A sizeable crowd gathered at the corner of East 92nd Street and Conklin Avenue on Friday, May 1st, for the 2nd Annual Jane’s Walk — a global festival of volunteer-led community tours, in partnership with the Canarsie Merchants Association and the Canarsie Historical Society.
Current Canarsie residents, former residents who came back to visit, and those from other parts of Brooklyn, and even Queens and Manhattan, showed up, eager to explore the transformation of Conklin Avenue, from Canarsie’s center of commerce to a quiet country lane.
Canarsie Historical Society President, and foremost Canarsie historian, Ira M. Kluger, led the group on a truly fascinating tour down Conklin Avenue, stopping at more than 20 different notable locations along the route to discuss the people and businesses that once occupied the various buildings.
Kluger explained that in the early years, buildings along Conklin Avenue did not have street addresses. They were described as being “near the Main Road” (East 92nd Street) or “near the Railroad” (close to East 95th Street), making precise locations difficult to identify and research. He said that much of what is known today is thanks to his predecessor and mentor, John F. Denton, who chronicled a veritable wealth of information.
One of the many stops along the route was the office of the Canarsie Courier, now located at 1142 East 92nd Street. The group was invited inside and had the opportunity to meet the staff, see the production area and take home copies of recent issues.
Just steps away, the group was invited inside the Canarsie Community Reformed Church (originally the Dutch Reformed Church), located at 76 Conklin Avenue, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary this year. There, they admired the beautiful stained glass windows inscribed with the names of prominent local historical figures like Christian C. Quaritius and many others.
The group visited the former sites of private homes and storefronts of so many historical local merchants and learned why Conklin Avenue eventually ceased to be the business corridor. As horses and buggies were replaced by cars and trucks, Conklin Avenue became too narrow to continue serving as the commercial district, and the businesses gradually relocated, many of them to Rockaway Parkway, which is one of the neighborhood’s busiest shopping areas.
Members of the group were astounded at Kluger’s uncanny ability to retain such a quantity of accurate historical information, such as dates, names and addresses, all easily referenced without any notes whatsoever. It’s no wonder, then, that walk participant and Canarsie Courier’s own Editor in Chief, Linda Steinmuller, often refers to him as a walking encyclopedia!
