Read About Things to Do in Brooklyn

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So which is it? Brooklyn or Kings County? And the answer is...both.

It's 1646, and the Dutch West India Company has authorized a new village, the Village of Breuckelen. Ah, but we know that didn't last. About 20 years later the English came along the ousted the Dutch. Time passed and the province of New York was divided into 12 counties. Brooklyn was one of the original six towns of Kings County.

More time passed and slowly Brooklyn took over the other towns within Kings County, including Williamsburgh (which lost its h along the way), and Bushwick. The entire area was chartered as a city in 1834. So, perhaps Brooklyn is a city within a city!

Interesting Trivia

The Brooklyn Parrots are not a new sports team
In fact, these are birds. Parrots. And they have made Brooklyn their home. We knew y'all would want to know about it. Where can you find them? There's wild parrots in a colony in Brooklyn's Marine Park. And there's a well-established group at Brooklyn College. And you can take a tour. Want to learn more about the amazing Brooklyn parrots? Read about it at: BrooklynParrots.com.

The streets in Brooklyn do not line up
According to BrooklynOnLine.com each of the 2 cities and 6 towns that made up Kings County were once independent municipalities and purposely decided to create street grids with different naming systems that did not line up with the adjoining city or town. For example, the Town of Gravesend was the only town where the streets run long north-to-south, all other cities and towns ran their streets long west-to-east.

Brooklyn Firsts and Marvels
Brooklyn is also home of the world's first museum for children, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Finished in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was an engineering marvel at the time of its completion, the longest suspension bridge in the world. It's also one of New York City’s most beloved and celebrated architectural wonders. Its Gothic-style twin towers and lace of steel-wire cables have made it one of the most recognizable and photographed icons of NYC. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1977 and on March 24, 1983 the bridge was designated a National Historic Engineering Landmark.