Kensington, Brooklyn facts for kids
Kensington is a neighborhood in the central part of Brooklyn, a New York City borough. It's located south of Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery. Kensington is surrounded by other neighborhoods like Prospect Park South and Ditmas Park to the east, Windsor Terrace to the north, Borough Park to the west, and Midwood to the south.
Kensington is mostly a place where people live. You'll find different kinds of homes here, like brick rowhouses, separate Victorian houses, and apartment buildings. Many older brick apartment buildings are found along Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue. The neighborhood has a mix of people from many different backgrounds. The main streets for shops and businesses are Coney Island Avenue, Church Avenue, Ditmas Avenue, and McDonald Avenue. Ocean Parkway cuts through the middle of the neighborhood. Kensington's ZIP Code is 11218, and the NYPD's 66th Precinct serves the area.
Contents
History of Kensington
How Kensington Started
The land where Kensington is today was first settled by Dutch farmers in the 1600s. Later, British settlers arrived in 1737. The neighborhood really started to grow in 1885 after Ocean Parkway was finished. It was named after a place in West London, England, called Kensington, around the year 1900.
A small area in the southern part of Kensington, between 18th and Foster Avenues, is also known as Parkville. This area was originally called Greenville. It was bought in 1852 by the Freeman's Association. A school (P.S. 92, later P.S. 134) and a church (St. Rose of Lima) were built there in 1870. Parkville is a small area that isn't often talked about much.
In 1894, the town of Flatbush, which included Kensington, became part of the city of Brooklyn. Then, on January 1, 1898, Brooklyn joined with other areas to form New York City. This led to more building in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many new homes were built, including suburban houses and apartment buildings.
Kensington in the 1900s
Over time, many of the suburban houses were replaced by taller apartment buildings, especially between the late 1920s and 1941. After World War II, even more luxury apartment buildings were built along Ocean Parkway. Since the 1990s, new homes and apartments have continued to be built in Kensington.
For a long time, Kensington wasn't really seen as its own neighborhood. Many people thought of it as the western part of Flatbush, sometimes calling it West Flatbush. However, some government offices, like the Post Office Department and the Brooklyn Public Library, did use the name Kensington. This helped to show the difference between the working-class areas west of Ocean Parkway and the wealthier areas to the east.
Kensington Becomes Its Own Neighborhood
By the late 1960s, the New York City government started to officially call the area between McDonald and Coney Island Avenues "Kensington." Even though some news reports still called it Flatbush, community groups like the Kensington-Flatbush Preservation Association helped make the name "Kensington" more popular in the 1970s.
During this time, Kensington's population began to change a lot. Many older churches closed, and the Irish American community started to move out. New groups, including Italian Americans, moved in. By the 1980s, real estate companies started using the name Kensington more often in their ads. This helped more people see Kensington as its own distinct neighborhood. Many different people, including young professionals, Orthodox Jews, African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, and new immigrants from Eastern Europe and South Asia, found Kensington to be a good place to live because of its affordable homes.
People and Culture
Based on the 2010 United States Census, Kensington-Ocean Parkway had about 36,891 people. The neighborhood covers about 365 acres.
Kensington is known for being very diverse. It has communities of people from South Asia (like Bangladeshi and Pakistani people), Orthodox Jewish people (Hasidic), Uzbeks, Latin Americans, Polish, and Ukrainians. In October 2022, the intersection of McDonald and Church Avenues was even named "Little Bangladesh" to honor the large and growing Bangladeshi community there.
The 2020 census showed that the White and Asian populations in Kensington are roughly equal, with each group having between 10,000 and 19,999 residents. There are also 5,000 to 9,999 Hispanic residents, but fewer than 5,000 Black residents.
Getting Around
The New York City Subway's IND Culver Line (F <F>, and G trains) runs through the western part of Kensington. It has underground stops at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Avenue. The train then comes above ground to serve the Ditmas Avenue and 18th Avenue stations. Kensington also has several local bus lines (B8, B16, B35, B67, B68, B69, B103) and express buses (BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4) that go to Manhattan.
Schools and Library
Kensington Library
The Kensington branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is located at 4207 18th Avenue. It started in 1908 as a small "deposit station" with a few books. Over the years, it moved a few times before settling into its current building, which opened in 2012.
Schools in Kensington
Kensington has several public elementary schools, including P.S. 130, P.S. 230, P.S. 179, and P.S. 134. There are also three middle schools: M.S. 839, J.H.S. 62, and J.H.S. 23. The neighborhood does not have any public high schools. There is also a private Orthodox Jewish school called Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.
Famous People From Kensington
- Yisroel Belsky (1938-2016): A respected Jewish scholar and leader.
- Bryce Dessner (born 1976): A composer and guitarist.
- Jo Freeman (born 1945): A feminist scholar.
- Sid Luckman (1916–1998): A Hall of Fame quarterback for the Chicago Bears football team.
- Bruce Morrow (born 1935): A famous radio disc jockey known as "Cousin Brucie."
- Gedalia Schorr (1910-1979): A leading Jewish scholar.
- Albert Shanker (1928–1997): A president of major teachers' unions in the U.S.
- Sufjan Stevens (born 1975): A singer-songwriter and musician.
- Frank Terpil (1939–2016): A former CIA agent.
- Nisson Wolpin (1932-2008): An editor of a Jewish magazine.
See also
In Spanish: Kensington (Brooklyn) para niños
