Lyn and Gilbert Kapelman Collection: Life in Brooklyn at the Turn of the Century

At the turn of the century, Brooklyn was a large and still-growing city. It was one of the largest urban centers in the United States, with industrialization and immigration propelling its economic development even further. Yet it was also around this time that its identity as a place apart from Manhattan began to wane. With the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and Brooklyn's consolidation into one of the "Five Boroughs of New York City" in 1898, Brooklyn would increasingly become another district of the sprawling metropolis at the mouth of the Hudson River, rather than its own, separate city.

One effect of this closer connection to Manhattan was to bring the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island into its most famous era as the amusement capital of the United States. Between the 1880’s and World War II, the relatively quiet seaside resort area of Coney Island would transform into a frenetic center of activity and play, a change spurred by increasingly available public transportation. At its peak, the neighborhood would contain three separate amusement parks (Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland) along with numerous shows, rides, games, restaurants, and other attractions along its streets and boardwalks. These parks also made use of the relatively recent technology of electric lights to attract and dazzle visitors.

When the great depression began in the 1929, visitorship declined. Eventually, all three theme parks would shut down (the "Luna Park" which now operates in Coney Island has no relation to the previous park of the same name) and Coney Island would never again be the tourism center and neighborhood it once was. Nevertheless, the spirit of the place lives on in motion pictures, souvenirs, photographs, and memories of those who visited this part of Brooklyn in its heyday.