On the 2d of July, 1791, public notice was given of the plan for building a county court house and jail at Flatbush. The notice stated that the conditions would be made known by application to Charles Doughty, Brooklyn Ferry, and that propositions in writing would be received until July 15 by him and Johannes E. Lott, of Flatbush, and Rutgert Van Brunt of Gravesend.
Cruger, while mayor of New York city, had his residence within the village. Generals Howe, Clinton, and other leading Tories had their headquarters within its limits subsequent to the battle of Brooklyn.
Erasmus Hall, at Flatbush, was erected in 1786, its charter bearing the same date as that of the Easthampton Academy. The first public exhibition of Erasmus Hall was held September 27, 1787, "and the scene," says Stiles, "was graced by the presence of the Governor of the State, several members of the Assembly, and a large concourse of prominent gentlemen of the vicinity." The subject of public instruction continued to be agitated in the public prints and the pulpit, and the attention of the Legislature was repeatedly called by the Governor's messages to the paramount need of having a regular school system throughout the State. Finally, in 1795, that body passed "an act for the encouragement of schools," and made an appropriation of $50,000 per annum for five years "for the purpose of encouraging and maintaining schools in the several cities and towns in this State in which children of the inhabitants residing in the State shall be instructed in the English language or be taught English grammar, arithmetic, mathematics, and such other branches of knowledge as are most useful and necessary to complete a good English education."
The Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston, who, with Senator John Vanderbilt, brought about, the establishment of the academy, was succeeded as principal by Dr. Wilson, who also held a professorship at Columbia College. The records of the academy reveal an interesting list of names, and the institution has held an important relation to the educational interests of Flatbush.
New Utrecht, where the first resistance to the British forces had been offered, and whose church had been used as a hospital and also as a riding-school by the British officers, was quick to assume its wonted ways after the departure of the troops when peace with England had been declared. During the period between 1787 and 1818 the Rev. Petrus Lowe was the pastor.[10]
The progress of Bushwick after the Revolution was noteworthy. The old Dutch church had been built early in the last century. The dominies from Brooklyn and Flatbush had previously ministered to the people when occasion called. The old octagonal church received a new roof in 1790, a front gallery five years later, and so it remained until 1840. Stiles[11] mentions Messrs. Freeman and Antonides as the earliest pastors, and Peter Lowe as serving here until 1808. A regiment of Hessians had their winter quarters here in 1776, barracks being put up on the land of Abraham Luqueer, and free use being made of wood from the Wallabout swamp. The case of Hendrick Suydam was typical. Suydam had to give quarters in his house,[12] and the filthy habits of these unsavory mercenaries were shockingly characteristic of this unhappy period. Stiles mentions, among the "patriots of Bushwick," John Provost, John A. Meserole, John I. Meserole, Jacob Van Cott, David Miller, William Conselyea, Nicholas Wyckoff, and Alexander Whaley, but no such list gives due honor to the service of all the Bushwick patriots.
After the Revolution Bushwick had "three distinct settlements or centres of population." These were "Het Dorp," the original town plot at the junction of North Second Street and Bushwick Avenue; "Het Kivis Padt," on the cross-roads at the junction of Bushwick Avenue and the Flushing Road; and "Het Strand," along the East River shore. The first mentioned was the centre of village activity, with the old church for chief landmark.
Of the town house with its tall liberty pole, Field[13] writes: "Long after the Revolution the old town house continued to be the high seat of justice, and to resound with the republican roar of vociferous electors on town meeting days. The first Tuesday in April and the fourth of July, in each succeeding year, found Het Dorp suddenly metamorphosed from a sleepy Dutch hamlet into a brawling, swaggering country town, with very debauched habits. Our Dutch youth had a most enthusiastic tendency, and ready facility in adopting the convivial customs and uproarious festivity of the loud-voiced and arrogant Anglo-American youngers.[14] One day the close-fisted electors of Bushwick devised a plan for easing the public burdens by making the town house pay part of the annual taxes, and accordingly it was rented to a Dutch publican, who afforded shelter to the justices and constables, and by his potent liquors contributed to furnish them with employment.
"In this mild partnership, so quietly aiding to fill each others' pockets, our old friend Chas. Zimmerman had a share, until he was ousted, because he was a better customer than landlord. The services of the church were conducted in the Dutch language until about the year 1830. The clergyman had the care of five churches, each of which received his spiritual services in turn. The homely but pious men who performed these duties were sometimes learned and dignified gentlemen, always a little aristocratic in their ways, for the dominie of a Dutch colony was an important functionary, whom the Governor-General himself could not snub with impunity. One of their self-indulgent customs would strike a modern community with horror. On arriving at the church, just before the time for Sunday service, the good dominie was wont to refresh himself from the fatigue of his long ride with a glass of some of the potent liquors of the time at the bar of the town house.
"At last the electors of Bushwick got tired of keeping a hotel, and unanimously quit-claimed their title to the church. Some time after the venerable structure [the town house] was sold to an infidel Yankee, at whose bar the good dominie could no longer feel free to take an inspiriting cup before entering the pulpit, and the glory of the town house of Bushwick departed."