dutch West India Company first purchased the area's land from the local Native Americans. In 1661, the company chartered the Town of Boswijck, including land that would later become Williamsburg. After the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the town's name was anglified to Bushwick. During colonial times, villagers called the area "Bushwick Shore." This name lasted for about 140 years. Bushwick Shore was cut off from the other villages in Bushwick by Bushwick Creek to the north and by Cripplebush, a region of thick, boggy shrubland extending from Wallabout Creek to Newtown Creek, to the south and east. Bushwick residents called Bushwick Shore "the Strand(ed)." Farmers and gardeners from the other Bushwick villages sent their goods to Bushwick Shore to be ferried to New York City for sale via a market at present day Grand St. Bushwick Shore's favorable location close to New York City lead to the creation of several farming developments. In 1802, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull acquired 13 acres (53,000 mē) near what would become Metropolitan Avenue, then North 2nd Street. He had Colonel Jonathan Williams, a U.S. Engineer, survey the property, and named it Williamsburgh (with an h at the end) in his honor. Originally a 13-acre development within Bushwick Shore, Williamsburgh rapidily expanded during the first half of the nineteenth century and eventually seceded from Bushwick and formed its own independent city.

Williamsburgh was incorporated as the Village of Williamsburgh within the Town of Bushwick in 1827. In two years it had a fire company, a post office and a population of over 1,000. The deep drafts along the East River encouraged industrialists, many from Germany, to build shipyards around Williamsburgh. Raw material was shipped in, and finished products were sent out of many factories straight to the docks. Several sugar barons built processing refineries. Now all are gone except the now-defunct Domino Sugar (formerly Havemeyer & Elder). Other important industries including shipbuilding and brewing.

Reflecting its increasing urbanization, Williamsburgh separated from Bushwick as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840. It became the City of Williamsburgh in 1852, which was organized into three wards. The old First Ward roughly coincides with the South Side and the Second Ward with the North Side, with the modern boundary at Grand Street. The Third Ward was to the east of these, beginning to approach modern Eastern Williamsburg.

Brooklyn Union Gas in the early 20th century consolidated its producer gas production to Williamsburg at 370 Vandervoort Avenue, closing the Gowanus Canal gasworks. In the late 1970s an energy crisis led the company to build a syngas factory. Late in the century, facilities were built to import liquefied natural gas from overseas.

History from Wikipedia and OldCompanyResearch.com.