Partition St

Nothing out of the ordinary with this abandoned building on the corner of Conover and Coffey Streets in Red Hook, Brooklyn, is there? Appearances can be deceiving...

There's something very unusual about the street sign that's chiseled next to the third-floor window, circled in green in the above photo...

In the long ago and far away, Kane Street in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill was named Harrison Street. Here's proof, on Kane Street and Cheever Place.

Macomb Street in Park Slope was renamed for President Garfield in1883 to honor him after his assassination.

It's uunusual because the sign says "Partition St.", a reminder of when Coffey Street had a different name. There are dozens of such building signs scattered around town. They remind us that street names are merely a temporary thing. At least a half dozen streets in New York City change names every year, or at least gain a new name in addition to their old name.

In his book on Brooklyn street names (coming in 2006) Leonard Benardo says:

Formerly Partition Street, Coffey Street was named for Michael Joseph Coffey (1839-1907) a district leader of the 12th Ward in Red Hook who rose to become both alderman and state senator. After 39 years as a public servant, the area he represented was dubbed "Coffeyville"- testament to his wide-ranging influence. One of Coffey's greatest claims is that he was of the very few willing to take on Kings County Democratic Party Boss, Hugh McLaughlin (see Chapter 1). It eventually cost him his seat in 1900. Nearby Coffey Park is also named for him.

Above photo © Jeff Saltzman 1998. You can reach his streetlight site here.

2003: The building has now been completely rehabilitated as Red Hook is becoming a residential hotbed once more.

This building sign on North 4th Street and Bedford Avenue in Northside, Williamsburg, shows that Bedford Avenue was once called 4th Street and intersected with North Fourth!

Closeup of the street sign under the building sign
(circled in the photo at left) shows the modern street names.

In Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, evidence of a former street name is high up on a brick building on Hudson Avenue and Evans Street. Along the way, Jackson St. became Hudson Ave. and this section of Water became Evans St.

Sign at Keap and Broadway proclaiming Keap's former status as Tenth St.

In the Hunters Point Historic District, on the corner of 23rd Street and 45th Avenue, you find proof on a brick building on the corner that 23rd Street used to be called Ely Avenue and 45th Avenue was formerly 12th Street.

Williamsburgh had its own street numbering system that, in contrast to current trends in street nomenclature, actually scrapped its numbers in favor of names! In the 1800s, the numbered streets began at the East River, so Kent Avenue was 1st Street, Wythe Avenue was 2nd Street, Berry St. was 3rd Street, Bedford Avenue was 4th Street, Driggs Avenue was 5th Street, Roebling St. was 6th Street, Havemeyer St. was 7th Street, Marcy Avenue was 8th Street, Rodney Street was 9th Street, and Keap Street was 10th Street, Hooper Street was 11th and Hewes Street was 12th. The only evidence of this is in the street names chiseled into the sides of older brick buildings.

Indubitable proof that Roebling used to be Sixth.

It's rare to find two street signs on the same building; the city has hung street signs from lampposts for decades now.

On this 1840s-era Board Of Ed building on Third Avenue and State Street is the only remaining evidence, other than surviving maps of the era, that Third Avenue was once called Powers Street, as a close look at the sign on the left will reveal.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has its share of outdated building street signs. "N St." at left is the old name of Noble Street, and Madison St., on the right, is the old name of Oak Street.

Corrections or information? Let me know at erpietri@earthlink.net.

Thanks for visiting the site!